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How To Remember Over 10 Different Passwords

I used to have two or three username-password combinations in the past. I will be using these username and password for all of the online services that I sign up to — web based email service, online games, forums, etc. However, I make it a rule to use a different set of password for online banking and other important services.

When I started blogging, I had to create more accounts from the various services that I signed up to. Being the paranoid freak that I am, I made an effort to use different sets of username and password combination for each and every account that I signed up to. Currently, I am using more than 10 different sets of username and passwords. So, just how in the world am I able to remember all of them?

At first, I remember these username and passwords by writing them down on a few pieces of papers. I still keep them now, in case I forgotten and needed to recover it.

Note: Do not leave your username and passwords written on a piece of paper in your office or house where outsiders may be able to view it. I live with my family so it is probably safe :-P

Anyway, I used to read the username and passwords needed from the paper when I first started. However, after a few weeks of using them, I have unconsciously memorized most of them. So, how exactly am I able to memorize over 10 different sets of username and passwords?

I realized that I do not remember them “visually”. If I am requested to write them down on a piece of paper, I may not be able to do it. In fact, a few days ago I was trying to login to my blog admin but failed because I “forgotten” my password! At that time, I was holding a piece of bread while munching on it and typing with the other hand. That is when I realized I “remember” my passwords through something that I will just refer to as “feel-and-type”.

I am a touch typist

I am a touch typist; therefore I feel when I type, instead of looking at what keys that I am hitting. It is like how some people remember phone numbers. When you ask them to write it or say it out, they may find difficulty in doing so. That’s when you see them trying to imagine pressing the telephone key pads in their heads. You may even notice some of them moving their fingers while “pressing an invisible keypad” in the air.

I later “recovered” my password by relaxing for a minute and resume to login typing with both hands like how I was used to. As if my fingers have their own brain, the password was typed on screen as usual.

Strange but true.

Withdraw PayPal Funds From Credit/Debit Card In Malaysia

Over the weekend, I have read a few posts that reported PayPal allowing Malaysians to withdraw their PayPal funds into selected credit/debit cards. This is great news to me since I am deciding on a way to withdraw my funds within the next two months.

This change was reflected in PayPal’s Payments (Sending, Receiving, and Withdrawals) Policy (modified on 30/8/2007). In section V. Withdrawals #0, it reads:

Original Credit Withdraw. Users in Italy, India, Luxembourg, Israel, Malaysia, Argentina, Philippines, Turkey, Brazil, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Uruguay, San Marino, Slovakia, Latvia, Chile, Romania, Cyprus, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Malta, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and Iceland may withdraw funds from the PayPal system to their valid credit or debit card in the form of a credit to the card on file with PayPal.

Therefore, apart from Malaysia, the other countries that were mentioned are allowed to withdraw their PayPal funds through a credit/debit card as well.

It was reported that some credit/debit cards do not allow such transactions from PayPal. The AmBank NextG debit card is one of those that can’t be used for this transfer. I have an AmBank credit card. I wonder if mine will work. I guess I either have to just give it a try or phone up AmBank service centre to ask.

I read from a forum post that someone called up their credit card company and was advised:

1. If you got credit card balance, amount transferred from PayPal will be knock-off with that credit balance
2. If the credit card balance is zero or less than the amount transferred from PayPal, you are not advise to withdraw at the ATM. It will be considered as cash advance withdrawal and subject to charges eventhough the credit card amount is already debit balance
3. What you can do is to give an instruction to the credit card issuer to transfer that debit balance amount to your saving or current account (clear in 5 working days) with no charge

This is great news to all of us but is also creating a lot of confusions. I won’t go rushing in withdrawing my funds just yet. No point being overcharged or risk any penalty from PayPal.

[Via Lilian and abdulla]

Visual Tags Button For Wordpress 2.3

A few new features were implemented in the latest Wordpress 2.3. One of the additions was integrated tagging support. If you were using other tagging plugins previously, you can import your tags using the importer tool. This is a great addition to the core system but it lacked visual display for the available tags. There should have been a section that displayed all previous used tags just like what is available for the categories section.

Click Tags was developed to overcome this problem. It adds the list of tags above the textbox so that you can easily select a previous tag to use. This helps to keep your tagging consistent.

I still haven’t upgraded to version 2.3. I have read some people having problems with it. I will consider upgrading when I have the time next week.

“Type supercheapoem.com in Internet Explorer” Email Is A Spam

I got an email in my inbox two days ago with the title “Type supercheapoem .com ln |nternet Exp|orer”. The content of the email reads “5ave 9O% 0n 50FT\/\/ARE”.

Supercheapoem.com spam email

Since I have no interest in purchasing any software, the email was a total junk to me. In fact, I do not know the sender thus receiving such an email makes it feel like spam. Analyzing the email further, my feeling was further strengthened when some of the letters in the title and content was replaced with symbols instead. Look at the screenshot above and see if you notice which letters were replaced.

Anyway, I checked with the McAfee SiteAdvisor software that I am using. They have not tested the site yet but there was a review by one of the users, dean, an “Experienced Reviewer” and has a reputation score of 9/9. He labeled supercheapoem.com as “Phishing or other scams”. His stats sounds credible to me and here is what he has to say about supercheapoem.com:

This is the infamous “Downloadable Software” scam. The site purports to offer ridiculously low prices on a variety of well-known applications. The prices are so low that the site is an obvious fraud and the software itself, assuming it even exists, is pirated. Examples:

* Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium - $149.95, you save $1,049.05
* Autodesk AutoCAD 2007 - $129.95, you save $3,865.05
* Office 2003 Professional - $69.95, you save $480.05
* Windows Vista Ultimate - $89.95, you save $310.00

The site has been cloned thousands of times by scammers, often using “throw-away” domain names and is promoted through spam. Typically, the sites are registered in China or the Russian Federation, hotbeds of pirated software activity and identity theft. Caveat emptor.

I did a whois check on supercheapoem.com and found the domain was registered to a guy named Alex Rodrigez. The domain name was only registered about a week ago. I did more searching and found that Alex Rodrigez is just an alias used by Leo Kuvayev (the guy’s real name) to register the domain. In fact, he has an entire Wiki entry made just for him — Leo Kuvayev (Wikipedia).

Leo Kuvayev is believed to be the ringleader of one of the world’s biggest spam gangs. He and six business partners were fined $37 million as a result of a lawsuit brought by the Massachusetts attorney general [1]. It was found that they were responsible for millions of unsolicited e-mails per day.

There is a lot more info about Leo Kuvayev on the Internet. So far, I haven’t read anything positive about him yet. Stay away from supercheapoem.com and any other websites that are offering you a deal that is too good to be true.

How To Reduce Traffic Loss When Using MyBlogLog Widget?

MyBlogLog seems to be a double-edged sword to me. If it is properly utilized, it may help you generate traffic into your blog. However, it was also reported that MyBlogLog reduces your blog earnings. Therefore, to keep or to ditch the widget is entirely up to you. If you do plan to keep the widget, here is a simple tip for you to reduce traffic loss through the widget.

When you are creating your MyBlogLog widget, there is an option where you can either show or hide the screen names or your visitor. You should select “Yes” for this option. This enables your readers to open the link in a new window or tab. I always open new links in a new tab so that I do not have to click on the back button after I am done to return to the original blog. I believe there are others who do the same.

Showing screen name in MyBlogLog widget helps reduce traffic loss

On the other hand, selecting not to show the screen names will force your readers to click on the image thus leaving your blog. When that happens, you will either need to be a popular blogger or have created enough enthusiasm in your readers to make them want to click on the back button to return to your blog.

Hiding screen name in MyBlogLog widget will cause traffic loss

There is another method a person can get the most out of MyBlogLog (ie. generating traffic to their blogs without losing traffic or earnings). Sign up and login to MyBlogLog but do not display the MyBlogLog widget in your blog. That way, you will still gain traffic from other blogs through their MyBlogLog widget while making sure none leaves yours. :twisted:

I am not sure if there is a regulation in their ToS that states you have to place their widget in your blog if you are using their service though. So please read their fine prints before proceeding.

Note: If you find this post interesting or helpful (or you just want to be kind), please stumble this post. Thanks!


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