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Life tips #12

Tips for Windows users…

And the rest of the tips…
[Read more →]

Category: Geek Alert by Ryman
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How to make a USB Drive read-only or unwritable

I was looking on how to make my USB drive read only for various reasons… (1) I have a portable USB hard drive which contains tons (Gigabits) of files which I want to share with my friends, but I’m cautious of plugging it in their computer coz of the risk of viral infection; (2) I have my forensic/security tool on my portable thumb drive so I can virtually fix any infected/corrupted computer anywhere; (3) when I plug something on a USB port (from other computers), either a mobile phone or an mp3 player or a digital camera, I don’t want it to get infected by those blasted worms and trojans that are spreading around (I’m looking at you SSCVIHOST.exe and Funny UST scandal.avi.exe viruses).

There are a lot of freewares and softwares available on the Internet to secure and protect your USB drive, but I chose this method because it is much simple to do and it just fits my needs. So here is what you need to do…

  1. On your computer (or someone else’s computer), run Registry Editor. You can do that by opening the Run box from your Start menu and typing regedit.
  2. Now navigate to this path via the folder tree on the left panel.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control
  3. Once there, create a new Key called StorageDevicePolicies. If it is already there, then just navigate inside it.
  4. Now on the new key you’ve created, create a REG_DWORD value and name it WriteProtect.
  5. Set it to 1 to make the USB drive you plugged in read-only.

You can toggle it to 0 (zero) to make it write-enable. Note that this works (tested?) only on Windows XP Service Pack 2 (or SP3).

Now if you are cautious on plugging in your USB device in your friends computer, then just do this method on their machine, provided that they are using Windows XP SP2. If their machine is already infected (or locked by an admin) and the Registry Editor doesn’t open, then follow step 3 on my post regarding removal of the SSCVIHOST.exe worm.

Oh and if you did this on another computer besides yours, remember to switch the value back to 0 (zero) so that it reverts to its default settings.

This hack is also good for locking USB drives in the workplace. Those who wants to prevent possible data theft from the office. Or just simply another security method to prevent the spread or worms and trojans.

And for simplicity sake… here are two files that will make it easier for you to change the values at the registry. Just right-click, and save file target as, to save the file on your computer.

USB-drive-read-only-off.reg
USB-drive-read-only-on.reg

These are just registry files, if you have doubts what this file will do to your registry, I recommend opening it on your notepad to see its contents.

To use it, just download, double click the file and hit Ok to merge it into your registry.

Category: Geek Alert by Ryman
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The Incredible Hulk, Tony Stark cameo, and a clipped scene

Too much time at work eh?

Ok, so yesterday my girlfriend and I watched The Incredible Hulk movie, which was great BTW. So there I was, waiting for the end of the movie expecting to see Tony Stark again. And yes he did appear and talked with the General about a group “they” are planning to organize… Remember if you’ve watched Iron Man, after the end credits, we saw Nick Fury was trying to recruit Iron Man into the Avengers Initiative. As a long time Marvel fan, a feeling of excitement went through my body.

Seeing crossovers like this on film gives you that excitement that sooner or later you will expect to see each one of your favorite heroes come together in the big screen.

Here is another one…

There are reports that the last scene was clipped from the movie…

At the end scene we see Bruce Banner walking through the plains and towards the snowy mountain. You won’t see him walking through the snow in the movie, but if you watched the trailer you will see it.

He was planning to commit suicide since he can’t find a cure to his condition. So as he was walking through the snow capped mountains, there he saw Captain America.

The details are fuzzy at this moment, but reports are saying that you can see the excluded clip when the DVD is released. Or just wait till someone uploads it to YouTube.

And Stan Lee was able to shoot the cameo. He appears as a hapless citizen who accidentally ingests a soft drink mixed with Bruce Banner’s blood, leading to the discovery of Dr. Banner’s location in a bottling plant in Brazil. [wiki]

Oh and remember Mr. Blue? Notice the gamma radiation exposure to his head? He is one of Hulk’s nemesis called The Leader. Due to the gamma, he became some sort of a super-genius.

It’s all coming together… by 2011

Category: Reel World by Ryman
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Cosplay events, Alodia, and looking for a photo hosting site

Ok so I haven’t updated in a while…

2 weeks ago I (my girlfriend and a friend) went to SMX beside Mall of Asia for the Mangaholix Mangamania 2008. I was there just to see a glimpse of the cosplay event. I attend conventions and events like these just to take videos and photos of various cosplayers of all ages (and also as an excuse to see kawaii girls in anime outfits).

Anyhoo… Alodia (one of the Philippines top cosplayer) was there as one of the judge for the cosplay event. She was wearing a Lili outfit from the video game Tekken. I didn’t got a clear shot (photo) of here because (1) she was surrounded by *lots* of bodyguards; and (2) my video cam’s battery was empty, and so was the digital camera, all I used was my mobile phone’s camera, which unfortunately was blurred because there were so many people and I couldn’t hold it steady enough. If you are her friend in Multiply (in which I am too), you can view photos of the event and photos of her.

Last Saturday was another event I went to. It was (7th) ToyCon 2008 at SM Megamall. Another reason to go there was, yup you guessed it, a cosplay event. Alodia, was one of the shows host. She was wearing a red-witch (I forgot the name, but it is from Guilty Gear) outfit on Saturday. And on the next day, she was wearing a school girl uniform holding a katana. I was there on Saturday for the individual cosplay event, but didn’t go there on Sunday for the group cosplay.

During the final minutes of the event my video cams battery ran out *again*. Sheesh… I really have to charge the thing longer. It was a brand new Energizer rechargeable battery, but it wasn’t keeping up with the camera’s usage. At least the digital camera was up and running till the later part of the event. I have a lot of photos from the event.

I’m also planning on uploading the photos, not here, but on a dedicated photo hosting service. I haven’t decided where to place it but here are my options.

  1. Flickr (Yahoo!). One of the popular photo sharing and storing service. The downside is that, as a free user, there is a limit on the number of albums you can make.
  2. Picasa (Google). Other popular choice. The downside is that I need to download a client to upload photos.
  3. Photobucket. Another promising photo storage site that I’ve been using for years. The downside is that it doesn’t have a comment system.
  4. Multiply. A good choice as it has a user comment system, and has tons of storage and category space. The downside is that you have to be my friend to view photos. I just don’t want the whole public to view my mutiply page. The photos are ok for public viewing, just not my profile.

I still haven’t decided where to place all the photos I got from the various cosplay events I’ve attended every year. If you have a good recommendation on where I can store lots of images without sacrificing (I’m looking at you photobucket!) photo size and has a comment system in which the public can rate or comment the photos, then just leave a comment below.

If I like what you’ve suggested, then I’ll try it out and place all the photos I’ve got. If it has a video option (like Flickr) then it is much better. YouTube is blocked here in the office anyway.

Category: Anime Nation, J Culture by Ryman
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What’s wrong with Vista?

I don’t really like Vista, it’s not that I hate it, I just don’t like it. There are too many complications when using and running vista. Too much hardware resources are consumed and too many restrictions. For me Vista is just eyecandy with its ’stunning’ visuals and themes, but user-control wise, it really does sux. Heck, if it is such a good software how come they released Service Pack 1 too early. Is it because it has so many security vulnerabilities and bugs? And how come large corporations and companies hesitates to upgrade to Vista?

That’s just me…

I don’t hate Microsoft altogether, Windows XP seems to perform better nowadays. And because of its latest Service Pack 3 release, it is more stable and more tight with its security. It might be up par with Windows 98 in terms of OS stability.

Moving on…

I do like this writeup…

What’s wrong with Microsoft Windows Vista?

Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system is a giant step backward for your freedoms.

Usually, new software enables you to do more with your computer. Vista, though, is designed to restrict what you can do.

Vista enforces new forms of “Digital Rights Management (DRM)”. DRM is more accurately called Digital Restrictions Management, because it is a technology that Big Media and computer companies try to impose on us all, in order to have control over how our computers are used.

Read more…

And I like this wallpaper…


(click to view larger image)

Category: Geek Alert by Ryman
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