After I had responded to comments left in my blog, I get to see a list of spam. Spam is really something that I don’t want to have. I’ve experienced this when I still have that old blog in Wordpress.com.

Unlike the spam that I’ve been receiving before, these spam comments really sound funny. I decided to get snapshots of those images days ago so that I can share them with you. I find them personally amusing. I just don’t know if you had been receiving similar messages.

(click each of the images to view the original size)

super site?

Did not understand what I’ve been saying

Sukrat huh?

This is my favorite of all!

Finally, I’ve just finished adding not so obvious changes on my personal blog. As some of you may have noticed, I own another personal blog related to my single parenting experience. I was working on that blog layout for two days. That’s a long time to do such modifications on a template, but I was working on the blogger server all time.

Anyway, these are the visible changes: Read the rest of this entry

Today, I decided to see how I can put back the old task manager that comes with every Windows XP system. I could not see the task manager each time I wanted to kill some process that hanged up on me.

So I searched for the Internet to find a solution, the first one that I’ve seen is the Remove Restrictions Tool (RRT). A good tool, but I need to pay for it. I don’t want to, since I can go around modifying the registry itself without getting a heart attack.

The next thing I did was to search Google to find out which part of the Windows registry I should look to. Google did not give me the results I was looking for.

Then I suddenly remembered Maddy, the guy behind Great Registry Hacks. Sometime last year, he was a constant EC dropper and visitor of my blogs, so I decided to search his blog. I decided to contact him after trying to search for that thing that I need to find.

Maddy was fast! He emailed me back with two solutions: a free software he wrote to enable/disable the task manager, and a direct hack to the Windows registry.

But it was not enough to make the task manager appear. His next suggestion was to install Process Explorer instead. It worked! Thanks to Maddy!

Process Explorer: a lightweight replacement to default Windows Task Manager

I’ve met Process Explorer in my previous work, so this software is not news to me. It just did not occur to me to use this instead of figuring out how to make the Task Manager work.

As I exchanged conversations with Maddy over YM, it looked like my Task Manager was corrupted. I tried to open the file then returned an error message indicating that the file cannot be found. (UPDATE: I got the Task Manager back after installing Process Manager then clicking “restore Process Manager” command on the menu.

Here’s the download link: download Process Manager from Microsoft.

If you need some help with the Windows registry, then go to Maddy’s Great Registry Hacks and ask him.

I am saddened by the recent turn of events that is a result of the global recession:

• A number of Filipino workers in Taiwan had been laid off and are now on the way back to the Philippines.
• TI Philippines, a US company right here in my hometown, has just laid off almost 200 workers and is expected to further reduce their workforce this year.
• Accenture Philippines had also reduced its workforce by 500 workers a few days ago.
• Today, Intel Philippines announced its intention of shutting down their two-decades old plant. This company employs 3,000 workers right now who will all be affected by the shutdown.

Aside from this I’ve ran across a few bloggers and some friends who had confessed about losing their jobs.

photo credit: Erik Charlton

Are we Filipinos too dependent on getting employed?

I believe we do. I have experienced that myself. After I got my degree, the next “good” thing is to get the first job related to my degree. I had been able to do that. I had a good job, but still, is not enough to meet my needs. It’s true, it can answer my personal needs but it does not come to the extent that I am able to save a significant portion of it for emergencies.

I was not alone. I saw my peers give up their jobs in favor of those higher paying overseas jobs. I saw people living a better life and enjoying an upgraded lifestyle. For those who are not keen on saving much, it would last them until the day when they decide to retire.

But workplaces change and the 80s is a decade when company retrenchments had happened. It becomes worse as crisis happens. The global economic crisis is one reminder that there is no such thing as a secure job anymore.

I just wish that the government would focus more on creating individuals who can build big businesses and companies. I think the government puts more emphasis on putting people to work overseas because the government relies on foreign remittances from these workers. Now that the recession is in, overseas workers are now losing their jobs - with the latest batch of workers ending up as the most unfortunate.

I got hold of a copy of the software at Computer FileExtensions.com today but I was not able to install it successfully. I have a 64-bit Windows XP system and that software prompted me that it is not designed to work with my existing system.

With so many hardware already ready to run 64-bit system, I find it strange that Computer FileExtensions still issue an application that will still only run on 32-bit operating systems.

Computer FileExtensions is supposed to fix the registry. At first glance, the website boasts of a huge database of file extensions that the software can fix - it is practically from A to Z, zero to 9 and those extensions that begin with the @. Almost every extension that you can think of are covered by this software: file extension BIN, file extension TMP and file extension TORRENT are some that are included in the list.

With so many 64-bit systems sold in the mainstream computer market, I think it is worthy to wait for the 64-bit version. If you happen to have a 32-bit system, then maybe you can give this software a try.