Fun Archive

More Information About Conficker.c Virus

Do you remember the "millennium bug?" Do you remember how computers acted when their clocks turned to January 1, 2000?

Researchers are hoping that a potential April Fool's time bomb -- the Conficker.c that is supposed to hit computers on April 1 -- turns out to be equally unfounded. Here some questions & answes that will help everyone to know more about virus.

Q. What will happen on 1 April 2009?

According to Microsoft, systems will infect with the latest version of Conficker. It is possible that infected systems may auto-update themselves with a new version by contacting a new site on the list. However, Microsoft say that these systems could also update themselves before or after 1 April by using Conficker's peer to peer technology.

Q. How do I know if I have been infected?

A rather basic test is to try and log onto an anti-virus website. Conficker blocks many of these sites in an attempt to keep users in the dark.

Q. How will it spread?

Conficker spreads itself across a network by exploiting a vulnerability in the Windows Server service. Microsoft have released a security update - MS08-067 - which closes that vulnerability, but as later forms of the virus can also spread via portable devices (such as memory sticks) this alone will not give you full protection.

Q. What can I do to protect myself?

Anti virus protection for your computer is essential and almost every piece of anti-virus software will keep you safe. However, this requires that you not only install the software, but keep it up to date. Most anti-virus packages offer an auto-updating feature, however it is worth checking when an update was last performed and, if necessary, forcing it to perform a current update.

Q. What other issues are there?

Conficker contains a password-cracking program that can break simple passwords, for example: 5678, blog etc - along with simple numeric passwords and birthdays.

Passwords are classified as weak, moderate, or strong - depending on how easy they are to crack.

An ideal password, which would be very hard to break, should contain a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, and should be a minimum of six characters long.

Microsoft have also advised that users should disable the AutoPlay feature in Windows. This is to prevent viral code activating if a CD-ROM or USB device or other media containing an Autorun.inf file is plugged into the computer.

Borat Star's New Film Is Under Rating NC - 17

Sacha Baron Cohen's latest film has been given a rating by the ratings board - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) . By this banning anyone aged 17 or under will not watch it. The film is based on his character Bruno.

In this film there are several sexual scenes. It was awarded a NC-17, but film bosses had hoped for an R-rating, which allows under 17s to watch it with an adult.

The movie follows in the success of his first film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The film is based around Bruno, a gay fashion reporter working for Austrian TV, who was a character Sacha Baron created for TV's Da Ali G Show.The new film will be released on 10 July.

NEWYORK, U S A

Conficker.c Will Attack PC On April Fool's Day

Do you remember the "millennium bug?" Do you remember how computers acted when their clocks turned to January 1, 2000?

Researchers are hoping that a potential April Fool's time bomb -- the Conficker.c that is supposed to hit computers on April 1 -- turns out to be equally unfounded.

What is Conficker.c and what kind of damage it will do?

Conficker.c is a kind of worm. It has a malicious program. It already affected between 5 million and 10 million computers.Although these infections haven't spread for many reasons, but on April 1 a master computer is scheduled to gain control of these zombie machines.

What happens on April Fool's Day?

The program might delete all of the files on a person's computer -- those controlled by a master computer -- to overwhelm and shut down Web sites or monitor a person's keyboard strokes to collect private information like passwords or bank account information, experts said.

Who is the author of the program?

It's not clear who wrote the program, but researchers thought that a group calling itself the Conficker Cabal. The researchers also said, "Unless they open their mouth, they'll never be found,"

How can u be sure that your computer infected?

One quick way to see if your computer has been infected is to see if you have gotten automatic updates from Windows in March. If so, your computer likely is fine

Microsoft company said,"Users who haven't gotten the latest Windows updates should go to http://safety.live.com if they fear they're infected".

People who use other latest antivirus software could have been also disabled by Conficker.c.

How did the worm evolve?

Conficker -- strain A -- was released in late 2008. Now it is stronger as ever. The Conficker, strain C, will generate 50,000 URLs per day instead of just 250 when it becomes active.

What is being done to defeat Conficker?

Members of Microsoft are searching for the malicious software program's author and how to to do damage control.

They're motivated in part by a $250,000 bounty from Microsoft.

TEMPLE OF BUDDHA, THAILAND

UNO ( UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION ) BUILDING IN VIENA, AUSTRIA

Fashion Girls Arrested For Cocaine

Mickenzie Dippenworth and Christine Scafa were roommates. They worked in the Fashion Institute of Technology. They wanted to live like celebrities. So they pass most of their time in party.

Undercover No. 5732 and Undercover No. 20978 were handsome, muscle-bound men flashing cash in the city's hottest nightclubs.

Behind the velvet ropes at Marquis, Home and Mansion, the two officers -- "Chris" and "Jack" -- sprang repeatedly for drinks & gambling. They also complimented the women's cleavage; they boasted of their penis size. They liked flirting too much.

After a month long flirtation the two women were arrested on charges they'd repeatedly sold small bags of cocaine to the two men they'd thought were their friends.

Scafa, 22, of tony Princeton Junction, and Dippenworth, 21, of Bel Air, Md., are charged with selling the undercovers a total 11 grams of cocaine for $1,280. But until now how much cocaine they sold still unrevealed.

The two men gave Dippenworth drinks, bragging they had paid $1,000 for bottle service, Dippenworth's lawyer, Michael Elbaz, wrote. Then, at 1:30 a.m., one of the undercovers "initiated a request for cocaine." When Dippenworth gave him the little left of her stash, the undercover "literally pushed $100 to the defendant and insisted that she take the money," Elbaz wrote.

The women are hoping their judge will believe that there description. They're due back in court April 27.

An Aspiring Teacher Found Choked With a Hair Cord

Caroline Wimmer, 26, aspiring Staten Island teacher was found lying dead in her apartment, according to police source. She was found on the floor of her bathroom.

"I called her Friday, Saturday and Sunday and there was no answer," Wimmer's anguished father Ronald, told The reporter. So the parents went to their daughter's apartment & they found this horrifying situation.

Police found the cord went around Wimmer's neck and the hair dryer was left laying on her face.Although police did not not find any sign of forced entry in the apartment.

One neighbor said she saw Wimmer with several friends early Friday morning. "I heard her laughing outside. She was with a bunch of guys it was around 2:30 a.m.," she said, adding that Wimmer then drove away in a jeep. Neighbors also said she had problems with her ex-boyfriend. Police wanted to talk with her boyfriend.

Her father described Wimmer as "a great kid," who "was always there for you, no matter what." Her father also thought that she had enemies.

Wimmer's MySpace account -- which was logged on Saturday -- includes a quote that reads, "I will survive whatever life has to throw at me. Nothing or nobody will hold me back."

Liz Hurley Make a Team With Prince Charles

British actress Liz Hurley is teaming up with sustainable-living champion Prince Charles to launch a range of organic foods in October, her spokeswoman said on Monday.

The line of meat and grain products, produced at Hurley's 400-acre organic farm in western England, will be sold by Duchy Originals, the heir-to-the-throne's sustainable food company.

It will include pork, poultry, lamb and rare breed beef currently sold at local farmers' markets, as well as organic grains harvested at the model-actress's farm.

Austin Powers star Hurley said she had been inspired by the Prince of Wales because of his belief in organic food and farming and his commitment to sustaining the British countryside.

Duchy Originals, founded by Charles in 1990 to promote organic food and farming, sells more than 200 typically British foods, with all profits going to charity.

Earlier this month the firm rejected accusations of quackery over Duchy Originals promotion of a detox tincture made from artichoke and dandelion.

1st Rickshaw Festival Observed In Dhaka

Bangladesh observed for the 1st time Rickshaw Festival on Saturday. The festival observed in Dhaka. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. The festival is known as 'rickshaw capital of the world'.

Approximately 400,000 cycle-powered rickshaws run in the capital every day. This is also the reason for increasing traffic congestion and resulting collisions.

"The festival is meant to promote this environment-friendly vehicle, and the rickshaw-pulling community, that caters to a vast majority of people in the country," said Sara Siddiq, CEO of Bangladesh Changemakers, the festival organisers.

"The rickshaw is the middle class's favourite vehicle, and pollution-free," said one rickshaw lover. One young couple declared there was nothing to be compared taking a romantic rickshaw ride with a lover! Mushfira Mahfuza, mother of three and a half year-old Tuli, said: "We rushed to the site on hearing of the rickshaw festival."

Rickshaw pullers are very poor. They live from hand to mouth. One rickshaw puller, Saiful Islam, says: "I feel free in this profession." He also added that he chose this profession as it gave me an income for little capital. His daily earning is Tk 200-300.

Japanese are the inventer hand-drawn rickshaw. It was invented in 1868.

Siddiq said her organisation planned to make the Rickshaw Festival a regular event in Dhaka. It was also mulling hosting such festivals abroad, she added.

Husband's Porn Relation Threatens British Cabinet minister's Post

British Cabinet minister Jacqui Smith's political future is in serious doubt after her husband admitted to paying for adult movies with taxpayers' money.

Her husband, Richard Timney, has confessed for this situation that caused trouble to his wife, while she has promised to repay the money spent, including the £10 ($14) charge for the two films, the British Press Association reported.

Timney, who Smith pays £40,000 ($56,000) a year to be her office manager, submitted an expense claim last June for a £67 ($95) Virgin Media bill for television services in the couple's family home in Redditch, Smith's constituency. The bill was included with two adult films.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown supported Smith. He said,"The home secretary is doing a great job and I do not think this issue should be allowed to detract from everything she is doing to ensure we protect the public and keep our neighborhoods safe,"

The announcement came at a worse time for Smith. Recently she is already being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over her decision to claim at least £116,000 ($164,000) in second-home allowances for her family home since becoming an MP.

Cyberspy Hacking Government Network

More than 1,300 computers & 100 countries have been attacked and have gained full control of the network apparently based in China, security experts told in two reports Sunday. Computers -- including machines at NATO, governments and embassies -- are infected with software that lets attackers to get full control.

The two reports came from the University of Toronto & from the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.

Researchers have confirmeded about the network GhostNet. GhostNet discovered of suspicions that the office of the Dalai Lama had been hacked. Hackers gained access to computers in the Dalai Lama's office by tracking computer users into downloading e-mail attachments.

The network Ghostnet can not only search a computer but also see and hear the people using it. GhostNet is capable of taking full control of infected computers, searching and downloading specific files, & covertly operating attached devices, including microphones and web cameras.

According to reports,Chinese cyber espionage is a major global concern but the report also points out that China is not only a handful country but also the United States, Israel and United Kingdom, that are "assumed" to have considerable computer espionage capabilities.

Both Researchers found links to computers in China but the researchers did not get any information about the "malware," or malicious software.

Pharmacist & Birth Control Pill

A woman and her husband approach their pharmacist and begin to ask questions like if the pharmacy checks for medications past their expiration date and the reliability of a certain company that makes birth control pills.

Finally the pharmacist asks the couple what's the matter. The wife explains, "In spite of using birth control pills I continue to get pregnant."

The pharmacist is astounded and asks the woman if she takes them every day.

The woman replies, "My husband takes them every day."

"What ?" the pharmacist croaks.

"Yep. After we read all those potential side-effects, my husband said ' Ah honey.. I don't what you taking that stuff.. it's too dangerous,.....let ME take them.' "

Archaeologist Finds The Oldest Temple In Cyprus

An Italian archaeologist Maria Rosaria Belgiorno finds a temple in Cyprus which is believed to be the oldest religious worship about 4,000 years old. It is found at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site close to the southern city of Limassol. Everyone thinks that It is probably destroyed in an earthquake and abandoned in 1800 BC.

In the past, the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site has also yielded finds ranging from an ancient perfumery to one of the earliest records of how olive oil was used to fire furnaces

"This is the first evidence of religion in Cyprus at the beginning of the second millennium BC," she was quoted as telling the Cyprus Weekly newspaper from Rome.

The Cyprus Antiquities Department said further examination will be required in order to get proof. "We cannot dismiss the claim but we cannot verify it either," Antiquities Department official Maria Hadjicosti told Reuters.

A Mammoth Bone Found In Michigan

In southwest Michigan two brothers Ethan and Evan Hoge and their cousin Sebastian O'Connor found a big mammoth bone on March 21 on top of soil that had been scraped from a drain in Baroda Township. They are respectively nine-year-old, seven-year-old and 10-year-old.

Everyday they past their time searching for antique bottles and other items around what was once a railroad line along the edge of their family's property. But that day they found the bone instead.

Tom Goodwin, a professor of paleobiology at Andrews University, identified it as a vertebral section from the lower back of a Jefferson's mammoth.

Priests Were Sentenced For Stealing From Church

Two disregarded Roman Catholic priests were sentenced to prison in a case involving the misappropriation of more than $8 million from their church. The judge called this kind of theft as “greed unmasked.”

The two priests were John Skehan and Francis Guinan.They were accused in 2006 of skimming money from collection plates and bequests at their church in Delray Beach, Florida, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate, travel, rare coins and girlfriends.

Guinan, 66, was sentenced 4 years in prison after taking the case to trial and being found guilty of a lesser charge of theft under $100,000. Skehan, 81, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and seven years probation after pleading guilty in January to a charge of grand theft of over $100,000.

Judge Jeffrey Colbath said, “The crime of the defendant was pure greed unmasked. There was not a shred of moral necessity to excuse the defendant’s crime,”

On the other hand Judge Krista Marx said Guinan must be punished for “unmitigated greed and unmitigated gall,”“No matter how many good works you have performed in your many years as a priest, your legacy will always be one of thievery and deceit,” she also added.

The priests were charged in September 2006. At that time police said they had gathered money from collection plates into secret slush funds, using some of it for church projects and part for vacations, property and gambling trips to Las Vegas and the Bahamas.

Third Annual Earth Hour Observed

The Saturday night was an extraordinary night for the earth. More than 2,800 towns & cities worldwide dimmed their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time to 9:30 pm for the third annual Earth Hour. It is observed 83 countries and 24 time zones. Millions of homes and bussiness centers went dark for one hour in a symbolic gesture highlighting concerns over climate change.

Sydney was the birthplace of the Earth Hour campaign in 2007. 2.2 million people turned off their lights, igniting a grass-roots movement that has become a global phenomenon.

In Washington, the lights went out at the Capitol dome at 8:30 p.m. ET; the same time the Empire State Building, Central Park and the George Washington Bridge in New York went dark too. The light illuminating the face of the landmark Big Ben clock tower in London, England, went out at 8:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. ET).

Other landmarks around the world also observed the event. They were the Egyptian pyramids, Vatican, Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Acropolis in Athens and the Las Vegas casino strip.

DNA Tests Proves The 13-year-old Boy Not The Actual Father

Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old boy who was alleged to have become the father of the baby girl, was proofed false through DNA tests. DNA tests justified that he was not the baby girl’s actual dad.

The £300 test was conducted on him after half a dozen boys claimed to have slept with schoolgirl pal Chantelle Stedman, 15. Chantelle told her half-sister Jodie O’Neill, 17, that her daughter’s father could have been one of the boys she slept with at her parents’ home in East Sussex. Alfie, the 4ft-tall pupil, was convinced he was the dad after a single night of unprotected sex with Chantelle.

The result will be a blow to Alfie who was “devastated” by the boys’ claims and “adored” Maisie. Chantelle became pregnant aged 14 after she “forgot to take” her contraceptive pill last May.

Robbers Sand To jail after seeking cops help!

Four robbers were arrested by the Chinese police when one of its members sought cops’ help, following a fight over money after the robbers had looted a woman.

The group of robbers robbed a woman on a street in Nanbu county, Sichuan province, of 160 yuan (23 dollars). Then one of them wanted to keep all the money, But other did not agree. So they beat him, and stole the money from him.

Later The beaten crook went to seek help to police and unfortunately he was arrested with his other three members.

The stolen money was returned to the proper woman.

Facebook users campaign against Pope About The Controversial Statement Of Condom

Facebook users raised their voice against Pope Benedict's remark that condoms do not prevent HIV.

Last week Pope went to Cameroon. There he said to the journalists,"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," "On the contrary, it increases the problem." It was the most controversial comment from Pope.

Thousands of Facebook users have pledged to send the pontiff millions of condoms to protest this controversial comment. Most Facebook users who criticized about this comment were from European countries.

"It frightens me that a man who has devoted his life to moral guidance ... and is undeniably a learned, intelligent man can be at the same time so narrow-minded, bigoted and irresponsible," posted one of Facebook users.

Pope Benedict XVI has made it clear he intends to uphold the traditional Catholic teaching on artificial contraception. The Vatican has long opposed the use of condoms and other forms of birth control and encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

The Lancet, a British medical journal, urged the pope Saturday to issue a retraction for the "outrageous and wildly inaccurate" statement to journalists aboard his plane. "When any influential person, be it a religious or political leader, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record," The Lancet said in an editorial.

Judy is the happiest girl in Britain

If your name is either Judy or Joshua Then you are the happiest, while Lynn or Ben are likely to be the most miserable, according to psychologists research.

The research claims that a person's personality is found in his or her's name. The original meaning of Judy is 'praised' while Joshua is a biblical name meaning 'God is my salvation'.

Dr Holmes, of Manchester Metropolitan University, was commissioned to look into the psychology of first names for internet bank Smile. He found those called Mark or Ruth smile the most and those called Frank and Pauline smile the least. 'Names are like product brands in having a powerful effect on attitudes and should therefore be chosen with care.' said Dr. Holmes

Dr Holmes also said this chart would help the parents to choose right name fo the newborn babies. Here is the chart below.