1567 Viruses

If your computer has 1567 viruses, it is either:

a. You do not take care of your computer,
b. You surf the internet without a firewall,
c. You are not yet on Windows XP Service Pack 2, or
d. All of the f***ing above!!!

In my case - I mean the case of our computer at home, the answer is the letter 'D'. Congratulations to my family for breaking the old record of, say, less than 20 viruses.

Actually, we have Norton Antivirus 2002 - yes, an original copy of it. We even had it registered over the internet. We could even get live updates... that is, until 2004. It is when the live update licensing had expired. It's like Norton telling us, "Want to keep protected? Buy the new one."

Thank God I was able to connect the laptop to our home computer. After a few adjustments, I was able to sweep our home computer with F-Secure Anti-Virus.

After scanning drive C, the Anti-Virus reported that there were 4 viruses. Okay... not bad... for a drive partitioned for 300 MB.

Drive D was insane, especially when we got to the Windows directory. I was performing the virus scan on a command prompt window (like DOS). When the scanning reached System32, the viruses came out like machinegun fire! It was an assortment of all kinds of worms, trojans, and spyware! I laughed hysterically when I saw this. Pretty amusing.

After the scan on our computer, I decided to scan my laptop as well (for safety reasons - I don't know how tricky the viruses are in our home PC). Zero.

Maybe it's time to scan your computer as well. What do you think?

El Musikero

Yesterday, I paid a visit to Mark Escueta's place (Rivermaya). He still mans his recording studio; wasn't able to ask him of the rates, though.

We just had a short meeting. He was finishing up on a recording session with one of the bands there. When I saw the members of the band, they had art all over them. Tie-die clothing, bushy hair, earrings like that of Brandon Boyd (of Incubus -- you know, that coin-in-piercing thingamajig), all that stuff -- something I've never done.

It made me think... can I be a musician without having to go through that? Some parts say "yes", some parts say "no". Ever knew an artist without a tattoo? Or at the least hip and trendy clothing?

But music is also a science. Just now, I checked out http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUSB-main.html because Mark was recommending this to me. It's an effects pad that I can plug to the USB port of my laptop. Cool! Sticker price is $129.95. Cool! Translate that to our crappy currency, and it's Php7307.08 without shipping costs. Not bad... not bad at all.

So how will it be for El Musikero here? We'll soon find out.

By the way, if you know a site where I can post mp3's for free, let me know. I'm thinking of a music-for-free project right now. It's the digital age. I gotta use it.

Need for Speed Underground 2

The sequel to the hit NFSU, which sold 8 million copies worldwide, is out! This time, it's better than before.

First, let's talk about the cars. There are 29 cars in the game from Japan, Europe, and the US. Notable additions are the SUVs (Cadillac Escalade, Hummer H2, Lincoln Navigator), which are very cool to modify. Too bad Hondaphiles won't be able to drive the Integra and the S2000 anymore.

Speaking of modifications, there are tons and tons and tons of it! EA claims that there are around 80 billion combinations to choose from. Pimp out your ride with neons, wheels (sports or spinners), hydraulics (make your car go boing-boing!), speaker setups, and loads of body parts. Then, tune your car by bolting on various engine, suspension, and transmission modifications, then fine tune the gear ratios, ECU and turbo mapping, shock stiffness, and other tweakables in the Test Run mode.

Gameplay is better in some aspects. The free roaming environment allows the player to roam around Bayview's 150 miles of road. Along the way, the player may drop by a shop to buy parts, go to racing spots to earn the bank, and race others on the road via the Outrun mode.

Although it still is not a simulation (there's no car damage here), there are aspects such as torque steer (accelerate too fast from dead stop, and you'll find your car turning) that make it feel more real.

There are some points of disappointment here, though. One is the difficulty setting. I didn't feel quite as challenged as compared to the prequel (this game took me only 20 hours to finish). Here, you can go pick the Miata or Corolla, then drive it until the end of the game.

Another disappointing feature is the play-to-earn-your-parts gameplay. Unlike Gran Turismo, which uses the play-to-earn-your-cash gameplay, the NFSU series continue to block the player from the goodies from the start. Think of it this way, you have $28,000 on hand, but can't buy a Lancer Evo VIII until you've been through 80 percent of the game. In fact, you can't buy cars, only get sponsored to drive them (what?!?).

Overall, I'm giving NFS Underground 2 a 91% rating. I'll have to admit that it is very addictive to tune and pimp your ride. I just hope they let us loose on the goodies next time, especially now that I've learned that NFSU3 is in the making...

For The Geeks

Check out www.howstuffworks.com, then read a lot to become the ultimate geek.

MGH

For the rest of my professional career (which is, I don't know, 40++ years from now?), I'll definitely hate, nay loathe, even abhor, these initials. It's what I received last Monday from the clinic, after checking up for colds.

"May Go Home."

Ramcar, care of RXA, company president, has posted a memorandum on contagious bacterial and viral infections. To sum the memo up, it just says that when you got a contagious infection, you will not be allowed to work. Such illnesses include cough, colds, sore eyes, and whatever pain-in-the-ass you can pass on to your officemate.

Since Subject J has a case of cough and colds, he cannot be allowed to work until he secures a permit from the clinic allowing him to work; hence, Subject J is forced to stay home until the infection subsides.

I'm glad Katrina took care of me on Monday. Too bad I didn't get well come Tuesday and today (her and my target recovery dates, respectively), but she took care of me really well. Why not go straight home instead? It was a Monday; I didn't want her to be lonely.

Hopefully, I can lift MGH by tomorrow (here we go again...). It sucks to be a bum...

Undas 2004

I have respect for the dead. Most of them had lived in hard, yet fruitful lives. Their spirits, though, continue to live in the memories of their beloved.

Which brings us to Undas, my most un-favorite day to be a driver. You see... my relatives at my mother's side visit the cemetery every year during Undas. Personally, I don't want to because I get to drive.

Now don't get me wrong - I love to drive, but not in traffic. Give me an open freeway, and my smile will reach my ears (of course, I'll need a decent car for that). Give me a cemetery, packed with so many people and so little driving area, not to mention the almost non-existent parking spaces, and all I'll do is rant all day.

Lucky for me, entering Holy Cross (where my lolo - mom side - is buried) only took me ten minutes. Exiting it, thanks to retards doing the routing scheme - STUPID, STUPID retards - it took me forty-five (45) minutes to get out of the cemetery. Think of having to crawl seven blocks when the exit is just a block away, again thanks to the retards.

If you notice, I didn't mention that I didn't want to visit my departed relatives. I do, actually - a bit. There's something refreshing about it, too. In fact, I happened to remember my lolo by just sitting near his grave. I can picture how he looked like while I'm typing this down.

What I don't like about it is the congestion. Traffic, people, annoying salesmen - they just ruin the goody, happy feeling during the visit.

So here's a pretty good advice: stay home and pray for them there. If you want to be close to them physically, visit them at least a week before or a week after Undas. Trust me, it'll feel a lot easier doing so, plus you still get to be with your loved ones.

But if you're a people-party person who loves to be around everybody and anybody, go ahead. Me? I prefer open fields.