Microsoft SBS 2003 R2 Recall

This piece of info is quite critical especially to some of us who might already had gotten SBS 2003 R2 via MSDN to test out or via RTM release channel.

The current SBS 2003 R2 which is available to the a rather small community had gone through an internal audit by Microsoft and some of the components were found to be NOT the final release build. Its a glitch which Microsoft has confirmed and since its release is not widespread, it is more viable to recall the product and relaunch rather than patching through updates.

As far as security is concerned, I strongly urge anyone who has gotten the SBS to hold off any form of production deployment because this glitch may impact your stability as well as security of the server due to the non-final (or maybe even beta) components.

The full story on CNet News.com :
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+recalls+small-business+product/2100-1010_3-6099857.html?tag=nefd.top

Heretic - The Templar Chronicles Vol 1

Its extremely rare you will find me talk about a novel. This is one of those rare times.
This is a book I finished not long ago because I was digging up heavily on the templars. However I came across this book at AMK library and I thought what the heck, looks interesting.

Well, indeed it is. The main story surrounds Cade, a man driven by vengeance to hunt down an adversary whom had resulted in his family tradgey 5 years ago. But at the same time he is also Vertican secret weapon against the forces of darkness. Cade was know also as the Heretic because of the ungodly power he possessed and because so he is both feared and respected the the fellow templars guards. The story begins with an assault on Ravenvale, one of the HQ of operations, where there was no survivors. The brutal massacre however was clouded more by evidence of dark forces at work....

More about The Templar Chronicles :
http://www.thetemplarchronicles.com/index.html

Vista is here

Its been 1 week and I lost many hair and brain cells over Windows Vista B5384...
I do have on my hands CTP B5472 however upgrading it is far more easier said then done.

Its not that vista is no good, its beta anyway. In general, it works fine on my Dell 6400 except one thing or another doesn't work. At first it was my card reader, which I fixed, but now due to some itchy fingers I install Toshiba BT stack, it knock my Bluetooth out.

As for software, I will post more. But lets talk about antivirus. Norton Antivirus 2007 Beta claim it support Vista and B5384 in particular. Well, not true. Crashed during installation. Cannot even uninstall cos when it uninstall, it will install back again. And what it left was a faulty file protection that truly protects you from any harm 100%. Ya, thats because instead of scanning, it deletes every single file I download. So, that was 0+12 hours and I has to reinstall clean Vista.

Then I kick in the Trend Micro Beta as well. It was ok for a while, but it really slow down the system and the firewall miniport drivers eventually gives way. Now I ended up with 5 faulty network device and my firewall is crippled. No can do. I cant seems to uninstall it properly as well. Well, at least Trend Micro works for a while. I managed to find inside the install files, there is a manual remove tool and it works like a charm. Trend Micro out.

Now I ended with AVG. It works for 2 days already. I do not forsee big issues as well.

Original AHS Song

浩荡嵯峨气象雄，黉舍峙，狮岛中。 圣洁公义道之宗，肇锡佳名号圣公。
咨爾多士慎磨砻，维上帝，临汝躬。 春弦夏誦莫从容, 干云之木自青葱。
进德修业树风声三教就四德成。永为基督之精兵永为邦国之干城

And that is the original. Well, I guess the new gen-Y people just think that it i too chim to understand for the gen-z students or what? The new song is simple until it almost feel like a children song. I simply feel that it cannot make it.

Anyway, if you feel so and still at least care about it, go join the petition at :
http://www.petitiononline.com/AHS2006/petition.html

New Anglican High School Song

The first time I saw the new lyrics, I goes OMG... Yes, see below and you will believe me.

浩荡圣中气象雄
如鹰展翅岛中

圣洁公义我尊崇
远近嘉名号圣公

治学立业须谦恭
师友爱乐融融

把握今天勤用功
创造锦绣之前程

进德修业树校风
向着标杆力冲

永为基督之精兵
永为邦国之忠臣

SMRT Hires gangsters to guard their trains

Surprised? Let me tell you why.'

I was at Yio Chu Kang MRT fews days back and it was really the rushing period. A security guard (well, at least he was wearing the security overcoat) was walking on the platform swinging his hand and legs like the road is his grandpa's so to speak. Anyway, I brushed him on his hand while I was rushing through. Quickly I turn around and said sorry. Guess what? He stared at me... Not, rather his look was challenging me... I can almost hear the words" Wanna Fight is it?". Very Sialan. You saw gangsters before you know actually how he LJ face look like then.

I just ignore him because I am late anyway. Guess what he STARED at me all the way from the top to the escalator and he even followed me down. I mean WTF, you can stop me and search me or what I dun mind cos thats what you are paid for. I certainly did not think SMRT pay people to stared and "cut" at their customer. Anyway, I did know if he really wanted to hit me, but I got away quickly and went to the counter where the camera can see everything. I got hold of his name "Chong Kim Siong" from the counter. And I was told also he is from Petro. Sorry, never heard of this company. Probably they hire people from 369 or 18 Xiao Yi He or something. I also asked for a complain form.

When I thought about it, I dun know if I am angry for my cowardness or angry that I did not confront him. But I guess the least I can do is to complain and ensure he do not do the same to anyone else. Come on, Singapore is a small island and space is so limited. We often bump into each other (literally) and I guess I am happy enough to even get a sorry sometimes. I dun know what is his f*cking problem, but apparently this is the type of shit you only get from gangster anyway right? (OK, I am angry now) (btw, if you are from 369 or 18xyh, correct me if I am wrong, you do stared and start fights like this right?)

What else can I say? Now you believe me SMRT hire gangsters for security?

Office Genuine Validation

The truth is here. OGV does exist. I just got a called from a friend in some 3rd world country that suddenly her Office just does not updates even though its like the nth time she tried it on the internet. The updates downloads properly alright and she even tried the admin install. It just fail to update.

After looking at about 30 mins, I notice there is this new thingie call Office Genuine Validation that appears. Another one of Microsoft Nagware... Well we still have to accept the fact that not everyone bought MS Office in the world. So, the quite obvious way to solve this is to get one. But then how do you change your license key without having to reinstall? (Presuming you got the same Office version anyway. Different version will require reinstall anyway.)

I had found the right (or so far not other better way) to do it and so I presume its nice to post and share with everyone here.

Open Regedit and go to :
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Office/11.0/Registration/
(Assuming you are using Office 2003)

There are one or more banch values depending on how much of Office have you installed. for example Frontpage will have one on its own.

Under each branch :
Rename the key "ProductID" to "OldProductID"
Rename the key "DigitalProductId" to "OldDigitalProductId"

Run the Office application and it will ask you for a new CD Key. Key in andif everything goes well, you can then delete the 2 Old keys above.

Retro Dog Cafe

Although there is a 1901 Hot Dog store right near the station at Simei, I would highly recommend this hot dog store on the 2nd or 3rd level right in the corner. Find the Japanese food and you will find this store. Operated by 3 girls as far as I saw, they have a hotdog bun (even beef) and a coke at $2. Its half the price of 1901. Well I am not saying 1901 is not nice, I had tried and loved it... At least the one in Malacca and KL. Singapore I have yet to bite on one yet.

Anyway, back to this Retro Dog Cafe. Its pretty cool place. While I was there was quiet and nice. I dun know if they will be there for very long. But I guess the place is small but cosy. And the food is not bad at all. Go take a look if you drop by Eastpoint. BTW, I would skip Pet Safari now. Its became so small I dun think Safari is the word. Maybe Pet Quarters?

Welcome to the Lift... Sorry Rebooting...

And you think Intel isn't everywhere... You are wrong. As far as this picture proves, your lift is controlled by Intel (or AMD but given the heat, highly unlikely) and quite possibly Microsoft OS as well.

This has been there at the Sim Lim Square center lift. Well done Hitachi. We already know you have a computer inside. You can fix it now. Thank You.

Emm... Now is the time I need to take apart my TV and Fridge, I bet there is an Intel chip somewhere there...

The 7th month is coming... twice!

Yeap. In case you dint know there are such thing as double month in the Lunar Calender. And this year, we actually gets 2 7th month. Well, just so happen that the 7th month is the GHOST month as well, I guess all I can say is I dont see the sunny path down the road.

For a start, I think my swimming is going to be affected. I personally do not like to go swimming during these months after the incidents so long ago. The ice cold water and the so heavy YIN air at the pool just gives me the good reason to passed. Well, liked I said, there are only a few things we can do in life to get as close to death as possible and swimming under the water surface with restricted air supply is one of them.

I dont suppose we need to burn 2x the amount for our grandparents although I am not sure if they will get their extra time here. Mum has insisted that we only treat it as one anyway. In any case, that also means if I want the bloody steak, I had better take them now than later cos my my unwilling gift. Well, thats exactly what I will do.

The Dark Side is always waiting. Waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us. Until next time, try to enjoy the Day Light...

An Auction gone terribly wrong Part 5 Final Chapter

And we all thought it was over. Well, it was, really. Just that I looked through my email and saw that cynthia has promoted my rating for Yahoo to "Good" and of course asked for one in return. Well, I will be really spineless if I do so. Some people are just worthy of the BAD rating and it is really a sin against god if we do not give even that to them.

Well, I decided to ignore the email anyway, cos I had supposely blacklisted her and her email actually.

LGM Timeshare Singapore

Finally, going to bash the timeshare company in Singapore. I had been waiting so GD long for this. Anyway, its not me doing the bashing. I had done mine... Emmm... If only I can find where I did the bashing last time....

In anyh case, this pretty much started off as the you win a prize thing, except they disguised this as a birthday party now, and the rest is pretty much the same.

I just got one recently and after I told them I am a CASE volunteer, they really slam the phone one me. F*cking rude right? Don't even have the cool to at least say goodbye. Anyway, if I get another chance I think I might want to go wired and collect a real video or something for people to see. These dirty b*astards should not be allowed to operate anyway.

The link to the document is here :
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DSX18D90

And don't miss these other juicy reports :
http://www.crimeshare.net/63.html

And apparently, LGM has been fined before :
http://www.crimeshare.net/63.html