Thursday, June 16, 2005

Some Inexpensive software's you should have

BY Sanket 'freeman' Kambli

It is still expensive, if not to buy, then to run it safely.
The operating system is itself expensive, and add to it the cost of extra applications to keep the system running safely, you will
will burn a big hole in your wallet.
But don't fret as I am bringing you a list links to some killer applications that are not only free but fully loaded.

http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclnr.exe
avast! Virus Cleaner is available free for every user.
This tool will help you remove selected worm infections from your computer.
even this is good ->http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_downl.htm

http://www.spampal.org
SpamPal is a mail classification program that can help separate your spam from the mail you really want to read.
What you need to use SpamPal?
1. A machine running Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003 or XP.
2. A POP3 or IMAP4 mailbox.
3. A standard email program such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora.

http://www.irfanview.com/
IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003. It is trying to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. I use this tool to visualize pictures, convert between formats and photocopy documents !

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the "good side" of the web.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html
Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer.


http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html
Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) helps users control how their computers exchange data with other computers on the Internet or local network.

http://www.httrack.com
HtTrack 3.30
HtTrack is the best offline browser (it copies websites on your harddisk).
It allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer.

http://www.quickzip.org/
QuickZip 3.06.1
QuickZip is the best free clone of Winzip !

http://www.cdex.n3.net
CdEx 1.51
CdEx, the best MP3 ripper !

http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/index.htm
RamPage 1.6
A tiny memory monitor, which display the amount of available RAM in realtime.
RAMpage is a Windows utility that displays the amount of available memory in the System Tray. It can also free memory; by double clicking the tray icon, by setting a threshold that activates the program automatically, or by having it run automatically when an application exits.

http://www.muskcodec.com/
Musk Codec Pack v 4.0.2
The best codec pack !

http://www.ticon.net/~dpoch/enigmatic
CacheSentry 1.59
CacheSentry cleans IE cache safely and fixes some IE cache bugs ! At its first run, it removed 400Mb of files on my computer !

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/
Firebird 0.7
Firebird, simply the best browser !Beaten Internet Explorer in popularity

http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
FileZilla FTP 2.2.3
Very good FTP client.

Next time some sharewares, till then, you have enough to byte on.

Goswami- The scam swami, his men and the story so far

By Sanket ‘Expose the scams’ Kambli

When I sat about writing a few lines about this scamster, I was confused as to which part of this issue should I work to highlight. So let’s not waste time, let’s begin somewhere. Well before that let us have an intro on what is going on.
We are dealing here with government officials and others accused of committing fraud, forgery and cheating by siphoning off government money meant for flood relief in Bihar last year. And as soon as we see the words fraud, forgery, government officials and things like 'money not being spent for their designated purpose' we all think 'yes these people in the administration are like this only' , but we do nothing, here we get a glimpse of a sloppy attitude towards some serious issues. Let us move further.
Here are some details of the initial report of the Comptroller and Auditor General:
Allotment of Rs 13.54 crore to Former Patna district magistrate (DM) Gautam Goswami was irregular.
DM Patna did not enter into any pre-contract for supply of relief materials.
The entire bidding process was flawed. Though contract was awarded to BSSIC, no agreement was executed with it and cheques were issued in favour of BSSI (the fake firm by the name of Baba Satya Sai Industries run by contractor and Sadhu Yadav associate Santosh Jha) although there was no agreement with the firm.
DM Patna diverted funds from other heads and made advance payments of Rs 17.80 crore.
DM Patna spent Rs 61.70 lakh without authorisation for purposes other than relief.
No stock register of items supposedly purchased was maintained by DM Patna. Only dispatch register was maintained, its entries not being authenticated by any official.
Goswami's lawyer Shankar also pointed out that the report has not clearly indicted Goswami. It has only said that there was a possibility of embezzlement which exists in every government work.
This report has provided us a somewhat clear picture of the magnitude of the scam. And if you think that just knowing who did it all is enough then you are wrong, because we are yet to get into all the legal swirls, press reports, bails and all those things.
So here we go, enjoy the roller coaster ride of some interesting statements.
Designated Vigilance Judge Jitendra Mohan Prasad, who earlier reserved his order on conclusion of arguments by Goswami's lawyer Tuhin Shankar and senior public prosecutor of Vigilance P P Singh, dismissed Goswami's anticipatory bail petition. Soon after rejection of Goswami's petition, Shankar said his client would either surrender or move the superior court against the lower court's order. Referring to the argument of the defence counsel Shankar that several other officials were involved in the relief work carried out with the help of army helicopters and boats, Singh showed a copy of the payment of Rs 2 lakh made by Goswami to a fake firm “Amibika Coffee House” for coffee from the funds allotted to him as Patna district magistrate-cum-nodal officer for carrying out relief for flood-hit victims in north Bihar. “The fund for relief was spent on purchasing coffee and that too from a firm which the Vigilance Bureau was yet to locate,” he remarked. Singh said over Rs 1 lakh was also spent on using swimming pools. “It implies that the officials were not carrying out relief but having pleasure swimming,” he said. He said cheques of several crores of rupees were also issued to a fake firm, Baba Satya Sai Industries instead of the Bihar Small Scale Industries Corporation, towards payment for managing relief. Singh said when Goswami was ready to cooperate with the Vigilance Bureau probing the scam, he should have surrendered by now and”we would have taken him on remand for interrogation”. He urged the court not to allow Goswami's plea for bail and claimed that he was deeply involved in the scam. Goswami has been dismissed as senior Vice President of Sahara India Company, company sources said. The company terminated his services with effect from June 6, senior Sahara group officials told PTI on phone from Lucknow. The same was confirmed by Goswami's lawyer Tuhin Shankar here. Goswami failed to submit some necessary papers as per the requirement of the organisation and it led to his termination, the sources said. Goswami, who quit Indian Administrative Services to join Sahara group, was in trouble after the Vigilance Investigation Bureau probing the scam tightened its noose around him. He has been alleged as prime accused in the case. Additional Director General of the Bureau Neelmani, meanwhile, said the department has sought legal advice to proceed against Sahara for allegedly not cooperating in the investigation process. Goswami's anticipatory bail plea was rejected on June 6 by designated Vigilance Judge J M Prasad. The Bureau has announced Rs one lakh as reward for anyone providing information leading to Goswami's arrest. In the face of the non-bail able warrant against him in the multi-crore flood-relief scam, Santosh Kumar Jha, the alleged kingpin of the swindle, accompanied by his lawyer and former law minister Shakeel Ahmed Khan surrendered before the Vigilance Judge J M Prasad in the case charging Jha, former Patna DM Gautam Goswami and others of committing fraud, forgery and cheating by siphoning off government money meant for flood relief in Bihar last year. Jha's lawyer Khan also filed a petition in the court for lodging his client in judicial custody in the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on health grounds. Khan told the court Jha was also surrendering in connection with another vigilance case relating to alleged irregularities committed by his black listed firm - Santosh Printing Press, in execution of the literacy project in Kathiar. Jha is also the owner of Baba Satya Sai Industries (BSSI) the firm charged of the swindle by entering into criminal conspiracy with Goswami and others. All domestic and international airports, besides immigration check-posts officials, had already been alerted by the state Vigilance Bureau probing the scam to prohibit Goswami and his assistant Amitav Arun from fleeing the country. So will the accused be punished? Will justice be served? The answers to these questions will be out soon. But answers to questions like, when will administrative officers start doing service to the nation honestly and responsibly, than doing service to themselves. When will funds reach its destination without being siphoned off on the way? As many of us know this is not the only scam going on in our country, when will people become vigilant and make the government become one, forcing them to take the necessary steps. Well these are questions, whose answers are not available in these printed words; we have to peer inside ourselves. Which I know must be too much to ask for. Right?

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Like poetry ?

If you do go to->http://thunderskam.blogspot.com/

The peeping tom's

The appartment I live in is flanked by another appartment in our housing complex, giving each room in our appartment, a view, of some of the rooms in the opposite one. There are some who don't want anyone to stare in, so they keep their windows closed or have them covered by curtains, some have no problem, they just ignore any peeping toms, well we move on to the peepers, they look like they are just smelling the fresh air, but one can clearly see, that they are standing besides the window just to peep into everyones homes. Which type do I belong? well I just glance here and there but I dont really stare and I keep the windows open hoping to catch some peepers.
But there is this guy(must be in 30's) who just beats them all, he sits on the window sill, in his shorts, exposing his hairy potbelly and he starts eating tobacco, and eats it in the typical indian style: here is how:= first he picks up a pinch full of tobacco on his plam adds a pinch of sweetlime(called chuna) , mixes the thing with his thumb,then claps one the palm, then places the fine mix in his lower lips. he sits there for hours peeping into everyone's homes.

The Week gone by

This week has been a week of junk food
I had a lot of chips, samosas, wada's, biscuits, cutlets and still not a sign of a paunch.
And the reason is simply a mix of yoga and exercising with a dash of long distance cycling.
On tuesday while I was going to varsity for some work, on the way, in the bus had the misfortune of siting behind these two girls.
And one of them was such a pain, I mean, whoa! man, I understand that girls are a chatty and giggling bunch, but this girl, was shouting at the top of her voice, and I believe thats the level when she is talking, think about the decibel she reaches when she really shouts, well to add to the misery, she was talking in this mutated english, TELL ME NAAA, ITS OK NAAA, , only one word Pain.
Got a game today Championship Manager, damn what a game, I became the manager of Real Madrid, sold off their best players, bought the worst player, picked up fight with the directors, and got sacked, cool. Got 2 new Tee's, my first red one, and the usual black. Had hard time picking th right one, its a tough job to choose 2 among hundreds of excellent Tee's; I dont dig the idea of buying clothes for myself interesting, usually let my sis buy stuff for me, but she was out of town.