Happy New Year 2009

Scareware is a type of malware designed to trick victims into purchasing and downloading useless and potentially dangerous software.

Scareware, which generates pop-ups that resemble Windows system messages, usually purports to be antivirus or antispyware software, a firewall application or a registry cleaner. The messages typically say that a large number of problems -- such as infected files -- have been found on the computer and the user is prompted to purchase software to fix the problems. In reality, no problems were detected and the suggested software purchase may actually contain real malware. If the user falls for the scam, he will lose the money he paid for the useless software and he may also make his computer unusable. Frequently, the message window has a clickjacking feature that takes the user to the attacker's Web site or initiates a malware download if the user clicks "Cancel" or the "X" to close the window.

In October 2008, Microsoft and the Washington attorney general sued two Texas-based companies, Branch Software and Alpha Red. Those two companies are responsible for Registry Cleaner XP, a very common scareware program. In December 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated a restraining order against two companies in the United States, Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services. Scareware programs produced by those companies include DriveCleaner, WinAntivirus, ErrorSafe, WinFixer and XP Antivirus.

If you encounter a suspicious pop-up, you should right-click on the item in the task bar and select close or manually close the window by clicking Ctrl-Alt-Delete. To protect your system from future attempts, install a good pop-up blocker and configure it to prevent pop-ups from sites other than those that you specifically allow.

Source: WhatIs.com

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a plug-and-play interface between a computer and add-on devices, such as media players, keyboards, telephones, digital cameras, scanners, flash drives, joysticks and printers.

USB supports hot-swapping, which means that a new device can be added to your computer without having to add an adapter card or even having to turn the computer off. The USB peripheral bus standard was developed by Compaq, IBM, DEC, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Northern Telecom. The technology is available without charge for all computer and device vendors.

Since 1996, Windows operating systems have been equipped with USB drivers or special software designed to work with specific input/output (I/O) device types. Most new computers and peripheral devices are equipped with USB.

In November 2008, the USB Implementers Forum (USB IF) released specifications for USB 3.0, officially known as SuperSpeed USB. According to Forum president Jeff Ravencraft, a USB 3.0-capable flash drive can transfer a gigabyte of data (the equivalent of two full-length movies) to a host device in 3.3 seconds. In contrast, it takes a USB 2.0-based device 33 seconds to transfer that amount of data.

USB 3.0-capable devices are expected to be available in 2010.

Source: http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/

The "knighting" of India's top Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan will help boost tourism in Malaysia, an official from the western Malacca state government said Monday.

Khan is to be given the Governor of Malacca's award, which carries the title "Datuk," after his 2001 film boosted the profile of the state as a destination for tourists.

The 42-year old heart-throb will receive his award on November 29, in a ceremony that will be aired live on India's top entertainment channel, Zee TV.

"It is a boost for tourism in Malaysia. His movies are seen by people all over the world and this is cost-free advertisement for us," local parliamentarian Mohammad Sirat Abu told AFP.

Malacca, a historic port town and a relic of Malaysia's colonial past, relies hevily on tourism for income.

Mohammad said since the filming of Khan's 2001 movie, "One 2 Ka 4" at a popular resort in Malacca, the number of tourists coming from India has increased markedly.

"He is a worldwide icon and having him here will boost our country's tourism industry," he said.

Malaysia has become a popular location for Indian films, which have a huge following among ethnic Indians and the majority Muslim-Malays.

Women of all ages -- including the wife of deputy prime minister Najib Razak, Rosmah Mansor -- are huge fans of the charismatic Khan, dubbed the "King of Bollywood" here.

Malaysian tourism chiefs are aiming to attract 22.5 million visitors this year, who they hope will spend 50.5 billion ringgit (14.1 billion dollars).

From January to September 2008, tourist arrivals increased 4.4 percent on the year to 16.3 million, mainly from neighbouring Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. 

Source: http://news.my.msn.com

If you are browsing to this website www.veoh.com this will be appears in your browser.

Veoh is no longer available in MALAYSIA. Some people said that Malaysia's Government has blocked this website. Actually, Malaysia’s Government didn't do anything about blocking this website.

Veoh is a San Diego, California-based company which runs an Internet Television service allowing users to find and watch major studio content, independent productions and user-generated material for free. 

However, as of 31st May 2008, many countries such as Malaysia, Cyprus, Romania, Panama, Hungary, Slovenia, Kuwait, Brunei, Indonesia, Chile, Malta, Thailand, Croatia, Turkey, Ukraine, Colombia, Bangladesh has been blocked due to a low concentration of users.

That mean, Veoh did banned our country from browsing to their site due to a low concentration of users. They say there are less users in the banned countries and we are wasting our resources in these countries.

Maybe you can find other alternative way for video sharing website such YouTube etc. If you still want to using Veoh, you can change your proxy setting in your browser. Happy browsing!

Source: http://answers.yahoo.com and http://www.veoh.com

(KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia) — A Malaysian court ordered the country's former king Wednesday to settle a $1 million debt to a bank in a landmark verdict that ended a centuries-old tradition shielding the country's royal sultans from legal prosecution.

The case brought by Standard Chartered Bank against Tuanku Jaafar Tuanku Abdul Rahman was the first trial involving a Malaysian monarch since a 1993 constitutional amendment dissolved the immunity of state rulers from criminal and civil lawsuits.

"This would be an ordinary case but what is exceptional is that it involves a ruler," the bank's lawyer, Robert Lazar, told The Associated Press.

A special panel of Malaysia's top five judges unanimously ruled that Tuanku Jaafar was liable for a $1 million credit provided by the bank in a 1999 business contract involving him and the U.S.-based Connecticut Bank of Commerce. Tuanku Jaafar was Malaysia's king at the time.

Tuanku Jaafar, the 86-year-old royal head of southern Negri Sembilan state, served as Malaysia's constitutional monarch between 1994 and 1999 in a unique system that allows nine hereditary state rulers to take turns being king for a five-year term.

Malaysia's monarchy has a largely ceremonial role but it commands wide public respect, particularly among the ethnic Malay Muslim majority, who regard the king as the supreme upholder of Malay tradition and the symbolic head of Islam.

Sultans had long remained above the law until the government made dramatic changes in the constitution in 1993 following a state ruler's alleged assault of a hockey coach. However, Standard Chartered's 2005 lawsuit marked the first successful attempt to take a ruler to trial.

Lazar said Tuanku Jaafar cannot appeal the verdict and Standard Chartered will be able to recover the payment from the ruler's bank deposits.

Tuanku Jaafar's legal representatives could not immediately be contacted.

The suit surfaced after Standard Chartered paid the Connecticut bank $1 million for credit provided to a U.S. tire rubber firm in a deal arranged by Tuanku Jaafar. Standard Chartered said the ruler had to reimburse the bank, but Tuanku Jaafar's lawyers said the king tried to revoke the contract and refused to pay the debt. 

Source: http://www.time.com

AUKU 1971 abbreviation from the University and University College Act 1971 is the act that enacted by the Malaysian Government and approved by Yang DiPertuan Agong on 27th of April 1971. This act amended in year 1975 and 1995 become University and University College Act (Amendment) 1995.

In post for this time, I’m not against and not at all to incite any side or any people to oppose the existence of this act or to oppose the government; I just want to give my opinion about this act as an undergraduate student.

In my opinion, this act has cut off undergraduates’ freedom which is study in this country to provide the opportunity to enrich their knowledge in group, union in politics and others. Apart from that, it also could stunt their thinking in expanding their idea as the undergraduates before the existence of this act.

If we take a look on the undergraduates currently, majority of them only learn what are educated in lecture theatre only, they are less given the exposure of the current issues, current political situation and many more. Nowadays, it is not surprised if there were no undergraduate activists who have been spoken in giving their ideas to societies. Then, saying “Undergraduate Upholder Country” or “Mahasiswa Pendukung Negara” may be not fit again to worn if this act restricts their freedom to do so.

If we compare with a neighboring country like Indonesia, many undergraduate activists have been giving their opportunities to expand their opinion and constructive ideas to their societies.

For further information on AUKU, you can click here to read the article in Wikipedia.