Activate System Restore from Command Prompt

There might be instances where you are unable to access the Windows XP GUI safe mode due to some corruption. You may want to use Windows System Restore to restore to a previous backup, but you're only able to access Windows XP Safe Mode Command Prompt.

You can actually activate the System Restore using this mode. Just do the following:

1. Log on to the "Safe Mode with a command prompt" option using an administrator account
2. Type cd %systemroot%\system32\restore
3. Type rstrui

That's it. This command will trigger the system restore from the command line.

How to Apply Rights Issue Using ATM

Just recently I had the chance to apply for Rights Issue using the ATM (DBS) so I thought it would be good to note down that it's actually quite an easy process.

In your rights offer document, there will be a page stating which ATMs you can use to apply for the rights units. If it is not stated, that means the only way to apply is through the banker's draft/cashier's order.

You will just need to take note of the following 3 things before going to the ATM, other than knowing which rights issue are you applying for:

1. How many rights units are you entitled to
2. How many excess rights units are you going to apply for
3. What is your CDP No (optional)

Note that the application for rights issue is only available at the ATM Mon - Sat, up to 9.30pm. I didn't know about that until I tried to access it outside this timing.

The following are some of the steps I recalled at the ATM:

1. Go to the "Other Services", Electronic Shares Application (ESA) section. There should be an option for rights issue.
   Note that you will have to go through several disclaimer screens after that.
   
   
2. Choose the type of bank account you're deducting the cash from.
   
   
3. Choose the rights issue you're subscribing to. The cost of the rights units will be automatically displayed.
   
   
4. Key in the total number of rights units you're entitled to (e.g. 1000).
   Note that this is the total number of units, not board lot.
   
   
5. Key in the number of excess rights units you're subscribing to (e.g. 1000).
   Note that this is the total number of units, not board lot.
   
   
6. At this point, they will show you your NRIC and CDP No, and you can choose to re-key your CDP No. if it is incorrect.
   
   
7. Confirm the total number of rights units you're subscribing to, and the total amount that it will deduct.
   

That's all to it. The cash will be deducted immediately from the bank account that was selected. Note that for DBS, there's a $2 transaction fee.

The main thing you'll have to remember is the number of rights units you're entitled to. The CDP No is not even necessary as I believe that they are able to access the CDP information using your NRIC No that is linked to your ATM bank account.

Simple isn't it?

Fierce Looking Cars Causes Accident?

Just recently, I saw a SBS bus that seemed to have a smiley face when viewed from the front. That triggered my thoughts on whether there is a relationship between fierce looking cars and accidents.

I was thinking along the lines whether there will be any difference of me giving way if I see a cute "smiling" car or a fierce looking sports car signaling. Personally, I believe I will look more favorably on the "smiling" car and will more likely give way to such cars. Of course if the "smiley" car is driven by an aggressive driver, it will not make any difference but I think the shape of the car does have a certain effect.

I wonder if anyone has done statistics on such cars, in comparison with the accident rate. I believe the answer may surprise us. :)

Splitting my Limited Time is Hard Work

Sometimes I do wonder if I'm over-stretching myself in terms of commitments. My weekdays are basically "sold" to my organisation (and I do include Fridays), and my weekends are split between my guitar, my good friends and my family. Sometimes, I think I sleep lesser on weekends than weekdays due to my packed schedule. I understand that the norm is usually the other way around. Needless to say, I have close to 0 personal time. I can take as long as 1 year to complete 1 computer RPG game!

Even among my friends, I feel that I've been neglecting certain groups because I just couldn't find time to squeeze them in for a couple of hours. In fact, recently I had to miss my good friend's wedding because I couldn't manage to schedule the timing in due to other commitments. I feel quite bad over it. :(

For those schooling, treasure the time that you have. You will not have such luxury in work. Or maybe it's just my life.

Walk Faster, Live Longer?

Read an interesting article yesterday about walking speed. Some scientists have did a comparison between lifespan and the walking speed of individuals. The results show that the faster your walking speed, the more healthy you are and the longer you will live.

I did a quick search and found that walking 30 mins a day helps you to:

• increase your heart and lung fitness
• reduce risk of heart disease and stroke
• improved management of conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint and muscular pain or stiffness, and diabetes
• strengthen bones and improved balance
• increase muscle strength and endurance
• reduce body fat

Different parts of your body are all working out simultaneously while walking. The faster your average walking speed, the more healthy your body is.

Personally, I'm quite a fast walker and I think there is a ring of truth to this research. Doctors don't "like" me because I rarely visit them. In a year, I visit doctors less than the fingers on my hand. And no, I don't often eat apples. :)

How will I know for sure that this research is true? Catch me again half a century later and I will tell you. :)

Inflation is down 0.5%

These are the Singapore inflation rates for 2009:
January: 2.9%
February: 1.9%
March: 1.6%
April: -0.7%
May: -0.3%
June: -0.5%

Food and Health Care is leading the charge, rising by 2% and 3.5% respectively year on year. Inflation turned negative again(-0.7%) for housing due to the Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates. I've neglected to take into account the timing of the S&CC rebates again. The next rebates are due on September and December, but of a lesser amount than April and June. The Great Singapore Sale (GSS) also helped in lowering the inflation numbers for June.

Based on the past statistics, it would seem that July's inflation may still be positive, taking into account the recent rise in oil price. In fact, I would think from July onwards, inflation would go back to the positive zone. I guess we'll only know next month.

Hong Kong Maybe Refunding Up to 70% of the Minibond value

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the banks distributing the Minibonds have just issued a joint statement on the following in relation to the repurchase of Lehman Brothers Minibonds from eligible customers:

• Each of the banks will repurchase from each eligible customer aged below 65 all outstanding mini-bonds at 60 percent of their nominal value, and allow customers aged 65 and above to recoup at least 70 percent of their investments
  
  
• Ultimate payout to investors may be higher if the banks are able to sell the underlying collateral linked to the minibonds
  
  
• Each of the Banks will immediately implement special enhanced complaints handling procedures to resolve, in a fair and reasonable manner, all complaints in relation to the sale and distribution of other structured products
  
  
• Each of the Banks: (i) will engage an independent reviewer, to be approved by the SFC and the HKMA, to review its systems and processes relating to the sale of structured products, to report to the SFC and the HKMA and will commit to the implementation of all recommendations by the independent reviewer; and (ii) will engage a qualified third party, as approved by the SFC and the HKMA, to review and enhance complaints handling procedures, and will commit to the implementation of all recommendations by such third party.

Eligible customers will not include professional investors, corporate/non-individual investors (with specified exceptions) or experienced investors (meaning investors who in the three years preceding their first purchase of Minibonds, executed five or more transactions in Leveraged Products, Structured Products or a combination of these products). The definition also excludes those customers who have previously settled claims in relation to Minibonds with the Banks.

At least now, the investors in Hong Kong know what to expect from the process of reimbursement, and everything is spelled out. Most importantly, it's not left to the banks to decide how to reimburse the investors! Compared to the MAS guidelines which I wrote about some time back here, HKMA has done a good job in spelling out the details, and getting all the distributors to agree to it. Kudos to them.

Somehow, I feel that we're short changed again!

Microsoft released Linux codes?? All because of Hyper-V

Just read news that Microsoft actually released codes for Linux under GPL v2. However, don't read too much into it.

Why? They released Linux codes because they wanted Linux to work better on top of Hyper-V, their server virtualisation technology for Windows Server 2008. For a moment, I thought that they might be releasing codes for Samba so that Linux will have better integration in terms of file sharing with Windows machines.

Fat chance... Microsoft will always be Microsoft.

Beware of Resetting Passwords when using EFS

Just read an article recently about the Windows Encrypted File System (EFS). I admit that I'm a little hesitant about this feature of Windows ever since I heard of it. Reason is quite simple. What happens if I forget my password?

That aside, it seems that there is another point that I should worry about regarding EFS. This I think would apply more in the corporate environment than in the normal home environment. Ever got forced to change your password due to password expiry and ended up asking IT helpdesk to reset your password because of short-term memory?

Well, if you are using EFS, then you better forget about that administrator reset password feature. It seems like the key created by EFS to encrypt your files uses your password to generate the key. If your password is forced reset by the administrator, your encrypted files will be off limits to everyone as the encryption key does not match.

The only way for you to safely change your password (while maintaining access to your encrypted files) is to either change your password in your own user account, or change it through the Windows password reset feature. I have written a tip some time back on creating a password reset disk for WinXP here if interested. These 2 ways of changing the password will maintain your EFS key such that you can still open your encrypted files with it.

Bottom line... Beware of using EFS.

Arrrghh!! No Finger Nails!

This is a warning to myself. Never cut your fingernails in front of the TV, especially when you need your nails to be of a specific length and shape! Make sure the area is well-lighted too!

Grrr...

Give Yourself Recognition for Job Well Done

I quote from Spencer Tracy:

It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn't, and when it does, we may well reject it.


We should always reward ourselves if we've identified that we've made a personal breakthrough. Look at yourself through your own eyes, and not through other eyes.

The reason is quite simple. Those "other" eyes do not belong to you. You'll never be able to see what they are seeing, so why bother trying? How would you also know if the recognition given to you is real?

Give yourself encouragement for a job well done. Motivate yourself to continue learning. Sometimes, that's the only way to keep yourself going. Try not to fall into the "resentment" trap. It is a vicious cycle, and is of no help to anyone.

Much Ado about RFID Passports

Just read an interesting article on some guy going paranoid about RFID passports, thinking that he will get kidnapped or something just by reading the information stored in the RFID tag. Well, one thing is for certain. This guy does not know anything about RFID.

There are different kinds of RFID tags, and for the passive RFID tags, you'll need to get real close before you can detect the information stored in the tags. I used to handle RFID tags that could only be detected if it is tapped onto the antenna. Yes... It's that close. And guess what? These tags could not be detected if it's in close contact with a human body.

So rest assured that RFID passports won't subject you to constant scrutiny. Of course that is provided that such passive tags are in use. I do admit that there are active tags that have a longer range, but last I've heard, you still cannot detect such tags just by pointing an antenna towards a person.

RFID is not designed for such purposes.

Love Yourself

Unknown quote:

You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.


Take care of yourself, and pamper yourself at times. Increase in morale sometimes help you to think better. If you're forever drowning in negative thoughts, the negative thoughts would consume you, and you'll just feel grumpy all the time. All other thoughts will be blocked out.

So relax and just do your best.

Shortcut for Full-screen Internet Explorer

Realised recently that there is a short-cut to maximize your Internet Explorer to full-screen easily.

All you need to do is to press CTRL while double-clicking on your mouse. This only works if your Internet Explorer has not yet been maximized.

That is it... This tip also works for your Windows Explorer.

Mobile Malware on the Symbian Platform

Recently mobile malwares have become more and more prominent as smartphones are in the rage now. Recently there is a new Transmitter.C mobile malware that affects Symbian phones. The malware upon execution attempts to automatically spread by SMS-ing hundreds of messages linking to a web site where a copy of it can be found.

The malware can even detect the language of your phone and sends out the message in different languages.

So far, the only harm this virus does is to make more money for the telcos as your free SMSes will be all but depleted by the virus's relentless sending of SMSes. However, who knows what else it can do if it can commands the phone to send SMSes without a copy being in the Sent box.

This virus currently camouflages itself in a normal third party mobile phone software ”Advanced device locks” so beware of it. You can read more about this new malware here.

In a way, I'm a little relieved that you cannot programatically auto-send SMSes for the iPhone. :)

Why Bundled Data Allowance Only For a Limited Period?

The recent launch of iPhone 3GS prices and plans have a clause that leaves some people scratching their heads: "Bundled data allowance is for a limited period only, and is only applicable to customers on 2-year iFlexi Plans"

Personally my take is that consumers have nothing to worry about on this clause. How I read this clause is that the bundled data allowance is only valid for the 2 years contract period of the iFlex plan that is being subscribed. That means at the end of 2 years, the bundled data allowance may be different (lower / higher)

Why is the clause there? Business reasons I guess. The company will always want to have a clause that gives them room to maneuver. I categorise this clause as such.

Much Ado about Chrome OS Dethroning Windows

Recently there have been many articles written about Google's upcoming Chrome OS. Some say that Google is trying to dethrone Microsoft. Personally, I do not think Chrome OS has that capability. Chrome OS to me is all about simplicity in accessing the web. However I feel that Google through Chrome OS, is resurrecting the old concept of thin clients.

Just think about it. Let's say you have a netbook (small and light notebook) that has 3.5G / Wifi / Wimax capability. Switch it on, and it boots up in 10 seconds into a Chrome browser. That's it. It's just that simple. Word processing? Use Google Apps. Now with Google Gears, you do not need to be always connected, and I expect Google Apps to take full advantage of this capability.

How about file management? What happens if you download media files and you want to view it offline? I could think of a simple way. A special page embedded in Chrome OS that allows you to view the files saved in the computer. With some special protocol tagging, it's quite simple to launch some in-built apps within Chrome OS to view those files. Since Chrome browser "sandbox" each tab, there's little risk of malicious malware infecting the other tabs.

How to find those files? Look no further than the Google search engine (or Chrome search engine), and the concept of tagging. Why do you need folders if you can just put a tag, and access it through a tag cloud? Just by using tags, and sorting it according to the last created/modified date, you can easily find your files. Worst come to worst, it's Google search engine to the rescue.

How about new applications? How about a Chrome AppStore?

There are rumours of Chrome OS being available in late 2010 and some said that its unrealistic. To me, I think it is achievable if it is a thin client, with a controlled group of hardware manufacturers (Acer, Adobe, Asus, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments). The beauty of Chrome OS is that it also does not in any way canabalise the Android OS because it is serving a different market. In fact, I believe Chrome OS is built specifically to drive adoption for Google Apps, and cloud computing.

Of course all these is just my guess. I do not work in Google, and I definitely know nothing factual about the Chrome OS other than what I've been reading off the web. However, so far all that I've read points me to this conclusion.

I guess we can only wait to see if Google is indeed building a disruptive technology.

Positive Attitude

I quote from Franco Harris:

How you look at a situation is very important, for how you think about a problem may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. When you get discouraged or depressed, try changing your attitude from negative to positive and see how life can change for you. Remember, your attitude toward a situation can help you to change it -- you create the very atmosphere for defeat or victory.


Very true, but very hard to execute. How do you change from a negative view to a positive view? How can you, under all the pressure in the situation, continue to think positively without letting negative thoughts "corrupt" your victory?

Haven't the faintest idea. I guess this only comes with practice, and experience.

Accessing Storage as a Web Service

Just read an interesting explanation for cloud computing, in particular Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3). Apparently, storage is accessed in the Amazon's cloud using web service, which is part of the S3 API.

Amazon also offers another service called the Elastic Block Store (EBS). In short, it's like a mounted drive. Subscribe to it, and treat it as a mounted drive in the Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance, which is like a virtual machine.

With regards to cloud computing, I do agree that storage can be a valid business model for the cloud. Reason is quite simple. If a customer subscribes for 1 TB of data, do they use all of it at one shot? Not very likely. A business model can be built on this concept.

However, the tricky part is what data could you put in the cloud? I will not feel safe if my enterprise customers' data are all in the cloud. However, putting my customer information (non-sensitive) from a e-Store for example would still be alright.

I guess I'm still "traditional" in the sense. I still think that the public cloud is best suited for websites, forums, collaboration wikis/blogs, online storage, etc. Along the lines of non-sensitive information.

I'm still pondering the problem on how to manage a private cloud, and justify the economies of scale and the cost of maintaining it, while still bringing in cost savings. If anyone cracks it, cloud computing will be adopted quite quickly by businesses.

What's wrong with walking behind a person?

Sometimes, I really wonder whether is it kiasuism or kiasiism at work. If someone is walking at the same speed as the person in front (so you can never overtake), I do not understand why some people choose NOT to continue walking behind the person and block the whole pavement by walking to the left or to the right of the person, blocking others from "overtaking".

Either that, or some people will walk right in the middle of the pavement, thinking that they are some big gigantic dinosaur that will take up all the space.

To me, these kind of people are just downright selfish. As simple as that. Borrowing a sentence that is used regularly if you drive: "You think you own the pavement ah?".

Singtel iPhone 3GS Prices and Plans

Refer to the table below for the prices of the iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS and the plans from Singtel (Available from 10 Jul). Note that the new iPhone is the iPhone 3GS, which is only available in 16GB and 32GB.

	Monthly fee (incl GST)	Bundled data (7.2 Mbps)1	Bundled mins (out-going)	Bundled SMS/ MMS	iPhone 3G 8GB 2	iPhone 3GS 16GB	iPhone 3GS 32GB
iFlexi Lite	$39	500MB	100	500	$398	$548	$678
iFlexi Value	$56	1GB	200	500	$138	$288	$438
iFlexi Plus	$95	2GB	500	500	$0	$0	$138
iFlexi Premium	$205	3GB	1500	1500	$0	$0	$0

¹Bundled data allowance is for a limited period only, and is only applicable to customers on 2-year iFlexi Plans. Bundled data allowance is for local usage only. Excess data charges apply. While roaming overseas, prevailing data roaming charges apply.
²Only available from 10 Jul 2009.

They have finally introduced an iFlexi Lite plan for the iPhone. I was wondering previously why the Android phone has this Lite plan, but not the iPhone. Based on the statistics of my usage previously, the iFlexi Lite plan is more than enough for the average iPhone user who does not use "tethering", and does not have large e-mail attachments.

Base on the pricing of these new plans, I could see Singtel grabbing more market share from Starhub and M1. Serves both of them right in not trying to secure the iPhone 3G rights

Prohibiting Travel Now is Plain Stupid

A very simple reason for my outburst. At any time now, we can get H1N1 just by coming into contact with people affected in shopping centres, public transport, or even the food courts/hawker centres.

I do not understand the logic of companies' still prohibiting travel overseas. Does it make it less likely that we'll catch H1N1? I do not think so. For example, one of the people affected recently is a 40 year old man from AYG. I was at Raffles Shopping Centre recently, and I've seen many people from AYG. Does that mean I should be quarantined since I was in "close contact" with them? How about those people who work at Raffles Shopping Centre? Is it more dangerous for them to go overseas now, or to stay at their work place?

This rule makes no sense now at this point in time.

Good Credit Ratings are Earned

Recently, I've seen some articles written in the papers that talk about a certain fund's good credit ratings, and that it should make use of the credit ratings to support (monetary) the companies that it majority owns.

To me, I think that the writer misses the point about credit ratings. Credit ratings for any organisation are always backward looking. Meaning, it looks at the stuff you invest in, and gives you a credit rating based on it. No matter how good your credit rating is, the moment you invest in something that has a likelihood of defaulting, your credit rating drops. Do you think you will still get a AAA rating if you invest in the toxic assets for example?

There's a limit to how the fund manager can support the companies under its wing, even if its majority owned. The decision to increase the investment in any company all depends on the reason for the cash call. It has nothing to do with the current credit ratings of the big investor.

You cannot use a backward looking instrument to justify for a forward looking investment. It's that simple.

No More Travel Advisories for H1N1

Last Friday night, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it would no longer issue travel advisories to Singaporeans with regards to the H1N1 virus. It said such advisories had become less useful, as the risk of catching H1N1, whether in an affected country or in Singapore, is about equal.

Eventually, MOH will also drop the list of countries with confirmed victims, and those that have exported cases to Singapore, as more countries have stopped reporting confirmed cases. For now, however, it will retain the list on its website.

I was waiting for this statement for a long time. Reason is very simple. As of now, of the 934 cases investigated so far, 58% are local cases. What is the use of issuing travel advisories when the probability of getting hit by H1N1 in Singapore is no different if I travel elsewhere? The virus so far has been pretty mild (that doesn't mean we should let down our guard), and there are some instances where people recover without medical treatment.

The fight against H1N1 boils down to personal hygiene, and health. If your health is good, the probability of getting hit by a virus lessens. Go out for fresh air, exercise, have enough rest, and note what you eat. If you are sick, spare a thought for others and take the necessary precautions not to spread the germs around.

Healthy lifestyle = Healthy living

Self-confidence from Within

I quote from Dr Nathaniel Branden:

The tragedy is that so many people look for self-confidence and self-respect everywhere except within themselves, and so they fail in their search.


A simple, but yet powerful sentence. Somehow we have the tendency to look to our friends, relatives and families to affirm our self-confidence and self-respect. We judge ourselves through other people eyes, but how do you know if they are judging you correctly?

The person who know you best is most often yourself. Recently, I went into a mini-depression due to some comments made and my other half asked me a simple question: "Where did my self confidence go to?" That sort of enlightened me. I've always been confident about myself, and I have the trust of the people whom I have engaged previously over the years. How can I let the comments of a few people override the many things that I have done over the years? This goes to show how hurtful some comments can be.

Thank you dear for enlightening me.

Windows 7 pricing nothing to shout about

Updated 4 Jul 2009: More information about Snow Leopard USD29 pricing

From 26 Jun to 11 July, US is having a special deal for Windows 7. However as expected, Microsoft is unable to reach the price of USD29 for Snow Leopard (Apple). The pricing is as follows (bracket indicates the special deal price):

Windows 7 Edition	Upgrade	Full license
Home Premium	$120 ($50)	$200
Professional	$200 ($100)	$300
Ultimate	$220	$320

The cheapest would be USD50, much higher than Apple's USD29. Unsure why previously I see articles saying that Microsoft has a better deal, especially when the USD29 for Snow Leopard is not a promotional price. People also forget that Snow Leopard is a fully featured operating system (OS), and not some crippled OS like the many editions that Microsoft is churning out since XP. Some has done the comparison between the features of Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. However, they have left out one important point. Do you use those "extra features"?

Some said that majority of the Apple fans will not be able to qualify for the USD29 pricing (original: USD169), and only the loyal Apple fans will be able to qualify for this pricing.That is the key point. Apple does reward loyal Apple fans, unlike the recent news about Microsoft Ultimate users being left out. From my contact with Apple users, most are already running Leopard. In fact, I would say all now, due to the stock clearance that Apple resellers have been dishing out for the past month.

However if you are really an Apple user, you will know that most DO NOT rush out to buy the operating system upgrade. If they do upgrade, they will upgrade the whole computer. I've been using computers for over 10 years, and I could only remember upgrading the operating system ONCE (and I regretted it) without a corresponding hardware upgrade.

Is Windows 7 still a good buy? Only when you're getting a new computer because you have delayed getting a new one due to Vista. If the choice is mine, I'll still rather wait for Snow Leopard. Why do you need Windows if all you do is to surf internet, do some word processing, and manage videos/pictures?

Why Transformers 2 sucks

Transformers 2 is the worst show I've watched so far this year. Some whom I asked commented that it is okay, but when I queried them on the specifics, none has the answer, and some do not bother about it.

Animation aside, first and foremost, have you ever wondered which 3 robots ganged up on Optimus Prime? How about the very first "dizzy" battle where there's one gigantic robot with a big wheel? How about the final battle where you see so many robots, and you don't know one from another? Why are there so many Decepticons, but only so few Autobots?

Let's say you're not looking at the story. Even the transforming sucks. The main point about transformers is that people enjoy seeing them transform. Each transformer has its own characteristics, personality, quirks, etc. That was what made it popular. In the show, why the heck do you zoom in when a robot is transforming? Do you see the TV camera man zooming in on the person's face when the person is dancing? Do you see them zoom in when a dance group is performing some act?

Some say it's a budget problem. To me, I think that's just an excuse. If your story is good, you can always make do with only a few robots, but show them in their full glory. Movie goers nowadays are looking for quality, not quantity.

To me, I'm banning Transformers. It's not worth it to watch this kind of quality. I rather save the money and watch some other shows. For your information, a couple walked out of the movie theatre halfway through the show when I was watching it, and you can even smell medicated oil during the movie.

Yes, it's that bad.