I hope my webhost have learned their lessons when the attempt to upgrade/repair the hard drive containing all their paid web hosting customer, resulted in a catastrophic hard disk failure which wiped out the entire hard disk with no possibility or recovery. It was truely a painful moment for me when that happened. Eventhough my blog was just 11 months old with some casual updates, I also add-on a few domain names on the same web host since that was the most economical thing to do.

Anyway, my web hosting will expire end of this month. I’ve decided that I shall remain with my web host which is Byethost for one simple reason. They are fanatically upgrading each and every components on the web host to the latest version available.

Byethost Current Component Version List

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, install this add-on for your Firefox Browser called Server Spy. It will tell you which version of web application server the website is using. New version normally has bugfixes and contain more new features for you to enjoy such as the one my web hosting is using which is Apache 2.2.8.

Despite the economical factor, I have plans to buy another web hosting for not to put all my eggs in one basket. I have 4 days of geeky days at home this Chinese New Year holiday so I might be doing a lot more of my online activities as what I’ve been doing before.

In this post, I’m not going to insert any pictures or images. It has been a while since this problem occured. I’ve tried a number of those free anti-viruses (I’m stingy okay..hehe) and none of them work. I tried using a Ravmon Removal Tool (right click and save as here to download) but it didn’t cure my problem. I haven’t try the new version called the Smart Anti Virus 1.0 but I’m going to check it out soon.

Anyway, one of my colleague here at my office circulated an e-mail on how to remove RavMonLog virus. I’ve tried it myself, and it works:

THREAT NAME
Worm.RJump.A

CLEAN INSTRUCTIONS

1. Right click on an empty space from the taskbar (or right click on the clock from the right corner) and select Task Manager.
   - Select the Processes tab, locate ravmon.exe, right click on it and select End Process
   - Delete the following file: C:\Windows\ravmon.exe
2. To clean the removable storage device (USB stick, PEN drive etc.) right-click on your USB stick / PEN drive icon and select Explore.NB: Be careful NOT to double-click the icon because the malware will be reactivated.
   - Locate and delete the autorun.inf and ravmon.exe files
3. Click on Start, Run, type regedit and click on OK.

NB: Before you edit the registry, please export the keys that you plan to edit, or create a backup of the system before you proceed.

1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
2. Delete the "RavAV" = "C:\windows\ravmon.exe"

SYMPTOMS

1. Presence of the autorun.inf and ravmon.exe files in the root of the storage device.
2. Presence of a copy of the ravmon.exe file in the windows system folder.
3. Presence of the RavMonLog file that contains the port number for the backdoor component.

DESCRIPTION

1. Worm.RJump.A spreads by creating a copy on removable storage devices or mapped drives.
2. It drops the following malicious files:
   • autorun.inf
   • ravmon.exe
3. Also it drops a clean msvcr71.dll file that is a part of Microsoft Visual Studio.
4. It opens a port for the backdoor component.

Every single year when Thaipusam is celebrated, the place where I live will be crowded by the Indian Community. This year, it was announced that Thaipusam is a public holiday for Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Now this is really a challenge because my area is getting even more crowded. With more people, there will be cars. More cars equal to more traffic jam. Oh well, I’d better get used to it. Read more about Thaipusam here.

I don’t really have anything to write so I’ll post pictures I took this morning instead:

Pre Thaipusam Day 2008 View at Jln Ipoh

Another Pre Thaipusam Day 2008 View at Jln Ipoh

I just don’t like seeing those pierced bodies and those scary stuff. It’s just too scary for me.

I’m starting a new category here, it’s called Career. So, instead of having all of my related jobs and career rambling falls into Personal, I now can start rambling about my job. Usually, I don’t really like to criticize thing too much because I really like to be a positive thinking person. Of course once in a while, it doesn’t hurt to be critical to relief those steam before it explodes.

When I first came to the company, there was no place for me to sit. I had to share my workplace with someone else until some of the practical students finished their working period and some of the other workers moved to the site office. I then acquired a temporary workplace which was right under the air-conditioner and it was freezing cold.

My Temporary Workplace

But strangely, the air conditioning got warmer and suddenly, one of the two main air conditioner on the second floor where I was located broke down. I’m used to be located in such odd office places so it doesn’t really matter to me that much. There was one time when I was doing tele-marketing, the office had no chair and I had to use a drawer as a chair with a small table desk for the telephone. It was hot and there was dust everywhere. The construction workers were knocking down the wall, it was horrible. Anyway, I survived as always.

Last week, my company had an organization restructuring. No one was laid off but there were a few people who resigned. I was relocated to the business development group and there are 2 fresh graduates assigned with the group. Being a senior person, I now have to guide them through the learning curves of the business development process which is tough considering I used to be the jack of all trade last time. So, new job position, new responsibilities and best of all, new working spot:

My Latest Workplace

Well, the air conditioning is not installed yet since I’m now in a new building right next to the old one. It’s warm and sweaty. At least I now have a permanent workplace.