one of the problems with using portable usb devices is that they’re prone to virii. especially, they’re prone to malicious programs automatically installing themselves via windows’ autorun feature.

the hack which follows is useful and practical. it protects the thumb drive itself from having autorun files installed. this is how the virii propagate themselves – by installing an autorun file and then using that file to spread the virus to other machines.

the reason i choose this method is that each computer has its own settings. so to eliminate virii from auto installing, you would need to set the preferences on every single computer to which you connect your usb thumb drive. not very practical!!! you can do it on your home computer, but what if you need to use that usb thumb drive on numerous computers … you can’t disable autorun on every computer you use (especially students who use school computers).

ok, here’s the hack:

1. go start –> run
2. type -> cmd

cmd is a dos shell which gives you more advanced features for editing files and folder properties. we old school folk actually learned dos at school (well, i did) before windows was even invented.

3. type your usb stick’s drive letter (eg e:)
4. type  -> mkdir autorun.inf

this creates a folder called ‘autorun.inf’ … which tricks your computer, because it’s a folder not a file (which virii use). clever, huh!!!

5. type -> cd autorun.inf

this will take you inside the ‘autorun.inf’ folder. it should look something like this (e:/autorun.inf)

6. type -> mkdir .\con\

this is the core of the hack. it’s quite cool actually. now you will have a folder called ‘con’ inside your ‘autorun.inf’ folder.

you’re finished … yep, that’s it! done!!!!

here’s how the hack works. a virus can delete an autorun.inf file (or folder) and create its own (which will spread the virus). however, the ‘con’ folder inside the autorun.inf folder is not deletable. that’s right … the con folder cannot be deleted. ever!!!! so, those evil virii trying to infect your usb drive cannot delete the autorun.inf folder either (thanks to the special con folder inside).

now, a caveat. this will NOT prevent virii from being installed on your usb device. what it does is prevent your usb from spreading virii. so if you find a virus on your usb thumb drive, just delete it and it won’t install itself again or spread to other computers.

the only way to delete the autorun.inf file (with the con file inside) is to format the usb drive.

this hack works for most usb enabled devices. actually, i have this on all my thumb drives, my freeagent 500gb external hard drive and my mp3 player (yes, some virii can install themselves onto your multimedia devices too).

enjoy the hack and help prevent the spread of virii.

please leave feedback … i love getting visitors.

after spending two nice days in hue, i got on my bike and headed west to the laos border. the border town is called lao bao. i arrived there in the early afternoon and settled in to a hotel for the evening. it’s a long trip across the border to savannakhet, so i decided to wait until the next day and make an early start.

i arrived at the border at around 8.30am the next morning … only to be told by a belligerent border guard that i wasn’t permitted to take my motorcycle into laos. while we were having this discussion, at least 20 vietnamese took their motorbikes across, but apparently i’m special.

he told me some crap about needing a transportation permit. knowing that i couldn’t win, i left. i rode 80kms to dong ha and headed to the transport department. they had no idea what a transportation permit was. they were friendly, but unhelpful, and suggested i try the customs department (which was three streets away).

the customs department had no idea and were equally unhelpful.

furious at the retarded bureaucracy, i left dong ha and headed north. whilst on the highway i deliberated whether to try crossing at a different border point or continuing on to hanoi … i decided to go to hanoi. i’m not wasting my time jumping through hoops that people just invent on a whim.

there’s no damn permit for taking a bike across the border (that i know of) and nobody online has ever mentioned needing a permit … the pricks at lao bao just wanted to throw their power around, to make up for their tiny dicks … i’d heard that lao bao was a somewhat bureaucratic crossing point, but i had no idea it was so bad … i tried to bullshit and bluff my way across, but he wasn’t buying it.

well, fuck them. i’m in hanoi now and i’ll sell the bike. then i’ll go to laos by bus and spend 10-12 days hanging about in the north. i’ve discovered that the plain of jars is very accessible (half way between luang prabang and the vietnam border) and i’m very keen to get there.

the bullshit at the lao bao border has really soured a great trip to vietnam.

top – a young monk plays it up for the camera
middle – a seller girl poses for a portrait
bottom – a temple silhouettes against the afternoon sky

basically, kiva.org is a charity based on micro-financed loans. lenders (me) can loan money to an individual or group who have been approved by kiva or an affiliate charity. the borrower receives the money and is expected to use it to develop their business. they’re also expected to pay the money back. this means that i get my money returned to me, which i can either loan out again or withdraw completely from my kiva account.

here’s a link to my lender’s page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/davidsmeaton

it’s a great idea and a great organisation … they’ve already made impressions amongst the global ngo community and i think that repayable loans is a much more effective method of giving charity (as opposed to thrown money into a bottomless pit).

top – a little boy
middle – the monkey man, pulling faces
bottom – a guy blows smoke

top – a monk in ghoom, india
middle – a girl receives a blessing in darjeeling, india
bottom – a man begs on the streets of calcutta

what??? a minsk? now? available?

sure enough, the owner had a minsk for sale. the going price was $230. i told him i’d take it if i could see the bike. he brought it round from storage and started it up. the minsk was a big, blue, noisy, smoke blowing machine.

i bought it …

i paid a deposit and while i was talking to him, coincidentally, eva and annika walked by. i told the tour guy that i’d pick up the bike later. i went with eva and annika, we booked a tunnel tour and did a walking tour (by ourselves) of greater saigon.

during the walk, we went past a few embassies, including the american embassy (eva tried to go inside and, obviously, was told no). we also went to a hindu temple. outside the girls got ripped off by some vendors who’d given them incense to burn in the temple. they ended up giving the street hawkers $15, even though i kept taking the money off the hawkers and yelling at them. we eventually got away and kept walking.

we then walked past saigon’s notre dame church. which was nice, and to the palace which was invaded when saigon fell during the vietnam war. when saigon was captured by the north vietnamese, tanks drove down the street and through the palace gate. in the yard there are tanks as part of the memorial. the palace is now a symbol of friendship and the grounds are quite nice.

as we headed towards the riverfront it started raining quite heavily. we ducked into a cafe after dodging our way across the streets and through zooming motorbikes. we drank coffee and waited for the storm to pass … then walked through saigon’s ritzy part of town, including the opera house and city hall. it was quite a nice area

it was getting late,  and we made our way back to the backpacker street. we agreed to meet for a massage, so i went back to my hotel to shower and change. we wanted to go to a special massage center recommended by lonely planet. the center is for the blind and massage is a good way for them to earn an income. however, we arrived too late and weren’t able to get massages. we walked back through town and got a massage near our hotel. it was ok, but they tried to make the massage longer and overcharge us for it. then pretended not to realise their “mistake” … another scam!!

we had dinner and some beers, then called it a night … it had been a very long day!

day 122 – today we had a full day tour. i’d booked a tunnel tour with the girls the day before. in the morning we visited a handicapped workshop. the workshop was great and the people were very friendly … however i started to feel like it was going to be a full day of souvenir shop touring, just like china. but fortunately it wasn’t like that.

after the workshop, we went to a huge temple called cao dai great temple. this place is beautiful but truly bizarre. it’s a fusion of confucianism, buddhism, taoism and a few other beliefs. the ‘new’ religion is really a cult, and has earned the scorn of almost every other religion on the planet … including numerous religious experts.

while we were there the temple conducted one of their daily prayers, in which a band played music and the members all bowed, chanted and clapped at the appropriate moment. despite being a strange community, it was an interesting (and colourful) spectacle.

we had lunch further down the road and finally got to the highlight of the tour – the cu chi tunnels. these tunnels were used by north vietnamese (viet cong) troops during the war. seeing the tunnels was pretty cool. we watched a viet cong propaganda video, then walked around the facility.

it’s very impressive what they achieved – surrounded by american troops, the vc managed to build over 200kms of underground tunnels, from the center of saigon to the border with cambodia. they had living quarters, kitchens, and even had ways to hide cooking smoke. i crawled through some of the tunnels, which had been expanded for foreign tourists, and even then it was really cramped and hot. i walked through about 50 meters of tunnel, before crawling to the surface for sweet fresh air.

afterwards i had a chance to shoot one of the rifles. of course, there’s a fee (about $2 per bullet) and i declined. the shooting range was very close though and the sound of the rifles was incredibly loud.

we finally boarded the bus, hot and sweaty, for the run back to town. i finished booking further travels and had dinner with the german girls.

day 123 - a false start …

today was the day i planned to start my epic motorcycle trip through vietnam. in the morning i had a good breakfast and walked down to the tourist office where my bike was stored. we took the bike out and i got a helmet. since i hadn’t ridden a bike in a few years, so we went to a nearby bus parking lot which had plenty of space and no other traffic. it gave me an opportunity to get used to the bike’s handling (especially gear changes). i was pleased with how fast it all came back to me and i was riding around the lot easily. i took the bike back to the main street and went to my hotel to pack.

while packing it started to rain, heavily. lighting and thunder streaked the sky and i realised that i wasn’t going anywhere. i had planned to start my ride to mui ne at 1pm. it was now 11am and pouring rain … i walked back to the tourist office and told them to hold the bike for me until tomorrow. i told my hotel reception that i was staying another night.

i grabbed an umbrella and headed into town for lunch. i went to the cafe where i’d agreed to meet annika and eva. i had a drink and they showed up for lunch. we talked for a while and then said our goodbyes. they were flying to danang and i wouldn’t see them again (most likely) for the rest of the trip.

after lunch i decided to stay in my room for the remainder of the evening. i didn’t want to spend any more money and the weather was foul. i updated my blog, checked email, chatted and messed around online.

top – a tourist walks through the steam of darjeeling’s toy train
middle – the steam train
bottom – a local woman sits outside darjeeling station

australia’s glorious world cup rank … recorded here for prosperity, cause it’ll never happen again!!

the socceroos have just been ranked #16 in the world, in fifa’s june world football rankings. we are ahead of portugal, czech republic and uruguay. this is our best ranking ever, smashing our previous best of #27.

in november 1997, we were ranked #32. since then it has been dark days for the australian team. however, since april last year, we have been climbing and for the past successive six months, we have been ranked #32 or higher (usually breaking into the high 20s).

this is great news for australian soccer, especially given our desire to host the world cup and make a good name for aussie football in the global arena. in terms of bragging rights, top 20 is very respectable … and way ahead of our nearest asian competitor japan (#40).

of course, the socceroos have performed well during our qualification to the world cup … and moving to the asian group has definitely been a huge benefit to our football and competitiveness.

bring on the world cup!!!