A New Malware Fighter

I just came across this new tool that is freeware. It is was tried out by editors of Network World and they found out it was quite powerful and was able to remove malware that even Microsoft's tools were unable to tackle. The tool is even described as a "silver bullet" by one user probably because its so good. I have not tried it myself having had no need for its services.

The website of this tool can be found here. The downside to the tool is that you have to run it manually. Activating the full version unlocks realtime protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating. It is a one time fee of $24.95.

Hope you have a troublefree computing experience.

The Football Yellow Line

Ever since i've learned to understand and watch American football games on TV, i've always been fascinated by the yellow line that is created where the team needs to move the ball ten yards in a maximum of four tries. What makes it unusual is because it only shows up on areas of the screen where turf is shown and never on the players or other objects.

I've finally found a discussion of how its all done. There's even a video of it explaining the technical details of the system.

This could not be done until computer processing was fast and the software was intelligent enough. Very bright guys indeed.

Our Leaking Shower

Early this week, my daughter noticed that the drop ceiling panel in the basement beneath the shower tub was wet with water and broke off to pieces . The cabinet directly below the tub and the carpet nearby was all wet with water. I looked at the drain lines from the shower tub, water closet, and toilet sink and all were dry. A sigh of relief, at least the water was clean and not from the drain. I figured it must be somewhere after the shower valve because the basement was not flooded and the water would only leak when the valves were open like when someone taking a shower. I thought it was the valve or the copper pipes but it was quite unlikely because I just replaced our shower valve two years ago and it was one of the better ones at Lowes. Luckily, I already had yesterday and today off scheduled as a compensatory time off because I had a few vacation days left last year but had to finish some work before Christmas break.

Not being able to pinpoint the source of the leak, I had to cut out a 10" x 16" hole in the back side of our shower wall to find the source of the leak. Fortunately, this wall is inside of an unused closet. After running the shower, the source of the water leak was found - water seeping through the fitting that makes the valve look nice and clean and tightly fitted to the shower wall. This was happening because the flexible hose that connects to the shower head was leaking and the water that sprayed to the wall was seeping and going through it. After a visit at Lowes for some parts and supplies, I filled the hole with caulk and got the job done by 3PM but forgot to buy some new ceiling panels. Back to Lowes and new panels were put in place. I would have wanted to do something else but yeah that's part of the home ownership experience.

Lesson: When installing a new shower valve, it is very important to properly anchor the shower valve, and the shower and tub pipes and then place silicon caulking on the hole openings no matter how small. Use silicone instead of regular caulk because the price difference is worth more than redoing the job again.

Chrsitmas 2008

The year just came by so fast I did not have time to plan and do things. I just went with the flow and suddenly its now 2009. Two more years and the decade is over. I will also be reaching another milestone in my life. But that story is for another day.
For the year just past, I finished three semesters of a three-year masters program at WSU sponsored by my employer. One down, two to go. I'm also quite a bit poorer but hopefully my two girls will complete their college degrees sometime late next year. Quite a few people i've known a few years back whom i've reconnected recently over the web are commenting that my hair has turned silvery now. I say its just signs of maturity :)
May the new year bring prosperity in spite of the grunting world economy. Was it in Chinese where the character for opportunity and crisis are the same? Same coin two sides - may you get to choose the best.