Welcome to the world my dear

This is our newest family member. He was born on 28 October 2007 - 10:00PM at HUKMSC. We haven't decide the name yet, so we might let his grandpa choose a name.

Watch the rest of the photo set on my Flickr.

How Secure Your Windows XP Administrator Account?

Have you lost your Windows XP password recently or perhaps a virus changes all your account password? Or have you ever wonder how your IT administrator reset your notebook user account recently? We used to encounter this kind of problem due to virus attack. To recover the password, we use a software to reset the password. Did you know that you can use an internal tool called "net user" to reset your password? Here is how:

The steps involved in this task differ depending on whether your computer is a member of a network domain or is part of a workgroup or is a stand-alone computer.

Stand-alone computer

1. If you're still logged in the system, do the following. Bring up the command prompt by select start > run and type in CMD. A black screen will pop up.
2. Type "net user". This will list down all available user in the system.
3. To reset a password type, "net user" followed by the account name that needs password recovery. followed by " *". e.g "net user administrator *"
4. It will prompt, "Type a password for the user:". Enter your new password here.
5. A second prompt "Retype the password to confirm:" will be displayed. Retype your password and you are done.
6. If you not logged in the system, do the following. Reboot the computer and wait a few seconds. Press F8 before it has completely booted. A black screen with a few options will be prompted to you.
   
7. Press down the arrow down and select "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". Press enter to select that option. Hang in a second. Give it some time to boot; this can take longer than your usual boot-process. When it has booted, you will see the same black screen as in CMD. Now you can continue from step 2 to 5. Reboot your computer in normal mode and log in with the password you just typed in.

Another way of reseting your password is by creating a password reset disk. The Forgotten Password Wizard lets you create a password reset disk that you can use to recover your user account and personalized computer settings if you forget your password.

1. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to open the Windows Security dialog box.
2. Click Change Password.
3. Click Backup to open the Forgotten Password Wizard.
4. Click Next and then follow the instructions as they appear on the screen.

This demonstrate how easy to gain access to your Windows XP PC, so be careful out there.

Update: Visit this site to get an alternative tools http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Screwed Out Service

This anger accumulated since Hotlink (Maxis Prepaid Service) start spamming my SMStext messages without my consent. How could they promote a jug of beer to a Muslim. I thought we're oblige to register our prepaid service and there should be no excuse of not knowing our religion. It's all there in myKad. And there are so many other promotional SMS which I don't care about. I try to search any subscription options through the Hotlink website but I can't find any.

Today, Hotlink announced to stop their SMS email on this coming 1st December which lead me to write this post. It's kind of rare to withdraw a useful service. To a normal user, it's like downgrading the services back to Atur era. So I might considering changing to another mobile service carrier on my next phone upgrade.

Seting Up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with Windows

I always wanted to try this out but always forgot. OK, here's the catch, imagine you're out from your office and suddenly forgot to get a file from your PC. You can either get your ass back to the office or you can try the VPN connection. Here is how:

You must:

Set up one computer to share files (server).
Set up another computer to access them (client).

Begin by setting up the server:

• Open Internet Explorer and go to www.whatismyip.com. Write down the IP address. You will need it to configure the client.
• Click the Start button and click Run. Type control and hit Enter. Or you can open the Control Panel from Windows Start button
• Click Network and Internet Connections.
• Click Network Connections.
• Click Create a New Connection, which is the first option on the left toolbar.
• The New Connection Wizard will open. Click Next.
• Choose Set up an advanced connection, the last element on the list. Click Next.
• Choose Accept incoming connections. Click Next.
• You will see the Devices for Incoming Connections screen. Do not select anything on this screen. Click Next.
• Select Allow virtual private connections. Click Next.
• Select to whom you want to give access. Click Next. If a user is not listed, you will have to add an account.
• Do not change anything on the Networking Software screen. Click Next.
• That’s it! Your computer is now set up to allow for VPNs. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

Now proceed to connect the client:

• Click the Start button and click Run. Type control and hit Enter. Or you can open the Control Panel from Windows Start button
• Click Network and Internet Connections.
• Click Network Connections.
• Click Create a New Connection, which is the first option on the left toolbar.
• The New Connection Wizard will open. Click Next.
• Select Connect to the network at my workplace and click Next.
• Select Virtual Private Network connection and click Next.
• Type the name of your network in the blank box. Click Next.
• Enter the IP address you wrote down earlier and click Next.
• Select Add a shortcut to this connection to my desktop and click Finish.

Note:

• If the VPN doesn’t work, turn off your firewall.
• And don't give access to the “guest” account. It does not require a password, allowing anyone to access the VPN.