Friday, March 28, 2008

Application of Interest: Avast Anti-Virus

I had a suspicious exe file in my 500 GB external hard disk and there was a strong possibility that it is a virus. The problem with some viruses is that, they could silently plant a lot of virus files throughout the hard disks and the only way by which you could be 100% sure of virus-free hard disk is to format it. Not willing to format as it is having a lot of data, I thought some very powerful anti-virus software could judge whether it is a virus or not.

I asked my friend's help as he is having his office laptop and it has McAfee anti-virus program installed with latest updates (up-to date updates). So, he brought his laptop and we connected my hard disk and scanned my hard disk. McAfee promised us that there are no viruses. Not satisfied, we wanted to scan that particular exe file and still McAfee gave certification that it is a good file.

I just wanted to have some anti-virus installed in my laptop and I downloaded and installed avast anti-virus. It is a freeware (that means, you need not crack or hack to get the full version and you do not need to feel guilty [hehe... who in the world feels guilty for using cracked softwares]) and it is very small in size, about 4 MB. Having installed my own anti-virus, I scanned my external hard disk and was shocked to see, it found a lot of viruses and deleted them, including the suspicious exe file.

So, the conclusion is that, if you do not have any anti-virus software installed, you could try avast anti-virus. Also, I would request you to register with them and get a Home-User registration key, this could help them to know how many registered users are using their product and it could help them advertise and get a better recognition. Avast anti-virus comes in 2 flavours, home-users (free license) and professional version (which is not free). For home users like us, the first version is enough.

Also, avast has some cool features, doing boot-time scan, which would be more effective, in case, some viruses may prevent being detected after they successfully launch them. Also, this does not slow down your system. Just try this, register with them and enjoy safe browsing, yes, it has various agents running which will take care of safe browsing the internet. The moral of the story is that, it is not always true that only paid anti-viruses are the best. Also, one more moral is that, if you are using internet, it is 100% recommended to have an anti-virus installed in your machine.

You could download it here and register it here.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Deadlock - Technico Mokkaiyo Explanation.

[Disclaimer: Weak-hearted people are advised to take medical check-up before reading this. May turn out to be the most horrible experience of your lifetime.]

One advantage of Object Oriented Programming [if you were tempted to say "I don't understand Greek and Latin" please bypass this and the next paragraph] is that, you can compare the software objects with the real world objects (which sometimes screws us in understanding well). Though most of the programming concepts could not be just-like-that-compared with real world concepts, some of them could be. Let me not beat around the bush and let me jump into the matter of interest.

Deadlock, the name itself could make those who prepare for interviews (for the first shift) shiver. The most notorious topic in which Java professionals (and may be others also, but I can not promise) would be tested is *Threads* and the most sadistic questions will come revolving this deadlock. And this is how it mostly goes: "What is a dead lock?" "<our standard answer>" "How could you avoid it?" "<our standard answer" "Suppose, <and the hell starts here>". Or they can take a different approach and ask like: "Explain deadlock as you will explain to a layman" [for this question, many may be tempted to answer like, "why in the f**k should I explain a technical term to a bloody layman", but what we do is "<our standard answer>"]

Suppose, there are two children A and B each one has something which the other one wants. A says: "Give me your helicopter and I will give you this aeroplane". B says: "Never... only if you give me your aeroplane, I will give you my helicopter". What happens here is a deadlock in technical term. Two entities waiting and not proceeding because of a dependency on each other. This could also be a chain, A can only proceed if B gives her something and B can only proceed if C gives him something and C can only proceed if A gives her something.

Also, if there is a fight between two friends and if they both have ego, a good deadlock could happen. Both can think like, "I will only talk to him if he talks to me" and that is all. A complete technical explanation for this topic may come soon. So, stay tuned. Comments are most welcome. But wait. One small karutthu is hidden here. Deadlocks are the most unwanted things ever in a software and as we know, this could also apply to our life. So, avoid deadlocks! [as though everyone is going to hold a white flag in one hand and a white dove in another hand]

[P.S.: The notation "f**k" is not what you think. It was not added to mean anything bad. It is only for fun.]
[A.P.S.: The P.S. and the idea is copied from "Head First Servlets and JSPs from Kathy Sierra" and it is not my own idea. Over.]

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Ten Tips to become a Tamil movie Director

If you ever wanted to become a Tamil movie director, you have to know or learn or digest these tips and follow them strictly.

Rule No. 1: The Hero is immortal. No matter what hits him; even if a truck hits him in 100 kmph or 1000 megavolts electricity is passed into him. Even if he dies, no matter how much time it takes, a doctor has to come and pump his heart to bring him alive. Regarding the electricity, you may also decide to punish the electricity for trying to kill the hero by making the transformer explode.

Rule No. 2: The Hero is the best fighter ever in the world. No matter what his profession is; Software engineer or Beggar or Mechanic or College student. The Hero should be able to knock down any number of professional rowdies. During this process, he may not get more than 2 or 3 hits. In that case, he could only bleed 2 drops of blood from his mouth and his forehead. If the hero is well built, then a small scratch in his arms will be appreciated.

Rule No. 3: The Hero should possess the power of Professor Charles Xavier of X-Men, should control others brain. This power is much required to actually turn all the hostile rowdies to be a loyal servant of the hero by delivering a small dialogue. This power is also required to turn terrorists into a patriot of the enemy country.

Rule No. 4: The Hero will meet the heroine for the first time in his life in his 30th age and then onwards, he will meet her daily and mainly accidentally. Not more than the 2nd or 3rd meet should the hero or heroine should go to the wild imaginations in the name of a song.

Rule No. 5: The Heroine should not only be very beautiful and... and... super figureu.... but also, should be the most innocent girl. But being innocent has nothing to do with the dress she wears, okay? No matter how much glamor she shows in her dress, she should be innocent and caring towards blind, children and old-people. Mainly, when she shows her caring, the hero should accidentally see her. It would also do great if she feeds ants, dogs, pigs, etc.

Rule No. 6: In the latest trend, the Hero should be able to dislocate parts of automobile vehicles during fight. And not to mention, if the hero takes parts of the vehicles, the vehicle should keep moving and they should not interrupt the fight. If you want to be a step ahead, you can also think of jumping and taking some parts of a flight. You will be appreciated.

Rule No 7: The most powerful, immortal, Xavier hero should be accompanied by the most coward timid friend and his only duty is to try to make jokes. But when the fight comes, he will get the least powerful of the rowdies and knock them down with some very-hilarious fight movements.

Rule No. 8: When a shocking news is delivered, all the characters available on the screen should turn toward the camera and show their surprise in a queue. And when the show their surprise, a thrill music should be played; for everyone. And only after everyone has showed their acting talent, should the actual news is to be continued.

Rule No. 9: The Heroine, no matter, how good she is, should never have seen any guy in her life. The first character she sees should be the hero. No one ever should have proposed her or even thought about her.

Rule No. 10: No matter how innocent she is shown, during songs, she should wear the least possible dress, be it in desert or be it in a sea-shore. And, she should run and hug and do whatever she wants to the hero and the hero will not even indulge in any such activity. He will be a gentle man, a true gentle man. And also, even if the innocent heroine is imagining a song, the above said rule is still valid and the once the song is over, she will once again become innocent.

Bonus Rule for those striving to stick to logic: If you want to answer the question: "but from where does the music come from during songs which are not imaginations?" you can give the hero a Guitar or Violin or simply a Clay-Pot. He will just fiddle that instrument to produce an orchestra effect.

Bonus Rule for those who want to follow Vikraman: <you can easily guess that> There should be one song in which the hero will become a multi-millionaire from a beggar, no matter what business he chooses. Also, there should be a theme music (mainly from a group of junk background chorus singers saying: lalalalalala) that should be played throughout the movie.

That is all for now. Stay tuned and I will give you tips for becoming a mega-serial director. You can give your tips also here.