Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by zheyuen

Legitimate phone number used for a scam?

zheyuen — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 11:24:58 +0800

This was something I was a bit curious about.

For example, I've seen Ninjavan use the number 4799910901 to send out a parcel delivered message. I've seen Whatsapp use the same number to push an OTP.

But I've also seen an illegitimate party use this number to send out a scam message. I've also seen another illegitimate party use this number to send a shady link with no context.

So... who actually "owns" this number? Why would both a legitimate company and a illegitimate one have access to the same number?

Super curious how this works.

What is a "Flash SMS Message"?

zheyuen — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:28:51 +0800

Asked this on Serious Kopitiam, couldn't get an answer, so ask here too.

On my Samsung, I received something that looked like a typical android system pop-up with the title "Flash SMS Message". The only options were "Cancel" and "Save".

Obviously I clicked "Cancel" but I'm at a total lost as to what it was. I tried googling but some of the sources I found indicated that a "Flash Message" should only be able to be sent by a govermental agency, and yet the message I received seemed to be some weird spam promoting MyTukar I think, which doesn't strike me as a "Govermental Agency"-approved message.

Thoughts?

What is a "Flash SMS Message"?

zheyuen — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:53:32 +0800

On my Samsung, I received something that looked like a typical android system pop-up with the title "Flash SMS Message". The only options were "Cancel" and "Save".

Obviously I clicked "Cancel" but I'm at a total lost as to what it was. I tried googling but some of the sources I found indicated that a "Flash Message" should only be able to be sent by a govermental agency, and yet the message I received seemed to be some weird spam promoting MyTukar I think, which doesn't strike me as a "Govermental Agency"-approved message.

Thoughts?

WTS ASUS IPS Portable Monitor (USB 3.0) MB169BR+.

zheyuen — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 17:19:50 +0800

Item(s): ASUS MB169BR+ Portable monitor.

Package includes: The monitor, a USB 3.0 cable, and a sleeve/pouch that can double as a stand.

*This monitor only requires one USB cable to supply both power and video (Displaylink software required). It is an IPS screen, and is pretty lightweight.

Price: RM500 (NEGOTIABLE). Ori price was RM719.

Warranty: 3 Years still available. However, as the receipt has some personal info, I will be keeping the receipt. If you need to claim the warranty in the next 2 years, feel free to look me up. If you are willing to forego the receipt and warranty, I am willing to negotiate an even lower price.

Dealing method: COD.

Location: KL/Selangor.

Contact method/details: PM me.
---

Item(s) conditions: Brand new, box still available.

Picture: PM me.

Reason for sale: Long story short, this monitor requires Displaylink to work, which is not ideal for my intended use for it. If you don't mind needing a Displaylink software to get it running, then this monitor would be great for you.

External Optical Drive Enclosure not reading disc.

zheyuen — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 01:29:22 +0800

Posted this on the Apple Byte forum, but since I didn't get any answers, and after testing the enclosure on several Windows machines and the drive still didn't work, I'd figured that I post this here too.

I recently swapped out my Optical Drive on my 2011 13inch Macbook Pro for a hard drive and put the Optical Drive in an enclosure. The Hard Disk Caddy and the Optical Drive enclosure are part of a set called the Silverstone TS14. The optical drive enclosure uses a cable that has a Mini USB head on one end, and TWO USB-A heads on the other.

The hard disk works fine, but the Optical Drive, in its enclosure, doesn't read any discs. When plugged in, the drive is detected in System Information, under the "Disc Burning" section. Using the "drutil" command in Terminal brings up the drive's information, and it responds to the "drutil eject" command. However, it refuses to pull any CDs I try to put in, no matter how far I push the CD in.

I have a different laptop Optical Drive lying around, the kind with a tray, so I decided to hook that up to see what happens. No difference. System Information and drutil detects the drive, but it refuses to read, even when I loaded the disc into the tray and closed the tray.

Then I tested both the optical drives on my Windows computer and instead gotten this message; "One of the USB device attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognise it.". Under Devices and Printers, the optical drive connected through the enclosure is detected as an "Unknown Device".

However, sometimes when fidlling with Mini-USB end of the cable and/or its connector on the enclosure, my Windows computer did detect it as an External CD drive, but trying to get it to read anything is impossible so far and any small nudges to the enclosure with turn the Enclosure and Optical drive into an Unknown Device again.

Also, when I plugged the HDD (while it's inside the caddy) to the enclosure, and my Macbook Pro reads the HDD perfectly fine.

Wonder if anyone knows what's going on and how to fix this.

Thanks.

External Optical Drive Enclosure not reading disc.

zheyuen — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 21:57:59 +0800

Hi all. I recently swapped out my Optical Drive on my 2011 13inch Macbook Pro for a hard drive and put the Optical Drive in an enclosure. The Hard Disk Caddy and the Optical Drive enclosure are part of a set called the Silverstone TS14.

The hard disk works fine, but the Optical Drive, in its enclosure, doesn't read any discs. When plugged in, the drive is detected in System Information, under the "Disc Burning" section. Using the "drutil" command in Terminal brings up the drive's information, and it responds to the "drutil eject" command. However, it refuses to pull any CDs I try to put in, no matter how far I push the CD in.

I have a different laptop Optical Drive lying around, the kind with a tray, so I decided to hook that up to see what happens. No difference. System Information and drutil detects the drive, but it refuses to read, even when I loaded the disc into the tray and closed the tray.

Wonder if anyone knows why this is. The optical drive enclosure uses a cable that has a Mini USB head on one end, and TWO USB-A heads on the other.

Thanks.

Should I be worried of my recycled new number?

zheyuen — Sun, 06 May 2018 00:24:50 +0800

Got a new number from REDone. Turns out the number is recycled and belongs to someone else before. Didn't think much about it as first, as recycled numbers are common.

But then I got a TON of calls and messages trying to get the previous owner to clear her debts. Apparently she owes a bunch of people money, and I get a lot of messages and calls from debt collectors trying to get her to clear her debts.

I also got a weird Whatsapp message from a few people. The message is a video (which I did not download) with some anti-Islam(could be pro- because the wording can mean both ways) message underneath. I takut virus AND takut kena sedition act if the video is some anti-Islam video from some group so I didn't download them and immediately deleted all of it.

Basically, should I be worried? The person sounds shady af, so idk if it'll ever link back to me. Should I request a new, un-recycled number (if that's possible)? Should I change to a different number? Or should I just not worry about it?

Thanks all.

Redmi 5A vs Nokia 3 vs Moto e4.

zheyuen — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 00:22:04 +0800

Hi, all. Was wondering which of these 3 budget phones would be the better choice? I've done some cursory research on Google about it, but I'm an extremely light and new phone user, so I might as well as for some real human opinions.

According to my research;

Redmi 5A seems to have the best hardware among the 3? And the cheapest too! However, I'm concerned about the software/OS. Is Xiaomi known for consistent updates and bug fixes? Would the pre-installed bloatware be removable without rooting? Is MIUI just a skin and all of the stock Android functionality will still be accessible?

Moto E4 seems pretty decent. Hardware-wise not as great as Redmi 5A? But according to a few reviews I read, the phone is solid, and it runs fast and smoothly. It's also close to a stock Android, and apparently comes with very little bloatware. However, I'm worried about consistent updates, bug fixes, and missing functionality. Moto is now owned by Lenovo, and Lenovo budget phones have a history not getting good software support.

The Nokia 3 seems decent spec wise, and a little higher than Moto E4? A quick google search shows that Nokia does give out consistent and good software support to the Nokia 3s, with an Oreo update planned soon. It also seems to be running as stock Android as possible. However, based on some reviews I've read, it apparently can sometimes run sluggishly, and reviewers online seem to have a less than favourable opinion on the phone than the Moto E4.

On first glance, it seems like the Redmi 5A would be the better choice, but I really don't know how their software support is and I don't want to gamble on it. The Nokia 3 on the other hand seems to have great software support for a budget phone, but I really wonder if the less-than-stellar reviews online holds any actual weight.

What do you guys think?

A Windows 7 laptop with a dead hard drive.

zheyuen — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 03:03:58 +0800

I have a dead Dell laptop at home that ran on Windows 7. From the looks of it, it seems like the HDD is completely dead. I have some spare Hard Disks and I was thinking if I could replace the HDD and reinstall Windows 7. However, the laptop didn't come with any installer CDs. I'm also not sure if Windows 7 have a function similar to the Media Creation Tool in Windows 10 and even if it does, the laptop would no longer boot up.

Is it possible to reinstall Windows on this Laptop without going out and getting a new license then? Or should I just don't bother and install Linux into this? .

Thanks!

Swapping the HDD for an SSD.

zheyuen — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 02:59:30 +0800

I have a MBP (Late 2011 model), still running Snow Leopard. I have purchased an SSD which I'm planning to replace my current HDD. I also got a HDD caddy. The original HDD will be placed in the caddy, and then replacing my CD Drive.

What is the best way for me to clean install my OS into the SSD (assuming I need this to upgrade to the newest OS)?

I don't need to transfer any old softwares or files into the SSD, a clean install would suffice, as most of my files have been backed up.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Scam? Identity theft? Or just plain coincidence?

zheyuen — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 02:23:00 +0800

From 2010 till 2014, I received a few "wrong number" phone calls from people who either spoke in Tamil or some foreign language I am not familiar with. Most of them I just assumed that it was a genuine mistake, because a lot of those calls, I would just tell them wrong number and they would put the phone down, OR if they didn't understand what "wrong number" was, once I hung up on them, they didn't call back.

Then I received a call I found quite suspicious. When I picked up the phone, the person on the other side immediately blabbered in whatever language she was talking in, as if without bothering to make sure who I was first. When I said "wrong number", she gave a huge laugh... and then continued blabbering. When I hung up, she didn't call back. But I didn't give much thought into that too.

However, there was one call I got that quite disturbed me. I received a call that seems to be from an old friend of mine, but when I picked it up, it wasn't him. Understandable, since he hasn't been in Malaysia for years and I think that he had sold his number off to someone else. But what sounded weird was that the man that called me, immediately blabbered in his language, and when I said "wrong number", he answered something along the lines of "wrong number? no no no, [unknown language] message [unknown language]." and he sounded confused and blabbered on. When I said to him that it's the wrong number and I do not understand what he was saying, he suddenly quiet down, and hurriedly ask if I was Malaysian. I was too confused to bother at that moment, so I just hung up, and he didn't call back.

So what the hell was that all about? It seemed like a huge coincidence that I received a phone call from a number once owned by my friend, with the guy on the other side of the line sounding like he is CERTAIN did not get the wrong number, and the fact that I have had received several calls of this nature before. I also noticed that most of the wrong number calls that I received from 2010 to 2014 were received in "clusters" and I feel like it's pretty odd that I would receive phone calls of an extremely similar nature so many times. I also don't think I received any wrong number phone calls in a language I understand, English, Mandarin, Cantonese or Malay.

Are there any reported scams that sounds like this? Is there a possibility of someone using my phone number but not exactly my phone account to communicate with these people? Or is it just one huge coincidence that I received these calls?

Thanks.

Lenovo A680 problem.

zheyuen — Sun, 04 May 2014 12:08:24 +0800

Hello, lowyat.

I have a Lenovo A680 and I noticed a few oddities with it that I hope you kind people can help with.

Firstly, the clock. I've used the Alarm function several times. However, after rebooting my phone, when I set an alarm and it goes off, I realised that the look of the pop up completely changed! After I dismissed and turned off my alarms, I checked my settings and couldn't find if there were any settings that can change the look.

Secondly, my phone comes with the software "SecureIt", which, from what I can gather, is an anti-virus/protection software from Lenovo themselves. When I do a scan with it, or when I look at my firewall or privacy settings through SecureIt, I noticed that the software lists some Russian apps like Change Yo Voice! or Yandex. I don't recall installing them, nor can I find them in my apps list. So I'm wondering why are these apps in my phone?

<Already got!>Nintendo 3DS XL Black/Black colour.

zheyuen — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 16:00:11 +0800

Already got a 3DS XL! Closed!

Question about wireless router and security.

zheyuen — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 00:11:19 +0800

I know this question is pretty paranoid, but humour me, since I just want to know more about internet security. =).

Let's say I have a home router. Someone is given the pre-shared key to the router so that they could use the internet.

So:

1) If the person has a piece of malware on their device, is it possible for the malware to spread to other devices connected to the same router?
2) Is it possible for the hardware to "insert" a malware whether intentionally or unintentionally into the router itself?
3) Is it possible for a person to "spy" on the other devices connected to the same router?
4) If 1,2 and/or 3 is possible, how do I check?

Thanks.

Unifi security question.

zheyuen — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 22:55:59 +0800

If a person were to install Unifi in his house, what are the security measures needed to take to make sure his connection is secure? I remember reading from a web back then that detailed the security holes of Unifi that was mainly caused by the router but I can't find the web anymore.

Also, I also read about the whole "shodan" issue and I heard from a few people suggesting to not use the default router given by Unifi. Is it actually possible to use a router that is not "approved" by Unifi and what brand or model of router can provide good signal and security?

Google.com.my hacked?

zheyuen — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 03:47:20 +0800

Sifu sifu sekalian, hope you guys can answer my question.

I logged in from youtube.com into my youtube account, but when I logged out it gave me an Error 404, I'm assuming it's related to the hack, because from the address in the address bar, it seems like when I logout from my account, it attempts to go back to google.com.my.

Is there a possibility that this "hack" or whatever (I dunno much about computers) could have taken my password? I also logged in to my gmail just now thru google.com but I didn't see anything strange in that page.

Thanks.

Odd pendrive virus, files turned into shortcuts?

zheyuen — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 18:26:58 +0800

Something really odd happened to my pendrive.

My computer has two partitions, a Mac OS X 10.6.8 partition and a Windows 7 partition.

I plugged in my pendrive into my Mac OS X 10.6.8 partition and I opened one of my work files and merrily did my work. I think I even logged in to my Steam account and Facebook account when my pendrive was plugged in.

Then, I realised something. For almost every file I had in my pendrive, there was a corresponding .lnk file and there was also a .vbs file. Knowing that .lnk are Windows shortcut files and .VBS are Visual Basic files, I suspected I have been infected by a virus, so I performed a scan using ClamXav. No detections were found.

So I plugged in the pendrive into my Windows 7 partition, and bam! The only files shown are the shortcut files, my real files are nowhere to be found. My Avira picked up a virus (VBS/Agent.BH.3), but just in case, I removed it from the quarantined list and scanned with Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes did not find anything either.

I scanned my pendrive again with Avira, the VBS/Agent.BH.3 was detected and I deleted it with Avira.

I went back to my Mac Snow Leopard Partition and deleted all the .lnk files. When I went back to my Windows 7 partition, none of my files were visible, except for 2 that I accidentally sent to Trash in my Mac Snow Leopard partition but I put back into my pendrive. So I did the same with all my files in the pendrive on my Mac Snow Leopard partition, came back to Windows 7 partition and voila! All my files are back.

Now that all of my files are back, and the virus removed, is there anything else that I need to do to ensure my pendrive AND computer is 100% clean?

Also, seeing that the virus was a .VBS file, will it have infected my Mac Snow Leopard partition?

There are a lot of sensitive work data on my Mac Snow Leopard partition, and I think I even logged in to my Steam and Facebook accounts when the pendrive was plugged in, so I am worried that the virus could have stolen my passwords and important data or buried itself into my Mac Snow Leopard partition. I'm not really worried about my Windows 7 Partition since there isn't much in there.

I even opened one of my work files from my pendrive when my pendrive was infected, will that be a security issue?

Thanks in advance.

Mozilla Firefox, bug or virus?

zheyuen — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:20:49 +0800

On my Macbook Pro (my OS is OS X 10.6.8), sometimes when I click on a download link, and then click Cancel (meaning I did NOT start the download at all), a .part file appears in my Downloads folder.

However, not all download links cause this problem to happen. Download links for things like MP3s and JPGs rarely cause this to happen, but download links for xls or torrent files will most likely cause this problem.

I've tested it. When I click on a download link for an MP3 file, but didn't click OK or CANCEL, a .part file would appear in my Downloads folder. However, when I hit CANCEL, the .part file goes away.

But when I tried this on a download link for a XLS file, the .part file stays there even after I hit CANCEL. To delete it, I had to drag it to the Trash folder myself and then empty the trash.

So is this a bug? Does your Mozilla Firefox create a .part file when you click on a download link but not confirm whether you want to download the file? Does the .part file go away after you hit CANCEL?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I've tested this on a Windows 7 computer, and it seems like it does NOT create a .part file in the Downloads folder, at all.

Youtube virus? Or just a bug?

zheyuen — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:07:45 +0800

Okay, so I clicked from my friend's facebook to a Youtube video called "Strangers, Again." by WongFuProductions.

I forwarded the video to after the "yellow bar" and the ad banner popped up from below. I clicked the pause button, and it redirected me to the adsite. In fact, no matter which part of the video i press, it directs me there. It brought me to some weird Dragon Ball Flash Game.

This is the web link, I'm gonna put it in the spoiler box to prevent anyone from clicking on it by accident, in case it is really a virus link.

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

UPDATE: I see the ad on Lowyat too. It's a dragon ball ad.

Ad open in new tab?

zheyuen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:27:13 +0800

I was browsing tvtropes.com that an new tab suddenly opened that redirected me to zalora.com.my.

I thought I accidentally clicked on one of the ads so I just browsed the site like usual. But then, it happened two more times and I realised that I didn't click on anything.

If I'm not mistaken, tvtropes display ads from google, and I'm pretty sure they don't use pop-up ads. Also, I never really heard of pop-ups that open in a new tab.

It seemed to have stopped doing it now.

I scanned my computer with my my AntiVirus (ClamXAV) and they found no infections. I'm using Mozilla Firefox btw.

I'm not very knowledgeable with computers, I use a Mac but I don't really believe in the whole "macs have no viruses" thing. So I was wondering if this is some form of bug or malware? I have important work files in my computer so I can be paranoid when I suspect my computer behaving oddly. =/.

Thanks in advance.