Aaron's Old Blog

ISA Firewall Fairy Tales - What Hardware Firewall Vendors Don't Want You to Know (v1.02)

2005-06-11T10:42:00.000+08:00

I had came across this article last week but hadn�t the time to blog about it. All I can say this is one of the best articles ever written on ISA Server and Microsoft platform security. There are a lot of lame network engineers who do not know much about ISA and settle for more lame out of the box solution that cannot be tailored much to their needs (Example: Netscreen). A lot of the questions are already addressed in this article. So I will not be commenting them again here.

2005-06-11T10:34:00.000+08:00

I managed to get my hands on a copy this book, Trump: How to Get Rich (ISBN: 0345481038) thanks to my colleague Eric who lent it to me. I was never a fan of buying books and reading it. I mostly settle for e books and references. But this book, what an interesting read. This is not one of those books where someone talks all about himself without many principles to follow. This is a book full of stuff that you can use in real life, tips that come with experiences.

2005-06-06T12:34:00.000+08:00

First of all I am happy that my web hosting isn�t suspended because of payment. I should really thank the guys that provide me web hosting. Secondly, looks like the current place I am staying in, Arena Green Apartment, I may need to move out and/or look for some replacement. More news on this soon.

MIND has been choc filled with people who know close to nothing and talk about open source and Linux with knowing neither of them well on how it should be implemented.

Sometimes, the conversation on MSN can end up so funny. The other day my friend and I were chatting and all of a sudden he asked where are those emoticons in MSN 7 are kept and if he could extract them. While I was about to explain to him something that I was not too sure myself he replied �Is it stored somewhere in your local computer or Redmond?�. He was being sarcastic and that very sentence made me laugh non stop for a while. I wonder if the MSN Messenger servers are hosted in Redmond at all. Maybe some other Microsoft branches as well and maybe some in Japan. Distributed Systems, that is. Sometimes it is just so crappy, messages dun get thru.

Today is a holiday and while I am at home chatting on MSN feeling very bored waiting for the movie Sahara to finish downloading, someone asked me this:
�if u get a free book from O'reilly which one u will choose?�
I asked him if he wants the Malaysian or Singaporean version to which he replied, both.
Malaysian:
I will chose the most expensive one, does not matter if it is not good.
I will sell it for the money, then I will download the best e book
Singaporean:
Since I am getting one book for free. I will convince myself nothing in life is free and I will do research on why I am getting an offer like this. Finally I will conclude that O'reilly books are lousy and force myself to buy an MS Press book and give away the O'reilly voucher to someone else.

2005-06-03T22:50:00.000+08:00

Managed to get a copy of: Dr Tom Shinder's Configuring ISA Server 2004 by Deb and Tom Shinder today. I managed to get the company to buy it since it is related to my job and I am planning to deploy it at work. Thanks to my company's Knowledge Manager, Zuzana Chomistekova for getting it for me within a day from MPH. This book is such an interesting read. It talks ISA on all corners and valleys as well as real life implementation and problems. Not like an MS Press book, too official :P

2005-05-28T12:18:00.000+08:00

Microsoft� Pre-Release Software Code Named �Avalon� and �Indigo� Beta1 RC
Microsoft has provided a version of the Avalon and Indigo Beta1 "RC" for the general public.

EliteTorrents.org Shut Down

2005-05-26T21:29:00.000+08:00

Ok I made so much hoo-ha about the fact that how much private limited membership torrent trackers that tracks ratio is better in terms of quality and speed compared to public ones. And now here it goes my favorite longest surviving torrent site: http://elitetorrents.org/. So long EliteTorrents.org. Here is a screen shot with the FBI and Homeland Security logos at the time of this post. Looks like these guys are after these Torrent trackers one by one. Like a month ago Btefnet went down. A lot of amateur torrent downloaders felt it very much as it was their major source of TV Serials. Full Warning Text
Disclaimer: The blog owner did not in anyway claim the use of the above torrent sites.

2005-05-21T12:20:00.000+08:00

Saw this ad in the Pocket PC magazine newsletter today. Looks like there is still a great demand for the Jornada 720 Handheld PC which I used to be an owner of sometime ago.

2005-05-14T15:42:00.000+08:00

I had not been blogging for such a long time because I had been busy like usual. But this time very busy. I even got my web hosting account suspended. I had been however, online almost 24/7 like usual. Just that never had the time to actually get into the blog and start blogging. 2 Parrot fishes + 1 another fish died before even I had a chance to blog about my new collection of fishes with a cracked aquarium glass and damaged parquet which all came in a single problem package. I was really wishing that once I get my new washing machine and aircond stuff settled, I can spend some time organizing other stuff in my place and get things more organized. Looks like I just could not get it done so far. My room is still quite cluttered with things such as CDs and DVDs in paper bag and MS Training kits and other books on the floor in one end. I also forgot to fill up my �Ice-water� 1.5L bottles in the fridge and ended up drinking more than 10 cans of soft drinks this week. In case you do not know, I drink icy cool chilled water when I am thirsty especially when coming back home from work. Normal plain filtered drinking water from the tap is not Cool. My phone has also been causing problems lately. It should be the new SIM Card that stupid Maxis gave me when I changed from Prepaid to Postpaid. And never had the time to change it as well. I am planning to get a hair cut today which had been long due.

Internet Explorer 7 Preview 1

2005-04-03T12:17:00.000+08:00

FTC Busts Rogue Anti-Spyware Vendor

2005-03-26T20:38:00.000+08:00

and a bunch of other good links. But I am not a supporter of Spywareware Warrior's products.

Resources to Decode Technical Jargon

2005-03-22T13:43:00.000+08:00

2005-03-17T11:07:00.000+08:00

Had been very busy lately and I could not update my blog as usual. For my fellow blog readers, my sincere apologies. Apart from being busy with work and stuff, I had been particularly busy watching the latest serials on NBC downloaded via Torrents. They include (but not limited to) CSI New York, The Apprentice and Survivor. I had also been busy going to the cinema and have watched:
Million Dollar Baby | Boogeyman | Constantine | Flight Of The Phoenix | Lemony Snickets : A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Watched Shall We Dance at home (downloaded) :P

Also, I managed to sell all of my remaining MS Exam vouchers but one which came with my APIIT CWE course which will be expiring on the 28th April 2005. I know I can only sit for one exam before the vouchers expire.

2005-02-19T17:42:00.000+08:00

Something interesting and funny that I got from Dilbert. I cut off a few scenes at the back so that it would fit well on the blog but with full credits. So programmers and infra guys out there who always screw things up, here you go.

2005-02-16T20:57:00.000+08:00

Ha...Came back home and tried logging into friendster and this is what I get.

Hmmm sounds stupid enough. I asked my friends on msn if they are having the same problem and obviously they said yes. But after all few know that friendster is one of the biggest free web content provider that runs large transactions and work on distributed systems. And the fact that they changed from jsp to php recently does give people a hint. Do you think they are hard pressed on cash for processing power and bandwidth? Ok maybe I exaggerated. But until stupid 'ahbengs' and 'ahlians' stop posting stupid bulletin board messages and post that 'below average rainbow imposed group photos' from sungei wang or something, friendster would be slow. On another note, TMNUT Streamyx was crappy this morning (something rare in my area). Glad it is back and running smmoothly now.

2005-02-09T18:27:00.000+08:00

Finally I am back on the blog. Yes I did notice fellow readers complaining that I sometimes blog on more trivial stuff and then don�t blog important stuff. Well, just had been busy and just did not happen to sit down and blog it. Anyway here I am. Had been tidying my room and organizing my stuff this week. Trying to read up for my remaining MCSE papers and sit for the exams. Had been watching UWTV Channel 2 and NASA TV the whole of today. Some stuff like the ones related to Mars, impressive.

US brewer adds caffeine to beer? Hmmm...interesting. I was never a fan of bear anyway.

Anyway MIND dudes, earlier yesterday a few fellow technologists and desperate members were raising stupid issues about the way things get done in the community. One was also questioning on the ways MVPs are given out. Anyway I do not have any comments on that now. And yes the thread was deleted. But my point here is some of the so called grown ups and seniors in the ICT industry may sometimes be very childish. Don�t judge a book by its title and company?

2005-01-15T01:27:00.000+08:00

Finally I have something really happening to blog about. I went to the TechNet/MSDN Briefing yesterday. The event was cancelled just after the opening slot ended. Why? Cause there was somewhat a few hour national blackout in Malaysia affecting almost everyone in nationwide. The power came back in stages, but you wouldn�t know when you area will have the power back right? So everyone basically kinda like stop working and prepare to go home not knowing when the power will come back. Went straight back to office to recover the dead servers when the power came back on. The funny thing was the ad/brochure for this January 13th event was with some blackout design. Also the free SQL 2005 Evaluation CDs given out were also surprisingly all labeled with a black label this time. Another funny thing happened much earlier during the opening slot where they were giving a brief overview on the latest MS products like SQL 2005. The guy just advanced two slides from the slide that showed a clear table on the differences between different Windows 2003 version when suddenly I got an sms from my colleague asking me what is the maximum RAM Server 2003 Standard supports. He apparently had no internet access in his client�s place and was wondering if I knew. I told my friend Jay who was sitting next to me if I could ask the presenter to go back 2 slides and explain to him the reason for doing so. Damn, what a coincidence. Anyway, in spite of just getting to attend the opening of the event, I am glad in a way. I managed to catch up with a lot guys in the tech community. As usual the were few arrogant people as well. They think they are too superior but a moment later will be tailing and impressing some technologists so moronically as if they had no value. Lucky this time this event was managed by Crystal Edge and not Roots, *toot* and *toot*, or it would have the mixture of the unexpected blackout and rooted crappy staff really *toooot* like what happened during TechEd 2004.

Aaron is back

2005-01-08T13:09:00.000+08:00

Yes, yes I had major issues with billing for my site. Also, I disappointed my host for not being careful. Thanks Trel. And yes I am back. Had been busy with work lately.

5 safety tips for using a public computer

2004-12-11T22:23:00.000+08:00

From Microsoft, another one of those stuff that may be related to Trustworthy Computing Initiative. While, technically inclined people may not find this any use, it would help most novice users.
�Don't save your login information
�Don't leave the computer unattended with sensitive information on the screen
�Erase your tracks
�Watch for over-the-shoulder snoops
�Don't enter sensitive information into a public computer

2004-12-04T16:19:00.000+08:00

Which File Extension are You?

2004-12-04T14:24:00.000+08:00

The other day I went to IPAQ Club gathering at Pusat Bandar Damansara, KL. This is what my friend Atkins and I noticed:Pic 1 | Pic 2 Apart from such an unproffesional ad, they cannot spell "millenium" and "charge" or maybe they are using some rojak manglish. What? No it is not "some" food stall. It is Mc Donalds!

rx3715 Re-Post

2004-11-25T09:10:00.000+08:00

Just wanted to create another blog entry about my new PDA, with a pic this time. Since I bought my rx3715 for a super deal, I found the price is still standing. I still think it is one of the best suited PDA I have bought. I should be talking more about Pocket PC in this blog next time. I will be putting up more reviews on PDA software soon. Considering the fact that I have filled up more than 90% of my 1GB SD card.

2004-11-25T08:01:00.000+08:00

Ha� Today, finally my Steamyx was upgraded to 1024/384kbps. They are still using web proxies so there is nothing thaaat great. See my rumblings on Streamyx and web proxies few entries back for more information.

Anyway here a list of MS Operating Systems. Thought it would be useful to post it here for reference. I always come across such lists but never the time to copy it. I got this one from one Jay�s blog. Haa... Those were the days, Windows 3.x and DOS.

2004-11-24T09:02:00.000+08:00

Just when you think some Malaysians cannot become more stupider, here it is; handicapped parking that have been locked down. Are they saying they are so efficient to find out that there no handicapped residents in the condo? Even then, handicapped visitors should have to privilege to use them instead of the stupid visitor parking. My condo�s security guard company chosen by management has a sadistic �tidak apa� attitude. After all we cannot blame them because they were born to be stupid and Malaysia does not have a hefty fine for misusing services provided for the handicapped. They are more concerned about things like illegal parking and �No Durians allowed� (not that I love Durians) and other stupid rules.

2004-11-17T23:43:00.000+08:00

I went to the MIND movie day today after work at TGV KLCC. This time is was The Incredibles. This time it was a joined event for MIND/MOPIT/TechNet. As usual I went there not really for the free movie (since I watch movies for free most of the time) BUT for community� haha. Managed to meet a lot of old and new faces there. As usual the guy who was in charge of the ticketing for MIND was kinda cranky.

my FAST Link

2004-11-13T23:11:00.000+08:00

myFASTLink is now fully live!
I have elected a team of staff and moderators. Do support!