Freeware tools for your computer.

We often get annoying experiences when we use computer. Piracy softwares made our computer unstable and the result is a problem for us. We often use other proprietary softwares to solve this. But do you know that there are many good open sources, freeware tools that can enhance our computer performance? It's safe, stable, and light because it was developed by many people. Here are some of them:

CCleaner

This tool can be used to clean your system and application from temporary/ scrap files. It also can delete unused registry strings, so overally it will enhance your system performance. You can also find another tools (Defraggler/defragment tool, Recuva/recovery tool) at their website, and its all at no cost.

Unlocker

Having annoyed with USB that can’t be removed safely? This tools can terminate some process that still running on your USB, and after that you can safely removed your USB. It’s also can delete files that sometimes can’t be deleted normally.

Foxit Reader

It is a portable program to open and view pdf file. It’s lighter than adobe reader and small so it won’t use a lot of resources.

MozBackup

I usually use this program to backup my Mozilla firefox, so in case I have to reinstall firefox, I can simply restore history, plugin, update, etc.

File Shredder

This tool can be used to delete files so recovery software will be difficult to restore them. I suggest you to use this program if you have private files, and you want to delete them without worrying your files can be restored by other people. Maybe Ariel and Culun have to use this program to make their private files more safe and secure.

CDBurnerXP

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components

DAEMON Tools Lite

With DAEMON Tools you can back up your physical CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray discs into "virtual discs" or so called "disc image" files, which run directly on your hard drive. You can also work with images created by other burning programs! DAEMON Tools supports variety of image types. Use CD/DVD image converter to have one format images in your Image Catalog!

MP3 Rename

When adding mp3 files, sometimes you may find that the mp3 name has become weird. It’s like “ybs-ybd”, etc. This tool can fix the problem, and rename your mp3 files so your mp3 files will become more well ordered.

Note: I don’t give the download link, you can find it by googling it.

Netbook review: (one of) best value netbook

After sometimes, I fell that my old laptop had been quite heavy when I brought it on my travelling. Actually it wasn’t a big problem, but I think it would be easier if I had a smaller things which mean lighter in weight. My old one was Acer 4720z and many people assumed that this brand have a problem in it’s reliability and heat. But in my experience, those laptop would be a troubled thing when we didn’t know how to treat it. I also found that it would be quite hot when we used it for a long time. So we must ensure that we manage the temperature well by using an additional cooling. I used this laptop for about 2 years and I didn’t find any trouble.

Then I decided to sell my old one and bought a new one. I prefer to buy a netbook with the reasons I mentioned above (I don’t include Ipad in my option because I think it is out my budget). My preferences is: lightweight and if it possible, I wish I still can play PES on it. But well, almost netbook use intel atom processor, so it will be difficult to find a netbook that can play a game like that. After doing some search, I found an interesting one, which is Dell Inspiron 11z. I compared the hardwares and I found that this is one of best value that you can get in netbook class. The comparation is like below:

• Processor: This using intel SULV U4100 dual core while almost netbook using intel atom series. This processor have better performances and low consumed of voltage (like the name) so you’ll get a cool and quiet processor.
• VGA: This using intel GMA 4500 HD series. I quite surprise that this one use a graphic that we commonly see on a notebook. Even my old one use a series under it. So it have no doubt that this netbook can give a better multimedia experience. HD movie can be played smoothly and I bet that you’ll hard to did this in common netbook.
• Storage: 320 GB is a big size in netbook class, while almost netbook still use 160 GB ( and also my old one).
• Memory: This have 2 GB memory, The size that can meet my computing purpose ( I just need it to do office work, a little gaming and playing HD movie).
• Additional feature: gesture touchpad, so you can do a finger combination touch in the touchpad to make a task.
• It also have ONSITE warranty, so when the netbook get a problem, you just call the service center and their technician will come in your place.

I compared it with some branded netbook and I found that the price is most reasonable (The others still use intel atom, which mean you will hard to play some games or paly HD movie, and the price is higher). I didn’t include local netbook because I still doubt with their quality and reliability. Also I didin’t find any interesting feature offered except low price.

So with the trade off between price and performance, this netbook is one of best value you can get for now.

Lailatul Qadar
Salah satu keutamaan dalam bulan puasa adalah "datang"nya malam lailatul qadar, malam yg keutamaannya setara dengan malam seribu bulan (Qur'an S. Al Qadar). Dalam beberapa referensi disebutkan bahwa datangnya malam lailatul qadar ini terdapat dalam 10 hari terakhir bulan ramadhan, utamanya pada malam - malam ganjil (HR: Bukhari 4/225 dan Muslim 1169.) Jika sudah memasuki malam - malam ini, banyak orang (muslim) yg beri'tikaf maupun memperbanyak ibadahnya demi mendapatkan keutamaan malam lailatul qadar. Suatu hal yg wajar mengingat Allah sendiri menjanjikan akan melipatgandakan pahala pada malam lailatul qadar tsb hingga setara dengan seribu bulan.

Kemudian timbul pertanyaan, apakah memang benar malam lailatul qadar itu hadirnya pada 10 malam terakhir bulan ramadhan? Apakah semua orang (muslim) akan mendapatkan keutamaan malam tsb? Bagaimana cara utk memperbesar kemungkinan mendapatkan malam lailatul qadar?

Menurut penulis, mengenai kapan hadirnya malam lailatul qadar itu, hanya Allah yg maha tahu akan segala sesuatu. Namun, dari beberapa referensi terdapat tanda - tanda fisik yg dapat kita gunakan utk memperkirakan akan datangnya malam lailatul qadar tsb, yaitu:

• Udara dan suasana pagi yang tenang
• Cahaya mentari lemah, cerah tak bersinar kuat keesokannya
• Bulan nampak separuh bulatan
  
• Malam yg terang, tidak panas, tidak dingin, tidak ada awan, tidak hujan, tidak ada angin kencang dan tidak ada yg dilempar pada malam itu dg bintang (lemparan meteor bagi setan)
  
• Orang yg beribadah pada malam tsb merasakan lezatnya ibadah, ketenangan hati dan kenikmatan bermunajat kepada rabb-nya tidak seperti malam - malam lainnya
  

Meskipun dg tanda - tanda diatas kita dapat memeprkirakan datangnya malam lailatul qadar, namun kapan tepatnya malam itu datang, sekali hanya Allah yg maha tahu. Wallahua'lam.

Pertanyaan selanjutnya, apakah semua orang (muslim) yg beribadah/berdo'a pada malam dimana Allah menurunkan Lailatul qadar akan mendapatkan keutamaannya?
Menurut pendapat penulis, keutamaan malam lailatul qadar hanya akan didapat oleh orang - orang yg bener - benar beriman dan bertaqwa kepada Allah, artinya adalah bahwa orang tsb baik pada bulan ramadhan maupun bukan bulan ramadhan selalu beriman dan bertaqwa kepada Allah. Logikanya adalah terlalu enak jika orang yg hanya pada bulan ramadhan saja beriman dan bertaqwa, sementara pada bulan2 lainnya bermaksiat ria kemudian mendapat keutamaan lailatul qadar.
Sekarang ini, banyak kita lihat orang muslim yg ketika pada bulan - bulan biasa tidak pernah sholat, tadarrus al-quran, sedekah dll kemudian pada bulan ramadhan tiba-tiba rajin beribadah, sholat jama'ah di masjid dan melakukan amalan-amalan lainnya dan akan semakin meningkat ibadahnya pada malam2 terakhir bulan ramadhan guna berharap akan mendapat malam lailatul qadar. Setelah ramadhan usai, orang2 yg demikian itu akan melepas pakaian ramadhannya dan memakai kembali pakaian maksiatnya yg telah sebulan ditanggalkannya. Ramadhan seolah-olah hanya menjadi pengekang sesaat atas nafsu maksiatnya. Ramadhan bukan menjadi bulan utk lebih meningkatkan keimanan dan ketakwaan kepada Allah yg akan diteruskan pada bulan - bulan selanjutnya sehingga akan semakin mendekatkan diri kepada Allah, namun hanya menjadi beban dan ketidaknyamanan dalam hidupnya. Apakah orang yg seperti itu akan mendapat keutamaan malam lailatul qadar? Wallahua'lam, tapi tentunya Allah maha adil. Allah hanya akan memberikan keutamaan malam lailatul qadar pada hamba-Nya yg mendapat ridha dari-Nya.

Lalu kemudian timbul pertanyaan lagi, apakah kita bisa mendapat ridha dari-Nya? Pasti bisa, karena Allah maha pengasih lagi maha penyayang. Bagaimana cara utk mendapatkannya? Ada beberapa hal yg bisa dilakukan, namun pada intinya kita harus selalu menjaga dan meningkatkan keimanan dan ketakwaan kita kepada Allah agar kita mendapat ridha-Nya. Hal2 yg bisa kita lakukan diantaranya:

• Pada saat awal bulan ramadhan, kita harus benar - benar niat utk menjadikan bulan ramadhan ini menjadi sarana bagi kita utk meningkatkan keimanan dan ketakwaan.
• Melakukan ibadah dg khusyuk dan tuma'ninah. Perbanyak do'a utk mohon ampunan kepada Allah.
• Setelah bulan ramadhan, usahakan ibadah yg kita lakukan pada bulan ramadhan tetap kita lakukan pada bulan - bulan berikutnya. Kalau pada bulan ramadhan kita bisa sholat jama'ah, usahakan pada bulan2 berikutnya kita bisa tetap melakukannya. Demikian juga misalnya kalau pada bulan ramadhan kita bisa melakukan qiyamul lail setiap malamnya, maka usahakan pada bulan2 selanjutnya kita tetap melakukannya.
• Mencoba mendalami ilmu agama, sehingga pemahaman kita akan menjadi semakin baik terhadap agama kita.
• Memberikan manfaat kepada orang lain.

Hal2 diatas adalah sesuatu yg sangat umum, hanya merupakan konsepsi saja. mengenai detailnya seperti apa tentunya kita sudah mengetahui teknis pelaksanaannya.
Intinya adalah kita harus selalu menjaga keimanan dan ketakwaan kita dan menjadikan bulan puasa sebagai momentum utk meningkatkan keimanan dan ketakwaan kita kepada Allah. Jika kita bisa melakukannya sepanjang tahun secara terus - menerus, maka pada bulan ramadhan kita akan lebih mudah utk mendapatkan keutamaannya, termasuk keutamaan malam lailatul qadar.
Semoga kita bisa menjadi orang - orang yg benar - benar beriman dan bertakwa kepada Allah, dan bukannya malah menjadi orang yg keimanan dan ketakwaannya mendekati kemunafikan. Amin.

Meningkatkan rasa percaya diri

Kadang kita berada pada kondisi dimana rasa percaya diri kita rendah, sehingga kita merasa enggan atau tidak mampu utk melakukan sesuatu. Hal ini biasanya terjadi jika kita berada diluar dari comfort zone kita. Atau bisa juga pada saat kita sendiri atau merasa sendiri.
Rasa percaya diri yg rendah jika dibiarkan terus - menerus akan dapat menimbulkan pengaruh yg negatif buat kita. Selain itu secara kesehatan katanya dapat menciutkan volume otak kita. Banyak hal yg seharusnya dapat kita raih akan menjauh gara - gara penyakit yg satu ini.
Hal - hal yg terkait dg rasa percaya diri yg rendah:
- Merupakan sumber penundaan, dimana kita akan dapat melihat org tsb seringkali menunda pekerjaannya atau melakukannya tanpa keyakinan. Alasannya karena tidak siap atau kurang persiapan. Inilah yg seringkali dilakukan oleh org tsb utk menutupi rasa percaya dirinya yg rendah.
-Penyebab rendahnya motivasi. Org dg rasa percaya diri yg rendah cenderung malas didalam melakukan sesuatu (beda dg bermalas - malasan y, klo ini kadang kita emang butuh utk relaksasi), tidak mempunyai achievement orientation dan krg mau berusaha.

Utk mengatasinya bisa dilakukan cara - cara sbb:
-lakukan hal2 yg menurut anda tidak pede utk melakukannya. Lakukan secara bertahap, terus - menerus dg target yg spesifik.Sedikit demi sedikit tetapi jika Anda lakukan secara kontinyu Anda bisa menjadi seseorang yang mahir dan memiliki rasa percaya diri yang tinggi."Long journey begin with little steps".
-evaluasi setiap pencapaian anda, dan buatlah rencana berikutnya.
-yakin terhadap apa yg kita lakukan dan selalu berusaha semaksimal mungkin. Logikanya bagaimana kita bisa berhasil jika kita tidak yakin pada apa yg kita lakukan, tidak yakin pada kemampuan kita??
-Persiapan. Segala sesuatu yg kita persiapkan dg baik sebelumnya akan membuat kita lebih pede dlm menjalankannya.
-Positive thinking, dg menghargai setiap kemampuan yg kita miliki. Tidak ada manusia yg sempurna, jadi kenapa kita merasa tidak lebih baik dari orang lain?
-Banyak membaca inspirational story, biografi, ataupun success story shg kita bisa terinspirasi dari usaha dan perjuangan mereka.
-Do'a. Sesuatu yg keliatannya sepele namun sering kita lupakan. Setelah kita melakukan semua usaha, selanjutnya adalah menyerahkan hasilnya pada Allah SWT. Tentunya kita ingat, bahwa manusia boleh berusaha, tapi tuhan yg menentukan hasilnya.

Get Promoted...

Having spent a long time on work without a promotion sometimes make several people being frustated. They often ask "why i don't get a promotion, meanwhile the other people that can be classified as newbie get this one?".

There are some reasons why some people stuck when dealing with this thing.
1. Seniority vs Contribution
Many people think that seniority will guarantee their career increases. In fact now almost companies doing their business based on performance so the company need persons that can give contribution and performance beyond expectation. The company will no longer consider the seniority as appraisal based.

2. Skills vs attitude
Divided into hard and soft skills, sometimes we think that we are fullfill the requirement for promotion only from hard skills (technical). we don't realize that there is one important that will be considered when someone want to be promoted. The one is attitude. No matter how smart is someone, when he had bad attitude it's almost impossible for him to be considered to get a promotion.

3. Chance
This is the most important thing but i just know it. Sometime we think that a promotion is based on our self. But how it can be, when there is no chance in our company? That's mean there is no empty position?

4. Need
Sometime we didn't have a chance for promotion for a while because of our manager or department still need us. That's also mean that they haven't meet a suitable person to replace our position or they still need us to do some project or work. But believe it, if you in this criteria you don't need to worry about your future

So if you now is still thinking about your career, you can consider some factors that i have explained before you make a decision about your work/career.

Memory 90an

lagi pengen mengenang masa kecil gue...ini gue ambil dari forum sebelah, cuma gue pilih2 yg gue suka dan gue edit berdasarkan pengalaman gue..hehe..

1. Paling suka nonton film kartun....

Power Ranger

dragon ball


Digimon



Ksatria Baja Hitam


Film kartun lain yg pernah gue tonton:
- Detective conan
- transformer (gue bela2in nonton di rumah tetangga gue yg udah pake parabola)
- saint seiya (tokoh utamanya ga pernah mati meski dihajar abis-abisan ama ksatria emas)
- knight rider (kalo ini nontonnya satu paket ama Ksatria Baja Hitam di RCTI, trus biasanya siarannya diacak ama RCTI, duhh...)
- Ultraman (sejatanya selalu sama, pake sinar laser yg keluar dari tangannya)

To be continued...

CDP (Competency Development Program)

This several day is long holiday. I have a plan to finish my CDP presentation material coz for the next week i have to ready for the review. CDP is one of development program on Sampoerna that give the trainee more experience and development, not only on the technical skills but also on soft skills. This program is a comprehensive development program that challenge the trainee to explore the material of the program deeply and also a chance to show to the manager their ability inlude communication skill, analyzing and problem solving. The program itself set into some level and to get higher level the trainee have to pass the lower level. CDP have some different approach, that can be described as follows:

1. In class training, to give a better understanding of the program material.
2. Self learning, this is the most challenging part where you can do "anything" you want to learn about the program material. Sampoerna give the freedom to the trainee to learn coz every person have different learning style, right?
3. The review, this is the exam for the trainee to present their learning result. The review include the written test, practical test, and management review.

And as i mentioned above, this several day i prepare my learning result for the review. For now, i have to prepare WE (work experience) 3, and it's about manufacturing planning and control (MPC) system. This week and probably this month is harder than usual coz in addition to the CDP, i also have to prepare for audit time (IR&IC audit and QA audit)....This is really2 "awesome"..work..work..work..i sell my life for work....coz my company always give me salary hehe...