Need for Speed: Shift

Installed Need for Speed: Shift hoping for a realistic game, just like Need for Speed: ProStreet, something you might call a simulator. But sadly it wasn’t. Comparing to the ProStreet it’s a giant leap backwards. To me the only refinements are the new realistic feeling when a side of the car gets out of the track and tires are exposed to the dirt, and the highly detailed in-car view dropped since the Porsche Unleashed.

The steering response is numb and lacks the feeling it should have. It’s the exact opposite of what Need for Speed: Carbon was, where you could falsely turn a tight corner in that overrated BMW M3 GTR doing over 120MPH. This time though, in Shift, an Audi RS4 cannot stabilize itself at less than 80MPH along a very long and loose turn, giving you the handling feeling of whether you’re driving a Toyota Camry over a wet surface. Driving the same RS4 at over 120MPH along a straight, it feels like it cannot hold itself together and desires diversion any minute, which is not true.

Then it’s the brakes, where the premium brakes and the ABS on an RS4 feel exactly like a cheap Korean sedan. You don’t feel the Quattro AWD either.

Then it’s the dumb way they tried to simulate steering resonance in an outraged car. It’s completely wrong, falsely intensifying steering lock, sometimes slipping incurable strange understeers, where it should skid in oversteers to opposite directions multiple times before it’s cured and stabilized by forcing multiple accurate opposite steerings.

Removing Total Security (tsc.exe) Rogue Anti-Spyware

This article is a guide on how to remove Total Security rogue anti-spyware. Please note the version I’m describing is different from an older Total Security 2009, with C:\Program Files\TSC\tsc.exe as executable and winsource.dll—GUID {D263FA6D-84CC-48A8-9AF6-C664362B7A5B}—as browser helper object.

“Total Security” aka “Total Security 2009” is a fake security software trying to ride off BitDefender Total Security’s trusted name. Total Security 2009 has no affiliation with BitDefender and is as useless as BitDefender is legit. Total Security 2009 is a new version of “System Security” rogue. This fake anti-spyware tool slips into your computer through a Trojan or a virus, launches a faux system scan, and detects inexistent infections to scare users, then shows popups and spoof system alerts, and prevents execution of legit programs. If you click any of these Total Security 2009 pop-up ads, you’ll be tricked into wasting money on the full version of Total Security 2009. Clicking on Updates button, the tool shows an “Updating” balloon message, but there is no network activity.

Removing Total Security / Total Security 2009 / Cyber Security Rogue using Chortkeh Virus Removal for Total Security

Download Chortkeh Virus Removal for Total Security and run “Chortkeh Virus Removal for Total Security.cmd” answering Windows confirmation dialogs “Allow” if asked. Please note it closes all running instances of Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer once executed, and restarts your system immediately after finishing virus removal, so save and close any unsaved works before proceeding with the removal. Run the CMD file once your system booted up to check to see if the virus still exists.

Download Link

• Download Chortkeh Virus Removal for Total Security / Total Security 2009 (CMD file) by Komeil Bahmanpour

Knowing More about Total Security Rogue Anti-Spyware/Anti-Virus

Please note the version I’m describing is different from an older Total Security 2009, with C:\Program Files\TSC\tsc.exe as executable and winsource.dll—GUID {D263FA6D-84CC-48A8-9AF6-C664362B7A5B}—as browser helper object (Internet Explorer add-on). So if you can find the TSC folder—instead of TS—in your Program Files directory underwhich tsc.exe is nested, and winsource.dll instead of iehelpmod.dll in your System32 folder, your Windows is infected with an older version of this virus, somewhat different from what I’m describing.

The main executable is tsc.exe nested inside TS folder under Program Files folder. Also inside System32 folder, there’s an iehelpmod.dll file which is registered as a browser helper object (Internet Explorer add-on) with GUID {35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}. The launch technique is using Task Scheduler “TS” job and is backed-up by the “IE Help” browser add-on.

How to Remove the Fake/Rogue Total Security Manually

Boot with a Windows ERD Commander 6 CD. When your Windows installation is detected, from System Recovery Options, click Microsoft^® Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset to launch MSDaRT Tools. “Choose a recovery tool” dialog shows up. To delete files/folders listed below, use Explorer, and to delete Registry entries listed below, use ERD Registry Editor.

Files/Folders to Delete

Path	Sample Path	Description
%ProgramFiles%\TS\tsc.exe	C:\Program Files\TS\tsc.exe	Main program file Remove the TS folder.
%SystemRoot%\System32\iehelpmod.dll	C:\Windows\System32\iehelpmod.dll	“IE Help” browser helper object (Internet Explorer add-on)
%SystemRoot%\Tasks\TS.job	C:\Windows\Tasks\TS.job	Task Scheduler “TS” job
%AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\TS\	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\TS\	Start Menu links Remove the TS folder.
%CommonProgramFiles%\TSUninstall\Uninstall.lnk	C:\Program Files\Common Files\TSUninstall\Uninstall.lnk	Uninstall link Remove the TSUninstall folder.
%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\TS.lnk	C:\Users\{User Name}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\TS.lnk	Quick Launch link

Registry Entries to Delete

Path	Description
HKCR\CLSID\{35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}	Registered Class ID for iehelpmod.dll
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}	“IE Help” (iehelpmod.dll) added as a browser helper object
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\TS	Uninstall information for Programs and Features Control Panel item

A few Security Center-related Registry keys like AntiSpywareOverride, AntiVirusOverride, and FirewallOverride are likely to being modified by the virus under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\Svc, which are virtual and user-unmodifiable, so you need to open “Check security status” in Windows 7 or “Security Center” in Windows Vista, and set “Firewall” and “Malware protection” sub-items to “On”.

Good hunting!

How to Properly Convert Any Media to Early-Nokia-Compatible 3GP Using FFmpeg Komeil for Windows

Most of the converted 3GP videos have a wrong aspect ratio, not to mention the audio incompatibility issue with different mobile phones from time to time. The following article describes fastidious details you should know, often omitted by converters while converting media to 3GP.

Since the early days of cameraphones, common 3GP video clips have been stored as QCIF-sized H.263 video and AMR-NB audio.

Video

QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format) has a 174x144 dimension, and a 1.22:1 display aspect ratio. Having a squarer ratio comparing to normal 4:3 (1.33:1) and widescreen 16:9 (1.78:1) ratios, QCIF videos should be “padded” on top and bottom once converted from wider (nearly every other) sources.

Failing to properly pad a wider-than-QCIF video clip while converting to QCIF 3GP, you’ll end up with J.Lo’s bottom looking like Kate Moss’s.

Intervening precise height/padding calculations, FFmpeg requires even numbers for screen height, top padding, and bottom padding.

Height = Picture Height + Top Padding + Bottom Padding

Width = Height × Aspect Ratio

A standard 1.33:1 (4:3) video should be resized to 132 pixels in height and padded with 6 pixels in both top and bottom:

144 = 132 + 6 + 6

176 ≈ 132 × 1.33

A widescreen 1.78:1 (16:9) video should be resized to 100 pixels in height and padded with 22 pixels in both top and bottom:

144 = 100 + 22 + 22

176 ≈ 100 × 1.78

A flat widescreen 1.85:1 video should be resized to 96 pixels in height and padded with 24 pixels in both top and bottom:

144 = 96 + 24 + 24

176 ≈ 96 × 1.85

A CinemaScope 2.21:1 video should be resized to 80 pixels in height and padded with 32 pixels in both top and bottom:

144 = 80 + 32 + 32

176 ≈ 80 × 2.21

A wide cinema 2.35:1 video should be resized to 76 pixels in height and padded with 34 pixels in both top and bottom:

144 = 76 + 34 + 34

176 ≈ 76 × 2.35

Calculations Behind

Name	Aspect Ratio	Exact Dimensions	Calculations	Height	Paddings
QCIF	1.22:1	176×144.0000	144-144.0000=0.0000÷2=0.0000	144	0
Standard	1.33:1 (4:3)	176×132.0003	144-132.0003=11.9997÷2=5.9998	132	6
Widescreen	1.78:1 (16:9)	176×98.9998	144-98.9998=45.0002÷2=22.5001	100	22
Flat Widescreen	1.85:1	176×95.1351	144-95.1351=48.8649÷2=24.4324	96	24
CinemaScope	2.21:1	176×79.6380	144-79.6380=64.3620÷2=32.1810	80	32
Wide Cinema	2.35:1	176×74.8936	144-74.8936=69.1064÷2=34.5532	76	34

The maximum H.263 video bit rate for a flawless playback in an early Nokia is 339 kbps and the best practice for the frame rate is to use half its original. That is 12.5 fps (25÷2) for PAL and 14.895 fps (29.97÷2) for NTSC videos. Please note cheap 3GP/H.263/AMRNB-enabled Nokia cameraphones shoot QCIF video at 14.929 fps / 142 kbps.

Audio

The audio compatible with early Nokia phones is the monaural AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrow-Band) with sample rate of 8000 and bit rate of 12.2 kbps.

FFmpeg 3GP Conversion Command

Important parameters including the “-f 3gp” forces the output format to 3GP, “-s 176xHEIGHT” defines video dimensions, “-aspect 176:144” corrects QCIF aspect ratio, “-padtop PADDING” and “-padbottom PADDING” define top and bottom paddings, “-vcodec h263” forces the video codec to H.263, “-b BITRATE” specifies the video bit rate, “-r FRAMERATE” specifies the video frame rate, “-acodec libamr_nb” forces the audio codec to AMR-NB, “-ac 1” specifies mono-channel (monaural) audio, “-ar 8000” specifies the audio sample rate, and “-ab 12.2k” specifies the 12.2 kbps audio bit rate.

Sample FFmpeg command to convert a PAL 4:3 AVI file into 3GP (H.263/AMR-NB):

ffmpeg -i test.avi -f 3gp -s 176x132 -aspect 176:144 -padtop 6 -padbottom 6 -vcodec h263 -b 339k -r 12.5 -acodec libamr_nb -ac 1 -ar 8000 -ab 12.2k -y output.3gp

Sample FFmpeg command to convert an NTSC 16:9 MP4 file into 3GP (H.263/AMR-NB):

ffmpeg -i test.mp4 -f 3gp -s 176x100 -aspect 176:144 -padtop 22 -padbottom 22 -vcodec h263 -b 339k -r 14.895 -acodec libamr_nb -ac 1 -ar 8000 -ab 12.2k -y output.3gp

Download FFmpeg for Windows with AMR Support

To download an AMR-enabled FFmpeg for Windows, visit my FFmpeg SVN-r17988-Komeil for Windows blog post.