Alternative Energy

Fosill fuel, such as gas, oil, coal and others, is still the most consumed form of fuel these days and industries are getting more dependent on this fuel. However, as the amount of this type of fuel is consumed, the damage to the environment increases.

There are, however, other sources of energy that are more efficient, abundant re-usable and occurs naturally in the environment. One of the most abundant, yet not fully utilized, alternative source of energy is the sun. Then there's the wind and there are many other possible alternative energy source that you can see everyday yet we just don't know how to tap it.

The first Tech Trivia posted here is a form of this alternative energy source. It's been recorded that a kilogram of shredded wood can make a motorbike run for over 70 kilometers. And this technology was used more than 50 years ago.

If you're interested to know more, check the sites below

• Technology Student -Alternative Energy
• Storing Sun and wind power
• Energy Sources
• Energy Kid's Page
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory

New Folder.exe Remover

I found this new folder remover somewhere in the net from http://technodigits.wordpress.com This one also can restore your task manager, folder options, registry edit, and run command which are disabled by some worms. Also it can disable the Autoplay on all drives. The Autoplay feature of windows has been exploited by many of the worms that came out lately. e.g. Imgkulot and its variants (bungoton,peanuts, and kulitot) pooh.vbs and other vbs worms.

Here's the download link:
newfolder-removal.zip

Tech Trivia (A-1)

Q: Did you know that there exist a technology that could make cars and other motor vehicles run on wood? What is it called?

A: Yes, there is a technology that could make cars and other motor vehicles run on wood. It's called a Gasifier. Generally, the process is called biomass gasification, which turns biologically produced matter (wood, crops, manure, etc.) into gas using a Gassifier. In this particular application, the wood is turned into gas or Wood Gas.

Wood gas can be used to power cars with ordinary internal combustion engines if a wood gasifier is attached.

This technology is not actually new. It has been used during the World War II, and perhaps even before that.

For more detailed information, check this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

Tech Trivia (Q-1)

Yesterday, I learned something very interesting. It's not actually new technology, in fact it is very old. It is not or hardly being used these days. Learning this, the idea of posting trivial information regarding technologies popped into my mind. So here's the first Tech Trivia Question.

Did you know that there exist a technology that could make cars and other motor vehicles run on wood? What is it called?

Answer will be posted tomorrow. :)

Removing Pooh.vbs (update)

If you have downloaded the vbswormremover that I have posted here before, I mentioned in the header and my post that I have edited it to include pooh.vbs. True enough that it can remove the file pooh.vbs. However, I was able to encounter the fully working worm just today, thus I just found out how this worm really works.

One visual symptom of this worm is that it loads the internet explorer during the windows startup with a webpage with black backround and the word "aikelyu". (Sorry to screen shot, it wasn't my pc and I lost my flash drive recently, fixed the pc in a rush).

This worm, is almost similar to imkulot worm, except for the webpage. It is loaded via autorun.inf that runs pooh.vbs using wscript.exe and puts the following files in the windows/system32 folder

• kernell.dll.vbs
• aikelyu.html

and adds entries on the startup registry that runs this two files. I initially intended to make an instruction on how to completely remove the pooh.vbs worm (or some call it antz virus) to makeup what the vbswormremover is missing, however, I realized it's easier to edit that myself and just give the instruction on how to remove the registry entry of this worm.

• Download the vbswormremover
• restart in safemode
• run the vbswormremover - this will kill the wscript.exe from the task and delete the autorun.inf and pooh.vbs from the root directories of all available drives. I also added the lines that deletes the kernell.dll.vbs and aikelyu.html from the windows/system32 folder.
  
• Next is cleaning the registry manually.

Using Hijackthis (if you know how to use this safely, do it)
Caution: Follow this instruction very carefuly!

• Run hijackthis
  
• click scan
• and check all entries with 'kernel.dll.vbs' and 'aikelyu.html'
• Click fix selected entries

Using regedit
Caution: Follow this instruction very carefuly!

• Run regedit (Program->Run->regedit)
• Select the Path: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"
  
• Find Shell(String Value), modify its value to "Explorer.exe" (Do not delete)
• Remove this ->"C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel.dll.vbs", you can see it is added to the Shell(String value)

Now restart your computer to normal mode and check if the worm is still there.

Social Survey from dNeero

I know this is some sort of a far-off subject for this kind of blog, but probably you too have received email spams that says something like 'get paid while taking online surveys' and probably some of them are scams. This one though, is worth a try to say the least.

However, their FAQ says, the blog needs to be at least 90 days old and must have at least 20 post with 90 days. So, since this blog is only about 30 days old, this is not qualified. Though I like the questions in their surveys.

So I here's the link instead. https://www.dneero.com/index.jsp
They have a very user-friendly lay-out and easy to fill-up forms and very easy to answer surveys. I even started to enjoy answering them.

If you think your blog is qualified try it out.

Feeling Some Pain?

After sitting in front of your PC for quite sometime, have you ever felt some discomfort or even pain on one are more of these body part- your neck, shoulders, upper arm, lower arm, wrist, fingers, lower back, and or your fingers? It maybe your neck or sore or your elbow. Or you feel like you need to massage your wrist and fingers.

Well if you have been sitting in front of your computer and have been working for over an hour or so. And you do this (almost) everyday. Chances are you have developed a Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI.

What is RSI?
RSI is defined as any of a loose group of conditions resulting from overuse of a tool, eg. computer, guitar, knife, etc. or other activity that requires repeated movements*. This article will tackle mainly on computer related RSI.

Some Probable Causes of RSI
While working with computers, RSI may occur because of one or more of these reasons-- or even all of these and probably there are more reasons that are not mentioned here.

1. Uncomfortable /Non Ergonomic Workstation Setup. It maybe that your keyboard is placed right on your desktop, (keyboard is too high) elbow is overly bent (less than 90 degrees) making an uncomfortable position in the long run since your wrist will not be on their extension. And/or your monitor is placed to high that you have to slightly tilt your head back.

2. Sitting Posture. Probably you slouch or slump your head forward (maybe your font size is too small)

3. Working for too long. Probably you have been sitting for hours without taking a break

4. Wrist positioning. Commonly, when we type we bend our wrist at angle with our forearm. Overtime time this position would cause an RSI on your wrist.

5. Pounding on the keyboard. Specially if your used to type on an ancient manual type writter, or you love to listen to the keyboard making that clicking sound, you would usually pound on the keyboard (specially on the

6. Tucking the telephone between your ear and shoulder so you can talk while typing.

There could be more possible causes of RSI other than mentioned here.

Prevention.

Development of RSI can be easily prevented.

Correct Posture. Do not slouch. Your head neck and shoulders should be in line.
Correct positioning of keyboard and monitor. The keyboard should be placed where your elbow are not overly bent. The ideal angle of your elbow should be at least 90 degrees (between arm and forearm). The monitor should be directly in front of you, so you don't have to turn to either side as you type. And your eyes should be more or less level to the top of the monitor -so you don't have to tilt your head back.

Wrist should not be bent. Your wrist should be in straight line with your forearm. and or use ergonomic keyboards.

Keep your feet flat on the floor. This will minimize your tendency to slouch.

See the following websites for pictures on how to position your workstation properly and the ergonomic keyboard.
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHTutorials/typingposture.html
http://eeshop.unl.edu/rsi.html
http://www.fentek-ind.com/ergo.htm

Do not pound on the keyboard. Use light touch.

Use both hands when performing double key operations like CTRL-C, ALT-F4. (Thats the purpose of having, the SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT keys on both sides of the keyboard).

Take A Break every 30 minutes and Have a Kit-Kat. :D. Better yet, stretch your arms, shake your wrist to release the tension. Also look at something far, this will relieve your eyes of some strain. Stretch your neck.
Plan ahead. This will cut your time in front of the computer.

Use ergonomic assistant software that monitors your keyboard and mouse activity and reminds you to take take break.
http://repetitive-strain.qarchive.org/

If you think you already have developed RSI. First thing to do is STOP Typing specially if your hands already hurts. If your hands still hurts after a couple of days or so, ask for medical advice. See a doctor a physical therapist.

For more information on RSI visit the following websites.

http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHTutorials/typingposture.html
http://eeshop.unl.edu/rsi.html
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/articles/Consumer-Advice/Repetitive_Strain_Injury/
http://www.shelterpub.com/_fitness/_desk_stretches/stretches_graphic.html


Other References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury
http://www.ergonomicsnow.com.au/rsi/whatisit.htm
http://repetitive-strain.qarchive.org/

Adsense and Blogging

Want to earn extra cash while blogging?

I suppose you have read and heard that line a countless times before. And there are so many schemes on the web that offer such these days. One of the most widely used though (If not the most widely used) is putting Google Adsense.

Google offers three ways in making money online.

1. Adsense for Content
2. Adsense for Search
3. Referrals

Let me give a brief explanation for each.

1. Adsense for Content displays ads on your blog or website. Google adsense will automatically crawl the pages of your blog or website and will display ads that are relevant to the contents of a certain page of your site. You will earn money once your readers click on one or more of those ads.

2. Adsense for Search allows you to provide Google web and site search to your visitors, and when people search from your site, ads will appear on the result page and you earn money when people click on those ads.

3.Referrals almost similar to Adsense for Content but Referrals allow you to specify group of products or specific products to advertise on your site.

How much will you earn? You will receive a portion of what the Google advertiser pays. Actual earning depends on several factors, including how many ads or many times ads are clicked from your site and how much an advertiser bids on your site.

How do I receive payments? Google offers several ways to payout the publishers (you). You can receive through Electronic Fund Transfer (fast payout) or through Check (up to three weeks delivery).

Tip: Google sends reports and suggestions on how to increase your site's performance. It's always good follow these suggestions.

Caution: Read Google's Terms and Conditions and strictly adhere to their program policies.

posted by request.

New From Nokia- N82

Ok, I’ll take a break from posting about worms this time and check what’s the latest from the mobile phone world. Nokia just this month, released the N82 high-end quad-band GSM cameraphone, It boast a 5-megapixel resolution, auto-focus camera and comes with true Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss lens. It features WiFi, GPS, microSD slot for memory and runs Symbian 9.2 S60.

The display dimension is 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches with 16M colors. Phonebook, practically unlimited entries ( Wow! Perhaps you can write the names of all 6 Billion people in the world). It also comes with a 2 GB microSD , hot swappable card.

Data connection? Almost through anything! From USB, Bluetooth 3G, Wi-Fi and EDGE. It also has , GPRS. Also comes with aGPS( Global Positioning System ) so you’ll never get lost wherever you are… unless you lost your phone. (Bummer!).

The battery… up to 225 Hours standby time and up to 4 hours and 2o mins Talk time.

Other features

- Built-in GPS receiver
- A-GPS function
- Motion sensor (with UI auto-rotate) ---()
- Installed Maps application covering over 100 countries
- Java MIDP 2.0
- MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA player
- Video player
- 3.5 mm audio output jack
- TV out
- Stereo FM Radio
- Organizer
- Office document viewer
- T9
- Push to talk
- Voice dial/memo
- Built-in handsfree

The price. Around P640.00.

Ooops! Wrong monetary unit. Its $640.00.

Ok. Next time I’ll post something much more affordable. :D

VBS Worm Remover

If your computer or storage device(s) is infected by one or more of these worms, imgkulot, peanuts, bungoton, kulitot and pooh. I have edited panot's original imgkulot remover to include the bungoton, kulitot and pooh vbs worm

here's the link: vbswormremover


Good luck.

How to remove Imgkulot and How to Avoid infecting your Harddrive and Other Storage Devices (Part 2)

Preventing imgkulot from Spreading / How to avoid infecting your storage device

Prevention is still the best way to stop this virus. Since there are already variants (variations) of this virus- I encountered so far 'kulitot' and 'bungoton' - the remover I mentioned above will not work on these two variants, however it can remove another variant known as 'Peanuts'.

Also, bear in mind that the 'Autorun.inf' file is a normal Windows instruction file that once you double click on any drive with 'Autorun.inf', it will automatically run or execute whatever commands or script written there. This feature has been used primarily by installer CDs that runs the installation program once you enter or double click on a CD drive. However, since it works as well on a fixed drive and any other storage device such as your flash disk or memory cards, this feature has been exploited by virus makers, such as 'imgkulot' , RavMon and among others. And by simply double clicking your storage device, you have infected the PC that you are using. And once you insert a clean flash disk or other removable storage device, it becomes infected as well. And once that infected storage device is inserted into another PC, it could be infected as well.

Now, before you decide to reformat your PC, and all of your removable drives, digital cam-memory cards and even your cell phone... DON'T! Reformatting will only wipe out your data, including the precious pix of the first born of your pet tarantula! First, if your PC or flash drive is infected by imgkulot, and if you haven't done it yet, read the first part of this blog. Then read along on how to avoid getting infected

To Double Click or Not to Double Click. It is a common practice that we double click on a drive that we want to access. In fact double clicking has already become a habit. (Am I right? or Am I right?) But in this days that such a common action has been exploited already, I think it's high time to break that habit.

When you right click a drive , a pop menu will come out. The figure below is the pop-up menu of a drive that has no Autorun.Inf.

Figure 1. Pop-up Menu of a clean drive.

And when you right click an infected storage device, the pop-up menu would look like this.

Figure 2. Infected drive

If you see the figure above (Figure 2.), refer to the first part of this article and remove the virus. However, if you really need to open the drive for some reasons, you can still open your drive.

WARNING! If you are planning to open your flash drive or other memory device in this computer, DON'T! Remove the virus first! If this is not your computer, tell the owner. If you're in an Internet cafe, tell the person in charge that their pc is infected. If you are willing to take the risk though, read on.

To access your infected drive or storage device without running the autorun.inf , Click the Folders option from the windows toolbar. (see Figure 3). A sidebar will then appear similar to Figure 4. From that sidebar, you can now safely access your drive.

Figure 3. Using the Folder Side Bar

Figure 4.

PRECAUTIONS:

1) When inserting a storage device into your computer. Specially if its not yours, Do not double click to access it. Right click on it!
2) BEFORE inserting your own storage device to another computer, specially in an Internet Cafe, Right Click first in any of the Harddrives, and see if it is clean (See Figure 1). If not, tell the owner that his/her pc is infected. If it cannot be cleaned immediately, download the imgkulot remover and clean it first.

-o0O0o-

How to remove Imgkulot and How to Avoid infecting your Harddrive and Other Storage Devices

Disclaimer: The following article is based on my personal experience and from what I've read from the net. Link(s) are made to the source of file(s) and or information, to give credit to them. The procedure given below worked for me and other computers and storage devices that I has been infected by imgkulot alone. I could not give a 100% guarantee if the process below will work for you especially if you have other viruses in your PCs. However you can contact me anytime if you encounter some problems in following the procedures below. PAY ATTENTION to the WARNING!

Probably some of you already have encountered this annoying virus named imgkulot that prevents you from opening your harddrives and /or other storage devices( This includes Flash drives, memory cards of Cell Phones, Digital Cams, Mp3/Mp4 players) . And when you right click on one of your drives you'll get something like this (see image)

Now before you call your computer technician to deal with this problem, read on and you will be able to solve this problem yourself. And even if you call a technician and if he/she says you need to reformat your drive, (believe me I have encountered some technicians who would readily reformat a harddrive or a flash disk for a simple problem like this — I'll post another entry about these kind of "technicians"), throw them out of your door as soon as they say the word reformat! You DON'T NEED TO REFORMAT ANYTHING!.

Understanding What imgkulot does.

ImgKulot is simply annoying which copies itself to any storage devices available, including your hard drives, flash drives, even the memory cards of your cellphones, digital cams, and mp3/mp4 players.

Specifically, imgkulot copies and hides the following files:

• Autorun.inf - this is not a virus in itself. Generally its an instruction file which, as its name implies, runs automatically when a drive is opened. However, this is the part that launches the actual virus.
• imgkulot.vbs- a VB (Visual Basic)Script which is the actual malware (malicious software)/virus.
• imgkulot.reg - a part of the malware which is saved in the windows registry.

Double clicking on the infected drive(s), like we usually do, would launch the virus and when you insert another removable drive (flash disk or even the memory card(s) of your cellphones and digital cameras), the virus would copy the files listed above to the uninfected drive. Right Clicking the drive and clicking Open would do the same (see image above).

Anti-Virus Programs.

As for the anti-virus programs, I'm using AVG which removes the files from the memory and from the storage devices, but not all of them sad to say. AVG leaves the imgkulot.reg and the Autorun.inf on the drives. As a result when you double click the infected drive, you'll get an error message that says, "imgkulot.vbs not found", (or something similar) and makes your drive inaccessible still. I'm not sure how other commercial anti-virus programs deals with imgkulot.

Removing imgkulot

So far downloading and running this imgkulot remover is the easiest and much safest. I found this file in Titu's Site when I was looking for such a remover. This is a simple batch file which removes the virus from the memory and from the infected drives and its very easy to use

• Unzip the file to your hard drive
• Double click the file.
  -it will first attempt to kill the wscript.exe from the process
  -then it will ask for the letter of the drive to be cleaned- e.g. D:
  
• Repeat the process until all drives are clean.

However, I don't see a line that cleans the registry. Although This is good enough to clean the infected storage. This and another anti-virus program like AVG can completely remove the imgkulot virus from your system.

Before I found this I made a batch file which I copy on each infected drive and run. And manually remove the imgkulot.reg from the registry and kill the wscript.exe from the process manually. Here's what I did.

• First of all kill the process from the memory.
  1.Bring up the Task Manager by pressing 'Control-Alt-Delete (Ctr-Alt-Del)' ,
  2.Click on the Processes tab.
  3. Look for Wscript.exe from the list and select it
  4. Press End Process
  This will prevent the virus from writing itself on the drive again after you delete it (next steps)
• Open the Infected Drive
  - If you right click your drive and see something like the figure above,
  the best and safest way to access it, is: From the start menu click Run…:
  On the text box type the infected drive letter - e.g C: and press the Enter key

  If you could not bring up the task bar and you get a 'Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator' message, you probably have another virus in your system that prevents this. Email me or post a message here if you do have this problem
  

• View the hidden Files
  From the main menu select Folder Options
  

  - Then Click the View Tab.
  - Then Select Show hidden files and folders
  - Then uncheck Hide protected operating system files

  
  
  -This should show you the hidden and system files.

• WARNING! Unless you know what you are doing, DO NOT DELETE OTHER FILES aside from the ones listed here
• Delete the Autorun.inf and the three files with imgkulot names.
  -imgkulot.vbs
  -imgkulot.bat
  -imgkulot.reg
  (Other known variants: bungoton.vbs,bunguton,bat, bunguton.reg and kulitot.vbs, kulitot.bat, kulitot.reg)
• For safety reasons, go to Folder options again and View Tab and select Do not Show hidden files and folders
  and Check Hide protected operating system files

Next How to Prevent Imgkulot from spreading.

Tech Blog for the Non Technical People

Welcome to Tek Bytes!

(Originally I planned to do this on the other blog server I use (click here), however it would seem that blogspot is the right spot for this blog which allows me put some features that I need for my intent and purposes. For now though I'm still experimenting with both servers, so the two will mirror all my post until I could decide.)

This blog is all about the technologies that is affects our everyday lives.

Whoa! that line just scared the wits out of me! Let's make this clear I might not be able to include here the technology behind the Voyager I, which I know it's powered by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators, (heck I don't even know what radioisotope exactly mean). No! I'm not writing an encyclopedia or something here. What will be included here are information about technologies that affects and/or being used by the common people, like personal computers, cell phones, palm tops, other stuff, with the non-technical readers in mind.

To make this welcome post short, some of the information that will be posted here in the near future will be about the following.

• Personal Computers (Hardware and Software)
  - Tips: from buying a PC, proper handling/using, Software application,
  - What's the latest?(including current pricing
  - Viruses- how to prevent/minimize damage
  - Gamings (perhaps )
• Cell phones (what's the latest features and other stuff)
• The Internet
  - Tips: Searching, surfing and others

These are some of the items that will be included in this stuff. But these stuff will be specifically for those who are not really technically inclined readers and are just searching for tips or answers for some questions they have about the computers and other hi-tech stuff they are using, like finding the "ANY KEY" on the keyboard. *grin*.

For you IT gurus out there who wants to share their knowledge though, your contributions will be highly appreciated and acknowledgment will be rightfully given for your contribution(s). just your tips/articles to tekbytes5800@yahoo.com.ph.