Check your PLDT Plan

    When subscribing to any service especially through an agent always check if the right service was given to you. Sometimes you’ll be applied to a higher plan by the agent so that he/she will get a higher commission. It almost happened to me.

I just got my quick install kit modem this afternoon after two days of fouled waiting. I was supposed to get it last week Friday but the contact agent gave me the Plan 999 instead of the Plan 990.

Before I continue, let me explain their difference. Plan 999 is dsl only that offers 1 mbps speed while Plan 990 and dsl and phone line but only 384 kbps speed. Having been used to dial-up for nearly a decade I am sure I’d be quite satisfied with 384 kbps for the moment. Besides I don’t want to shell out too much on internet connection. We already have a PLDT line so it’ll be just like buying two internet prepaid cards a month for a faster net connection and uninterrupted phone line. And the sweet bonus is there is supposed to be a one month free for Plans 888, 990 and 1299. So…Plan 990 it is!

I applied at one of PLDT’s SM department store booths on a Monday and was informed that I could get it on Friday. I was quite excited to try it on the weekend but my happiness was short lived when I learned that the agent applied me for Plan 999. I would not have known if I didn’t start asking questions about what am I paying and why I am paying for it from the customer service at 5th floor Megamall who by the way needs to be reminded on how to give the best Total Customer Experience – smile, listen, and be polite.

I learned from them that this is a common ‘mistake’ and that there are people who come to them questioning their billing statement about why they must pay a higher amount than what they expected for their internet connection.

Don’t let yourself get scammed by others. If this is your first time to ask for a PLDT myDSL connection always ask for questions and verify your account after receiving the connection. Make use the PLDT hotline 171 and rid yourself of the possibility of wasting time and money in the future.

Petition to make President Gloria resign

Taken from this website of online petition.

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To: President and Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines

MANIFESTO / PETITION ONLINE CALLING
FOR THE IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO AND NOLI DE CASTRO AND FOR THE HOLDING OF SPECIAL (“SNAP”) ELECTIONS WITHIN 60 DAYS

WHEREAS, because of the numerous unresolved scandals involving the present administration, including but not limited to the “Hello Garci” Election controversy, the ZTE , North Rail Project, Diosdado Macapagal Highway scandals, the Joc-joc Bolante Fertilizer scam, Jose Pidal caper, hundreds of unresolved extra-judicial killings and the latest Malacañang Bribery Incident, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has completely lost her moral authority to govern this country;

WHEREAS, the GMA has lost public sympathy and support in the light of her tainted electoral mandate and her responsibility for the numerous controversies hounding her administration, as consistently shown by survey after survey conducted by reputable polling entities;

WHEREAS, Vice President Noli De Castro is a member of the Arroyo cabinet and is a beneficiary of the cheating perpetrated during the May 2004 Elections and is also considered to be a silent partner in crime of GMA not only because of his close personal association and unflinching support for GMA but also because of his failure to stand-up against and denounce the abuses and excesses of the Arroyo regime;

WHEREAS, the recent Glorietta bombing incident appears to be a signal for the more violent phase in the regime of GMA;

WHEREAS, the sham impeachment case filed by personalities connected with Malacanang effectively sabotages and ridicules the impeachment process;

WHEREAS, the only peaceful, legal and constitutional option available to the Nation under the circumstances and to prevent the situation from developing into a full-scale conflict or civil strife is for GMA and Noli De Castro to resign from their respective positions as President and Vice-President, of the Republic of the Philippines;

WHEREAS, the 1987 Constitution, under Section 10, Article VII, expressly provides that:

“Sec. 10. The Congress shall, at ten o’clock in the morning of the third day after the vacancy in the offices of the President and Vice-President occurs, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call and within seven days enact a law calling for a special election to elect a President and a Vice-President to be held not earlier than forty-five days nor later than sixty days from the time of such call. Xxx.”

NOW, WHEREFORE, We the undersigned citizens, taxpayers and voters of the Republic of the Philippines, in our capacity as the true sovereign of the Nation, DO HEREBY:

1. Call upon Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli De Castro to spare the country from further turmoil and violence by immediately resigning from their respective positions as President and Vice-President of the Philippines;

2. Demand the holding of a Special Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election within Sixty (60) Days from the date of the resignation of GMA and Noli de Castro, pursuant to Section 10, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution;

May God bless our Great Nation!

DONE in Metro Manila, Philippines on this 21st day of October 2007.
Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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Out of 80,000,000++ Filipinos only 3366 (as of 3:32am) signed the online petition. The majority cares not anymore and I’m no exception.

Geek Meter

58% Geek

I really thought, it should be higher. But apparently a geek needs to be well-rounded in all aspects of geekiness, not just technology. Oh well, not that it matters too much anyway. Seen as a geek or not shall be fine by me.

How to disable copy to usb storage devices

Storage devices like flash drives are very easy to acquire as their price keeps on dropping. However along side with it is the disadvantage of having sensitive information getting leaked out and misused quite easily too.

A workaround for this might be to have files password encrypted so that no one can easily view it but it this is not totally fool proof when the file needs to be accessed by more than one person. Chances are there is a bad apple among an organization who knows the password and has the intention of using it for his own gain at the company’s expense.

Therefore what would really be nice to have is to make the file unmovable from the computer. In short disable any copy to any usb storage devices. How? Here is how you do it in Microsoft Windows.

1. Open notepad

2. Type in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]
“WriteProtect”=dword:00000001

3. Save as “WriteProtect.reg”

4. Double-click created file

Viola! All removable storage drives should now be write protected.

Diliman OUR is using Open Source

Wow! The university seems becoming really serious in using open source technology. UPD registrar’s office is finally advocating the use of OpenOffice for it’s downloadable forms. Although they are still in doc and xls file format, I’m quite happy already with the OpenOffice link they have included on the web page.  This is great!

Allow or deny?

Steps to remove Taga Lipa Are

I have created an instruction on how to remove IMGKULOT virus however there is another pesky local virus called Taga Lipa Are that needs to be dealt with too. When translated this means “I’m from Lipa” which is a city in the Philippines. Luckily a friend of mine who is a certified security buff has created her own set of instructions on how to remove it. Do check out the comments too since people have added their own way of erasing the virus from their system.

May 2007 CPA exam passers and top notchers

Complete list of passers and instructions for registrations are on this link . I took the liberty of posting the top 10 here. Why prolong their happiness? Congratulations to the newest batch of Philippine Certified Public Accountants!

RANK	NAME	SCHOOL	RATING (%)
1	BRIAN TAN LIM	UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LA SALLE – BACOLOD CITY	92.14
2	JOHN PHILIP PANG TE	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	91.00
3	KERVIN JOHN SY TORCHIVA	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	90.14
	JAY LORD ESPANTALEON ZAFRA	UNIVERSITY OF SAN JOSE-RECOLETOS	90.14
4	NORIJANE CABANES AGPALO	SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY	89.86
	ARTHUR VINSON UY ONG	UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS	89.86
5	DOREEN MYRA DELOS SANTOS QUIAOIT	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	89.43
	SHERYLL ANNE MARTINEZ ROQUE	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	89.43
	REY CHRISTIAN FRANCISCO SIKAT	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	89.43
6	LISETTE LUY PEREZ	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	89.29
	RANDYL DE VERA TABAJONDA	SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY	89.29
7	GERYSON ABRUGENA MAGBOJOS	ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES – SILANG, CAVITE	89.00
8	JAMES SHERWIN CRUZ CREDO	UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN PHILIPPINES-VIGAN	88.86
	ACE ROGER AMALIZA LABUAC	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	88.86
	NOMER CANITES MONTES	UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES – TACLOBAN CITY	88.86
9	MARIA CARMELA SAN JUAN CALAQUIAN	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	88.57
	VANESSA JOY BENZON TAN	DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY-MANILA	88.57
10	CHRISTOPHER SUMANDAL PANTOLLANO	NEW ERA UNIVERSITY – QUEZON CITY	88.43

Some nifty run commands

If you are a person who loves using the keyboard instead of the mouse and loves to impress other people with what ‘amazing’ computer skills you have then you’d probably want to learn a few run command lines from these two sites. For sure this will make other people see you as an authority in computers but it will also effectively speed up your efficiency on a computer.

Top 20 schools in the Philippines

This statistics is a result of the study conducted by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), based on the average passing in the BOARD EXAMINATIONS OF ALL COURSES of all universities and colleges in the Philippines . This study is concluded every 10 years.

Eleven schools come from Luzon, two from the Visayas and seven from Mindanao.

1. University of the Philippines (Diliman Campus / Luzon )

2. University of the Philippines (Los Banos Campus/ Luzon )

3. University of the Philippines (Manila Campus / Luzon )

4. Silliman University ( Dumaguete City / Visayas)

5. Ateneo deDavao University ( Davao / Mindanao )

6. Ateneo de Manila University ( Manila / Luzon )

7. University of Sto . Tomas ( Manila / Luzon )

8. Mindanao State University (Iligan Institute  ofTech/ Mindanao )

9. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (Manila/Luzon)

10. Saint Louis University ( Baguio City / Luzon )

11. University of San Carlos ( Cebu City / Visayas)

12. Xavier University (Cagayan de Oro / Mindanao )

13. Mindanao State University (Main / Mindanao )

14. Urios College ( Butuan City / Mindanao )

15. Polytechnic University of the Philippines ( Manila / Luzon )

16. De La Salle University ( Manila / Luzon )

17. Mapua Institute of Technology ( Manila / Luzon )

18. Adamson University ( Manila / Luzon )

19. Central Mindanao University (Bukidnon/Mindanao)

20. University of Southern Philippines ( Davao /Mindanao)