Deploy Windows Vista

A lot of us are skeptical about Vista and not to consider it rather we want the hassle-free XP in our OS. So here it is, I've found an article from a magazine that might pave way some Vista doubts perhaps an eye opener to what Vista could do in whatever business you're into. This is a two-part article. The battle between Vista and XP.

10 Reason to Deploy Windows Vista
by Mark Minasi, Windows IT Pro Magazine

At the tender age of a year and a half, Windows Vista remains the Rodney Dangerfield of Microsoft OSs – it don't get no respect. And that's a shame. Its biggest competitor ( no, not Leopard _ Windows XP SP3) is darned good, but a close look will show that Vista is better in many ways. If you're staying with XP because you're satisfied with it , then great , but don't avoid Vista just because your plumber's cousin's stockbroker heard that it was bad. Here are 10 reasons you should consider making the switch.
1. You won't need as many images. If, like most of us, you deploy your desktops with an image-based system such as Symantec Ghost or Microsoft's free ImageX tool, then you know that XP images tend to be hardware-specific: Create “the sales laptop image” on a Toshiba laptop, for instance, and it often won't work well on an HP or Dell laptop. Vista is much more accommodating; you often need only two images for your entire organization : a 32-bit image and a 64-bit image.
2. Finally, a desktop search that works! For nearly 10 years, Windows and Office have included tools that index the files on your computer to make searching for those files possible. Unfortunately, those tools have had a tendency to be clumsy and slow. In contrast, Vista's search index works unobtrusively and makes for lightning-fast searches.
3. A more complete backup tool. Ever tried to rebuild an XP box from scratch, using only a set of files created by XP's built-in backup routines? Ugh. Vista changes all that with its Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore, an image-based backup system that backs up your whole computer to one big file. My experience show that this system works quickly and allows bare-metal restores to quite dissimilar hardware – just make sure that the target hard disk is the same size or larger than the original.
4. Start great conversations. Next time you're out with your techie friends, tell'em that you're switching to Vista – there will be plenty to talk about after that! Seriously, if you are moving to Vista and people ask you why on Earth you'd do that, remind them that just about every Vista complaint – it's slower than the previous version, there aren't any drivers, it's not backward compatible – is a complaint that people leveled at XP when it was new. Look, XP's a great OS, and if you're happy with it, then by all means stay with it – but don't bypass Vista because of second-hand FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt).
5. Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption protects your mobile data. Laptops are great for busy travelers... until they're accidentally left in a bar, on a plane , or in a cab, as reportedly happened to hundreds of thousands of systems last year in the United States. In contrast, absentminded folks who exploit BitLocker's encryption system might still lose their laptops, but no one will get their data. BitLocker is available on Vista Ultimate and Enterprise (although, incomprehensibly, not on Vista Business):
6. Get more out of Group Policy. Vista includes about 700 new Group Policy settings that let you control fleets of computers from one central location. Some new options include controlling power management settings, allowing nonadministrative users to lad approved drivers, and restriction which devices users can install on a Vista box.
7. Get a tougher Windows. Service programs wield great power in Windows, making them irresistible targets for malware writers: seize a Windows service, and you've often seized Windows itself. Vista uses a more secure way of building Windows services so that they have less potential to do damage and are isolated in their own little private universes, which makes a compromised service a much less juicy prize.
8. Confuse the bad guys with ASLR. Another Windows toughener is Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), a feature that rearranges the relative location of Vista's different components in memory. Past creators of Windows worms such as Code Red, Nimda, SQL Slammer, and Blaster relied on the fact that every copy of XP load each of its components in the same location from computer to computer. Shuffling the deck with ASLR makes it much harder for the bad guys to write a worm that targets every copy of Vista.
9. Centralize events with Event Viewer. XP's event logs are useful for keeping track of your computers, but every computer maintains its own logs. Managing dozens of desktops means either wearing out a lot of shoe leather or buying a third-party event log aggregator tool. Vista's Event Viewer , in contrast, lets you centralize any of group of system's events to a single system.
10. And lots more! Resize existing disk partition with Vista's Disk Manager. Put eight gigs of RAM on your system and see and use! - all of it. Easily tell Vista to send you an email message if a particular event occurs . Eliminate LAN Manager hashes, that persistent 1980s security
hole, once and Intel Turbo Memory for a system that comes out of hibernation in just 12 seconds. Give Vista a close look, and you'll find lots of things to like!

Scam Emails

A sweet-talk from scammers who sends bunch of junk email everyday. It is really annoying to receive such junk in our mailbox each day. You might have read one of these letter from stranger asking you to reply with your Name, Phone number, Bank Account, etc. because you have a cash waiting, not just a cash but millions of dollars or euros even gold bars deposited to some fictitious person. Animation at its best. Here's an example:

Dear Friend,
I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting that fund transferred. Now I want you to contact my secretary and ask him for a cheque worth of USD$900,000,00 which I kept for you as a compensationof your past assistance to me
Note that if you did not send him the complete information,he will not release the cheque to you because he has to be sure that it is you. Note also that I will not be reached by email or phone at thismoment because I am currently in London for investment trip with my share.
Regards,Eze Chinasa

What a jerk! The sender doesn't wish to be contacted because she is in London?! Here's another one.

Dear sir I am Mr JEFFERY M ANTHONY, a personal assistant to Mr Dirk ,who died in a car accident.I have contacted you as the beneficiary to the late Mr Dirk to claim the fund valued at €4.5 million euros and 150Kgs of Gold he deposited before he died.Your immediate/urgent response is needed now and dont hesitate to call me now.Please get in touch with me through the above email or my alternative email :(jefferymanthony@live.fr). My tel+229 976 72 880
Again what a stupid person.”Your immediate response is needed,” but DON'T CALL ME NOW?! And he leaves his number...Yeah great story huh?
A lot of this funny yet annoying stories I'm getting every day from my mailbox. I know that this is far, way far to be true. How I wish I can “unsubscribed”them. If I could but no, they will keep coming.

If you receive an unsolicited e-mail seeking you to receive a large sum of money or be presented as the next of kin of a large fortune from someone you never heard of (especially if that person resides overseas), don't believe it. This is almost certainly a scam where you will be asked to pay some type of fee before you can claim the money or you will be presented with a phony check and asked to return a share. Don't be fooled by official looking documents as scammers make a living forging these things. Also many scammers work in rings and have partners who may pose as lawyers, government officials, bank officials etc. Be aware!

Trick or Treat

Halloween is just around the corner. Kids and teens alike look forward this day for a trick or treat. So by now kids are busy looking for custome to wear. As parents, We too are excited to see our baby to enjoy her first trick or treat. Well, The Dark Knight movie kick the screen with a bang. Is my baby looks good on this costume? hmmm... guess not.

ahh.. Cow! Holy Cow! -- Melamine scare us much these days so I say, we may just pass on this one. Looks cute on her though. Or maybe one of these devil-looking guys (not the Batman). Jack-o-latern looks good, a bit bulky to carry her though. Again we just have to pass on this items.

Oh what this?! - Very refreshing for cars. Isn't this a famous car freshner eh?! She'd be wrapped tight and might be grumpy with this. I know there are still better for my baby.

Until I saw this one... The Pink Bunny. I think this will be perfect for my li'l one.

We've already prepared chocolates and candies for the kids that might come and visit us. If they don't then I have a whole lotta bags of Kit-kats and Snickers bar for snacks.

Fall and Walnuts

In our backyard, falling walnuts from its tree were scattering all around. I have a neighbor who likes to gather every Fall just before they leave for Winter. She painstakenly go through the process of peeling off the skin, drying it and breaking the shell just to get the meat, no bigger than a penny. Her nemesis are these smart crawling squirrels who will just wait for her harvest; sneaking a few dozen nuts.

Wherever she puts it outside, the squirrels follows her and wait when she'll get her eyes off her harvest.

Last year during my first Fall after i moved from my home country - The Philippines. I didn't know what a walnut looks like from the tree. Well of course, I've seen and ate this fruit but not while it is still fresh. Walnuts are good for salads, pies, cakes even in chocolates have this, too.

So my neighbor asked me to help her showing me the process how to do it. I have no idea how difficult to get a meat out of this of fruit. The shell after being dried for days gets hard to crack. Men, you need a hammer to pound it! What you'll get is a tiny broken pieces of it. No wonder this is expensive in our local grocery store.

Fall season is the time where creatures like the squirrels go and gather their food to prepare for winter. These tree-dwelling rodents with a bushy tail have their own weather channels so they know when to get some stuff like the expensive walnuts.

The Executioner has done it again

Bernard Hopkins has done another great on boxing last night by dominating the rest of 12-round against the younger champion, Kelly Pavlik. Though it was not a championship fight. Bernard not only showing great hand speed but also skills he always have through 20 years of experience.

There is an old saying in boxing that says every great fighter has one great fight left. Former two-time world champion Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins, at age 43, proved that adage true after he turned in a masterpiece against his 26-year-old opponent, world middleweight champion Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik last night in front of 11,332 fans at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Fighting at a catch-weight of 170 pounds in a non-title bout, Hopkins, 170, of Philadelphia, PA took Pavlik, 169, of Youngstown, OH, to school, winning 33 out of a possible 36 rounds scored by the three judges.

It was indeed a different prospective last nights fight, Bernard was the more agressive, more resilient fighter while Pavlik was the slower one who took on the beating againts the old folk. A very different Kelly Pavlik I've seen.

After the fight, I can't help but wonder what might possibly happened to the much anticipated match againts Manny Pacquiao and Oscar dela Hoya on December 6, just a day before my 32nd birthday.

The world saw it last night that experience dominated againts a much younger opponent. Again, it would stir another debate to who will prevail; the bigger, heavier and older Oscar or the young, the flash, and the hard hitting Pacman.

Whatever the outcome of this fight there is one thing for me for sure, i would be infront of a TV or pc watching this megafight.

A suitcase worth remembering

A 2-moth-old baby whos life was extended after being rescued by ship 96 years ago sells treasured momento of what was left of them and her family. In 1912, baby Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean and her family were steerage passengers emigrating to Kansas City, Mo., aboard the Titanic. She is selling the rest of the stuff so she could pay for her nursing home.

Rescued from the bitterly cold Atlantic on that April 1912 night, Dean, her 2-year-old brother and her mother were taken to New York with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Before returning home to England, they were given a small wicker suitcase of donated clothing, a gift from New Yorkers to help them rebuild their lives.
Now, Dean is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to go for $5,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia Saturday in Devizes in western England.

Early this year, another ship from the Philippines with around 900 souls onboard met their fate amids a tropical storm, less than a mile off Romblon island. Only less than a hundred made out of this sea tragedy not one of them are children; who could have tell us something about what had happened like Millvina today. Unlike her, those who survived who tell their tales were men and mostly sailors.

What i bought on my first Google cheque

It started last February when i saw an article regarding blog that earns. So with my curiosity sets in, well i said, "heck, why won't i give it a try." Without any background on how to do it; i stumble upon Blogger after a few Google searching and blog readings.





Here it is one day, I was able to set up my not so popular Blogger site (even now) LOL. Days past and it was earning. A few cents per week or a few bucks a month, it all sum up over a hundred, seven months later. I thought It was dormant but one day to my big surprise. A mailed cheque was on my mailbox. Wow, it was from my Google account!





I made a promise to my wife that if ever by chance i can get something out of this curiosity-blog thing, I will give my daughter her first portable DVD player. Last weekend i found this DVD player at Best Buy which is a perfect gift for my daughter. She loved it!



Together with that DVD player i found is a webcam. Our last one which was an A4 tech got broke so i bought a replacement. This Life Cam VX - 3000 has a good review so i took it. Me and my wife were not disappointed when we use it.

What i bought on my first Google cheque? -- A portable DVD player for my daughter and this sleek web cam plus a Big Mac. Laptop your next!