katana

Hi,

Sounds like you have a CoolWebSearch infection. Download Merijn Bellekom's CWS shredder, a program specially written to remove this.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads/tools/CWShredder.exe

Place it in it's own folder, and with all browser windows closed, run it, click on fix (not scan) and let it clean up all it finds. Then reboot.

Unfortunately, the 'nice' people who make Coolwebsearch continually update their homepage hijacker to make it harder and harder to remove. So if you have a new variant, this may not help.

Anyhow, its worth a try.

Hope that may be of some help.

Hi,

One method of installing dialers (I think its the most common at present) is by Active X scripts built onto the webpage you're viewing. As you load the page in your browser, the script runs silently and installs the dialer (a so-called 'drive-by download').

To prevent this, you need to have your Active-X settings set to 'prompt' or 'disable' in IE. So I guess you should check your security in IE as a possible culprit:

From http://boards.cexx.org/viewtopic.php?t=957 :

"Go to Internet Options/Security/Internet, press 'default level', then OK.

Now press "Custom Level."

In the ActiveX section, set the first two options ("Download signed and unsigned ActiveX controls) to 'prompt', and 'Initialize and Script ActiveX controls not marked as safe" to 'disable'.

Now you will be asked whether you want ActiveX objects to be executed and whether you want software to be installed.

Sites that you know for sure are above suspicion can be moved to the Trusted Zone in Internet Option/security.

So why is activex so dangerous that you have to increase the security for it?

When your browser runs an activex control, it is running an executable program. It's no different from doubleclicking an exe file on your hard drive.

Would you run just any random file downloaded off a web site without knowing what it is and what it does?"

You could also try a browser like Mozilla or Firefox, which don't use ActiveX and hence are more secure. These two browsers are also immune to the latest browser hijacker doing the rounds at the moment - Coolwebsearch.

Hope that may be of some help.

Glad it worked. I was going to post up a link on how to use filters in VirtualDub, but looks like you've managed already.

A search on Google would have turned up a guide as well.

I really like VirtualDub. The download is less than 1 MB in size but it is a very powerful program. Apparently it was written by an American, Avery Lee, in his spare time, while he was still only a student at university.

Hi,

VirtualDub (free) will do that. (use the brightness/contrast filter)

http://www.virtualdub.org/

I was listening to the news today and they said that he caught some mystery bug while on holiday in Thailand a while back.

He returned to the West but his health never recovered from whatever it was he caught.

Hope it works. Suffered more than my fair share of Bangkok Belly when in LOS. Never seem to build up any resistance to the local bacteria.

I also came across this article in the Guardian:

Bye bye Delhi belly

A new oral vaccine could make traveller's diarrhoea a thing of the past. But do we need such protection and will it really work, asks David Adam

Tuesday March 9, 2004

The Guardian

In Mexico it is known as a bout of Montezuma's revenge, in India a case of Delhi belly. But whatever it is called, it is common. An estimated 50-60% of the 50 million travellers who visit some of the world's more exotic holiday spots each year come down with what public health officials know rather less colourfully as traveller's diarrhoea.

But could the era of spending several days of a long-awaited and expensive holiday seeing nothing more interesting than the toilet walls soon be over? Results announced this week from a clinical trial of a new vaccine against the most common cause of traveller's diarrhoea suggest that they might.

In the trials at St George's Hospital in London, a single dose of the new oral vaccine was enough to trigger significant activity in the immune system of half of the 36 volunteers. With two doses this rose to 70%. That may not sound particularly effective, but it is already as good as some vaccines in use, including those that offer protection against typhoid.

"The results exceeded our expectations and pave the way for the development of a whole new generation of oral vaccines that are safe, easy to administer and effective," says Dr Steve Chatfield, chief scientific officer at Microscience, the biotechnology company that developed the vaccine. The vaccine is still several years from being made widely available, but its developers believe it will eventually be popular among everyone from holidaymakers to service personnel stationed overseas. "This illness affects international business and leisure travellers, resulting in missed meetings at high cost to company budgets and ruined holidays," Microscience says.

Travel health experts agree there is a demand for protection from the worst that foreign climes can throw at our sensitive digestive systems.

"Bacterial forms of traveller's diarrhoea are the most common travel-related ailment by far, so a vaccination would be very good," says Michelle Abbott, a nurse with the Medical Advisory Service for Travellers Abroad, in Leeds.

Although there are rarely any long-lasting effects, the disease can trigger irritable bowel syndrome in a few cases. Several other companies around the world are developing similar vaccines and a new oral vaccine against cholera also guards against some of the most common bacteria.

But the new vaccine may not be as useful as some hope, says Ron Behrens, a travel medicine expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "I don't think there's much use for them in so much as they have a very small impact on quite a common problem. The actual benefit in reduced illness is not that huge," he says. "There are hundreds of different organisms that can cause traveller's diarrhoea that would not be affected by a specific vaccine."

The new Microscience vaccine - called spi-VEC - is targeted to fight infection by a common bacteria called enterotoxigenic E Coli (ETEC). The vaccine is actually made from salmonella bacteria, rendered harmless by the removal of several important genes. Key chemicals from ETEC are added to fool the body into generating antibodies against it. Each dose of vaccine is expected to offer about six months' protection.

Although diarrhoea among people in the developing world kills 500,000 a year worldwide, traveller's diarrhoea is clearly not as serious a problem as many diseases that vaccinations have been used to target, such as polio and smallpox.

"Most of the new vaccines that are being developed tend to be ones that can be sold to western travellers, where the money is. I don't always think they match global needs," says Behrens.

David Tough, assistant scientific director of the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research, says the work is part of a new wave of vaccine research. "There are a variety of different approaches that are being tried to generate better vaccines," he says. "Historically the biggest successes have been against viruses but there certainly is a need for vaccines against bacteria, because resistance to antibiotics is becoming a major problem, and vaccination is being looked at now as more of an alternative."

Despite the trend towards developing vaccines against "inconvenient" money-spinning conditions, a lot of work remains targeted against the major killers, including HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. The current TB vaccine has been around for almost a century and is widely administered. But the resurgence of the disease in recent years has raised fears that the vaccine does not protect into adulthood. Last month the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $82.9m to the search for a replacement

Tough says researchers are also considering novel ways of administering vaccines besides the standard jab. "Immunisation in the nose is something that's being looked at," he says. "It may actually generate a better immune response as many of the infections we get enter through the nasal cavities." Evidence suggests that generating an immune response through a spray in the nasal tissues may be more protective than injecting into the muscle.

"With things like influenza, there may be an improvement if you vaccinate that way," Tough says.

Flu remains one of the most difficult viruses to develop an effective vaccine against, because the illness is caused by dozens of different strains that readily mutate. Research into a vaccine against the common cold has stalled for the same reason. Each version of the cold virus carries its own antigens, the substances that induce the formation of specific antibodies. So you might soon be able to enjoy a more comfortable holiday, but winter colds will remain as miserable as ever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,3...1165059,00.html

One thing I can't get my head round is "Man Sai" can anyone help me with this my girl says it to me often but says she can't explain.

I don't think its very good because she said the same about an ex g/f, when I asked again what it meant she still can't explain but told me when it's said to me it's a joke but not the same with the ex 

Hi,

I think the difficulty in explaining MAN SAI หมั่นไส้ stems from the fact that there is no direct translation in English. This is a case where the Thai language is richer than the English language and no single English word will convey its meaning.

Anyhow, I saw the following 3 explanations given at another message board for MAN SAI หมั่นไส้:

Explanation 1:

Usually the word is used when someone shows off something and you feel like saying "that's a bit much. tone it down a little, would ya?"

usage example:

'Look at Ton and his girlfriend. Whenever they are together in public, they always giggle openly, hold hands, look so happy. I really feel "man sai" of them.'

It's certainly not as strong as "disgusted". It's more friendly than that.

Explanation2:

Those who told you that MAN SAI หมั่นไส้ has multiple meanings are correct. Actually, I'd say rather than multiple meanings, however, that it might be termed different levels of meaning. Just like many words in English, it does depend on context, tone of voice, and relationship with the speaker.

MAN SAI หมั่นไส้ can be used straightforwardly to mean disgusting as in "That's disgusting" or "That disgusts me." If you were talking to a stranger about something that really disgusted you and used the term, it would be taken much the same as it is in English.

On the other hand, like the other reply said, it more frequently is used in a less harsh fashion, almost teasing or sarcastic. For instance, when I'm obviously saying something to win points or "suck up" to my mother-in-law, my wife will respond with "อุ๊ยหมั่นไส้ หมั่นไส้จริงๆ" In this context, I might translate it as, "Oh man, you gotta be kidding me" or "can you believe this guy?"

Explanation 3:

Culturally, whenever we say MAN SAI "หมั่นไส้" or "น่าหมั่นไส้", there must be something 'unacceptable' or 'disgusting', e.g. trying to lick a boss's feet, kissing or being too romantic with lovers in public, using too sweet expressions, wearing strange clothes, etc.

Hope that helps