Interesting question: Is google better than yahoo?

I was on the internet today and notice an interesting thing. When you type in "why" in google search, google suggests "why is google better than yahoo".

I saw page titles such as:

• 9 Examples Why Google Search Is Better Than Yahoo!
• 7 Things Yahoo Does Better than Google
• Is google better than yahoo???  

 From an perfectly unbiased point view, I believe that Google is better than Yahoo. Why? Because it gives me more traffic. On a more serious note, Google is set to be my homepage is it loads faster than Yahoo because of its simplicity.

 Google vs Yahoo. Which do you think is better?

First thoughts on the Barnes and Noble nook

When I first heard of the Amazon kindle, I knew that similar products would be introduced. Recently, I was about to use one of my relative's Barnes and Noble Nook. It runs on the new Google Android OS.

My first thoughts about the device was that it was incredibly slow. It takes more than 10 seconds for a page to redraw itself. The controls are fairly easy to use.

Just my first thoughts. Will post more when I have use it a bit more.

Top ten most common password

According to the RockYou website, these are the top ten passwords used.

The top 10 most common passwords

1. 123456

2. 12345

3. 123456789

4. Password

5. iloveyou

6. princess

7. rockyou *

8. 1234567

9. 12345678

10. abc123 

So learn your lesson and don't use these passwords. What I am amazed by is "princess" being used as a password.

Restoring MSI Wind U100 Netbook to factory settings without external DVD/CD drive

Restoring MSI Wind U100 Netbook, in fact any netbook, to factory settings can be a real pain. Because netbooks are really small, many manufacturers sacrifice an optical drive for portability. So in order to install Windows (which came bundled with the netbook is a real pain). Here are instructions for restoring a MSI Wind U100 netbook to factory settings. There is another guide to doing this on MSI forums: There is a link below. (Recommended that you visit to after you finished this guide).
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Link.
BTW, the instructions are from a PDF file directly taken off the MSI website. I took me a very long time to find, so I thought I would post it here. (I also lost the link so I can't directly link you to it). MSI- tell me if you are unhappy and we can negotiate something.

Here are the instructions:
System Recovery
MSI provides users three methods to perform the System Recovery Function,
1. Recover the system with the F3 Hotkey on the keyboard of the notebook.
2. Recover the system with the Driver CD that comes with the package.
3. Recover the system with a personal USB flash drive or a SD card.

Recover the system with the F3 Hotkey

If the hard drive and system encountered non-recoverable problems, it is always recommended to perform the System Recovery Function with the F3 Hotkey from the Hard Drive first.
Follow the instructions below to continue:
1. Restart the notebook.
2. Press the F3 hotkey on the keyboard when the following message appears
on the display
3. Select [MSI Recovery Manager] to start the System Recovery Function; or
select [EXIT] to restart the system.
4. Press [OK] to continue proceeding the System Recovery Function.
5. Press [Cancel] to stop proceeding the System Recovery Function at any time.
6. The System Recovery Function is in proceeding now.
7. When the following window appears, the system is recovered successfully.
8. Press [OK] to reboot the system and access Windows operating system as
usual.
Recover the system with the Driver CD
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If your notebook is equipped with an optical disk drive device or an external one, you may perform the System Recovery Function with Driver CD that comes with the package.
Follow the instructions below to continue:
1. Insert the Driver CD into the optical disk drive, and then restart the notebook by pressing the Power button.
2. Press the F11 hotkey on the keyboard of the notebook when the following
message appears on the display.
3. Select the [CD/DVD] device as the boot device, and press [Enter] to confirm the selection, and then, press any key to reconfirm the selection when the prompt message of [Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…] appears.
4. The Language Menu appears. Select the language you prefer by clicking
the given icon with the mouse connected to the notebook; or select [EXIT] to
restart the system.
5. And then, select [Restore the system to factory default] to start the System
Recovery Function process; or select [EXIT] to restart the system.
6. The system recovery process will format your hard disk drive partition; make
sure that the important data has been backed up before continuing the process. Click [OK] to continue; click [Cancel] to stop the system recovery process.
7. AC power is required while proceeding the System Recovery Function. Assure that the AC power is connected to the notebook before moving forward to the next step.
8. Be aware of that do not turn off the system power during the process of performing the System Recover Function, or it may cause some unknown damage to the system.
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9. When the system recovery process is finished, please click [OK] to restart
the system. Now, your system is restored to its factory default setting.
10. If the system recovery function is not able to be performed successfully, it is
always recommended to contact the authorized local distributor or the
service center for further assistant.
11. If the recovery process is interrupted or failed, please repeat recovery
procedure from the beginning.
If your notebook is not equipped with any optical disk drive, you may perform
the System Recovery Function with a personal USB flash drive or a SD card.
Follow the instructions below to continue:
1. Make sure that you have the Driver CD that comes with the package and a
personal USB flash drive or SD card with you.
(a) The minimum capacity of 256MB of the USB flash drive or SD card is required;
(b) The USB flash drive or SD card must not be a bootable one. If the device is found to be a bootable one, please format the device first either in NTFS or FAT32.
(c) It is not required to delete all the personal data files stored in the USB
flash drive or SD card which is going to be used for performing the System Recovery Function.
However, it is still recommended to back up the data stored in the USB
flash drive or SD card to another storage device.
2. Find a computer which is equipped with an optical disk drive. Insert the
Driver CD into the optical disk drive, and locate the folder named [USB Rescue Tool] in the Driver CD.
3. Browse the folder named [USB Rescue Tool], and copy all the data files in the folder into the USB flash drive or SD card.
4. Restart the system and press the F11 hotkey on the keyboard of the notebook when the following message appears on the display.
5. Select the [USB] device as the boot device, and press [Enter] to confirm the
selection.
6. Refer to the instructions of “Recover the system with the Driver CD” to
continue the process.

Useful information to recover computer dataif computer can't be reset

Readers Digest Sweepstakes: A scam?

For those who live in Australia probably know about the Readers' Digest sweepstakes. Many people constantly receive letters about sweepstakes regularly and nobody seems to ever win. Is this a scam? I contacted Readers' Digest to find out. This is the reply I received:

Thank you for your enquiry regarding our Promotions and Sweepstakes, the following is an explanation of how it all works.

Every time we send you a Promotional offer for a product we include an opportunity to enter our Sweepstakes. This means that during the course of the Sweepstakes (from the open to the close date) you could receive multiple opportunities to enter the draw. Each opportunity is a stand alone entry in to the draw, so each time you return your entry you increase the total number of entries that you have in the draw.

The Sweepstakes is our way of saying thank you for taking the time to look at our promotional offer. In most instances you do not need to purchase to enter the draw; so if you decide that you do not want to purchase the advertised product all you need to do is return your entry in the "NO" envelope ("no" I don't want to buy but please enter me in the Sweepstakes) or follow the instructions on how to enter the draw only that are included in the promotional offer you received.

All Sweepstakes prizes are distributed by means of a draw, therefore, winners are not determined until after the draw has taken place. All entries returned by the closing date have a fair and equal chance of winning any of the prizes on offer.

Remember, in order to be in the draw you must return your entry!

The stages involved in getting into the Sweepstakes apply to every Promotion:

Stage 1: We select the names and addresses.
Stage 2: We mail the Promotion to you.
Final Stage: The Sweepstakes draw takes place.

Sweepstakes 99 opened on 23 December 2009, closes at midnight on 10 December 2010 and is drawn on 17 December 2010. Winners will be published on our web site Sweepstakes.com.au shortly after the draw.

We hope this has helped to explain our Sweepstakes to you. If there is anything further we can help you with you please contact us again or call us on 1300 300 030 (Australia) 0800 400 060 (NZ).

Thank you for being a Reader's Digest customer and good luck in the draw!


Kind Regards,

The Customer Service Team

So apparently, it is not a scam and you should return all the entry forms (which is quite a lot) to get the best opportunity in winning. Maybe, I am going to be the next millionaire.

4.3/5 as rated on goodreads.com

"Print protected" files in Foxit Reader

Recently, I copied a file a PDF file from a textbook CD to my computer and found that my PDF reader, Foxit Reader, could not print the file. My Canon inkjet printer was printing files from other programs and Foxit Reader could print other PDF files except the one in question.

I sent an email to Foxit Software and I got this as a reply.

Dear Sir,

This issue is probably related to the permission setting of the document.
Please open the document in Foxit Reader, go to
"File"->"Properties"->"Security" to check if printing is allowed.

Apparently, some PDF files are protected and cannot be printed. I will try to find a solution so I will keep you updated.

Immanuel Kant's Critiques

Anybody who is interested in philosophy might find these quite interesting. I have found all three of Immanuel Kant's critiques from the internet (Critique of Judgement, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Pure Reason) and have uploaded it into one place. All three books are in the public domain (so I should be fine with all the copyright issues). If I am wrong about these books being in the public domain, please tell me and I will remove it.

Megaupload link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZU4PSJ8Y
Mediafire link: http://www.mediafire.com/?na4dmtjhlmm