Well as mentioned here my system was infected by this worm, so I thought I’d do a short post on how to fix this, as most Anti Virus Programs don’t get rid of this cleanly.

First thing, if you’re on the internet, GO OFFLINE! Disconnect, switch off the modem/router, pull the LAN/USB cable, just go offline. This is critical. Why you may ask?

A virus attack that is. After more than 8 months of virus-free computing(without using a Anti-Virus too, I might add) my laptop finally bit the bug(so to speak). It happened day-before yesterday, oddly seems to have triggered off after installation of Windows Media Player 11(Santosh was praising it, so I thought I’ll check it out). Downloaded it, got it WGA’d(yes my Windows XP SP2 is Genuine, OEM) and installed. First signs of trouble was when Windows Explorer kept throwing Data Execution Prevention Errors(DEP) while browsing through my Music partition. Then WMP11 kept crashing when trying to add my Audio collection(roughly about 7.65 GB).

I’m a huge fan of Sports/GT-Racing genre of games. Recently Codemasters had released their newest game, GRID, and I’d downloaded the demo version of GRID couple of days ago and decided to check it out.

And yes the visual presentation just blew me away! Everything looks gorgeous, from the menu screens which are alive in 3D, to the loading screens which, instead of the usual flat progress bar, show your accomplishments in your career.

So I was having a nice talk with Harshad a while ago on IM, and he asked me a question no one had EVAR asked.

I’ll let the log do the talking.

(11:07:16 PM) simpleharshad: how many photos you have
(11:07:22 PM) simpleharshad: ??
(11:07:31 PM) simpleharshad: i have seen you in two diff. photos
(11:07:34 PM) Sathya: hmmm No idea :-??
(11:07:47 PM) Sathya: check my orkut, facebook and flickr albums
(11:07:47 PM) simpleharshad: you look totally diff
(11:07:47 PM) simpleharshad: 😕
(11:07:50 PM) Sathya: HAHAHAAHA
(11:08:01 PM) Sathya: which phots you refer to ?
(11:08:19 PM) simpleharshad: the picture you have on stumble and one on twitter

I get a lot of forwards, I mean a lot. Most of them I just delete, since they aren’t worth keeping. The good ones I forward. This one is the better of the entire lot of forwards that I’ve gotten. It’s old, I know but still good.

Top 10 most stupid questions people usually ask in obvious situations

1. At the movies:
   When you meet acquaintances/ friends.. .
   Stupid Question:- Hey, what are you doing here?

Answer:- Dont u know, I sell tickets in black over here…

2. In the bus:
   A heavy lady wearing pointed high-heeled shoes steps on your feet…
   Stupid Question:- Sorry, did that hurt?

Answer:- No, not at all, I’m on local anesthesia.. …why don’t you
try again.

3. At a funeral:
   One of the teary-eyed people ask…
   Stupid Question:- Why, why him, of all people.

Answer:- Why? Would it rather have been you?

4. At a restaurant: When you ask the waiter
   Stupid Question:-
   Is the “Butter Paneer Masala” good??

Answer:- No, its terrible and made of adulterated cement. We
occassionaly also spit in it.

5. At a family get-together:
   When some distant aunt meets you after years
   Stupid Question:-Munna, Chickoo, you’ve become so big.

Answer:- Well you haven’t particularly shrunk yourself.

First up: A confession. I’m not a cricket fan. I hardly ever watch it. Tests or ODI’s, it doesn’t matter, I’d probably watch an over or two, and then just flip channels. Over the past couple of weeks, IPL has been a huge event here in India, and a new source of entertainment for Indians - I mean, never have we had anything like this - Stars owning teams, Franchises, foreign superstars, previously never thought of players playing together and oh yes, cheerleaders. Even with huge hype of IPL Twenty20 cricket, I’d never seen a single match here in Chennai - mainly because of CAS which meas that all the “goody” channels are available on a subscription basis, and since I stay in a lodge these aren’t available to me.