A day or two back, my friend H-N was at my place for some work reasons, and guess what, he got Najam’s external HDD with him, which had his files, a dozen and more bunch of viruses..

My antivirus (avast), instantly recoginized these viruses, and stopped most of them, some were too quick and planted them in my OS drive, which is absolutely a primary drive to run the operating system of the computer..

2 days later and my computer was still infected, I actually was occupied with work that’s not related to computers so this dis-infection of the computer was delayed. DAMN !

Any how, this particular night, I had enough of this virus pop ups from my AntiVirus scanner, and I decided to get rid of it, with a little help from the internet (my little form of research), I discovered it was a Rootkit virus, which generally are a bit hard to remove. Any how I guess most of it or a 100% of it are gone now, since all the dsoftwares I used to disinfect my computer say that there’s no more virus in my 320 GB HDD..

I m going to list all the softwares and methods below so anyone who gets something as nasty can get some help from here.

My Antivirus is Avast Home Edition 4.8, and prompted that I had some infected file in <System Root>\system32\drivers folder which was called klif.sys, I moved it to the antivirus chest, in other words quarantined it, and then deleted it from the chest, means making it ineffective and deleting it, obviously even deleting this would not help, since it had spread a bit. So I also ran a boot time scan of my computer, after I had run a thorough scan.

My next step was to run a complete spyware scan of my HDD, which revealed I had 2 registry values added or modified, I used Spybot Search & Destroy and TrendMicro Hijack this, for this purpose.

I also had to look up manually if any autorun files had been added, and there’s no surprze they had been done so on all my fixed Hard drives and also my ipod which was connected.. These files would pop up each time even after I had removed them.. so what I did was to run a live version of Ubuntu which I had just downloaded and remove all the autorun files from there.. for those who’re wondering, ubuntu is a free linux distribution, recommended for any home/pro user.

I then booted again in to Windows XP, and reran the antivirus and antispyware and used Sophos Rootkit Remover, this also found something, and cleaned it for me.

I ran an antivirus again and found out that my computer was now been clean, but somehow, I couldn’t still view the hidden files, no matter how many times I enables/disabled it from the folder options, so I searched a bit and found that a registry value could’ve been added/modified, and as I checked indeed, it had been modified, so yes, I modified it again, and you can find the solution to it here. It’s a bit of a registry work, so proceed with caution.

So now I have my computer back, anyone who has been bothered by my “non-presence” this was the reason, I m sorry.

I m hoping everyoen says safe from Viruses, please if you still haven’t got an antiviurs, do so and keep your files safe, and donot connect drives unless they’ve been checked for viruses, getting the viruses off your system is a big hassle, trust me.

Oh and if this helps any one, do tell me.

Tags: avast, computer, crap, f*ck, hassan, hijack this, kill, klif.sys, linux, M, najam, PC, rootkit, shit, sophos, spybot search and destroy, thanks, ubuntu, virus, windows

I wish I was much better that day.. oh yesterday I mean…

I was supposed to be there early, and sadly I turned out to be the one who entered last from the whole team..

Why you may ask.. damn I wasn’t well, vomiting all around, with my face stuck deep inside the commode ! ok, not that deep inside

Any how, when I reached Copper Kettle II, where the event had been organized the folks had already started, since alot of people had already come, and they couldn’t wait for me.. sob sob When I had arrived, the debate and the topic of focus were the blogging ethics, which honestly very few people follow, right now only a handful of bloggers practice such thing, the others just scribble what ever pleases them, which may work fine for them, but for others it might be something offending.

Since everyone was right there during this time, and we expected no more people, we though it would be best if all the bloggers could introduce themselves,and tell about what they write about on their blogs and what would they love to see happening on the blogosphere in Pakistan, this I believe was a nice thing to do… I said very little though.. I was sick remember

Everyone was asked to grab some food, you know everyone gets hungry so food it was, and for me, just a drink and an ice cream.. couldn’t take anything heavy, and didn’t feel like eating anything either, I’m still on soup. damn !

We all sat down again, talked about things we do other than blogging, about our work and businesses, about technology, music, anything that would fancy either one. For me, this was the only thing I talked about, I wasn’t myself yesterday, due to the face, again, that I wasn’t feeling well..

I hope to write more about the event, gotta get my soup now.

Tags: 2, copper, event, hitea, II, kettle, party, teabreak

I m here writing, just a couple of hours after I finally got the courage to say bye bye to my current so awesome job, to join another company for a different experience. As per the policy of this current so damn awesome company I will have to serve yet another month, before I can join the other company.

My new destination will be Trippert Labs, if all goes well, I should be joining it in a month’s time, though I was supposed to join in like 15 days time, but sadly that period has been made into a month.. :S

Any how, I m hoping the ride is going to be funfilled. I’ve already text-spoken to the HR, and the CTO, and they seem pretty nice people.

I know one thing for sure, I m going to miss this place as hell, I seem to have grown with this place, developed and polished myself a lot here. Fallen in love with the entire crew. Raised my standards, and learned alot or principals. Yes thats a good thing, progress is good.

So what now, right ? Well, thinking what to do, right now I haven’t spoken to my family about the resignation, it’s going to be a little bit of shock, but they’ll adjust, though my mom knows about this, almost nothing is hidden from here, but even she wouldn’t be expecting that I’d resign so soon.

Right now I m looking forward for good wishes, and a better carrier/future. Hope I get that.

On the other hand, we have a Teabreak meet up this Sunday, and we even have a Convention of the Creatives on the same day, lets see what happens, the Teabreak event is for bloggers and select folks only, where as the Convention is for everyone. A handful of people will be joining us on the launching event of TeaBreak. I hope it goes around good too… Right now I’ll head out of office with Zair to meet Ammar and Asim to discuss the whole event thing.

Prayers… Love you all.

Tags: creative chaos, dates, going, Islamabad, job, joining, karachi, living, offers, oppurtunity, resign, teabreak, trippert labs, work

The new version of Wordpress you know includes the Google gears implementation, in case you folks did not know that, this is one big help, no kidding..

Your writing and managing the blog becomes much more easier, not to mention effecient.

The link at the top right of the admin page in Wordpress, which says ‘Turbo’ is what enables this option. You will need to download and install Google Gears, which is available for Firefox as well as Internet explorer. sweet..

The new other impressive feature is the Pressthis link. Which is much more sophisticated and categorized  to what you want to put online. Surely wordpress has progressed and groomed itself very well.. awesome.

Here check out this video which has a detailed account of the new features of Wordpress 2.6.

Tags: 2.6, gears, Google, new version, wordpress

How’s everyone doing ?

I m hoping everyone’s rocking, like I m right now..

my website, ckcpark.net has been relaunched.. yes it’s updated and it’s one page rockness..

I hope you folks think it’s good, and get me some business

nevermind, check it out.

It would be uber cool if some one could review this site on their blog/website.

Tags: ckcp, conceptual, creative, design, konfusion, media, Park, redesign, relaunch, solution, visuals, web, work

Teabreak has been reviewed on SAMAA TV, yes thats one more step to a bigger achievement

Congrats to the Tea Break team, and a big thanks to all our users and audience.

Tags: blog, bloggers, feature, love, media, presentation, review, sama, teabreak, tv

It’s the week end, now isn’t ? so I should be out going crazy and acting like a holligan… but i m not, infact I was out playing cricket with about a quarter of my office staff near my collgue’s house.. coolness.. yes, very much yes.. It’s one of the ways I get to excercise in my otherwise very hush hush routine..

So I played, and I played much better than the last time, a little good show of progress

On the other hand, Zair my long CSS rockstar friend at work will be on a little leave for his cousin’s wedding.. enjoy the time bro

And boy am I excited or what, we have the first Teabreak get together on the 27th July, 2008. Sign up if you’re blogger and join us at the get together.. should be fun I suppose.

Oh and my website is almost ready, need to squash out some stuff..

Tags: cricket, css, progress, teabreak, website, work, Zair

It’s been some time since I blogged, and I have one big excuse.. FREAKING CRAZY PTCL… !

Yes my phone line was dead, until I decided I had enough, and got my DSL disconnected and purchased WiMax from Wateen.. it’s been a good ride with Maxcom, but PTCL made it miserable..

Any how, I m back online, and thats good..

Oh boy, I played cricket last Saturday, after some 6 ong years I suppose, yes since I shifted to Gulistan-e-Jauhar, I didn’t play cricket, maybe coz I didn’t find any good folks to play with or maybe I became way too involved with work.. But it was some good efforts, I was playing with my office collegues on a saturday night, and I guess I’ll be doing the same this Saturday too

Also, M lady is off to Lahore for soem time, to attend some weddings.. (feels a little lonely in Karachi … ) haha

And then I m working on my secret website..haha no, it ain’t porn.. I m redesigning my portfolio, it’s almost done, just a  quick few things.. shoudl be done with it soon.. Inshallah.

And then again, TeaBreak is getting is dose of updates every now and then, and some big events lined up, oh and did I mention, it’s gettign some big buzz in the media too

Tags: ckcpark, love, work, yaay

Just in case you missed the last post, I had announced, that the new version of Teabreak is just around, and well folks, it’s here now, yes right this moment, it’s online… so boys and girls, uncles and aunties.. spread the love.. send us some postcards

The new version relies some amount of it’s user interface on javascript, so it’s a good idea to use modern browser with javascript enabled.. I would highly recommend that you use Firefox 3.

Love.. Muah muah.. yes I m super happy right now

Tags: asim, chakdey, ckcpark, fzedbulb, happy, launched, phattay, rock on, ronin, teabreak, Zair

Lately me and Asim Imtiaz had been co-ordinating on putting the last pieces of the big joint venture together, the whole collaboration involved Wordpress (as the basic ground), Asim (on further complex development), Ammar (Marketing, sponsorships), Me (design and front end code) and Zair (front end code). Yes my friends teabreak is just round the corner, waiting to happen and land itself on our little web browsers…

My suggestion to all the folks is first, get firefox, seriously, it’s the best thing that has ever happened to the internet, and their latest version, 3, is smokin hot ! You’ll fall in love, no kiddin !

Ok, so what I was saying is that the new version is a major change from the current look of the website, it is going to have new logo, like the one that looks above, it’s gonna have a darker theme, black tea would come to mind.

It has a some interactive elements to it, yes things move in it, I would like to thank the guys behind jquery, and specially John Resig for that. Adding some of the things would have been much problematic had there been no jquery.

I would also thank all those who stood by our side, supported us, hated us, screamed at us, drank tea with us, played with us, made fun of us, gayed around with us , gave us great ideas and all the those who’ve been our great audience. We love you folks.

I would also like to thank the folks at my and zair’s current office, that is Creative Chaos, the people there are super supportive, I would like to thank the entire design and development team here.

Thanks and Love.
-Shahzad Khan

Tags: design, development, launch, love, teabreak