Installing Virtual Machine Additions on Server Core

The intrinsic beauty of running a number of virtual machines on a single host lies in the ability to simulate, through a test lab, for example, how an IT infrastructure works without investing heavily on hardware and going through the multifarious tasks of OS installations as well as application setups. Get a fast multi-core processor, a motherboard that supports hardware virtualization, rev up on the RAM, get fast harddisks (as many as the computer's mobo can support), and one can already start building his test lab with, say, a domain controller, an application server and a couple of clients. Fact is, one can even go as far as running multiple virtual machines on different physical computers to generate, as complex as possible, his test IT infrastructure.

Sifting through a number of active virtual PCs/servers can be a drag if the Virtual Machine Additions is not installed on the virtual machine. This excerpt from the Technet details the importance of the VM Additions. To quote:

Virtual Machine Additions is a very important component to running a virtual machine. You must install Virtual Machine Additions on all virtual machines.

Virtual Machine Additions adds the following enhancements to a guest operating system:

• Improved mouse cursor tracking and control

• Greatly improved overall performance

• Virtual machine heartbeat generator

• Optional time synchronization with the clock of the physical computer

To install the VM Additions, navigate to the D:\Windows directory of the D: drive of the virtual machine. Execute the Virtual Machine Additions msi package using msiexec.exe as shown in the first screenshot. At the end of the installation, reboot the virtual machine. Do this for all the virtual machines.

Alonso tops inaugural Singapore Grand Prix

Renault's Fernando Alonso, bucking a 15th pole position disadvantage, won the inaugural Singapore F1 Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg finished a career-best second place while Lewis Hamilton, one of the preliminary favorite to win the circuit, placed third.

Singapore Grand Prix Weekend

I just got back from a walkabout in Geylang Serai with the family. This, after a heavy dinner binge at one of the newly refurbished coffeeshops near our block. The food was great, we're stuffed full which made the walkabout doubly tougher.

But, yes, I am digressing. This post is all about the much ballyhoed Singapore Grand Prix, the first night race in the F1 circuit. It is also the first F1 street race in Asia. The race covers 61 laps; a lap runs through 5.067 kilometers. The average turns of the F1 tracks is 16 whereas this badass circuit has 23 brake-crunchers. The word is that even the most celebrated race drivers in the circuit who have given this circuit the spin, literally, are one in saying that this is one tough momma.

The circuit runs through the very heart of Singapore's heritage and business center. Notable sights include St. Andrew's Road, beside the City Hall, Raffles Boulevard, overlooking the Esplanade and the Singapore Flyer, the historic Anderson Bridge along the reknowned Fullerton Hotel, just to name a few.

And here's some breaking news, Felipe Mass will be in the pole position when the race kicks off tomorrow. A late burst near the end of the last qualifying run enabled the Brazilian to edge out Britain's Lewis Hamilton. If this is not an indication of how close and exciting the race will turn out tomorrow night, I don't know what will.

Here's the list of the top 10 drivers after the qualifying races:

1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
   
2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
   
3. Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)
   
4. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
   
5. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)
   
6. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
   
7. Sebastian Vettel (STR-Ferrari)
   
8. Timo Glock (Toyota)
   
9. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)
   
10. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) 
    

Hilarious Pics Series: Funny Sign

Can you spot something peculiar about this sign? My wife and I bumped into this one weekend on our way to the grocery. I nearly doubled up laughing; my wife had to whack me with a Manny Pacquiao-like right-cross as the lady manning (no pun, really) the shop was giving me the "i'm gonna ktfo this fella" stare. 

Microsoft TechFEST 2008 (Singapore)

I reckon I heard about the forthcoming TechFEST 2008 in October (23-24) from one of the Microsoft Insiders meetups a couple of months back. Likewise, I have received emails from Dennis concerning this and the topics that might be covered during the event. Early this afternoon, I received an email invite from sgevents@microsoft.com for the "Microsoft TechFEST 2008 – A Festival Featuring Microsoft Latest Technologies"; good thing I've informed my team about this earlier and was given the green light by my boss to go.  Good thing my cost center is going to cover for the SGD$99 registration fee. I'm looking forward to meeting the Pinoy MVPs during the two-day event (Pom, Ed, Andre, and Jay) and learn a thing or two from these experts.

And what do I get with the 99-singbucks? To say a lot will be an understatement:

- 3 MSPress Books (1 on Windows 2008, 1 on SQL 2008, 1 on Visual Studio 2008) total worth $168

- 1 Keynote and 12 Break Out Tracks

- Up to 42 Hands On Labs (Hyper-V, BI, SQL Security, Silverlight2, WPF)

- Free Access to MCS & MVPs during this period (make the most out of the MCS folks, ask them questions, they are your bloody expensive friendly consultants)

-And more!

"Command-Prompt" Ninjitsu

Not since the olden DOS days have I been fascinated with the command line interface (CLI) as with the advent of the CLI-only Windows Server 2008 Server Core.

Back then, I used to dabble in scripting batch files to automate a lot of routine tasks. For example, I would run a script to format a floppy diskette, prompt the user to insert a source diskette to be copied, runs diskcopy and labels the diskette. It was considered l33t to be able to come up with complex scripts, passing parameters and arguments, catching errorlevels and other stuff. Even the prompt itself was not spared; intricate designs were the norm back then.

This interest in CLI carried on when I worked on Solaris stuff some years back. Around this period, I also ventured in the world of different Linux distros and *nix; working on bash, sh, ksh and the other sh were part and parcel of my weekend projects mostly on perl snippets.

When Powershell was introduced two years ago, I was one of the early adopters from my team. I thought integrating a full-pledged OOP platform through scripting was heaven-sent; running cmdlets from the shell, piping results to other cmdlets was rather nifty. And the script-debugging feature available in version 2.0 is, to the syntax-challenged me, a huge huge plus.

I had my fair share of ups and downs with the different CLIs I have had the chance to play around with. But still, the good-ol' cmd.exe is my main choice, hands down. It is THE CLI for me; the one CLI to rule 'em all. In fact, at any given time, I will have a minimum of two elevated cmd.exe windows on my desktop. Be it querying the registry of a remote machine, modifying the properties of an AD account, copying files to multiple target hosts, to name a few, this is the CLI for me.

And while I'm on a CLI-induced stupor, I would like to share this  Windows Command Reference from Microsoft. Again, every administrator worth his skin should be adept at using command-line tools to perform routine administrative tasks; in fact, in my case, I have an elevated command prompt (where I run all admin-related checks, scripts, tools, etc.) on my desktop as part and parcel of my day-to-day work. There seems to be a command-line tool for every admin task, be it fiddling with DNS management (dnscmd), managing AD trusts (netdom), parsing event trace logs (tracerpt), directory copying on steroids (robocopy), backing-up (wbadmin), and so on. Incorporating these tools in scripts is likewise key in automating a lot of tasks thereby allowing an administrator to do more work in a more efficient manner and in lesser amount of time. Mastery of these tools is essential for an administrator; mastering the CLI is godly.

Adding Pictures to an Active Directory Account

I was hoping someone could explain the use of User Account pictures in 2008, is this feature expected to be integrated into AD at some point?

We are setting up 2008 Terminal Services and what I would like to do is automate the user account pictures for my users and link them to a central store of pictures. So if User "Alan Other" logs in he gets "AlanOther.bmp" pulled into his profile and set as his Picture.

I can script the fie moves etc, but what I can't seem to find is where to set the picture in the Reigistry.

The only thing currently open to us is to standarise the picture using Group Policy. 

Anyone any ideas?

This question was posted on Technet and had piqued my interest. The ability to add a picture to an Active Directory account is a stroke of genius, if only this doesn't bloat the AD database. I copied this code from Arricc. Included in the page is a snippet of a Sharepoint webpart. Another possible way of implementing this was described in Oddvar Håland Moe’s Blog. A third-party tool, Exclaimer's AD Pictures, is able to add pictures in AD with  an intuitive GUI.  

The problem with integrating this feature with an enterprise's Active Directory lies not just in a rather inflated AD database but in the aspect of replication as well. Replication becomes an concern once the AD database grows tremendously. It is going to be a tossup for AD administrators to pick  between this nifty feature versus AD size and replication concerns.

Financial Sector Anxieties

The debacle that was Lehman Brothers has sent ripples of anxiety amongst financial institutions throughout the world. The American financial-services giant's collapse, hastened no less by the global financial sector meltdown, is a clear indication that no one, even among the established financial Goliaths, is safe in these trying times. Talks are rife that the next to fall is the American International Group (AIG); hopefully, this crisis is kept in check soon. Otherwise, the outlook would be bleak for the coming year, not just for the financial sector, but, I would guess, across many industries.

The bailout by the US government of AIG is a welcome news, a calming stroke, not only  to the already beleaguered company, but to the whole financial industry as a whole.  Merril Lynch buyout by the Bank of America was another shocker. And will not be the last, if my crystal ball is right. These are very interesting times indeed.

Toy Collections

Both my kids are fond of collecting toys of all sorts.

My son is currently obsessed with completing his Bionicle collection. I was even prodded to buy him the Bionicle Heroes XBox 360 game after he made marked improvements in his reading and spelling skills; the truth is, I was not keen of buying this game (I was thinking of getting GTA 4 but my wife wouldn't buy the "this-game-is-gonna-improve-his-language-skills" ruse rationale I was trying to pull off convince her with). I digress; I'll create a separate post specifically for this Bionicle collection.

My daughter has a roomful of toys; an assortment of Barbies, stuff toys, keychains and other trinkets, and more. What a relief she is not into toys anymore. At the moment, she is very much into manga and sketching; worth another blog post, I might say. Oh, and she is deep into her assessment exams review; so the less the distractions, the better for her.


Some examples of their toy collections are shown. We plan to buy a glass cabinet or special enclosure for these and the other collections. I want my space (on my hanging cabinet, my computer desk, my store room) back; for my own collections, of course. I need room for my Maxim, FHM, EGM, etc collections. Not.

CERN Website Defaced

Remember the Large Hadron Collider? It was earlier thought by some loonies that turning this on will disrupt the space-time-continuum, or whatever scientific thingamajig that was, and will result in a black hole ripping through earth and causing all life to disintegrate past its event horizon. Well it turns out the whole end-of-days cataclysm scenario was a dud.

Now guess what? Some so-called GST (Greek Security Team) hackers defaced CERN's website (CERN operates the LHC). Gizmodo reported that the hackers got in so deep, say reports, that they were "one step away" from cracking into the computer control system of one of the LHC's "detectors."

I've still to see the mirror of the defaced page in Zone-H but I guess score one for the hackers this round. I wonder what vulnerability these boys exploited to compromise the server hosting the website. I'm keeping eye on this.

Mantis Shrimp Splurges

The mantis shrimp is a type of marine crustacean characterized by a pair or enlarged appendages that form powerful claws for seizing prey. It has been known to feed on crabs (check this cool video), sea snails, fish, and other aquatic preys. Wikipedia.org notes that the mantis shrimp sport powerful claws that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Mantis shrimp can break through aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon. Badasss!

In my visits to Penang island and Kulim in Kedah, Malaysia, I had the fortune of partaking on mantis shrimp dishes a few times. Once, it was in the form of deep-fried mantis shrimp-balls; complemented by sweet-yet-scorching chili padi dipping sauce. I did not even think it was shrimp mantis I was wolfing down as tasted like a tossup between prawn and crab with a rather piquant smell. The other times I gorged on this lovely creature, it was in an assortment of cookery, steamed, fried, soup, you name it. One has to have a stomach made of steel to put up with the looks of this creature. See for yourself!

 

Changing a User's Profile Path (VBS)

Automation is a key element in the success of day-to-day routines of a systems administrator. Be it using special tools to query a few thousand computers in the domain, checking the health of hundreds of servers, or even crafting your own script to check the status of OS updates on your computing endpoints, automation ensures that a sysadmin is able to generate these types of report in a timely, efficient and accurate manner. I have been involved in so many tasks wherein I had to dig deep in my scripting cheatsheet to come up with scripts to check and manage the six-thousand-over computers that I administer. Fact is, I also contribute my fair share of scripts in the Technet's IT Pro Code Gallery in my own little way.

One such script delves on changing the "profilePath" property of thousands of users (this one is from the Technet forum). Being the KISS (that is "Keep It Simple and Straightforward" for you) advocate that is me, I went to create a simple, short, quick and dirty script.


First, I had to generate a list of all the users in my domain. I can, in fact, accomplish this using adsi within the main script itself. However, the fastest way to do it is actually running the net users /domain command from the CLI and piping the output to users.ini.

The main body of the script shown is as simple as it can get. The domain is defined (strDomain), so is the source file containing the list of all the users in the domain (users.ini). The script reads each line of the users.ini file and passes this to the ChangeUserProfilePath sub-routine (together with strDomain).


The ChangeUserProfilePath sub-routine has the old and the new profile paths defined (oldProfile and newProfile). The Replace string function is used to substitute oldProfile with newProfile. The resulting string, strNewProfilePath, is then set to the "profilePath" property of the user account being processed. An initial check is made to verify if the oldProfile string is located in the user's profile property (sUser.Profile). If and only if this condition is met is the profilePath updated.

Google Releases Chrome Patch (0.2.149.29)

In one of my earlier posts, I have highlighted about a DoS vulnerability on Google Chrome's Inspect Element feature wherein a specially crafted page can cause all Chrome windows (not just tabs!) to crash. Google has released a patch to fix this and a few other vulnerabilities as mentioned in the update's Release Notes.

The milw0rm exploit, Shinook's Chrome exploit, and even Aviv Raff's carpet-bombing flaw exploit appear to have no effect on this updated version. An earlier patch, 0.2.149.27, was still vulnerable to the carpet-bombing exploit before the .29 update was released. The good? Google was able to release the patch in a timely manner, in fact, just hours (or was it a day) after the first vulnerabilities were made public. The bad? The update was done without even notifying the user. I still prefer to know what is being installed on my computer irregardless of whether it is fixing a vulnerability or not, hear Google?

IE7 vs Chrome (SunSpider Javascript Benchmark)

If it were a boxing match, IE7 would have been KTFO'ed Amir Khan style. Chrome came out the runaway winner, significantly outpacing IE7 in almost all aspects of the SunSpider benchmark test. This is a clear-as-day indication that Chrome is best suited for ajax-heavy websites. I've been consistently using these two browsers for the past few days and noticed a noteworthy speedier access to Yahoo mail (and gmail, of course) when using Chrome; however, it does not render well asp.net menus (some Community Server forums, for example) and Silverlight-laden sites.




Ah, but Microsoft is not sitting idle as far as the browser race is concerned. Early last month, Internet Explorer 8 Beta has been released. I'm going to give this Chrome-worthy contender a spin in the coming days and see how it fares.

Script to Rename Files (VBS)

I ran across this post on MS Technet earlier:

I have a collection of files in a directory with this filename formats:
zipname-date.ZIP.source.destination.timecreated

Where:
ZipName - Flexible; filename is created automatically
Source / Destination - Normal value is from 0001 to 9999

Sample:
Account20080909.zip.1.0001.0901
Account20080909.zip.1.0025.0902
Account20080909.zip.1.0110.0910
Group20080909.zip.1.0110.0905
Group20080909.zip.1.0025.0903
Group20080909.zip.1.0001.0904

Scenario:
I want to copy the file and rename file with 0001 by removing the trailing extensions, just retain the zip file, see sample output:

Account20080909.zip.1.0001.0901 to Account20080909.zip
Group20080909.zip.1.0001.0904 to Group20080909.zip

Is this possible?

Here's a script I came up with to rename the files:

Option Explicit
On Error Resume Next
Dim objFSO
Dim strSource, strDestination
Dim strFile1, strFile2
Dim x, y, z, arrFiles
strSource = "C:\Source"
strDestination ="C:\Target"
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
arrFiles = split(ListFiles(strSource), vbCrLf)
For x=0 to Ubound(arrFiles)
z=Instr(arrFiles(x),".0001")
if z > 0 then
y=Instr(arrFiles(x), "zip")
strFile2=Left(arrFiles(x),Len(arrFiles(x))-y-3)
objFSO.CopyFile strSource & "\" & arrFiles(x), _
strDestination _ & "\" & strFile2, True
Else
'not .0001 file
end if
Next

Function ListFiles(strFolder)
Dim strFiles, FSObj, FDir, FS, sFile
strFiles = ""
Set FSObj = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set FDir = FSObj.GetFolder(strFolder)
set FS = FDir.Files
For Each sFile in FS
strFiles = strFiles & sFile.name & chr(13) & Chr(10)
Next
ListFiles = strFiles
Set FSObj = Nothing
End Function

Here's the link from the Technet forum: http://forums.technet.microsoft.com/en-US/ITCG/thread/4dbeceaa-e6d2-4a1e-a10a-e46011f4359f.

Gastronomic delights

Food has always been one of my so-called weak spots. Back when I was in my younger days back in the PH, I have had my fair share of exotic and not-so ordinary fare. Balut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut), served with ass-burning pickled chilis, was a constant staple especially during cram sessions for exams. The best lugaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee#Filipino) and tokwa't baboy (http://www.pinoycook.net/tokwat-baboy) in Makati, for the underprivileged me, are those sold at the corner of Pasong Tamo and J.P. Rizal streets. I'll make sure that I'm going to drop by for a round or two when I go back for vacation come December. Sisig (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisig)? Check, I'm gonna try the famed Mutiny (http://mutiny.com.ph/) sisig (and tab's on Rambo). I've tried deer meat jerky (tapang usa), monitor lizard stew, frog soup (best served with bittergourd, yummy), deep-fried ararawan (a kind of edible insect), and a whole lot more. My must-try food list for this coming December break is, ath this point, a lenghty one, I tell you.

In my travels across the region, I have made it a point to try the local fare as much as I can, though I must admit I have had second (make that a dozen) thoughts when faced with such strange looking cuisines like this one I had in Batam. I reckon this one was served in a nasi padang stall in Batamindo. It was crispy, and tasted good actually especially with the special sambal it was served with.

Of course, it is not always alien-y as far as the food I've tried in the different countries I've been to are concerned. The chendol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cendol) in Malacca, Malaysia (this one is a fair distance away from our Malacca office, prolly 15-20 minutes by car) is heavenly. Pak Putra's tandoori chicken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoori_chicken) near Jonker street (or was it walk?) is heavenly. The Capitol satay celup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satay_celup) is a die-die must try fare. I could go waxing lyrical about the food I have had and end up with a lengthy, and boring, rhetoric. I will, instead, from time to time, blog about some of these wonderful cuisines.

I tried this pork knuckle, I cannot recall the German word for it but it was a tongue-twister, in Regensburg (in one of the shops in the mall behind the railway station) and it was just fantastic, sinful to say the least. I'd really love to have another round of this beast.

Disable USB Storage using a VBS script

Restricting USB storage devices through group policy in Windows Server 2008is a breeze (even on Server 2003). However, it gets a tad challenging when you do it on Windows 2000. Let's play a little scenario:

You need to restrict USB storage access on a shared Windows 2000 PC to prevent users from copying any sensitive information to portable USB storage devices (thumb drives, iPod, MP3 player, mobile phones, etc.). You need to implement a “reversible” solution (this rules out super glue, thanks) and must not cost you an arm and a leg. Here’s a homebrew solution which disables (or enables back) the USB storage function of a PC.

Here's a homebrewn solution (the script uses the resource kit tools Reg.exe and SubinACL.exe):

'variables & constants
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Dim strComputer, strFunction
Dim oShell
Dim oStat

'**** main *****
Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
oStat = False
strComputer = ""
strFunction = ""
'Input ComputerName via an inputbox
strComputer = InputBox("Remote PC's HostName :", _
"USB-Buster Release Candidate (c)", strComputer)
if StrComputer = "" Then
MsgBox ("Null value! Exiting...")
Wscript.Quit
Else
If ping(strComputer) = True Then
'Client is online, do nothing
Else
MsgBox("Error! " & strComputer & " is OFFLINE!")
Wscript.Quit
End If
End if
While strFunction = "" or oStat <> True
strFunction = InputBox("Enable [1] or Disable [2] USB :", _
"USB-Buster Release Candidate (c)", strFunction)
if strFunction = "" Then
MsgBox("Null value! Please enter a valid option ('1' OR '2')")
else
Select case strFunction
case "1"
oStat=True
EnableUSB
case "2"
ostat=True
DisableUSB
case else
MsgBox("Invalid input! Enter a valid option ('1' OR '2')")
oStat=False
end select
end if
Wend
oStat = ""
strComputer = ""
strFunction = ""

'Use Resource Kit Tools (reg.exe and subinacl.exe [latest version]) to
'modify the USBStor start value
'and set deny permissions on the key
'********** Procedures/Subroutines Section *************************
Sub DisableUSB()
oShell.Run "reg add ""\\" & strComputer & _
"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR""" _
& " /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f"
oshell.Run "subinacl /keyreg ""\\" & strComputer & _
"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR""" & _
" /deny=system /deny=users /deny=administrators"
End Sub

Sub EnableUSB()
oshell.Run "subinacl /keyreg ""\\" & strComputer & _
"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR""" & _
" /grant=system /grant=users=R /grant=administrators"
oShell.Run "reg add ""\\" & strComputer & _
"\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR""" & _
" /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f"
End Sub

'********FUNCTION CALL(S)*********************************
'Ping - to check if computer is connected to the network
Function ping(arg)
With createobject("Wscript.Shell")
'Ping computer
ping = Not CBool(.run("ping " & arg,0,True))
End With
End Function

Pursuits in times of indolence

I've been sick for the past few days. I was given medical leave for two days but I guess going back to the office last Friday wasn't such a good idea after all. Then again, my work backlog would have piled sky-high had I not dragged myself back to work that day.

Being idle these past days rekindled my interest in some of the things I used to do a lot in the past (especially when I was away from my family years back). I downloaded the full Visual Studio 2008 Express DVD and started a few small projects, both for work and for fun. I just finished an animated screensaver of my kids photos using Visual C#; nothing fancy but the sort of thing to re-sharpen the "programming" saw, rusty from months of inactivity. I also started on a proof-of-concept for my project in the coming fiscal year which is all about harmonizing our secure and restrictive computing environment in the fab across the Asia-Pacific region; this POC will be a front-end for a CMDB-cum-Baseline Configuration solution. Configuration drifts, especially for those handling the standard operating environment of an enterprise, is a real pain, I tell you. Anyway, I am not a developer so this C# application will just be a rudimentary solution and I will have to hand this over to a "real" developer when the project kicks off. I also finished our login script which is specially crafted for the Vista OS as we are in the midst of deploying this OS, updated my backup-restore script for our users in this migration to include some error-checking routines, plus some Powershell exercises.

Since the TV is glued to either the Cartoon Network or TFC (I'm telling you, this world will soon be ruled by kids and mothers-in-law), I found time to do some sketching. I used to have a sketch pad which I lost when I got assigned in Bangalore a few years back. It had in it a number of doodles, squiggles, cartoons, portraits and what-nots which I've done during periods of boredom inactivity. I just might start on this hobby again; I just need to get sick more often, I guess.

Oh, and yeah, I found time to start a new blog. ;-)

Google Chrome Inspect Element Denial-of-Service Exploit

Whoa! A Chrome exploit from milw0rm!

http://www.milw0rm.com/exploits/6386

And what does this do? Not much really, it just crashes ALL your open Chrome windows. ;-)

Google Chrome's Porn Incognito Mode

I have been testing Chrome, Google's new and highly-anticipated browser, since it was made available for download four days back. One thing I noticed is that it is very fast in rendering (some) pages. However, it still lacking in some ways, in my humble opinion (worthy of another blog post, if I may say so).


One feature that stands out, as far as I am concerned, is the Incognito mode. Although this is nothing new, Safari has a "private" mode for some time while IE8 Beta has the "in private" mode, it is a welcome feature to those porn loving paranoid users. This is a welcome feature for those who worry much about their browsing histories footprints on their computers.


I love the Incognito icon, it's kinda bad-ass. A side note, browsing in this mode only keeps Chrome from storing information about the websites and pages you have visited. The websites you have visited may still have records of your visit.

Ad initium

Time's exactly at 5:30 PM when I started writing this initial entry of this blog. I have a lot of ideas in mind at the moment as to what I'll be posting here in the coming days but it was kind of taking me a tough time to get the ball rolling, so to speak. Anyhow, what's best to kick off this one of the millions of blogs on the net trying to etch out a niche but to give a brief description of me, what I do, what I like, and so on.

I am married to a great woman, a father of two wonderful kids, aged 6 and 10, living in the tiny red dot that is Singapore. I work as an IT engineer for a German manufacturing company (yeah, I love my job) doing a bit of travelling across the Asia-Pacific region (and the occasional trips to EU). I love to dabble on new and emerging technologies, specifically in the Microsoft front, to get some sort of a headstart in learning these technologies and be able to utilize these in my day-to-day work. In fact, I will be posting quite a great deal on such topics.

Want more? I love music. I play the guitar and the keyboards. I compose songs (fact is, I wrote one for the wife). I love playing basketball (though I've cut down on this activity lately because of my bum knee and back); you'd catch me shooting hoops at the community center near my place on weekends. I love to cook. And eat! I could go on and on with this, you know.

Let's cut to the chase, there's so much in life to enjoy, to share, and to write about and I cannot wait to start chronicling my adventures!