I scanned the file and NOD32 is always updated. Nothing showed up in the scan so I double clicked on the file.
The name was suspicious, true, but I've seen worse. It was also small but lots of programmes are too, like utorrent.
Nothing happened when I opened the file. That almost confirmed that something was wrong. I've read about other peoples' accounts of what happens if you open a virus. In fact I've just read about one in The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick.
Alarms were sounding in my head and I was on RED ALERT mode. So I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to look at the task manager. Nothing was running that had a similar name.
I minimized it and the file suddenly vanished.
There was definitely something terribly wrong.
So I ran the NOD32 in-depth scan and looked through the task manager again to look for anything suspicious. Didn't think the scan would do anything but it didn't hurt to try.
On the task manager I did spot a few programmes that I haven't noticed before, namely "cj1.exe","cj2.exe" and "cbadea.exe". All 3 had the same description in the list, "Silvers". Most programmes I didn't know had long names like "WZCSLDR.exe" (and btw I googled this name too, just in case, and it's a legit Windows process), that's why cj1 and cj2 caught my eyes. And since they were suspicious, then cbadea was too due to the identical descriptions.
Cbadea.exe was the first thing that I googled for because it looked like it was the most important one. Google gave me absolutely nothing on it. I was so surprised I googled a few times with quotation marks and without the ".exe". I got nothing.
Googling "cj1.exe" gave me a few results that say it's a malware. Like I didn't know that. What I wanted to find out was how I could completely remove it.
Still finding nothing useful, I went to TrendMicro for its free virus scan. While both NOD32 and HouseCall were running full scans, I thought I would just find the source of those cj1 and cj2 programmes and delete all of them. So I did and emptied my recycle bin too. Also did an advanced search (includes hidden files and stuff) to find the original vanished file.
Next I came up with the idea of googling the name of that file, and finally I got some answers.
After reading the advices given to other victims, I downloaded Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. Then I ran a full scan with it too.
So at this point I had 3 deep scans and 1 advanced search running simultaneously. I felt safer.
One of the advices also mentioned that some virus files may have been created in the %temp% folder, so I went there and indeed there were some suspicious files that were supposedly published by Borlands International, according to the Properties menu. However, it also said it was created just 20 minutes ago, which was same the time I made the mistake of opening the mysterious vanishing file. To the Recycle Bin it went.
In the meantime, the Anti-Malware scan came up with 6 infected files while the others gave me nothing.
Finally, I was satisfied that I was going to be safe and there's nothing more I can do short of reverting to a restore point or formatting my drives.
So I disconnected from my router and unplugged my USB antenna. That was half an hour after I opened the virus. Enough time to get all my emails and passwords and forward them to somewhere else. But what's done is done. At least I didn't make it worse by typing any passwords in case it also included a keylogger.
After 2 hours the first 2 scanners, NOD32 and TrendMicro's Housecall, were done and told me my computer was perfectly clean. At the same time, I noticed Anti-Malware was stuck on a .sys file that was apparently in the Recycle Bin. I don't really understand that but I ignored that and tried to stop it. Maybe I should run it in Safe Mode, I thought.
It didn't stop immediately, so I took the time to re-read the discussions I had opened in the tech forums. Apparently the expert had told the guy to run a Quick Scan, not the full scan.
So I closed the scanner in an attempt to stop it, and it worked. Then I reopened it and did the Quick Scan.
10 infected files. I removed them all and restarted when it prompted me to.
Did another quick scan after that and I got nothing, so I think I'm safe now. I mean, this is about as far as I can go as a layman. The processes don't include anything suspicious and none of the 3 scanners are giving me anything new.
In any case, I think I'm going to cultivate the habit of typing all my passwords with the on-screen keyboard (Start Menu - Accessories - Ease of Access) in case I still have any keylogger in my computer. It may help although there are keyloggers out there that also record mouse movements.
Yea I'm not totally satisfied.
P.S. If you receive some junk email from me and you have my number, please notify me via SMS asap so that I know I should change my passwords via another computer and do something drastic on this one.
That was disappointing. It would have been nice to see a Singaporean owning an English football club. Those guys appear to be the sort of people who are covering their eyes to deny the truth. And the truth is that Asia is becoming wealthy enough to have people like Peter Lim who's willing to splurge on soccer.
The fact that it was completely ignored and not even a flimsy excuse was given shows that they didn't even want that offer to exist. They're just pretending it's not there.
Peter Lim probably saw this and withdrew his bid in order to stop it from getting any more awkward.
I hope he will try again in the future if opportunity arises. After all, he had offered 60 million pounds more (320 million bid plus 40 million for buying players), or 20% over the bid from NESV which is at 300 million pounds. They had little legitimate reason to reject it, let alone snub him like that.
Very soon the term "automatic cars" will have a new meaning. Google is now testing cars that drive themselves. I always thought it will come to this but I had expected that it would require something more solid as a guidance system, like a form of rail such that the car would be more like a train/car hybrid that runs on both road and rail.
In fact such a car has already been designed and tested long ago, but I guess it just wasn't practical since it would require a major overhaul of the traffic systems it is used on. Blocking an entire lane on busy roads long enough to install a rail is a very big thing, too big to be worth the benefits apparently.
So now they are using laser, radar and video cameras as the eyes of the guidance system. At first glance it may seem like it's a very expensive combination (to me at least), but come to think of it, they have to be pretty cheap nowadays.
Radar is an old technology. By now I guess it's even older than the 3.5" floppy disk drive, which are currently almost worthless. Therefore radar probably isn't expensive, especially since the car will only need a tiny one compared to those ships use.
Laser is bloody cheap. The car is probably going to need one that's slightly bigger than those found in optical mice, and an optical mouse are worth only slightly more than a floppy disk drive these days.
Video cameras are also cheap. Webcams, for example, can cost as much as an optical mouse.
The important part is the software and processor to combine and coordinate all three plus the driving mechanisms of the car. That may be the most expensive component IMO. Oh, and it must be compatible with the GPS devices.
Someday, all your driving licenses will be obsolete and the only driving test that matters only involves knowing how to use the software. And drunk driving won't be a crime anymore.
Half a century from now, people will look back at our era in horror when they learn that our cars kill more people everyday than anything else.
How about a battery-powered self-driving car that has solar panels on top to help with the recharge and is able to drive itself to the nearest charging station?
You can keep your Rolls Royce. I'll have that car instead. If I can ever afford that, I'll probably try to get my license just for it.
The law regarding the driving license will most likely not change for another 50 years or so until the self-driving cars have proven that manual driving is obsolete with solid statistical data.
As for the downside of such a car, I kind of pity any children who plan to be taxi drivers when they grow up. Driving a cab is a respectable legit job, but if the automatic car becomes cheap enough cabs will be relegated to the same status as trishaws.
And if machines can see well enough to drive for us, there are many other things they will be able to do for us. Robot butlers?
If they can drive a car, they can drive a trolley in supermarkets, drive back and use the elevator. The only problem in this process is that it will need a different system to pick the products up.
So I found some photos of the competitive gaming scene in North Korea.
I think they look pretty hardcore. And check out that white towel on that guy's shoulder. These Pyongyang guys have style.Disclaimer: I don't know where these are taken at. The characters do look like Korean though.
Boxer confirmed in GSL. GSL is short for GOMTV Global Starcraft 2 League, which is the one that's about to be shown live on GOMTV. 18th Oct, Monday, Season 2. 6pm SG time. Probably won't be very hot on the first day since it's only the Ro64, so there's likely no need to log on early.
However, after checking the schedule, it seems that some big names are playing on Monday, including.... *drum roll*... a Fruit Dealer!
First match of the day. I see some pretty big names here, not just the defending champion, so maybe it's a good idea to try and log on early after all. Time shown is 7pm Korean time, which is 1 hour earlier than SG time.
I feel sorry for this ButterflyEffect guy. Monday is still 3 days away and he's already lost.
As for Boxer's first appearance,
Second match on Tuesday. Note the first match begins at 12pm SG time, which will be the same on the 20th and 21st too. Hectic days ahead for the casters. Tasteless has been known to almost lose his voice by the finals and semifinals and looking at the schedules, it's really not surprising.Also, last match on Tuesday stars HopeTorture, runner-up of Season 1. This means I'm going to have to stay in front of the screen for a few hours.
Another thing is that this is no longer the TG-Intel tournament anymore. Apparently it's now called the "Sony Ericsson Starcraft 2 Open Season 2". Change of sponsors, I guess.
Ordered Sarpino's today. This is making me reconsider my impression of my own spending habit.
Anyway, it is pretty good. Or maybe I'm tired of Pizzahut's style. I don't know.
Ordered 2 medium (12") pizzas, thin crust: a Ranch Style Chicken and a Sicilian. Also included a set of Chicken Cheese Meatballs (8pcs) and a set of Beef Meatballs (8pcs). Cost about $47.
Pizzas were pretty nice but only slightly better than Pizzahut's in that it tastes better and is less salty. Pizzahut uses a larger amount of cheese but IMO they all seem to taste the same after a while probably because of that.
As for the meatballs I've only tried the beef ones and they're much better than those from Pizzahut. For one, they taste beefier because it used leaner beef. The balls were also made in a visibly different way. Pizzahut's beefballs were pressed into balls and they tasted much fattier/greasier. Sarpino's beef meatballs were obviously rolled or twisted into balls because the meat inside was oriented in a circular fashion, kind of like these rolls:
Those aren't meatballs but the top of each shows what I mean by "circular orientation".Compare these with the usual meatballs you find in many places including Pizzahut, which are kind of like this:
These aren't from Pizzahut but this is what I mean. The meat looks like it was mashed and pressed into balls.I suspect it may have been this that caused the difference in texture. Sarpino's were more chewy, bouncy, whatever the culinary term is for that. In Cantonese we call it "彈牙" and it's probably the same for Mandarin. In Taiwan they call it "Q". According to some google results this can also be translated to "al dente", probably when describing pasta.
Another important difference is that Pizzahut's meatballs are ten thousand times greasier.
The small container of unidentified white sauce that came with Sarpino's meatballs was also strangely suitable even though it tasted a little sour. Maybe it's some kind of yoghurt sauce.
I'm bored. I'm waiting-for-New-Vegas-bored. It's coming out on Monday in the US, so it will take a few more days before I can get it. Reading any article on the game just makes it worse.
Should I finally uninstall Fallout 3 now?
While the US blames China for forcing them to induce inflation in the USD, China is blaming the US for using the inflation to make the entire world help pay their debts. Though I can't say I understand economics better than any other layman, that Chinese economist's claim does sound plausible. After all, the Americans are one of the biggest, if not the biggest, importer of almost everything. Since inflation = decrease in purchasing power, a weakening USD never sounds good.
That guy is right. It does sound too good to be true. I'll really have to see it used by a spacecraft to believe it. If this does work, space travel may turn incredibly affordable and this guy will definitely win a Nobel Prize.
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