The Shift in Life!!

There was a time when we wud run all d way upto school, sleep throughout d morning assembly under d pretext of being deeply involved in d prayers & then wait for d fun day to begin.

D temporary seating arrangements wud keep changing by d week. But one wud constantly keep hoping tat one of d days we would accidentally get to sit nxt 2 our crush in d classroom.

Incessantly chatting wid d teachers. Trying ur level bst to make sure tat they favor u ovr d rest.

Making friends wid all d dons of d class, for help during Pangas

Eagerly waiting for d P.T period & cursing d lazy teacher when she wouldn’t let you go play, conveniently claiming tat it is pouring outside.

Taking good advantage of ur prefect title whenever you are in a mood to bunk.

Slipping out of d class right under d nose of d teacher when you simply can’t stand her boring lectures

All along making her believe tat d prefect is out to do some good for d school.

Seeing a fellow student being thrashed by d principal wid a weapon as lethal as d school handbook.

Suppressing d big nasty smile tat appears on ur face when ur friend gives a funny sounding reply to d teacher.

Teasing d teachers for their funny accents, linking them up wid each other & making fairytales out of tat.

Making place for ur partners in crime in d school loo which serves as a fantastic hiding place when a dangerous class test is under progress.

Running helter skelter when u get d news tat d principal is on her way to ur secret hideout.

Purposely taking part in extra curricular activities so tat you get a good solid reason 2 stay out of class during d Marathi lecture.

Tactfully including all ur favorite classmates in d dance events jst to hav a gala time during d never ending practices.

Crying ur lungs out when u get ur first bad remark
Praying tat d pen mark wud miraculously get erased by d time ur parents get hold of d calendar.

Dreading d Open-day which ur teachers eagerly look forward to.

Hoping tat atleast this time d teacher wont start comparing you wid ur brilliant sister infront of ur mum dad.

Hitting d closest mall in d city wid ur gang each time d exams get over.

Shrugging off d ghastly looks passed by d mall employees when u march ahead wid ur jhingbang wid d clear intention of window shopping

Yet waiting at each counter wid an expression which says tat you are too keen to buy d expensive looking product at hand when all along u know u hav nothing but a 100 rupee note in ur pocket.

Going down to d old & reliable (read cheap) McDonalds at d base of Crossroads & hogging on a Chicken McGrill & a McSwirl.

Waiting wid bated breaths to see as to who amongst ur group members is kind enough to pay d bill this time.

If people hav surpassed tat kindness long ago then getting out all ur chillars & pushing it out on a plate much to d waiter’s disgust.

Hopping in2 a bus & buying tickets for twelve. Muffling d horrified scream tat escapes ur lips when a super intelligent friend absent mindedly tears off d tickets right infront of ur eyes.

Praying wid all ur heart tat d TC’s are on a strike tat day & scanning d bus stop from a distance for signs of d blue clothed man.

Loving d adventurous day spent wid ur group & wondering how u all would do without each other in d times to come

Shrugging off d idea of separation after school, promising each other tat d group will remain intact, d meetings & outings & d fun part will not evaporate as time passes by.

But then d time does pass by, best friends who could not live without each other’s company learn to face life all alone.

Mayb they become so independent tat straying away from ur older lot becomes d most natural thing to do....

But yes there are some weirdo’s like us who can’t help but cling on to those very memories which we consider as d glorious days of our lives.

And for us poor souls, rewinding & forwarding d cassettes of those memories in d tape recorders of our minds, becomes d chief key to leading a pleasurable life ahead.

Netscape in Web 1.0 vs Google in Web 2.0

Netscape vs. Google

If Netscape was the standard bearer for Web 1.0, Google is most certainly the standard bearer for Web 2.0, if only because their respective IPOs were defining events for each era. So let's start with a comparison of these two companies and their positioning.

Netscape framed "the web as platform" in terms of the old software paradigm: their flagship product was the web browser, a desktop application, and their strategy was to use their dominance in the browser market to establish a market for high-priced server products. Control over standards for displaying content and applications in the browser would, in theory, give Netscape the kind of market power enjoyed by Microsoft in the PC market. Much like the "horseless carriage" framed the automobile as an extension of the familiar, Netscape promoted a "webtop" to replace the desktop, and planned to populate that webtop with information updates and applets pushed to the webtop by information providers who would purchase Netscape servers.

In the end, both web browsers and web servers turned out to be commodities, and value moved "up the stack" to services delivered over the web platform.

Google, by contrast, began its life as a native web application, never sold or packaged, but delivered as a service, with customers paying, directly or indirectly, for the use of that service. None of the trappings of the old software industry are present. No scheduled software releases, just continuous improvement. No licensing or sale, just usage. No porting to different platforms so that customers can run the software on their own equipment, just a massively scalable collection of commodity PCs running open source operating systems plus homegrown applications and utilities that no one outside the company ever gets to see.

At bottom, Google requires a competency that Netscape never needed: database management. Google isn't just a collection of software tools, it's a specialized database. Without the data, the tools are useless; without the software, the data is unmanageable. Software licensing and control over APIs--the lever of power in the previous era--is irrelevant because the software never need be distributed but only performed, and also because without the ability to collect and manage the data, the software is of little use. In fact, the value of the software is proportional to the scale and dynamism of the data it helps to manage.

Google's service is not a server--though it is delivered by a massive collection of internet servers--nor a browser--though it is experienced by the user within the browser. Nor does its flagship search service even host the content that it enables users to find. Much like a phone call, which happens not just on the phones at either end of the call, but on the network in between, Google happens in the space between browser and search engine and destination content server, as an enabler or middleman between the user and his or her online experience.

While both Netscape and Google could be described as software companies, it's clear that Netscape belonged to the same software world as Lotus, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and other companies that got their start in the 1980's software revolution, while Google's fellows are other internet applications like eBay, Amazon, Napster, and yes, DoubleClick and Akamai.

Free useful Stuff .....

Here is a list of Stuff that are very much useful and yeah also free ......
Stuff includes free softwares, free antivirus , free anti-spyware , free network tools etc. ....
Check it out urself

Antivirus:
AVG - http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php
Avast - http://www.avast.com/
AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/
Panda ActiveScan - http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan

Audio Players:
Foobar2000 - http://www.foobar2000.org/
Sonique - http://sonique.lycos.com/
iTunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/
jetAudio - http://www.jetaudio.com/
QCD - http://www.quinnware.com/
Winamp - http://www.winamp.com/

Audio Utilities:
CDex - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
dbPowerAMP Music Converter - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

CD Recording:
ASPI Drivers - http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/sup...duct/ASPI-4.70
CD/DVD Burner XP - http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
Burn 4 Free - http://www.burn4free.com/

CD Utilities:
Daemon Tools - http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/portal/portal.php

Download Managers:
WackGet - http://millweed.com/projects/wackget/
LeechGet - http://www.leechget.net/en/
wget for Windows - http://xoomer.virgilio.it/hherold/

Encryption:
PGP Freeware Edition - http://www.pgp.com/products/freeware.html
Axcrypt - http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/
GnuPG - http://www.gnupg.org/

Firewall:
ZoneAlarm - http://www.zonelabs.com/
Sygate Personal Firewall - http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm
Kerio Personal Firewall - http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html
Outpost - http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html

GUI Utilities:
Tclock - http://homepage1.nifty.com/kazubon/tclock/index.html
IconPhile - http://www.virtualplastic.net/scrow/iphile.html
PowerMenu - http://www.veridicus.com/tummy/programming/powermenu/
Glass2k - http://www.chime.tv/products/glass2k.shtml
D-Color XP - http://dliboon.freeshell.org/products/dcolor/index.php
CursorXP - http://www.stardock.com/products/cursorxp/download.html
MobyDock - http://www.mobydock.com/
Samurize - http://www.samurize.com/

Image Viewers:
IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.com/
iBrowser - http://ibrowser.fcodersoft.com/
AhaView - http://www.aha-soft.com/ahaview/free.htm

Instant Messaging:
Miranda IM - http://www.miranda-im.org/
Gaim - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
Trillian - http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/downloads/
Yahoo Instant Messenger - http://messenger.yahoo.com/
MSN Messenger - http://messenger.msn.com/
AOL Instant Messenger - http://www.aim.com/
ICQ - http://www.icq.com
Jabber - http://www.jabber.org/

Networking:
Putty Telnet/SSH Client - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
IP Tools - http://www.ks-soft.net/ip-tools.eng/
Ethereal Protocol Analyzer - http://www.ethereal.com/
HyperTerminal Private Edition - http://www.hilgraeve.com/htpe/download.html
RealVNC - http://www.realvnc.com/
Nmap - http://www.insecure.org/nmap/

Programming:
ActivePerl - http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/
jEdit - http://www.jedit.org/
Dev-C++ - http://www.bloodshed.net/
MySQL - http://www.mysql.com
SciTE - http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html

Publication/Document Manipulation:
OpenOffice.org - http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
AbiWord - http://www.abisource.com/download/

Spyware Protection:
Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
Spybot: Search & Destroy - http://spybot.safer-networking.de/
CWShredder - http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
Hijack This - http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
IE-SPYAD - http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm#IESPYAD
SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com

System Utilities:
BootVis - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664
Resource Hacker - http://www.users.on.net/~johnson/resourcehacker/
PC Inspector File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
Motherboard Monitor - http://mbm.livewiredev.com/
Sysinternals Utilities - http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/utilities.shtml
WCPUID - http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002.../download.html

Video Players:
BSPlayer - http://www.bsplayer.org/
Core Media Player - http://www.tcmp.org/
Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...group_id=82303
VideoLAN - http://www.videolan.org/
Zoom Player - http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_download.shtml

Video Utilities:
KVCD - http://www.KVCD.net
TMPGEnc - http://www.tmpgenc.net/
VirtualDUB - http://www.virtualdub.org/

Web Browsers:
Mozilla FireFox - http://www.mozilla.org/download.html
Mozilla - http://www.mozilla.org/
Netscape - http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp
MyIE2 - http://www.myie2.com/
Avantbrowser - http://www.avantbrowser.com/
SlimBrowser - http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/sbrowser.htm

Web/FTP Servers:
SlimFTPd - http://www.whitsoftdev.com/slimftpd/
Filezilla - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
Xitami - http://www.xitami.com/
Apache - http://www.apache.org/
Savant - http://savant.sourceforge.net/

Star Wars episode 4 A New Hope

Believe it or not you can watch the entire movie in ASCII and man its fun to watch!!!
Windows XP - Star wars episode 4 a new hope
1. Open Windows XP and go to Start, then run.
2. Type in or copy "telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl" without the commas.
3. Sit back and watch the ASCII movie

Man oh man!!
Enjoy!!
Here are some scenes from the movie .....







Couldnt do more screenies since i didnt wanna miss the movie .... check it out urself!!

ISPs should pay for the music U2 made!!

Popular Rock band U2's manager says they must share revenues in a way that reflects what music is doing for them, and that Silicon Valley's "liberal hippy values" is to blame for its inability to figure out how to create a system for paying for music.

Paul McGuinness, U2's longtime band manager, gave a speech at a Music Matters confab in Hong Kong a few days ago criticizing ISPs around the globe for not doing more to combat the flow of copyrighted material on their networks.

He argues that they and others have been rewarded handsomely over the years at the music industry's expense.


"Where has all the money gone?" he asks.

"The answer is that it has gone to corporations – cable operators, ISPs, device manufacturers, P2P software companies - companies that have used music to drive vast revenues from broadband subscriptions and from advertising. They would argue they have been neutral bystanders to the spectacular devaluation of music and the consequent turmoil in the music business; I don’t believe that is true – they turned their heads the other way, watched their subscriptions grow, and profited handsomely," he adds.

McGuiness claims that 80% of all Internet traffic is P2P-related, an amazingly bloated figure that is more likely around 37% thanks to the exponential rise in video streaming services like YouTube and others. He uses this erroneous figure to then argue that a large amount of an ISP's profits is thereby earned on the backs of the music industry whose profits have diminished as theirs have soared.

It stands to reason, in his mind, that ISPs should have a "...real commercial partnership with the music business in which they fairly share their revenues."

"One way or another, ISPs and mobile operators are the business partners of the future for the recorded music business – but they are going to have to share the money in a way that reflects what music is doing for their business," later says.

The "one way" is willingly, the other is legislatively.

Could anything be more disgusting? If each of the various types of copyright holders forged "commercial partnerships" with ISPs the Internet would be utterly recognizable. Rather than an "information superhighway" it'd be Main St, USA where billboards are plastered everywhere and overzealous beat cops watch your every move for signs of illegal behavior.

Probably the most boldest charge of all is leveled against the "...internet freethinking culture of California and Silicon Valley." The very people and companies who have put the power of knowledge back into the hands of the people are singled out for their egalitarian ways.

"They are fantastic entrepreneurs, wonderful engineers," he says. "Their passion for innovation and liberal hippy values in one sense sit very well with the creativity of the music business. But at a deeper level, there is a bigger problem and it’s one those brilliant minds never resolved: I’m talking about the problem of paying for music."

Talk about blaming the wrong people. Is it really the job of some of the brightest minds on the world to figure out how the record biz could survive and turn a profit? I mean it shouldn't take a Stanford MBA to realize: a) don't sue your customers, b) 2008 is the year to finally fully embrace digital distribution since customers have been embracing it since 1999, c) albums are overpriced, d) that the focus should be on making good albums not good profits.

List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows!!

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.


Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box



acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.




Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog


internetbrowser

type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it


For Windows XP:

Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:

To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE

If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:


Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

accessibility keyboard shortcuts:

Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U

shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:


Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW

Microsoft vs General Motors

At a recent computer expo(COMDEX),Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,"If GM (General Motors) had kept up with technology like the computer industry has,we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments,General Motors issued a press release stating:If GM had developed technology like Microsoft,we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:


1.For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2.Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3.Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason.You would have to pull to the side of the road,close all of the windows, shut off the car,restart it,and reopen the windows before you could continue.For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally,executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart,in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5.Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask,"Are you sure?"before deploying.

8. Occasionally,for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle,turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Can't Log On to Windows XP?

If thats your only problem, then you probably have nothing to worry about. As long as you have your Windows XP CD, you can get back into your system using a simple but effective method made possible by a little known access hole in Windows XP.

This method is easy enough for newbies to follow. It doesnt require using the Recovery Console or any complicated commands. And its free.


Your sole problem is the inability to logon to Windows due to a forgotten password. Heres how to solve this using the Repair function of xp cd with a step-by-step description of the initial Repair process included for newbies.

1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (its assumed here that your XP CD is bootable  as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)

2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be Press any key to boot from cd

3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files.

4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.

It should read something like If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it

Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

8. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically  you will see a progress bar stating Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds

9. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of pressing any key to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

12. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After youve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

13. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

I tested the above on Windows XP Pro with and without SP1 and also used this method in a real situation where someone could not remember their password and it worked like a charm to fix the problem. This security hole allows access to more than just user accounts. You can also access the Registry and Policy Editor, for example. And its gui access with mouse control. Of course, a Product Key will be needed to continue with the Repair after making the changes, but for anyone intent on gaining access to your system, this would be no problem.

And in case you are wondering, NO, you cannot cancel install after making the changes and expect to logon with your new password.

Cancelling will just result in Setup resuming at bootup and your changes will be lost.

Ok, now that your logon problem is fixed, you should make a point to prevent it from ever happening again by creating a Password Reset Disk. This is a floppy disk you can use in the event you ever forget your log on password. It allows you to set a new password.

Here's how to create one if your computer is NOT on a domain:


* Go to the Control Panel and open up User Accounts.
* Choose your account (under Pick An Account to Change) and under Related Tasks, click "Prevent a forgotten password".
* This will initiate a wizard.
* Click Next and then insert a blank formatted floppy disk into your A: drive.
* Click Next and enter your logon password in the password box.
* Click Next to begin the creation of your Password disk.
* Once completed, label and save the disk to a safe place

How to Log on to your PC Using Your Password Reset Disk

Start your computer and at the logon screen, click your user name and leave the password box blank or just type in anything. This will bring up a Logon Failure box and you will then see the option to use your Password Reset disk to create a new password. Click it which will initiate the Password Reset wizard. Insert your password reset disk into your floppy drive and follow the wizard which will let you choose a new password to use for your account.

Note: If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure for creating a password disk is different.

Buying a Nokia?? Dont get fooled.

India has the 2nd largest mobile phone subscriber base in the world and we Indians swear by Nokia. A few simple steps to make sure your new phone is indeed new!

You can buy a Nokia cell phone from anywhere, large format retail stores like Croma, your pehchanwala dealer or even the Pan shop! (For the purpose of warranty, any Nokia phone under warranty, if spoilt, has to be taken to a Nokia authorized service center. The shopkeeper will not entertain you)

Coming back to buying, Shopkeepers will not let you open the box, as the seal will have to be removed. That's a good sign. Just keep in mind these things to identify a legitimate phone. All steps pertain to the box as that is all you can see at the time of purchase.

If the box is tampered with, you could end up with one of these circumstances

1. A used phone.

2. Battery or any other accessory replaced or missing. Battery is of utmost significance, as an original battery costs upwards of Rs. 1500. Now, you dont want to end up with a used battery for a new phone.

Please Note: Phones bought in the grey market are also genuine (most of them, if not rip-offs) but are out of warranty i.e. Nokia India will not Honor the 1 year warranty.

1) Just make sure the box is sealed. Nokia has an interesting seal, which when peeled, leaves a chequered impression. The shopkeepers generally put back the sticker/seal, but the chequered impression remains. If you see the chequered impression, it means the seal has been opened.




2) Ask for a Bill (Cash Memo).


3) The official ones (whoz duties have been paid) will have an 'ICA' (Indian Cellular Association) hologram type sticker on the box.




4) And lastly the name of the importer will be mentioned as: Nokia India Pvt Limited at the side of the box.

Want a Cookie?? Think about it!

.: The Cookie Concept :

The WWW is built on a very simple, but powerful premise. All material on the Web is formatted in a general, uniform format called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and all information requests and responses conform to a similarly standard protocol. When someone accesses a server on the Web, such as the Library of Congress, the user's Web browser will send an information request to the Library of Congress' computer. This computer is called a Web server. The Web server will respond to the request by transmitting the desired information to the user's computer. There, the user's browser will display the received information on the user's screen.

Cookies are pieces of information generated by a Web server and stored in the user's computer, ready for future access. Cookies are embedded in the HTML information flowing back and forth between the user's computer and the servers. Cookies were implemented to allow user-side customization of Web information. For example, cookies are used to personalize Web search engines, to allow users to participate in WWW-wide contests (but only once!), and to store shopping lists of items a user has selected while browsing through a virtual shopping mall.

Essentially, cookies make use of user-specific information transmitted by the Web server onto the user's computer so that the information might be available for later access by itself or other servers. In most cases, not only does the storage of personal information into a cookie go unnoticed, so does access to it. Web servers automatically gain access to relevant cookies whenever the user establishes a connection to them, usually in the form of Web requests.

Cookies are based on a two-stage process. First the cookie is stored in the user's computer without their consent or knowledge. For example, with customizable Web search engines like My Yahoo!, a user selects categories of interest from the Web page. The Web server then creates a specific cookie, which is essentially a tagged string of text containing the user's preferences, and it transmits this cookie to the user's computer. The user's Web browser, if cookie-savvy, receives the cookie and stores it in a special file called a cookie list. This happens without any notification or user consent. As a result, personal information (in this case the user's category preferences) is formatted by the Web server, transmitted, and saved by the user's computer.

During the second stage, the cookie is clandestinely and automatically transferred from the user's machine to a Web server. Whenever a user directs her Web browser to display a certain Web page from the server, the browser will, without the user's knowledge, transmit the cookie containing personal information to the Web server.


.: The Dark Side :
Using Find File, look for a file called cookies.txt (or MagicCookie if you have a Mac machine). Using a text editor, open the file and take a look. If you've been doing any browsing, the odds are about 80/20 that you'll find a cookie in there from someone called "doubleclick.net".

If you're like me, you never went to a site called "doubleclick". So how did they give you a cookie? After all, the idea of the cookie, according to the specs published by Netscape, is to make a more efficient connection between the server the delivers the cookie and the client machine which receives it. But we have never connected to "doubleclick".

Close MagicCookie, connect to the Internet, and jump to DoubleClick: Digital Advertising Read all about how they are going to make money giving us cookies we don't know about, collecting data on all World Wide Web users, and delivering targeted REAL TIME marketing based on our cookies and our profiles. Pay special attention to the information at:advertising/howads.htm You'll see that the folks at "doubleclick" make the point that this entire transaction (between their server and your machine) is transparent to the user. In plain English, that means you'll never know what hit you. So what's happening is, subscribers to the doubleclick service put a "cookie request" on their home page for the DoubleClick Cookie.

When you hit such a site, it requests the cookie and take a look to see who you are, and any other information in your cookie file. It then sends a request to "doubleclick" with your ID, requesting all available marketing information about you. (They're very coy about where this information comes from, but it seems clear that at least some of it comes from your record of hitting "doubleclick" enabled sites.) You then receive specially targetted marketing banners from the site. In other words, if Helmut Newton and I log on to the same site at the exact same time, I'll see ads for wetsuits and basketballs, and Helmut will see ads for cameras. If you log in to a "doubleclick" enabled site, and it sends a request for your "doubleclick" cookie, and you don't have one, why each and every one of those sites will hand you a "doubleclick" cookie. Neat, huh? And you can bet they're going to be rolling in the cookie dough.

The main concern is that all this is done without anyone's knowledge. Some people may find the gathering of any information invasive to their privacy, but to the average level headed personal, the use of this information is harmless in itself as long as you know the limitations of these networks, who is collecting what information and for what purpose. On the other hand, what right should anyone have to collect information about me without my knowledge, and why should they break my right to privacy, you have to find the right balance between these views. One of the main issues is awareness.

So much for making the "client-server negotiation more efficient", whatever your view on tracking, the cookie protocol has certainly been manipulated for this use, against its original intent. Note that recent versions of Netscape have an option to show an alert before accepting a cookie and they also allow you to block cookies completely, see the Version 4 update and the Stopping Cookies page for more detailed information.


This is what other surfers did to work around Cookies

A suggested way to handle this was to delete the file and then replace it with a write-protected, zero-length file of the same name. It's not my suggestion (and I don't remember who did suggested it) but I did that on my system and that same zero-length, write protected file is still there. I surf to literally hundreds of WWW pages per month and if any of them handed me a "cookie", it sure didn't take. I can't provide a guarantee that this will prevent someone from handing you a "cookie" but if they do it will be very obvious by the non-zero length file size.


In Internet Explorer

Actually, if you want to keep cookies but want rid of the double-click place and other future invasions in the future, try this: Internet Explorer 3.0 no longer has a single cookies.txt it has a folder in the windows directory with lots of individual txt file inside. Find the double-click one and corrupt it so that double-click recognizes and doesn't replace it but it gives it no information. Then lock the file.


In Netscape

I have found a way to protect myself from the "Cookie Monster". My cookies.txt and netscape.hst files are set to 0 (zero) bytes and are attributed as system, hidden, and read only. This seems to work very well in Netscape Navigator 2.02 (32 bit). You can do the same thing, if you choose. There seems to be a slight problem in some of the sites that will allow you to configure them to your preferences, but I'll trade security for convenience any day. I use an app from Privnet called Internet Fast Forward. It will block out cookies (you can also filter them selectively... let certain cookies for site preferences through, block all others), ad images, images larger than a certain size in KB, images that you select. It's currently in beta, but is a very good app.


.: New Technology or Existing Technology Under Attack
The Cookie Protocol was originally designed for consumer convenience and not to be malicious, the cookie is just another tool on the web, but it is the way in which some sites implement that tool that can cause problems, mainly privacy problems.

But, a coalition of privacy advocates is setting out to change that protocol. A new proposal being put forward to the IETF, as well as the heads of Microsoft and Netscape corporations'. If enforced, it would limit the persistence of cookies and give the user a wider choice of which cookies to allow and from where. If the new specification is implemented as a standard, it will be integrated into all mainstream browsers in time. This would give people wider options in their standard browser, rather than having to purchase additional software.

The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is a non-profit organisation with thousands of members, and currently holds a lot influence on decisions deciding the future of the web, set up October 1996.

Another part of the proposal, would require browsers to at least warn before accepting cookies by default, so that cookies are less transparent to new users, and users currently unaware of cookies. "We want the defaults set in such a way that no one can send you a cookie without you knowing it," said Marc Rotenberg, director of EPIC one of the organisations that supports the new proposal.

Current Organisations backing the new proposal are: Center for Media Education, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the Consumer Project on Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

The most controversial issue of the proposal is the ability to limit or altogether stop cookie requests from third party servers. This is the one feature which additional client software cannot stop. This would throw the future of targeted marketing firms into jeopardy. Many sites now use these companies or use banners from third party servers for their advertising. On a site that obtains its advertisements from a third party server, there would be a request on the page to the other server. Because a cookie can be placed on any object, when the site requests the banner from the other site, it would then read or set a cookie.

The request for the banner then sets a cookie, then returns an advertising image. The cookie with the image request could then record what adverts had been displayed to the user and which banners they had clicked on. If the client went to another site which obtained its adverts from the same server, when that page requested the banner from the third party server it would read the same cookie then it would be able to display adverts which have been customised from the data on the cookie, so they would not see the same adverts again (unless a company paid for it to be displayed again), another variable would be set to the cookie indicating that they have visited that site, all this information gathered can be used to build up a detailed profile of the users likes, dislikes and where they go, so they target advertisement even more accurately at the user. Over a long period of time this would become very accurate. To some people having advertisements that are to their liking are not that bad. Indeed I would rather be downloading a banner that may interest me, rather than an advertisement of no relevance to me at all.

If you think of this information being gathered about you in a central place, it becomes a daunting thought. Even though these targeted marketing companies cannot use a cookie to obtain personal information from your computer like your name or e-mail address, they could however aggregate information you revealed to disparate sites. For instance, if you went to a site with lax privacy standards and decided to submit your name and e-mail address, this information may be passed on and then coupled with a database of your likes, dislikes and advertising statistics. Some contend this does not constitute an invasion of privacy, however the widespread and automated nature of this technology enables the collection of data without people’s knowledge, this certainly takes away the perceived anonymity of the web.

Some people may think this is an invasion of privacy, and others do not, but this proposal will hopefully have the outcome of giving people a choice.

Examples of these so called 'targeted marketing' companies are : Doubleclick, Focalink, Globaltrack, ADSmart, all of these companies use cookies to target advertisements at you, at their enabled sites. If the proposal goes through, and the cookie protocol amended to disallow cookies from third party servers, the future of these targeted marketing companies would be very dark indeed. Currently, the cookies used in targeted marketing are set automatically and can only follow an number of variables, users appear anonymous to these companies unless they voluntarily surrender personal information.

Hopefully the proposal will result in giving you more choice and control over your privacy, because these technologies affect you, people should have the choice of controlling them.

The Persistent Cookie protocol was first developed by Netscape to maintain state in the stateless environment of HTTP. It has turned out to have many uses, good and bad, and many far from its original intent in the first place. The subject of cookies and other invasive technologies has touched on a very controversial issue of privacy, which we have temporally lost on the net. Since they were first introduced a few years ago, the protocol has changed before, in the past any site could view all the cookies in the jar, but this was coupled with more serious and concerning problems in Java. The new proposal will take a lot of time to implement, a lot of hard decisions have to be settled before the resulting standard is set. It has taken until Internet Explorer 6 before Microsoft have taken time to implement P3P. Some of those decisions may effect the futures of a lot of marketing companies, which for now are very secure.

So If cookies are so much of a nuisance why was they developed in the first place?

The first batch of cookies were originally cooked up as simple mechanism to help make it easier for users to access their favorite Web sites without having to go through a lengthy process of identifying themselves every time they visit. For instance, upon your first visit to a given site, you may be asked to reveal your name and perhaps even some personal or financial information required to gain access to that site in the future. The site will then place a cookie containing this information on your system and when you return it will request information based on the cookie to determine who you are and whether you have authorization to access the site.

Unfortunately, the original intent of the cookie has been subverted by some unscrupulous entities who have found a way to use this process to actually track your movements across the Web. They do this by surreptitiously planting their cookies and then retrieving them in such a way that allows them to build detailed profiles of your interests, spending habits, and lifestyle. On the surface, this practice may seem harmless and hardly worth fretting over since the worst thing most imagine is that corporate concerns will use this information to devise annoying, yet relatively innocuous advertising campaigns, targeted towards specific groups or individuals. However, it is rather scary to contemplate how such an intimate knowledge of our personal preferences and private activities might eventually be used to brand each of us as members of a particular group.

But remember a site only knows what information you have entered. Not all cookies are bad, they can also provide useful functions on the web.


(Was jst cleaning up my HDD .. found out this little file which i had compiled from various diff sites.. hope it made an interesting read .. mite be old .. bt this article was missing here...)

Shutdown ur PC after a specified time limit

Right click on your desktop and choose "New=>shortcuts".

Step 2:

In the box that says "Type the location of the shortcut",
type in "shutdown -s -t 3600" without the quotation marks and click next.

Note: 3600 are the amount of seconds before your computer shuts down. So , 60secs*60mins=3600secs.

Step 3:

Make up a name for the shortcut and you're done.
You can change the icon by right clicking=>properities=>change icon=>browse.

To abort

To make an abort key to stop the shutdown timer just create another shortcut and make
the "location of the shortcut" to " shutdown -a" without the quotes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Here is another trick to shutdown at a specific time, for example you wish to shutdown at 11:35am. Type this in
CODE
start=>Run

Type Code: at 11:35 shutdown -s


to abort

Code:

shutdown -a

all time is in 24hr

Get set for Linux!!

That day, Elcot's managing director, C. Umashankar, walked into his office in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and was handed a brand new laptop. He recalls promptly giving it back to his PA. "I asked him to load Suse Linux on it. I guess he was surprised. But when the installation -- complete with drivers and wireless networking -- only took 45 minutes and very little external effort, there was a new confidence in my PA." That confidence spread quickly. And with it came more penguins. Within weeks, the Rs 750-crore(Can$192 million)Elcot was undergoing a enterprise-wide migration to Suse Linux. A year later, Umashankar and his team had moved 30,000 computers and 1,880 severs belonging to some of the state's schools to Linux -- creating possibly the largest Linux rollout in India.

March of the Penguins

The decision to move to Linux could not have been anything if not daunting. As the nodal agency for information and communication technology of a state with the population of the UK, Elcot has enormous responsibilities -- current projects include creating an electoral database and photo identity cards, computerizing land records and driving licenses, producing eight million farmers cards and 18 million family cards (used by families below the poverty line to draw monthly rations from the PDS), among others. In short, there are a million ways they can blow it.

And with no vendor support, the odds were against them.

Meanwhile, in his office, Umashankar had other problems. Like many pioneers, his vision held good only where his voice reached. Leading his secretariat to his vision of the Linux-enabled enterprise was one thing, convincing other government agencies that Elcot shifted gears with, was another.

But Umashankar knew what needed to be done. He was convinced that it was only a matter of time before the price of staying proprietary became crushing. With every technology refresh, with every piece of additional hardware, with every new school that his department provided for, with every new service they wanted to offer various government bodies and with every new PC Elcot bought, staying proprietary came at a significant price.

By the first week of June 2006, Umashankar started moving Elcot's desktops to Suse Linux OS. The entire organization followed in phases, and slowly at first. The migration of over 200 desktops at Elcot's HQ took just over eight months.

"During the migration although there were no issues, like all new things, it faced resistance. But once people started using it, they saw benefits and became fond of it. We won't go back, this is an irreversible process," says P.R.Krishnamoorthy, senior business development manager at Elcot.

As users caught on with Umashankar's infectious enthusiasm, they started getting more familiar with the features of their new OS. Soon a cycle of interest developed and users found new ways of switching mail clients to work on Suse Linux.

"First they migrated from Outlook Express to Mozilla Thunderbird for Windows. From there they took the mail folder and put it into the Suse Linux system, and started operating Thunderbird over Suse Linux system. Novel, isn't it?" Umashankar asks proudly.

This interest helped his campaign to migrate completely to Suse Linux, from a 100 percent Windows environment.

But why Suse Linux? To begin with, Elcot found that the Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop matched and surpassed the Windows OS where ease of use was concerned.

But initially, Elcot thought that half their desktops should be commissioned with Red Hat and other half with Suse.

Later, because of its user-friendly interface and backed by popular demand, users decided to migrate to Suse Linux en-masse.

"Our aim was to migrate to Linux and not a particular version of Linux. We had issues with Red Hat in certain areas. Ubuntu has only Gnome at the front end.

We wanted KDE too, as it closely matches the traditional Windows XP environment. To migrate from Windows to Linux this was essential," Umashankar says.

And, he says, Suse does not require a technical person to install since everything is automatic and front-end driven and device drivers are detected automatically.

Initially, Umashankar says, they had some issues with an existing procurement application that was developed in ASP. It wouldn't work under Mozilla Firefox.

Umashankar's solution was simple, "We got the coding changed to work on Mozilla Firefox. Problem fixed."

Nothing Beats A Good Price

As much fun as it was to fiddle with Linux, it wasn't fun that drove Umashankar's decision to switch platforms.

Before he become an Indian Administrative Services officer, Umashankar spent time at three nationalized banks. He also served as the district collector of Tiruvarur (a district in Tamil Nadu) for two years, during which all the taluks under his jurisdiction achieved an over 85 percent score on paperless automation. This included modules for land record administration, national old age pension schemes and agricultural laborers' insurance.

Umashankar knew his IT and he knew the financial burden it put on the government.

The decision to migrate to Linux was driven primarily by cost. It was hard to escape the cold figures before Umashankar: Elcot saved Rs 5 crore on every 20 servers it set up with Linux. And they had over 1,800 servers.

In addition, Umashankar says that the shift saves them about 25 percent on any general hardware purchases -- and as much as 90 percent on the high-end servers.

Umashankar says that his office uses the Openoffice.org suite. This saves them close to Rs 12,000 on each desktop, he says.

"We buy Intel dual core desktops with 19" TFT monitors for Rs 21,600 including the Linux OS. If we bought a proprietary office suite at Rs 12,000 for each desktop, the cost of commissioning infrastructure would go up to Rs 33,600 -- a 55 percent increase," he says.

And when you have to refresh over 30,000 PCs, that's a figure that can add up: to about Rs 17 crore.

And that's not all. These figures don't take into account software upgrades for applications. By using the free Openoffice.org suite and a Linux OS, Elcot has bypassed yearly licensing fees for proprietary software.

A corollary benefit is that the government no longer needs to procure additional hardware required to run upgraded versions of most proprietary software. Umashankar estimates that just this saves the government between 45 and 50 percent of a project's initial hardware costs, which makes it easier to buy more computers for schools.

In addition, Umashankar says Elcot got rid of about 100 anti-virus licenses that were rendered redundant, because as one official claims viruses have "became extinct."

Once Umashankar had broken the ice surrounding Linux, other open source applications were more welcome. Take for example how Elcot was recently asked to get software for a school for the visually challenged.

Their search for vendor came up with one company in Mumbai that offered them five user licenses for Rs 5 lakh. For an agency whose objective is to find the best price for public funds, it was a price Elcot found hard to swallow.

So Umashankar took the open source route. Their focused efforts led them to Orca, a free software running on Ubuntu Linux to assist the visually impaired. Elcot put together a massive three-day program to train visually-challenged teachers across the state on ORCA. They learnt how to handle a machine running on Ubuntu. Now Umashankar plans to bring more teachers and schools under ORCA.

Where the 'Open and Free' Live

Today, Elcot's 30-seater software development center uses a strong OSS framework to develop its packages for government departments. "For the integrated development environment, the team uses Netbeans IDE, Postgresql for database, Jboss for deployment server, Jasper report for fixed width report development, Mantis for bug tracking and Subversion for version control," Umashankar says.

The development center runs a few major applications. The first is the family card administration system.

Every family in the state has to possess one of these cards to receive monthly rations.

"Earlier the system was put on a critical client-server run on Microsoft, but there was a whole lot of confusion," says Umashankar. "So we switched over from client-server architecture to an open source system." Branch offices of the Food and Civil Supplies Department capture family card data -- including scanned photos using HP's scanners which work on Kooka, a free software for scanning. These are then attached to a database using a Web-based application.

On the server side, Elcot switched the application and database from Windows to Linux. Under the old Windows-based client-server system, once contractors captured data they integrated it with the Linux server. After the migration, contractors and Elcot officials were given user IDs and passwords on the newly developed Web-based system powered by OSS. All 30 branch managers were given training on the new application software for one day. They, in turn, trained the data entry operators.

"There was no issue in moving applications because they are all Web-based -- users only get a browser as a front end, so they didn't find any difference. In fact, it is easier to use because we don't have to install any applications on local machines and training is minimal," says senior business development manager Krishnamoorthy.

"This is the first software run on Tamil Nadu statewide area network (SWAN). The data capture operations were completely decentralized at the district level. It can be scaled up to the taluk level, depending on the requirements of the Food and Civil Supplies Department. Within 30 days, the team cleared the entire backlog of family card applications, and relieved the government from public pressure," Umashankar recalls.

This first project took less than a week's time to start. Today, data from 19.8 million families are available on servers hosted at the head office's mini data center. It is worth about 1 TB of data and counting. The database will be moved soon to Elcot's larger database center.

Other projects include the online registration of property, which when completed will enable citizens to register land or property online. Elcot has also recently released the first-ever Linux powered ATM. Thanks to its Linux operating system, Umashankar says, it will be available in the market at one sixth the average price of a regular ATM machine.
Link

Avoid Trojans and Viruses

Internet Intruders are unwanted software that is installed while surfing the Internet, and that typically uses the Internet in the process of exploiting the user and the user's machine. Typically such software is installed without the user's full awareness of the consequences of such an install (although the user might have been given some notice of what would happen). Such software is typically difficult to manually detect, and difficult to remove. It usually compromises some combination of the user's privacy, the confidentiality of the user's information, or the user's productivity. Productivity is compromised when frequent ads popup, when bandwidth and storage space is consumed, when pages load more slowly, etc.

Spyware is one of the most typical Internet intruders. Spyware, is any product that employs a user's Internet connection in the background without their knowledge, and gathers/transmits info on the user or their behavior. Many spyware products will collect referrer info (information from your web browser which reveals what URL you linked from), your IP address (a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer), system information (such as time of visit, type of browser used, the operating system and platform, and CPU speed.) Spyware products sometimes wrap other commercial products, and are introduced to machines when those commercial products are installed.


Trojans, also known as RATS (remote access Trojans), is another type of Internet intruder. Like the horse of old, a trojan carries with it an unexpected surprise. Trojans do not replicate like a virus, but they do leave behind a program that can be contacted by another computer. From there, they can do just about anything. While it's possible a trojan can be used to take control of a computer, the most common trojans are dialer programs. Dialers are used without your knowledge to make international or premium calls (900-type numbers) from your PC. That's more than an annoyance; it can get expensive.

Trojans are most often hidden in games and other small software programs that unsuspecting users download then unknowingly execute on their PCs. Two common trojans are known as Back Orifice and SubSeven.

Adware is software that displays advertisements to computer users. Some of the most strict definitions of adware include applications that are sponsored for their free use. For example, Gator is one adware that collects users information in exchange for its free use.

Spyware's Symptoms

Spyware, trojans and adware contact other computers, and each of them is program of its own, therefore they use system resources such as CPU cycles, memory and an Internet connection.

Slower Computer Speed

There are several reasons your computer may be running slow, but if you use it on a regular basis, then you're familiar with their normal speed. Older computers tend to run slower. Some applications cause computers to run slower. Computers are machines, they do not have moods. A sudden change in how your computer is running could be a sign of spyware or adware.

E-Mail Symptoms

If you're getting a lot of bounced back mail and see evidence of e-mails being sent without your knowledge, then it's possible that trojan spamware has found its way onto your computer. Spamware is a trojan that can turn your computer into a spam launching pad and create headaches for unknowing computer users, especially if a virus is sent. Even if your computer is not being used to send spam, trojans can steal a copy of your e-mail address book and send it back to a spammer.

Abnormal Behaviors

Victims of some trojans report CD drives opening and shutting, or programs opening and closing. These are all signs a program may be up to no good in the background.

Offline Symptoms

Keyboard loggers can capture passwords and user names, so if the bank, brokerage or credit card accounts you access online appear to have been tampered with, your computer may be a place to start looking for clues. User names and passwords to e-mail and Web-based applications are also vulnerable.
If you have any reason to believe someone is interested in tracking what you do online, scan for spyware regularly.

Pop-Up Advertisements

If the following signs are present, it might be an indication that you are infected with Adware or spyware.

-- Ads pop-up on your desktop or over offline applications such as a word processor
-- Ads pop-up when you visited a Web site or open a new Web page.
-- Pop-ups appear after you visited hacker sites or pornographic sites.
-- The pop-up ads are targeting on terms you have searched recently .

Locating Internet Intruders on Your PC

To locate Internet intruders, your first stop should be the Add/Remove Programs section of your Windows Control Panel (Start Menu --> Settings --> Control Panel). You should also check the Windows Start-Up Folder (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu) to see if any programs have been added.

Evidence of spyware infestations can also be found in your computer's registry. It is recommended that only experienced computer users change the registry, and there are registry editors available that help makes changes when they are needed. There are also registry monitors that keep track of which applications are accessing your computer's registry.


Removal of Internet Intruders
One of the first things you should do if you find a trojan or spyware on your computer is disconnect it from the Internet. It is probably not enough to just close a browser session; you should pull the phone line out of the wall or disconnect the modem so your computer is not connected to any network.

Spyware and Adware Scanning Software

The easiest way to find and remove spyware and adware is with scanning software. Anti-spyware software is not the same as anti-virus software, although some anti-virus packages will detect some known spyware programs. The good news is that some of the most functional anti-spyware and anti-adware software is free.

Anti-spyware software works in much the same way as anti-virus software. It scans your computer's hard drive and looks for files associated with known spyware and adware programs. After the scan, the software usually displays or quarantines potential problems and allows users to decide what should be removed. As mention earlier, definitions vary and your tolerance to certain advertising-related cookies may be high.

Like anti-virus software, anti-spyware software relies on databases of known rogue programs that must be updated. Regardless of which anti-spyware package you decide to use, make sure you understand how and when it updates so you are protected against the newest pests. Also check any type of spyware or adware removal programs with the spyware databases. A program called SpywareNuker claims to be a removal program, but has been reported to be spyware itself.

Some anti-spyware software may specialize in locating only keyloggers, for example, so read the features before you use it.

Other Removal Options

You can always check the Add/Remove Programs section of Windows to see if any adware or spyware is listed. Some of the quasi-legitimate adware programs may include uninstallers, but malicious pests do not.

There is a fairly complete list of adware programs, what they do, and how to manually remove them (if possible) at doxdesk.com: parasite.

Blocking Pop-Up Ads

One way to avoid the potential danger lurking behind pop-up ads is to install software that blocks them. Many ISPs offer tools to stop pop-ups from appearing. The Mozilla browser does not allow pop-ups. The Google Toolbar also blocks pop-up ads.

There are numerous programs that block pop-ups. Before installing them, research the developer and the company to make sure they are legitimate. Also be sure to note how they effect your system. Some pop-up blockers may discourage new windows, such as instant messages being sent to you, from opening.

Click here for a list of pop-up blocking software:

Freeware downloads Browser Tools - Popup Blockers - WebAttack.com, we download it before you do!.

Windows Messenger Pop-Ups

One relatively new form of pop-up that has been annoying Internet users with potentially dangerous effects is spam being sent using the Windows Messaging feature in Windows XP. This is not the instant messaging software that is used by millions of computer users, but rather an administrative tool that is meant to be used by systems administrators to contact users.

While there are utilities that claim to stop such pop-ups, the Windows Messenger feature is relatively easy to disable. To disable the Windows Messenger in Windows XP:

In Windows XP --> Control Panel --> Administrative Tools. Double-click Services. Double-click

Messenger. In the Startup type list, choose Disabled. Click Stop, and then click OK.

Prevention of Internet Intruders

Safe E-Mailing

You probably know that opening spam or any e-mail from persons unknown or with an unexpected attachment is unwise. In addition to viruses, RATS and other programs can be present in e-mail attachments. Web sites advertised in unsolicited e-mail can try to plant dialers or other types of pests on your computer.

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express for your e-mail, there are some settings you can adjust to make your e-mail safe from spyware and viruses. The Preview Pane, which lets you view an e-mail while keeping your mailbox on the screen, has been a cause of concern among e-mail users, especially if you have scripting or ActiveX enabled. By automatically opening e-mails, there are reports of viruses spreading, such as the KAK-Worm. Malicious content like the KAK-Worm exploits security holes in the software, so enabling or disabling the Preview Pane is not the ultimate issue. Keeping up with patches and security fixes is a better long-term solution.

To disable the Preview Pane in Outlook, click on the View menu. For more information on securing Outlook and Outlook Express, read this: Outlook Express Security

Safe Surfing

Be careful what you download. Read all dialogue boxes carefully and close anything that looks suspicious. When closing dialogue boxes or pop-up advertisements, be sure to use the proper "X" to close the window. The Web is full of ads that feature mock "Xs" or "Close" or "OK" buttons within the ad. Clicking on them actually clicked on the ad itself. If you're not sure how to safely close a window that has opened in your browser, right click on the window in your Windows Taskbar (usually at the bottom of your display) and click on "Close."

Some ads that appear online attempt to pass themselves off as security alerts or messages from tech support (these are called FUIs, or Fake User Interface, ads). If you're using a computer within an organization, communicate with your tech support staff if you're unsure whether a message is legitimate, and familiarize yourself with how tech support communicates with the computer users in your organizations.

Save your Ears, Know what your MP3 player does!

This guide is to help you and provide you some tips and for your knowledge and Not To Create A Fear

Increasing Popularity, Great number of choices , Small, Easy, Good and Fall in Prices and the Coolness factor of having one factors have made us to buy one of the Portable Media Players

They let you listen to the music on the go and give hours of battery life and easily charge back again in no time from your laptops.
And They have lots of other features that you know geeks know them much better then a layman out there !

One of the most neglected factor by people is the hearing problems that these MP3 players bring with themselves. This will now be proved .

Presented will the research done by scientists and noise experts to prove the point !!!

The damage to your ears is depends both on the noise level and time of exposure

Sound levels is measured in A-weighted decibel (dBA) units its on a logarithmic scale

which means 2dBA is 10 times 1dBA !! Note This Point !!


Noise level Table
How loud is too loud?

Decibel level What we hear

10 dB Normal breathing
20 dB Rustling leaves, mosquito
30 dB Whisper
40 dB Stream, refrigerator humming
50-60 dB Quiet office
50-65 dB Normal conversation
60-65 dB Laughter Every day Conversation
70 dB Vacuum cleaner, hair dryer Restaurant
75 dB Dishwasher
78 dB Washing machine, High Class Room without a teacher
80 dB Garbage disposal, city traffic noise

Prolonged exposure to any noise above 85 dB can cause gradual hearing loss.

84 dB Diesel truck
70-90 dB Recreational vehicle
88 dB Subway, motorcycle
85-90 dB Lawnmower
100 dB Train, garbage truck
97 dB Newspaper press
98 dB Farm tractor

Regular exposure of more than 1 minute risks permanent hearing loss.

103 dB Jet flyover at 100 feet
105 dB Snowmobile
110 dB Jackhammer, power saw, symphony orchestra
120 dB Thunderclap, discotheque/boom box
110-125 dB Stereo Rock Music
110-140 dB Rock concerts
130 dB Jet takeoff, shotgun firing
145 dB Boom cars

A Flash Based Meter with Noise


Music dBA levels

60-70 dB normal piano practice
70 dB fortissimo singer 3 ft. away
75-85 dB chamber music in small auditorium
84-103 dB violin
85-111 dB flute
85-114 dB trombone
106 dB timpani & bass drum rolls
120-137 dB symphonic music peak
150 dB rock music peak

Safe levels beyond which u face risk

80 dBA 8hrs ( but note 80dBA is Considered risky in the long term )
90 dbA 8 hrs
92 dbA 6 hrs
95 dbA 4 hrs ( This is the level @ which people listen to in heavy traffic )
97 dbA 3 hrs
100 dbA 2 hrs
102 dbA 1.5 hrs
105 dbA 1 hr
110 dbA 0.5 hr
115 dbA 0.25 hr or le

So the sound level at a normal conversation is 60dBA and if your mom calls you or some one says something to you when you are listening to music and you can't hear then it means you are listening to music @ 80dBA


Sound Levels about 80 dBA are considered dangerous !! That that's also the sound level of city traffic !! Now If you are listening to music in city traffic then the output of your music player will be certainly more then the ambient sound of 80dbA and will be around 90dBA which is very dangerous when exposure time is long !!

If you think you have "gotten used to" the noise you are routinely exposed to, then most likely you have already suffered damage and have acquired a permanent hearing loss. Don't be fooled by thinking your ears are "tough" or that you have the ability to "tune it out"! Noise induced hearing loss is usually gradual and painless, but, unfortunately, permanent. Once destroyed, the hearing nerve and its sensory nerve cells do not regenerate!

Noise hearing loss usually starts with high frequencies !!
High frequency sound ringtones are used by students in USA in classrooms !!
Simply Put the Younger Students can hear the high frequencies well but the teacher can't and hence small kids use these ringtones in the middle of classroom to go unnoticed !!

Getting Back to Sound Levels by Music Players these charts make it clear !



So you can clearly see that volume levels of 60-70 % is risky !!


All combinations of headphones/earphones and MP3 players generate potentially harmful sound levels !

It will take from 12 minutes (at 102 dBA) to seven hours (at 86 dBA) to exceed the occupational noise limit noted above. You will exceed the limit in just one minute if you played heavy metal or pop music at full volume levels of 114 dBA. At this sound level, exposure for longer durations can pose a risk of immediate, serious and permanent hearing loss. !!!


The Bottom Line Is Your MP3 Player Will Damage Your Ears Any Way !!!

Bose that's why came up noise cancellation headphones for airlines.....remember the ad ??

So when there is lots of ambient noise just shut your music player and save your ears !!

Compiled from various sources !!

Who says India is poor? Our politicians are certainly not!

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is growing richer by the year. Last year, her income was estimated at an impressive Rs 52 crore, while she has already grossed Rs 60 crore and is expected to close the fiscal with an even bigger kitty.

Till the December quarter, the Dalit leader had paid Rs 15 crore advance tax. At 33% income tax slab, this works out to an income of around Rs 45 crore. If the trend continues between December 15, when the last instalment of advance tax was paid, and March 31, 2008, she could end the year with an income of Rs 60 crore.

Indeed, if the turnout at her January 15 birthday bash is any indication, she could close the year with a much higher income. BSP chief has attributed her remarkable financial rise to 'gifts' from her generous supporters.

Based on her Rs 9.7 crore payout on December 15, Mayawati was already ranked 18th in the all-India individual taxpayers category, a remarkable rise for the former government schoolteacher. And based on her payments till December, which amounted to Rs 15 crore, she was placed 19th.

She is ranked a few notches below Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in the advance tax list. Not only is Mayawati's income more than that of any politician, she ranks higher than the Ambani brothers, Birlas, Bachchans, Ratan Tata and Infosys' Nandan Nilekani.
Kumaramangalam Birla trails the Dalit leader, at 57th place, while the richest cricketer, 'Master Blaster' Tendulkar is a distant 85th. Aamir Khan is placed even farther, at a not-so-impressive 123rd.

Mayawati's explanation about the turnaround in her fortunes may appear a fairy tale to many, but was accepted last year by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal which legitimized her claim. The script is likely to remain the same this year as well. More so, she is in power now.

Though the finance ministry usually does not get into proving the source of income of individuals, it has in Mayawati's case, as in many other instances earlier, shown its readiness to examine the veracity of her claim.

Mayawati in her statements before the taxmen and to the CBI, which is investigating her in a disproportionate assets case, had claimed that her supporters had given her large amounts of cash and pledged their personal properties out of "love and affection" and for the welfare of the downtrodden and the Dalits.
Source

Woh Dekho Software Engineer Jaa Raha Hai!!

I might be late in posting this here but I got an email with this beautiful poetry. Software Engineer ki Kavita!!

"Wo Dekho Software Engineer Jaa Raha Hai"
(A Tribute To All Software Engineers !!! )


Apne Project Ke Bojh Tale Daba Jaa Raha Hai,
Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,


Zindagi Se Hara Hua Hai, Par "Bugs" Se Haar Nahi Manata,
Apne Application Ki Ek Ek Line Ise Rati Hui Hai,


Par Aaj Kaun Se Rang Ke Moje Pehne Hain , Ye Nahi Janata,
Din Par Din Ek Excel File Banata Ja Raha Hai

Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,


Das Hazaar Line Ke Code Main Error Dhoond Lete Hain Lekin, Majboor Dost Ki Ankhon Ki Nami Dikhayi Nahi Deti,

Pc Pe Hazaar Windows Khuli Hain,
Par Dil Ki Khidki Pe Koi Dastak Sunayi Nahi Deti,
Satuday-Sunday Nahata Nahi,
Week Days Ko Naha Raha Hai,


Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,
Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,

Coding Karte Karte Pata Hi Nahi Chala,
Bugs Ki Priority Kab Maa-Baap Se High Ho Gayi,
Kitabon Main Gulab Rakhne Wala ,
Cigerette Ke Dhuyen Main Kho Gaya,


Dil Ki Zameen Se Armaanon Ki Vidayi Ho Gayi,
Weekends Pe Daroo Peke Jo Jashna Mana Raha Hai,


Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,



Maze Lena Ho Iske To Pooch Lo,
"Salary Increment" Ki Party Kab Dila Rahe Ho,

Hansi Udana Ho To Pooch Lo,
"Onsite" Kab Ja Rahe Ho?


Wo Dekho Onsite Se Laute Team-Mate Ki Chocolates Kha Raha Hai,


Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,


Kharche Badh Rahe Hain, Baal Kam Ho Rahe Hain,
Kra Ki Date Ati Nahi, Income Tax Ke Sitam Ho Rahe Hain,

Lo Phir Se Bus Choot Gayi, Auto Se Aa Raha Hai,


Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,


Pizza Gale Se Nahi Utarta, To "Coke" Ke Sahare Nigal Liya Jata Hai,

Office Ki "Thali" Dekh Munh Hai Bigadta,

Maa Ke Hath Ka Wo Khana Baar Roz Yaad Ata Hai,
"Sprout Bhel" Bani Hai Phir Bhi, Free "Evening Snacks" Kha Raha Hai,


Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,

Aapne Ab Tak Li Hongi Bahut Si Chutikiya,

Software Engg. Ke Jivan Ka Sach Batati Ye Akhri Kuch Panktiyan,


Hazaron Ki Tankhwah Wala, Company Ki Karodon Ki Jeb Bharta Hai,

Software Engg. Wahi Ban Sakta Hai, Jo Lohe Ka Jigar Rakhta Hai,


Hum Log Jee Jee Ke Marte Hain , Zindagi Hai Kuch Aisi,

Ek Fauj Ki Naukri, Doosri Software Engg. Ki , Dono Ek Jaisi,

Is Kavita Ka Har Shabd Dil Ki Gehrayi Se Aa Raha Hai,



Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,
Wo Dekho Ek Software Engineer Ja Raha Hai,

Pay the Barge my toll

A beautiful song i just stumbled upon by ForgottenPhoenix


Gatekeeper
Pay the barge my toll,
Let me in
Release my soul

I have done many wrongs
Hurt many people
Refused god
And his steeple

I’ve seen people crying
All at my hand
And their pain
was never something I could understand

But please
Gatekeeper
Pay the barge my toll,
Let me in
Release my soul

It may be to late
And the damage may be done
But the journey to save my soul
Has only just begun

In god’s words
I have found salvation
I have !
Don’t let my soul fall to abomination

I’m learning
So gatekeeper please
Pay the barge my toll
Let me in
Release my soul

I have changed
Seen the error in my ways
Tried to repent
Yet died like this all the same

Don’t let the barge
Take me away
I died before my time
And seen the error in my ways

So please take pity Gatekeeper
Pay the barge my toll,
Let me in
Release my soul

Winter in Mumbai

Mumbai Cold Wave, the most talked about thing in mumbai. Seriously, from the day I ave born, I do not remember any winter extending till february, not only that, I havent seen any winter so Cold. Whenever my cousins or friends visited some place in the North, like Kullu Manali or Delhi or some place like that, they would always bring back lots of sweaters, gloves, monkey caps and stuff becoz all these places are famous for these stuff. At first I thought, what the hell are they useful for in a place like mumbai. Looks like god wanted to put everything to a use, so he turned on the AC.


9 Degree Celsius ..... can you imagine???? I mean at this temperature, you cant feel your thumb. Wearing a Sweater/Jacket in the afternoon sitting at home is the last thing I imagined. The cold, as they say, is stingy. I mean the worse part of the cold is, it stings u everywhere in the body which is lying naked. I mean just sit for 20 secs without your shirt on, bare bodied, it would feel as if someone invisible (like in the hollow man movie) is poking you with a blunt object.

The biggest joke is the electricity bills, I think the temperature is down because someone up there noticed that too much of electricity is being used up, so to cut it down he himself turned on the Centralized Air Conditioning. Now a days at night, my fan doesnt make a single noise. I never turn it on. I dont even know whether its working or not, and I really dont wanna test it either.

These winter days are quite boring too. Dont feel like doing anything at all. Going to college, roaming around with friends, playing football , everything is like "Dimag ko Shot". Even going down and bringing something from the grocery is a pain in the ass job. Its really boring, and laziness comes on naturally. Keeping my bare feet on the ground terrifies the shit outta me coz it feels as if i am standing on ice. Even the Chappals and Slippers are cold!!

Lets hope the winter goes away fast and summer comes back, not that jabardast dhuup wala summer, mild summer chalegaa.

The Gardner's pot

Nikhil had just Graduated from a reputed business school. His father was a wealthy man owning a flourishing export business. Nikhil joined his father with high hopes of multiplying the volume of business manifold. But father insisted that he work at the grass roots and understand the practical aspects of work before mooting any big changes. The More he tried to work as per father's insisted that he work at the grass roots and understand the practical aspects of work before mooting any big changes. The more he tried to work as per father's instructions the more frustrated he felt.

One day he was feeling very disillutioned. He went and sat in the garden. An earthen pot that was used everyday by the gardner to water the plants lay beside him. All of a suddent the pot began to talk to nikhil. It said, "Dear one,why are ou so sad??" Nikhil Replied,"I am sick of working so hard,as per my dad's instruections, he doesnt let me control the business."

"Listen to my story from the beginning. At the beginning of my journey, I was just a heap of mud. A potter put water into me and kneaded me again and again till I became smooth and shiny. Then he put me in his potter's wheel and spun me around till my head went dizzy. He kept engraving lines on my skin to make a patern . It was so painful." The pot continued as the boy kept listening intently."Thats not all, then i was put into a very very hot oven and baked till my skin got burnt. I could barely breathe. When I was fully break, they set me out in the cold winter night till I cooled down. Lastly a painter came and added a coat of red paint to my exterior. But after all ther my value has increased manifold. I am a pot that is use by your gardner everyday to water the plants. All tehse furits and flowers they bear are my friends. Each time the gardener takes me close to them, they blow kisses to me they love me dearly. Had I not gone through so many hardsips to become something of value?"

The boy stroked the pot lovingly and said, "You are great. I think I have many things to do;I'd better get going. But I'll never forget what you told me. Thank you for each word that you spoke to inspire me".

This simple story tells you a lot about life. To climb a steep hill, you have to bend forward, if you continue to hold your head upwards, the climb shall become difficult and tiring.

Trust Me by Rajashree

My Cousin got gift vouchers worth 2k from Crosswords. For those who dont know what it is, its a Retail Bookstore with lots of nice books. And believe me when i say they do have some real nice books, especially the Indian Authors. Instead of buying some Stationary and those useless and costly stuff they have other than the books, I decided to invest wisely and get some books. Not that i keep track of authors and stuff, so I had a pretty hard time finding and hunting for good books, coz every other book sounded nice, and i was on a tight budget.

So I bought 7 books, out of which one has just jokes in it, while another one is by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar (My Mom is the one who got that one, shez into philosophical books very much). Out of the remaining 5, astonishingly enough, I bought 4 of them by Indian Authors. Guess what its just 3 days and I finished off reading one of the book already!!

The book is titled Trust Me, and is by Rajashree. I dont know if she is famous or so, but the book sure is Superb. The story is about the author, who was working as an Designer in an Advertisement Agency, and a part of her life. How she suffered after her ex dumped her, just becoz she was Pregnant. How she had to go through life after abortion. She quits the Advertisement Agency and joins a Film Studio, as a Trainee, assisting in various jobs, where she gets to know the several evils prevalent in the industry, such as Casting Couch etc, which pisses her off to the core. Later she runs into this Movie Star called Rahul Kapoor (No he isnt related to any Kapoors), who is by the way, plays a supporting role in the movie for which the author is working for and who completly falls for her and keeps on flirting with her. Our Author is in love with him too but is scared to "Trust Him" becoz of her past experiences and becoz of her friend's bfs. Overall, its Comedy and Romance mixing together to give u a nice storyline and a jolly good read. Oh yeah, the entire story is set in mumbai, so you are bound to feel closely related to the story even more, as she names familiar places and the entire Novel is filled with filmi dialogues. Go get the book and read, if u have time that is, lol

What a Piece of Breaking-NEWS !!!

MUMBAI: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are rated as the world’s third best in engineering education, but the directors of the seven elite institutions are currently trying to get the Union HRD ministry to pay their electricity bills on time!

In an indication of a fund crunch at India’s finest educational institutes, IIT-Bombay has recently written to the HRD ministry that they are not in a position to pay next month’s salaries to their staff members. All seven institutes have complained that government allocations are not keeping pace with the rising costs attached to the day-to-day running of these premier institutions.

"We have been drawing money from our corpus and we cannot continue doing that," said IIT-Madras director M S Ananth. The IITs have now asked a Standing Committee headed by Union HRD minister Arjun Singh to release Rs 20 crore per year per IIT so that their money can be returned to the endowment fund, which is usually set aside for long-term use.

Since the inception of the first IITs in the 1950s, they have entirely relied on government patronage. The budgetary allocation in recent years was roughly Rs 550 crore. However, over the last decade, the IITs have had to tap an extensive network of alumni here and abroad to meet growing requirements. A large percentage of new initiatives are also being driven through industry partnerships