Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Casanova

Nokia Phone Lock Code

Casanova — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:18:48 +0800

My little cousin sister was playing with my gf's e65 and somehow she set a lock code, now we cannot turn it back on because it keep asking for the lock code and my cousin sis said she dunno what number she press already. Whenever we wanna unlock the phone, it ask use for a lock code. Try 5 times, then it has to wait 5 minutes... Dang!

Is there any workaround to this problem? Or is my gf's phone forever gone?

How many men will go slimming centre?

Casanova — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:52:45 +0800

I'm asking this for a friend, a guy. He is considering of going to slimming centre cause he is going to get married soon. He wants to look good for his wedding day, therefore, instead of the gym, he considered slimming centre.

Of course there is nothing wrong with it. The newspaper always show that slimming centre successful rates and a lot of times, it feature men more than women. I saw on newspaper last Sunday a guy lost 20 - 30kg. I'm not sure of the effectiveness but for a company to put up such advertisement, they must have some serious record. It could not be a lie else they'd be sue by consumer right?

Besides slimming, there's also the detox wrap thing that can help you clean up your body system if you eat out all the time. I think it would be helpful so I supported him on the idea.

What do you think? Would you dare to walk in a slimming centre?

Cscript dot.vbs files

Casanova — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:35:09 +0800

Hi All,

I have lost touch with the world of programming since a long time ago. I did some C# and ASP.NET before but I have no experience on VB or VB Script programming, so I hope someone can give me some pointers as to where I can read up more on these things I'm about to ask.

Basically, I want to I want to learn how to write scripts but these scripts will do something different rather than being compile into a program (calculator, payroll, booking system, etc).

I want to make use of cscript command at the command prompt to run some .vbs scripts to execute system action or run a dot.hta file and perform some action with the controls available.

For example, extracting out the list of user names from a certain OU in the Active Directory, or automate the process of sharing user folders in a hard disk drive, or automate the process of setting permission on folders.

Where should I go to look for resources like these? Can somebody point me in the right direction? What's Cscript? What's .vbs? What's .hta files?

[addedon]November 23, 2007, 12:12 am[/addedon]Anybody can assist?

Nokia 6230

Casanova — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:34:21 +0800

Hi,

I am using a Nokia 6230 and my telecommunication operator is Maxis. While trying to send out MMS, I get this 3 strange icons on the top left screen of my phone.
1. a padlock
2. a [G]
3. a clip rotating and becoming a envelope.

What are these icons? I have never seen them before. By the way, I am on the RM75 package.

Please advice, what is this icon and what does it do? Why am I not allowed to send out MMS?

Property, sell one, to buy another

Casanova — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:13:40 +0800

This is my theory, it may be wrong or not feasible but I would like to hear advice of others on my scenario.

I currently have 4 houses.
- 20 years single storey terrace, X
- 20 years double storey terrace, Y1 and Y2
- brand new bungalow, Z

Currently, my family (including parents and myself) are living in a double-storey terrace (Y1). We just bought the bungalow(Z) last year and took a 15 years loan for it paying RM4000 a month. I am not poor, nor rich but just average. My family runs our own business shared with other relatives, so our income is quite stable.

Now, my dad plans to sell away the single storey terrace (X) for RM120k. This money will be used to pay for our bungalow(Z) which is ~15km away from where we currently live. He decided to sell the house(X) because we are never moving back and having that single storey was giving us quite a lot of trouble. For a rental of RM500, we need maintenance and its not very easy to get tenant in my area. That's why we decided to let it go.

We will move into our bungalow(Z) in 3 - 6 months from now. Then, my current double storey house(Y1) will be empty. My other double storey house(Y2) is rented to a relative, so its fine and stable income every month.

My idea is to sell away my current double storey house(Y1), it's worth around RM300k, and take the money to buy another new double storey house nearer to my parents new bungalow. The purpose of my thoughts is that, I am getting married soon and I want to live in a new house with my wife, separated away from my parents but still near enough to take care of them, equally near my in-law as well just to be fair.

I spoke to my mom about it but she just jumped around making noise. I have not talk to my dad. Based on my mom's reaction, I can say she thinks I am thinking 'wrongly'. I think mainly is because RM300k will not be able to buy me a new house which has the same measurement as my current home (Y1) or maybe even smaller!

What is your advice?

ADDED:
X and Y1 is in Taman Chi Liung and Y2 is at Taman Selatan. These two neighbourhood are just next to each other. Z is at Setia Alam.

I am thinking of selling Y1 to buy another at Setia Alam.

Want to invest...

Casanova — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:52:28 +0800

Hi All,

I am making ~RM6k a month and have some savings, I want to do some investing but I do not know where to start so I hope I am able to get some guidance in here.

My options are pretty are but not limited to:
1. Stock - I am learning this and my friend's mom is reliable and active in the market so I just follow her buy. (No, she is not those pasar lady who dont know stuff, she knows her stuff and was a business lady, resigned to be full time in stock market)
2. Unit Trust - Public Mutual have China Fund, Far East Fund and etc. I would like to know more about the risk and ROI
3. Fixed Deposit - Last option and preferably not touch this
4. I see all this: (May I know which is for non-bumi? and applicable to all races?)
1. Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN)
2. Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB)
3. Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020)
4. Amanah Saham Nasional 2 (ASN 2)
5. Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM)
6. Amanah Saham Didik (ASD)
7. Amanah Saham Nasional 3 Imbang (ASN 3)
8. Amanah Saham Gemilang

What's the difference in Unit Trust, Mutual Fund and Bond? Can someone give me a clarification, please? I tried to Wiki these terms but its not very clear to me especially all the examples I read is based on other countries. Can someone give me a local example?

Will Dreamer101 / goldfries be able to drop me some good advice? Thank you.

Best regards,
Cas

Corporate Antivirus

Casanova — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:15:01 +0800

Anyone can suggest me a good antivirus for corporate use?

I used to use Norton Antivirus v8, 9 and 10. Then followed by GFi Mail Security until its now expired.

After that I tried Sophos ANtivirus which is pure garbage because cannot even do a proper web-update. Cannot even do proper pushing of the virus definition to the client computer.

Now, I am looking for an alternative for corporate use that can easily push the scan agent, virus definition and installation onto all platforms including Win98, WinME, WinXP. Preferably has strong anti-spam filters built-in.

Can someone recommend me a good brand please?

IT Certification from Test king

Casanova — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:14:47 +0800

Firstly, I hope I dont offend anyone in here. I know most of you already got MCSE and also some of you know where to BUY the paper but I dont intend to buy. I want to sit for it, I will study but just a different material from testking rather than textbook.

The reason why I suddenly wanna take MCSE is because it is a certification required for promotion at my workplace. Ok, I have a chance for a promotion in my company but I will require a minimal MCSE certification even though my other senior engineers has mentioned that MCSE does not help in our job-scope because we are totally different and the certification is just to show the management that you have a cert.

I dont have the time to study or go for the course (expensive and company wont sponsor), so I plan on going on with TestKing. I hope it is not illegal to ask such question in LYP. It is afterall educational but we are just studying a different material other than the textbook.

When I look at testking.com, which should I buy to save money? Do I have to purchase all of it??
Q & A with Explanations
Realistic Labs
Audio Exam
Study Guide

I am sure we are all well-educated people so before you flame me for wasting money on TestKing, go study the real thing, and tons of other better ideas like hard work pays off and etc - PLEASE RESPECT MY NEEDS AND QUESTIONS and I dont need better ideas - I just want some answer

If it is indeed illegal to ask, please can someone PM me the answer to my question? Will anyone please help me?

Thumbdrive

Casanova — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:44:27 +0800

Anyone of you has started using Vista? I use Vista at my workplace, when I plugged in my 1GB PQI thumbdrive, it says it can speed up my system, a new feature of Vista.

Thumbdrive now acts like a RAM but then it says my PQI is not supported. Random seek speed is too low. So anyone knows any brands that is good enough to utilitze this feature in Vista, wanna share?

Also, at the same time, I heard from a colleague that Hitachi released a new 1TB thumbdrive, is that correct?

ABiT Mobo backpanel

Casanova — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 08:46:36 +0800

I misplaced my Abit mobo backpanel when I upgraded to Asus. Now my Asus mobo is sent into warranty, I wanna use back my Abit mobo but I lost it's backpanel.

Where can I buy them? Or how do I get in touch with Abit sales office / representative locally? Please help. Urgent.

How to deal with a$$h0l3 colleagues?

Casanova — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:16:36 +0800

There is an annoying guy who is resigning from my department and a new girl who recently just joined our workforce.

During the first few days when the girl joined, I was sitting on the cubicle next to her's. So obviously, being the senior, I have be friendly, talk to her. If she got question, she also ask me first. Natural cause we sit close by and this is strictly professional.

Until this a$$h0l3 colleague of mine came up and say loudly "WOW! Kao lui ah?! People first week la... Let go of her la." I was very irritated with this sentence, so was she. By accident, I made a mistake. I said to this a$$h0l3 colleague of mine that she is a relative but actually she is not.

She heard bout it too. At first, she was ok. She probably didnt understand that I was just trying to shut that a$$h0l3 up and make him go away instead of annoying me the entire day. The new girl on the other hand probably thinks that two of her senior is making fun of her.

<editted> She started to feel awkward because the a$$h0l3 confronted her about being my relative today and also probably backstabbed me, he's a good-for-nothing-backstabber whom everyone hates thats why he is quitting. Always saying we all dont treat him like family and crap. <editted>

So, I apologised to the girl and she kept avoiding me, saying she is busy - cannot talk cause her sort of senior (another girl) is helping her now instead of me. I told her the reason why I simply claimed her to be my relative is an excuse to make that a$$h0l3 buzz off but she dont seem to get it.

Now, I feel horrible. I have been here for so long and this a$$h0l3 is quitting. We dont like each other very much and he is trying to make my future days difficult. What can I do to rectify this problem?

When I type on the MSN, telling the girl I got explaination to make to her, she just avoid it saying I am sorry I cannot talk now. I am very busy today. Sorry. She is so nice and apologetic but yet she is not getting the whole picture. Now I'm misunderstood as a bad guy and in reality, I dont like that. I prefer to maintain my perfect working environment instead of having it screwed up by that a$$h0l3.

What can I do? Please help.

Web Design

Casanova — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:43:14 +0800

I heard my friends talking about CSS being the current trend of web design. Web designers are moving from manual sizing up the browser to fit various screen resolution to CSS.

Where's the best place to CSS? My friend passed me a Lynda's tutorial CD that teaches about CSS2, is that a good start for me?

Its better to use CSS to size or manual is still good? Advise please.

Did I screwed up my interview?

Casanova — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:11:36 +0800

I went for an interview today. It's my final interview and my interviewers (3 of them) are very comfortable and casual with me to the extend they crack jokes with me.

At the end of the interview, they ask me when am I available? Because the availability on my resume, I put immediate. They ask if I could come to work tomorrow itself but I needed to deal with some personal matters and at the same time needs to go to a recruitment agency to sign my contract before I could actually start work.

The leader of the team who was also there to interview me told me to choose a date, he doesnt care whether its 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, 2 weeks or 1 month even. So, in order to ease the whole salary thing, I thought maybe it's wiser to start on 1st of Nov since it's already 2nd of Oct. He then added saying 2 weeks of training will be required after I join. Another reason is also to make proper research of the tools I will need to use when I join the team, rather than go in with zero knowledge of the softwares and tools that I might need to use extensively.

He said Nov is fine. After my interview, on my way back home, I gave him a call and told him that I should be able to start work mid Oct if it's convenient with them and take the last 2 weeks of Oct for training and he said OK, he will look into it as the training is may or may not be available.

My question:
1. He asked when I can start work... Does that mean I get the job?
2. He crack jokes with me, telling me to start work on my birthday (which is some time in Oct) and after my first day, we can go for a party.
3. I think he sort of mentioned that I am the only candidate shortlisted for the job.
4. Did I just screwed up my interview?

What should I do now?
1. Should I call him back and tell him I can start immediately? In order to secure the position before he shortlist someone else in the coming week?
2. Should I just wait patiently for his e-mail (which he say he will send - dunno what for though) ?
3. Should I tell the team leader my intentions of holding off my start day?

I dont have my team leader's contacts, only his assistant. What should I do? Please help.

If u THINK u r not meant to be, will u go on?

Casanova — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 01:40:01 +0800

My fren say "Those who have a very strong woman as gf / wife, will not end up with a very happy marriage. At least, not as happy as those who have their wife waiting for them at home, jaga rumah, sayang the kids (traditional wife) when your wife is out doing marketing, socializing, pub (modern wife)"

Today, women are beginning to take control of the corporate world. More and more are coming out to work. More and more have differing thoughts than their men (be it bf/hubby). Men is slowly evolving to become the weaker sex. We can hardly ever find good traditional wives anymore. Even if got traditional wife, she might be like Eva Longoria in Desperate Housewives, having affair with other ppl at home, etc.

Anyway, relationships are never easy. Often so difficult and suffocating that ppl break up no matter how much they love each other. I want to say this, if u someday know that ur current gf is not right for u - will u break up with her? Or will u change and improve as well as change and improve her? What if after all the changes, there is a knot u both come by and cannot come to a agreement. A problem with NO solution.

There is only so much patience in a person. There is only so much u can give and take. You hate what is going on, u worry about this problem being prolonged into your marriage life, and yet she had not done anything wrong in the relationship - just differing thoughts like example:

1. u like clubbing and u dont like u clubbing - u like social but she scared u ONS
2. she like smoking and u hate her smoking - she think is ok but u hate it
3. u think meeting ur ex is ok but it bother her - u think u once loved them, so be frens is ok but she scared old flame ignite
4. u see her sms and she dont like it - u paranoid, wanna check her conversation. she said is privacy.
5. other problems, etc, etc, etc...

Clubbing and non clubbing are not relationship serious offense, neither is smoking nor being frens with an ex or reading the sms. The point here is that u two perceive life way too differently and u both hate it and yet love each other so much that u cant let go of one another.

She is a very open minded girl, few bf, chaotic life, lesbian frens, gays, parties, those happening super lenglui, super sexy, very socialable but u are her longest ex and the one she brings home to meet parents. The only one bf who met all her other relative and big chinese new year restaurant dinner. The one real bf who the parents like and u go her house for dinner more often than her brother come home for dinner.

You are more of a traditional man, few gf, calm life, normal study, work, eat, sleep, quite lengchai, sporty fit boyfriend. She is unlike ur ex-gf. U feel a bit insecure with her but u also felt that way with ex. A complication within urself is TRUST NO ONE. This make things difficult. At the same time, u are always serious with all ur relationship.

If both of u break up, neither one of u have problems finding another, that's guaranteed. Yet, both of u fear it and at the same time, love each other a lot. What will u do to solve this problem? Do u think u're not meant to be? A couple thats of two very similar ppl is very boring ppl say, some say stagnant and no growth - like robot. A relationship of two very different ppl is very challenging and often end up in arguments and hurl painful words at each other. A balance is good but a balance is rare.

Will u want to tolerate ur husband going to pub and karaoke till late at night in the future? Only to hear his excuses like business, frens call cannot ffk, etc?

Will u want to tolerate ur wife smoking socially (not often but not rare either), especially when if ur relatives or family finds out, ppl will think badly of her and u get stuck in the middle when it comes between her and ur parents?

Will u be able to tolerate ur husband checking on your sms and phone and e-mail of who and what u are talking to? Then u wont be able to keep dirty little secrets of ur fren cheating on her bf or ur fren had an abortion, etc, etc?

Will u be able to tolerate ur wife controlling u, dont let u make female frens or meet ur ex-gf? Nags every time u meet ur ex and end up, she cannot take it and have affair with others and things all end up ugly and the kids had to suffer?

*THESE ARE UNSOLVABLE PROBLEMS... HOW?

What should he do?

Casanova — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:41:18 +0800

I am posting this for my friend, who recently quit his job because he was bullied at work by new management. He is in a dilemma now - to choose between programming or support job.

My friend started working for a shipping company right after he finished his Advanced Diploma. My friend didnt come from a very well family. When he decided to start working much earlier than all of us, we advised against it but he went for it still because he thinks he is not studying-type of person so he should go work earlier to help his parents lighten the family burden and save money for his sister who was coming out from school to study Biotech in college.

For 4 years, he struggled and managed to save enough for himself to further his studies to degree level and to get himself a Honda City. He completed his online degree (Univ of Portsmouth UK, by Informatics / Sunway, not sure) in 2005. Due to working and studying at the same time, his result was poor and he only got a Third Class Honours Degree. Soon after that, using his own money, he paid for his own MCSE and CCNA.

My friend recently resigned 2 months ago after being bullied by the new management for several months. Apparently, while he was still serving the company under the previous boss, he was very happy because the boss has made him travel across Malaysia to setup other branch offices. He was also sent to Myanmar and Indonesia to setup their branch office there. He does all the support and maintenance of their servers, PCs, printers, CCTV, keyphone system, etc. He is also the ones who makes decision on all IT based matters like new hardware, new software, antivirus, meeting with custom software programmers, etc. The old management treat him with respect and care even though he didnt have a degree but is very hardworking and always willing to learn. *Trust me, he's my friend, I know.

Earlier 2006, this company he worked for shifted their office, he was the one who dismantle, pack, transport via lori, reconfigure and re-setup all the hardwares in the new office. Of course, Penny and I helped him out but we wont take credit from it because we only setup a few PCs for him while he did all the other hardwork.

After settling down in the new office, his boss told him that the shipping company needed a new custom software. The boss look highly upon him and told him to setup a team of programmers and write this custom software based on their own requirements. He learnt ASP.NET and C# diligently, did a trial run on a warehouse management system using ASP.NET and C#. I was the one who taught him, haha!! But halfway through his project, the new management took over, scrapped his idea and bought an off-the-shelf software that was already tailor-made for this industry. He was very disappointed, thus the resignation.

Now, he grew tired of handling idiots at work doing the dirty support job. He wants to go into programming field because IMHO, he had always had talent in programming but never had the time to study or look into it in detail. The reason why he wants to do programming is that he can earn extra money doing freelance job on his free-time after work.

In programming aspect, he have knowledge in Pascal, Foxpro, C++, ASP.NET, C#, ADO.NET, SQL, HTML, XML. I will be teaching him Java next. Design aspect, he knows Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Dreamweaver and I think he is working on a personal website as his portfolio now. He do not have a portfolio to show his artwork yet, neither does he have any experience working on large-scale programming projects. Most programming projects that he had worked on are helping friends with freelance work and doing degree projects for those students who are willing to pay.

Is this a good point for him to take a turn into programming and probably start out as a Junior Programmer? How much does a Junior Programmers earn? As for Support Engineer job, his last pay was ~RM3k+ and the last offer was RM4k. Should he work for the money (support job where he have plenty of experience) or the interest (programming job where he has some experience but no exposure)?

We are both 26 years old. I am thinking of asking him take a professional certification for programming like MCSD or something but I am not sure if it will do him any good. I only know that MCSE and CCNA is useless if he does indeed go for a programmer's job. He has been out of job for nearly 2 months now. Kindly advise. Thank you.