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/