Adware pop ups in my iphone, ipad and other mobile devices - SOLVED

I have this problem in my Iphone 6's Safari. Evey time when I visited my regular news portal e.g.

1. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/
2. http://www.thestar.com.my/

I would get annoying pop ups in my IOS safari. It was to the extend that it would redirect you to download stuffs and apps below:

1. www.adcash.com
2. down.mobimobcell.com
3. cldlr.com
4. 93902.api-05.com
5. LookerPlusMat.apk

All non HTTPS website are affected

Yes, it adware is on my iphone, One if the safest device in the world with ad ware.

What i have suspected:

1. I first thought themalaysian insider was spreading some malware. I even reported it to their adminstrator. 
2. I then notice it only happen to my wifi, home network time fiber. I have no problem with my Maxis LTE. I tried my wife's iPhone 5s, same problem with wifi - same problem. Now, it gotta be the ISP. Called but the said not their problem.
3. I kept trying until I found the moon:

What is The Moon malware?

The Moon malware bypasses authentication on the router by logging in without actually knowing the admin credentials.  Once infected, the router starts flooding the network with ports 80 and 8080 outbound traffic, resulting in heavy data activity.  This can be manifested as having unusually slow Internet connectivity on all devices.

I followed what was suggested in the KB: link but the issue persist. I notice it only happen to non HTTPS websites. It only affect HTTP and on my IOS devices. My desktop IE and Firefox was alright.

To cut the story short: The culprit:
I know it was my router (Linksys E1200 V2) with latest firmware 2.0.06. Until I found check on the suspicious static DNS in my router:

A quick google on 104.131.237.53 and I found this link. Finally, I have nailed the culprit. I do not know how but the some websites has remotely updated the static DNS in my router without me knowing. I have them changed to Google public DNS: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and my problem is solved!

I hope this post would help others with similar issue.

Honda Accord: Brake lights stay on

I notice my brake lights stay on this morning while sending my kid to the nanny. I got it fixed thanks the write up here

The Symptoms:

1. Brake light stay on even after i have the ignition off.
2. Disconnect battery and reconnect it again. - brake light still on
3. A suspicious crayon / candle like in 2 pieces found on my carpet - driver's side.

The Fix:
Replace pedal stopper - simple job, less than 10 seconds, DIY.

The Cost:
PJ Master in Sea Park for RM2 for a compatible.

Honda Accord: Transmission problem

My 2nd week with my power of dreams, everything is working great except the transmission is giving problem.

The Symptoms before ATF change:

1. Shifting N to D, N to R takes longer time to engage into gear, more than 3 seconds
2. Shifting from 1 to 2 slow. it gives a hard shift when I rev on the engine.
3. No burn smell in the ATF - no sign of burn clutch pad though. (this is an important factor to determine if it is an external or internal gearbox problem)

The Symptoms after ATF change:

1.  N to R gear engage normally.
2.  N to D gear still get 2 seconds delay during cold start. It is norm after the warm up.
3. Shifting from 1 to 2 is smooth when I rev the car below 3k
4. Shifting from 1 to 2 is hard when I rev the car over 3k
5. No burn smell in ATF

Possible Causes:
1. Vehicle Speed sensor - written off
2. Transmission Solenoid - written off

3. Worn clutch pad - can't write off entirely - no burn smell from ATF though
4. Dirty ATF - abuse from the previous owner with delay ATF change

The fix:
1.Change 3.5 liter of ATF

The cost:
1. 3.5 liter of Honda ATF Z1 - MYR84 (MYR24 per liter)
2. labor charge - MYR15

My new ride, a Honda Accord 6th Generation

After 2 months of car hunting, I have settled down with a 10 year old Honda Accord. Information and specs about this car is scattered all over in car forums and wiki. I will try my best to organize them in my blog and will be sharing maintenance experience.

Here are some specs:

Engine Capacity: 1997cc

Curb weight (kg) 1,310
HP:148hp

Tyre Specs: 195 65 R15


- Unleaded fuel
- Fuel economy EPA highway (l/100km): 7.8
- Multi-point injection fuel system
- Main 65 liter unleaded fuel tank


Suspension
- Two disc brakes including two ventilated discs
- Wishbone front suspension with stabilizer bar independent with coil springs , wishbone rear suspension independent with coil springs

Exterior
- Body side molding
- Front and rear body color bumpers
- Coefficient of drag: 0.33
- Driver and passenger internally adjustable black door mirrors
- External dimensions: overall length (mm): 4,796, overall width (mm): 1,786, overall height (mm): 1,445, wheelbase (mm): 2,715, front track (mm): 1,554, rear track (mm): 1,534 and curb to curb turning circle (mm): 11,095
- Complex surface lens halogen bulb headlights
- Heat reflective glass
- Metallic paint , black paint , gloss paint , pearl paint
- Rear window
- Tinted glass on cabin
- Weights: curb weight (kg) 1,310
- Windshield wipers with fixed intermittent wipe


2000 Honda Accord Interior
================================================== ========
- Element antenna
- Manufacturer's own audio system
- Cargo capacity: all seats in place (liters): 399
- Clock
- Dashboard and floor full console with covered storage box
- Courtesy lights
- Front seats cup holders
- Door ajar warning
- Door pockets/bins for driver seat and passenger seat
- Driver and passenger front airbag

- 3-point reel height adjustable front seat belts on driver seat and passenger seat
- Front seat center armrest
- Lockable glove compartment
- Height adjustable two head restraints on front seats , two head restraints on rear seats
- Internal dimensions: front headroom (mm): 1,016, rear headroom (mm): 955, front hip room (mm): 1,394, rear hip room (mm): 1,374, front leg room (mm): 1,069, rear leg room (mm): 963, front shoulder room (mm): 1,445, rear shoulder room (mm): 1,425 and interior volume (liters): 2,880
- Low fuel level warning
- Low washer fluid level warning
- Vehicle speed proportional power steering
- 3-point reel rear seat belts on driver side, passenger side and center side
- Bench one-piece three rear seats
- Rear view mirror
- Remote fuel filler door release
- Mechanical remote trunk/hatch release
- Cloth seat upholstery
- Seating: five seats
- Service interval indicator
- Two speakers
- Plastic steering wheel
- Tachometer
- Driver and passenger vanity mirror
- Ventilation system with recirculation setting

Cruising at 110km/h @ 2600rpm

5 reasons why Malaysian should not buy new cars

I got an inspiration from the recent National Automotive Policy (NAP) review in Malaysia. I am very disappointed hence I have come out with 5 miserable reasons why we Malaysian should not buy new cars.

Reason 1.Cars are Expensive
New cars in Malaysia are extremely expensive. One can say cars here are the most expensive in the world. How expensive? A new Honda Civic 1.8L - base model is MYR114,980.00. I did a quick check with Honda Thailand, the same model is selling at 789,000 baht, MYR 80 549.37. We are paying MYR 30k premium for the same make. When we check the MRSP in United States, USD 15 655, MYR53 109.56. That is like MYR60k premium! These premium goes to the government tax.
Reason 2. We Malaysians are poor.
A fresh grads in Malaysia get a gross MYR 2000 per month. A 5 year experience senior executive or manager get a gross MYR5000 per month. After deducting EPF and income tax, they get MYR1800 and 4300 respectively.

I have a table worked out. At the current 3.5% hire purchase rate, one need to service MYR2000 loan a month for the car and that is beyond a fresh grad pay and it is close to 1/2 the net income for someone who have been working for 5 years. According to a famous financial consultant, Ali Azizi, for a car hire purchase lending term beyond 5 years is as bad as committing suicide (financially). I think he is right. If one could not afford a car with 5 years hp term, that simply means one could not afford the car.

The fresh graduate could not afford the car even with 9 years term, while the senior executive barely make it with the 7 years term. Poor Malaysians.


Reason 3. Cut throat bank interest
Despite of the expensive tax, we still need to pay the cut throat bank interest. From the example above, the monthly interest is MYR300, that work out to MYR18k for 5 year term or MYR32k+ for 9 year term. That is 15% of monthly installment paid as interest to the bank for 5 year term (very close to credit card interest) or 24% of the installment paid to the bank as interest, loan shark rate? 3.5% per annum is the most recent lend rate. Imagine, I have paid 5.5% for a 4 year term for my 1st car 7 years ago.

Reason 4. Car value depreciate as much as 55% in 5 years
I have did a little research using a car price list from 2005 and a reference to The Star Classified for the current price (Dec 1st 2009). This is just the asking price, the actual transacted price could be a few Ks lower. As we can see below, the Toyota Camry 2.4 year 2005 has got the worst resale value (-55%) while surprisingly, the Honda Civic 1.7 2005, a less popular model has got better resale value (-36.31%). In average from the 7 car make below, we have an average of (-43.91%) in loss for a 5 year old car.

Say if we buy a new Honda Civic 1.8L now. In just 5 years, the car would worth MYR64,492.28 (estimated) with the loss of MYR50,487.72 (base on -43.91% average). If we include the cut throat interest paid in 5 years for a 7 year hp term (MYR 300 in interest per month), we could work out a monthly loss of (MYR50,487.72 + (MYR 300 x 60 months) )= -MYR 68,487.72 (-MYR 1,141.46 per month).


Reason 5. Repair and maintenance at the service center is ridiculous
I find that the listed price for the scheduled maintenance is not cheap either. A friend of mine who drive the Honda Civic 1.8L said that he is paying an average of MYR300 per visit for regular oil change. 3 months once, 4 times a year. That is MYR1,200 for normal regular service. if we send the car to the normal workshop for the same treatment, we could save 1/2 of what he is paying. I know because I drive a Honda Civic 1.6L, I only pay close to MYR100 for the regular service. (with the same engine oil filter and a branded engine oil)

However, what surprises me is the repair. A friend of mine who drove a Toyota Vios has got her fog lamp stolen. When she send it to Toyota Service Center, she was quoted close to MYR11k. No, it is not typo, it is indeed ELEVEN THOUSAND ringgit for a bumper change + 2 fog lamp and some simple wiring. She can't send the car to other shop as it would void the warranty. She ended up not fixing it.

Conclusion
Back in 1984, my dad could afford a brand new Honda Accord when it was MYR 34k new. My elder brother paid MYR18k for his first car. It was a 5 year-old Toyota 1.3LE back in year 1989. At present year 2009, with MYR34k, we can't even buy a 10 year old Honda Accord (present value is MYR45k to 50k!). Things have changed so much in past 20 years. Hire purchase car loans are being stretched longer where 7 and 9 years terms are common while some banks are offering 12 years! Why are we Malaysians moving backwards? Are we getting poorer over years? Question is how many of us have became slaves after being tax ridiculously in NAP? In exchange, how the government repay us? More expensive toll highways? More substandard cars from Proton, Perodua and Naza? Another 10 years extension of the AP to their cronies so that they could rip off more hard earn money from us? There were hopes and promises made in AFTA (free trade for the car industry) back in 2002 where car taxes will come down gradually to 0 but that is not happening. I foresee that the car prices will continue to be expensive, hp loan term will further stretch to 12, 15 years or more. Lastly, more youngsters will be made car slaves in the coming years.

My Dell Latitude D630 and the dark RAM

Last week, my wife was not able to turn on the laptop. The laptop could not boot up. It did not even POST. The power and wifi LEDs light up for 5 seconds and power off. I first thought maybe it is a flat battery. Tried with the power adapter, took the battery off, problem persisted. The first thing came to my mine was the motherboard fried. I googled for information to see if there are similar symptom. Negative. Dell support (web) suggested to get call for support which I could not. It is out of warranty.

My wife suggested to dismantle the laptop, which is the only option we got other than sending it to the shop. OK, unscrew every screw i could find but I still couldn't get disassemble the laptop. Somehow or rather, it came to my mind that I should google for a youtube video on how to disassemble dell laptop and yes, I could find it!



Note: You do not need to unscrew the screws at bottom to disassemble the keyboard.

Thanks to my ipod touch, I could work side by side with the video. I follow the exact shown in the video, I got the keyboard disassemble and immediately, I suspected the RAM could be culprit. Without hesitation, I replace the RAM under the keyboard with the other piece behind the laptop. Startup - It is alive!

I then stuffed the suspicious RAM back of the laptop and it boots. However, when I turn it off, It saw a blue death screen and the laptop power off immediately. It failed to power up. But this time, the power LED up, cap locks LED blinked instead. Some dell's error code? I then removed and reinstalled the RAM under the keyboard, and it's up again.

It's confirmed. I have got a faulty RAM - I call it the dark RAM.

The laptop is now working fine with my other piece of spare RAM which means, it is not the RAM slot. The motherboard is intact. (phew...)

I have saved the laptop! Credits to my wife, apple ipod touch, google, youtube and the guy who posted the video.

My blogging debut

Finally I am starting my blog project, after a long delay. I'll call it Boon Supremacy. I will be sharing my personal experience (hopefully in a regular basis). Content wise, it will be anything from my car, my new gadgets, ideas etc.