Author Archives: TenthOfMarch

How To Remove Skype Virus (dsc027.scr or wndrivsd32.exe)

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One of the computers in my house was just infected by a virus that is spreading through Skype. Since I wasn’t the one using the computer at that time, I do not know exactly what or how it happened. All I know is that there was a message received by one of the people in the contact list with some message and a file. My guess is that the file name should be dsc027.scr (I could be wrong). The computer is infected once the file is opened.

Some of the symptoms that I experienced include:

  • Unable to open skype even though the program is already running
  • Internet browser closes automatically when entering certain websites (especially skype forums)

After checking the list of processes running from the task manager, I managed to identify an alien process — wndrivsd32.exe. Sure enough, that was the culprit. Below are the steps I took to remove the virus.

  1. Open up task manager (right click on the taskbar and select “Task Manager”)
  2. Select the “Processes” tab
  3. Click on the process name called “wndrivsd32.exe” and click on the “End Process” button
  4. Quickly run the regedit program (Start menu .. Run .. type “regedit” and click the OK button)
  5. If the Registry Editor closes automatically, you need to repeat step 3 again. Do it quicker this time.
  6. Go through the folders HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->Software->Microsoft->Windows->Current Version->RunOnce
  7. Delete the key that holds the value C:\Windows\System32\mshtmlsh32.exe
  8. Open up this file C:\Window\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts with a word editor like notepad. It will be filled with “garbage” inside. Just empty the whole file (delete everything in the file) and save it.
  9. Delete this file (if it exist) C:\Windows\System32\wndrivsd32.exe.
  10. Restart the computer and run Skype again. Play around with your computer. If everything is normal (including Skype), the virus is gone.

Delete the mshtmlsh32.exe string in the registry

Empty the hosts file and save it

I found two other sources that helped me removed the virus that has slightly different steps. Some of the files they instructed to remove don’t exist in my computer. If they exist in yours, remove them as well. Check them out.

RM99 Streamyx SOHO 1.0Mbps Special Package

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The normal rate for Streamyx SOHO 1.0Mbps package is RM148 per month. TM Net announced a discount on this package last month and reduced it to RM99 per month. There was no other information stated in the newspaper advertisement that I read. After going to TM Net’s Clickers today, I learnt that there was a catch to the promotion.

The RM99 per month fee is only for the first 3 months of subscription. For the following 9 months, the fee will be increased to RM120 per month (although it is still cheaper than the original RM148 per month). On the 13th month onwards, the subscriber will be charged the original price of RM148 per month.

There is more to it! Instead of the usual 12 months contract, you need to sign an 18 months deal for this “special package”. This promotion ends on 15th October 2007.

3 Simple Firefox Shortcut Keys You Want To Know

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This tip applies to you only if you visit blogs or website by typing the URL manually into the address bar when you are using Firefox. Imagine a scenario where you would like to go to my personal blog. You will need to place the focus on the address bar and type “www.chankelwin.com” into it (or chankelwin.com as a shortcut) before hitting the enter key.

Firefox has 3 built in shortcut keys that allow you to visit websites with .com, .net and .org extensions without the need to fully type the URL. The time saved is not significant but it is adequate to me.

Case #1: dot com websites
Type in domain name (e.g. chankelwin) and press the Ctrl + Enter keys. This will automatically fill the address bar with “www.chankelwin.com”.

Case #2: dot net websites
Type in domain name (e.g. speedtest) and press the Shift + Enter keys. This will automatically fill the address bar with “www.speedtest.net”.

Case #3: dot org websites
Type in domain name (e.g. petalingstreet) and press the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys. This will automatically fill the address bar with “www.petalingstreet.org”.

If you are looking for more shortcut keys that work on Firefox and Internet Explorer, check out BytesWired (almost) complete list of shortcut keys for better browsing. I said almost because it doesn’t contain the 3 shortcut keys that I shared above 😉

Test The Response Time Of Your Blog Or Website

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If you host your blog (or website) locally, accessing it from your computer should be fast. However, that doesn’t guarantee that your foreign visitors experience the same response speed when connecting to your blog.

YouMonitor.Us is a website monitoring system that gives you industrial strength monitoring capabilities with up to the minute information on the response time by other people viewing your website from around the world. An email or SMS alert will be sent to you when your website is unreachable or response time becomes abnormal. YouMonitor.Us also provides analytical reports such as availability report, performance report and monitoring source report.

The features mentioned above are provided for registered members only. You get a 2 weeks free trial from the day of registration. If you wish to continue your account, you will need to contribute a DC-Node to their peer to peer network.

I use YouMonitor.Us to check my blog’s response time from all around the world. The website randomly checks the status of my blog from 5 locations around the world. The response time is compared against 4 other well known websites — Google, Yahoo, MySpace and MSN — to give you a better picture of how well or bad your response time is.

Response time of my blog

Above is the response time of my blog compared to the others. The blue bar represents my blog. I am very happy with the response time of my blog after migrating over to a US server a few weeks back. What is your blog’s response time? Are you happy with it? If your response time is significantly slower to the other 4 websites even after a few tests, you may want to change to a better web hosting provider.