Friday, September 9, 2011

Three years before next election...

At this time, we have a genuine need to identify, nurture & rally behind honest leaders(i hope we find at least one in current MPs) who are capable enough to take care of people's benefits.. the real need is to find and pose honest, capable & credible candidates as an alternative to the ones we don't want to get elected in next elections.. the best thing to do at this point will be to make a list of all the constituencies and find the candidates from there, who is corrupt and who is honest..no bias for any party, any constituency, any ancestral lineage, any surname, any caste, any religion, any color.. and then ratify those findings with credible evidence in order to let people know actually who can be a candidate to vote.. most of the times people do not exactly know the character, ability and credibility of the candidates.. the focus for next three years should be on whom to vote along with whom to not vote.. for each candidate who contests the election, there should be a "corruption meter" which should tell the reading of how corrupt that candidate is, at least we will be able find the least corrupt ones if not completely honest.. when they file nominations, the part of nomination application should be

"how many cases are registered/pending/ongoing against the candidate",
"how much is the value of corruption being investigated against that candidate",
"how cooperative is he/she with the judiciary",
"what is his/her capability to understand the large scale impact of his corruption",
"how many times did he/she attend the parliament when he was in power earlier"
"how many times was he/she found taking a nap during parliament proceedings"
"how many issues of public interest has he/she put in front of the parliament"
"how many rational arguments has he/she made in front of the house"
"how many bank accounts does he/she have, including foreign bank accounts"
etc. etc.

all this should be on a scale of 1 to 10 so that it would be easier to compare two candidates, who gets 9.9 in corruption and who gets 9.8.. and who gets 1.2. A candidate with 1.2 in corruption may be better than the one with 9.9.. Educated voters need such meters to understand who can be a better alternative to the incumbent, otherwise there is no other way of knowing the real worth of my vote..each individual who is against corruption should try to at least find out who are all the choices in front of him/her. Forget about any specific party, just vote the candidate who you think is honest, no matter his party comes to power at center or not... Even a single honest MP can change the whole parliament if he gets elected, and gets to attend the parliament.. I think we worry a lot about party politics and forget that those who are not in ruling party can actually do a better job at ensuring zero corruption by keeping those in power in check.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Some thoughts about addressing the menace of corruption

I guess everybody agrees that a law against murder saves so many lives daily. We all understand the importance of having just laws. It does not matter what we call the law or whether it is brand new law or an old law with more amendments. The focus should be on strengthening it and not on questioning the necessity of the law itself. Drafting such a law may even involve abolishing earlier one or merging it with the new one.

There are bad people on both sides of the argument. One thing to note however is that the laws are meant to be "used" by those who are victims of corruption, mostly honest men on both sides. Hopefully, I am making sense. :-)

Even though there may be 5 honest officers (HO) in passport office, one needs to understand there are at least 5 more that are dishonest (DO). Same applies to common men as well. Suppose, an honest common man (HC) and a dishonest common man (DC) both apply for passport.

Lets analyse each combination:
HC goes to HO: HC does not offer bribe, neither does HO ask for it. No issues at all. In fact, HOs should be rewarded for upholding their integrity. Despite having the power he does not try take undue personal advantage of that power, it is quite commendable.

DC goes to DO: DC offered an INR 500 bribe and got his job done. If he knew about the presence an HO in the same department, he would have chosen HO for his work (given he had such a choice). DO just gobbles up those INR 500, smiles and stamps on the passport for dispatch to DC. Such a corruption never comes to light because neither DC nor DO wants to showcase their dishonesty. In such case, the only alternative to know that the corruption took place would be to keep a tab on transactions taking place out of both DC and DO's bank accounts. Considering, we have such a large population; it is not possible to keep a tab on each and every person's bank account. However, since the number of bureaucrats is less in comparison, it is easy to monitor their bank accounts and see if they inflate inordinately. Given that such transactions almost always happen in cash, even banks may not be able to help identify such corruption. If such money goes out of the country to Swiss banks, then there is a bigger danger to the country's well being due to such corruption.

HC goes to DO: HC is not happy because DO is asking for bribe. What should HC do now? HC can't even wait because he wants his passport as soon as possible (for any personal reason it may be). He can file a complaint against DO, but what will happen under current laws? Some Kaka, Mama, Dada or even Anna of that DO is in politics at a high post. As is clear from current laws, MPs & MLAs are sacred, nobody can touch them. What will HC do then? Just wait for the passport forever? DO in the meantime gets arrogant and threatens HC to go to hell, he will never get a passport. HC gets depressed and goes home regretting - why did he complain. Next time, whatever the job is, if DO at the other end asks for bribe, HC does not dare to complain and meekly shells out money from his pocket. Now, do you call this HC a criminal? Technically, yes. But fundamentally, No. If the law does not guarantee him any fairness, he is bound to feel left out. HC will keep that in mind and accept that "bribe is part of life", unless something drastic happens and a clean man like Anna gathers public support around him and challenges the "right" of MP or MLA to support corrupt people.

DC goes to HO: In this case, HO denies bribe, and does the job in stipulated time. So, DC is happy. However, if DC is not taught a lesson about social responsibility, he will keep spreading his corrupt practices all over. Especially, if there is a conflict of interest or competition between a DC and a HC, DC might be able to arm-twist the HO into accepting bribe by influencing him through a corrupt MLA above HO. What should HO do in this case? HO can't keep getting transferred all over the country just because he denied accepting INR 500 bribe. He has his family, kids who are attending school etc. etc. So, he will have to accept bribe under pressure from corrupt MLA. It takes only one corrupt MLA/MP like Lalu to cause trouble in the whole parliament, especially if the power equation depends on his party's support (in other words "blackmail"). So, to stop the problem at the root, such a DC & MP/MLA who comes in support of such DC should be punished. I think the current Jan Lokpal Bill does not address this yet, but I am 100% sure that Standing Committee, PAC, NAC and MPs will think about it and include sufficient provision to punish that dishonest common man (which should also include punishing MP/MLA who comes in support of such DC).

Of course, the problem can't be explained in above 4 paragraphs only. We should go deep beyond that to address minute process aberrations. However, the point of my comment/note is that such a holistic, empirical and methodical problem solving approach needs to be undertaken rather than squarely putting the blame on either politicians or common man only. Study of corruption cuts across multiple disciplines viz. Behavioral Science, Political Science, Public Administration, Economics, Public Relations, Human Rights and Law etc. It cannot be defined within one blog or one note or one comment or one bill. Of course laws are necessary, but they must be retrofitted into a bigger picture where all the scenarios of corruption are addressed closely to the extent humanely possible. To bind all the people in that law is the real challenge. Keeping anybody (be it common man, Sarpanch, Tehsildar, MLA, MP, lower and upper bureaucracy) out of the ambit of the law itself will cause an imbalance in the execution of the law and pose questions about the impartiality of that law.

Calling all common men culprits is as good as calling all parliamentarians corrupt. If both sides do not rationally analyse the problem, the conflict will never get resolved and both sides will become bitter enemies of each other, which will be a bigger problem to solve.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Logic & Reason vs Common Sense

A sacred area "Logic and Reason".. in which so called "educated intellectuals" swim. They try to find logic and reason in "common sense". They think so much that obvious things become complicated for them. A simple Bill to prevent corruption, and here come the so called intellectuals trying to find reasons to "analyse" the common sense.

I was in Mumbai on 26th July 2005. An unprecedented rainfall had flooded the city. When I came out of office in the evening, I was not able to see land anywhere. It was as if the sea level had risen by at least 8 feet. My colleague, whom I used to appreciate for his logic in coding complex C++ classes, came out with me. And in the neck deep water, he started making attempts to walk. Isn't it common sense to swim in the neck deep water? The fact that my friend knew how to swim, did not suggest him to swim in this water? What was he thinking about? What is the use of your logic, if you can't use it for yourself?

When the time to apply common sense comes, the educated illiterates start thinking about the democratic principles and parliamentary supremacy. What the heck! This is my country, all Indians are my brothers and sisters, who the hell is MP to dictate me what should be and what should not be in the law which brings cheer to my fellow countrymen? Especially, when the law itself is being made to curb MPs' "corruption under the very nose of so called democracy"? The so called intellectuals who are always on the periphery try to give reasons like "only parliament can make laws". Do they think MPs will bring out a bill which will monitor their own behavior in parliament or outside? It is as if asking students to set their own exam paper. Does one need to apply logic while thinking this? In my opinion our farmers are more educated and literate than those so called 10th and 12th board rankers and IIT, IIM graduates, doctors, engineers & "booker prize winners" who are opposing this movement. Our uneducated farmers can at least sustain in this hostile economy and environment without having piles of degrees in their cupboards. They may not understand democratic principles, but they do have more "common sense" than so many other educated intellectuals. One logical explanation given by opponents of this movement is, only parliament can make laws, and that one should get elected to get the law they want. Excuse me! For every damn thing I can not keep getting elected. Getting elected itself in current system is not possible without being dishonest and criminal. Many honest people get killed for standing for election against a criminal/an incumbent, and there is ample evidence of that. Of course, I have only one life, and I want to live it honestly and peacefully and let others live peacefully.. I should not need to get elected for expecting that. But the biased and narcissistic educated illiterates do not understand this. They are worried about their own ego while endorsing skepticism, speculation and procrastination and spreading rumors.

I gave my vote to an MP because I thought he would do something good for the society. If I go to him tomorrow and ask him to do it, he should not say that "Please get elected first". Is this democracy? Is this why I voted you in the first place? I am not asking anything for personal benefit. It is the whole society who will benefit if the MPs discuss and debate over how to address corruption. They do not even want to discuss it, and in turn suggest me to get elected. This is certainly not fair.

For me, my Anna is the best. He is more educated than our Harvard educated Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan or our "honest" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I don't want to be bothered by those who oppose this movement. I guess I have at least that much right in the "so called" democracy "of the Congress/BJP/NCP/SP/RJD/SS/XYZ/XXX, by the Congress/BJP/NCP/SP/RJD/SS/XYZ/XXX, for the Congress/BJP/NCP/SP/RJD/SS/XYZ/XXX"!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Game theory application to bribing scenario


                  One of my friends suggested that "only common man will have to improve and refrain from paying bribe to anybody. If one common man is already honest, he should try to influence others to be honest and that's it. Just by doing so will take care of the whole problem of corruption. No need of any special law."
                  We were not sure why this does not work in a social context. So, I kinda did this analysis to find out what really happens. I welcome your suggestions and comments. Please read the detailed analysis below:
Game theory application to bribing scenario
                  Lets say two peace loving common men(Common Man 1 - CM1 and Common Man 2 - CM2) are there in a society. They have their own businesses.
If both of them pay bribe to the government, they both make a profit of  Indian Rupee symbol.svg10 as shown in red below.
If CM1 pays bribe to the government, and CM2 does not, then CM1 makes  Indian Rupee symbol.svg30 profit and CM2 loses the deal and hence goes in a loss of  Indian Rupee symbol.svg5.
If CM1 does not pay bribe to the government, and CM2 pays, then CM2 makes  Indian Rupee symbol.svg30 profit and CM1 loses the deal and hence goes in a loss of  Indian Rupee symbol.svg5.
If both of them do not pay bribe to the government, they both save the bribe money and make a total profit of  Indian Rupee symbol.svg13 as shown in green below.
Common Man 2
Pay BribeDon't Pay Bribe
Common Man 1 Pay Bribe 10, 1030, -5
Don't Pay Bribe-5, 3013, 13


The nature of the game can be summarized as follows.

It is an infinitely repeated game with no known final period (and thus no end-of-period problem)
Two strategies are available to each man, “Don’t Pay Bribe” and “Pay Bribe”.


Dominant Strategy: The dominant strategy for both men is “Pay Bribe”. To see this, note that
  • For CM1,
    • If CM2 chooses “Pay Bribe”, the best choice by CM1 is “Pay Bribe”. That way he ensures that he earns at least Indian Rupee symbol.svg10 profit rather than losing Indian Rupee symbol.svg5.
    • If CM2 chooses “Don’t Pay Bribe”, the best choice by CM1 is “Pay Bribe”. That way he ensures that he gets the total profit of  Indian Rupee symbol.svg30.
    • In other words, regardless of whether CM2’s strategy is “Pay Bribe” or “Don’t Pay Bribe”, the best choice by CM1 is “Pay Bribe”. Hence, “Pay Bribe” is Dominant strategy for CM1.
  • For CM2,
    • If CM1 chooses “Pay Bribe”, the best choice by CM2 is “Pay Bribe”. That way he ensures that he earns at least 10 profit rather than losing Indian Rupee symbol.svg5.
    • If CM1 chooses “Don’t Pay Bribe”, the best choice by CM2 is “Pay Bribe”. That way he ensures that he gets the total profit of  Indian Rupee symbol.svg30.
    • In other words, regardless of whether CM1’s strategy is “Pay Bribe” or “Don’t Pay Bribe”, the best choice by CM2 is “Pay Bribe”. Hence, “Pay Bribe” is Dominant strategy for CM2.
Nash Equilibrium: The Nash equilibrium would be “Pay Bribe”-”Pay Bribe”. Since both men have the dominant strategy of “Pay Bribe”, it is obvious that the Nash Equilibrium is in the “Pay Bribe”-”Pay Bribe” quadrant when both men earn a profit of Indian Rupee symbol.svg10. To prove this,
  • While in “Pay Bribe”-”Pay Bribe” quarter, CM1 can not improve his profit given CM2 is in “Pay Bribe” (vertical) column. The only two options for CM1 in “Pay Bribe”(vertical) column is Indian Rupee symbol.svg10 profit(by being in “Pay Bribe”) or Indian Rupee symbol.svg5 loss(by being in “Don’t Pay Bribe”). Hence CM1 will have to stay in “Pay Bribe” to earn profit.
  • While in “Pay Bribe”-”Pay Bribe” quarter, CM2 can not improve its profit given CM1 is in “Pay Bribe” (horizontal) row. The only two options for CM2 in “Pay Bribe”(horizontal) row is Indian Rupee symbol.svg10 profit(by being in “Pay Bribe”) or Indian Rupee symbol.svg5 loss(by being in “Don’t Pay Bribe”). Hence CM2 will have to stay in “Pay Bribe” to earn profit.
Collusion: Now suppose, CM1 influences CM2 to collude with him so that both will be able to earn Indian Rupee symbol.svg13 profit by both not bribing the govt rather than Indian Rupee symbol.svg10 that they earn in current Nash equilibrium. CM1 and CM2 do not pay any bribe in that year. But for next year, if CM2 decides to "cheat" CM1 and pay bribe to government. Then CM1 will be caught off-guard and suffer Indian Rupee symbol.svg5 loss and CM2 will earn a profit of Indian Rupee symbol.svg30. The outcome of that cheating will be that, henceforth CM1 will not cooperate with CM2 in "not paying bribe". In other words, the collusion will not work forever. So what? by cheating once CM2 earned Indian Rupee symbol.svg17 more than what he would earn by being in collusion. So, in other words, there is considerable incentive for the person who is a cheat. For both the men to be in collusion forever, they should make a legal agreement that the cheater will pay the other man Indian Rupee symbol.svg17 every time he cheats. This would deter the cheater from cheating and both men will happily earn Indian Rupee symbol.svg13 per year forever. This in other words proves that the collusion never works without any legal agreement between the colluding parties. This also depends on the present value of the future profits, but I will not drill down into those details in this post. This post was prepared only to prove how two common men cannot survive in a collusion where they decide not to pay bribe to government.

If you introduce a third player "government" in the game and then evaluate all the scenarios, the outcome of that game also will be "having a strong law to keep another collusion working for the benefit of all the players".

So, if you doubt the credibility of a strong law like "Lokpaal Bill", think again. I know it needs to be crafted very carefully as have been our "Election Commission" and "Judiciary". If you see both of these have powers which are not granted to any politician. They are independent systems and work so very efficiently that our democracy is still running well despite having so many social issues.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Chicago travel advice for my friends

These are some words of advice for people visiting Chicago for the first time as a tourist. This information has been used by some of my friends when they visited Chicago over last 5 years that I have been staying here.

Go through this guide:
http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/brochures/Downtown_Sightseeing_Guide_Sep_10.pdf

I would suggest purchasing this City Pass. Its worth the money and time.
http://www.citypass.com/chicago
This pass is valid for 9 days. So, once you purchase it, you can see those five destinations over the entire long weekend you are here for.

This city pass covers all the important and must see destinations in Chicago. Plus, you avoid standing in ticket queue at most of the locations if you have this pass. You will save a lot of time and energy. Especially, in sears tower on a long weekend, you have to stand in the queue for about 3 hours before you get to go to the top. If you have this pass, you get to go directly inside without having to stand in the queue. The first three locations mentioned in this city pass are
1. Adler Planetarium,
2. Field Museum and
3. Shedd Aquarium.
These three are at the same location. So, once you reach there, you can cover all of them depending on how fast you move through. I would suggest, take your time and enjoy wherever you are. Even if you cover only one or two of these three, your money and time is well spent. I did not find Shedd Aquarium that interesting, you may skip it OR just attend the 4-D show in there and come out. To me, it did not make much sense to waste time watching the fishes and penguins. Even the dolphin show in Shedd Aquarium is not that good. You can skip that.

Go to the Sears(Willis) Tower in the morning at around 10 AM. Less rush. Check the weather and go only if it is sunny. It does not make sense to go on top of the tower on a cloudy day, you won't enjoy it. Sears Tower is around 1 mile away from Millenium Park. Take a bus, cab or walk. You will see good scenic views and buildings on the way. Same applies for John Hancock Observatory. John Hancock tower has a restaurant on 95th floor named "Signature Room". People usually reserve a lunch table in this restaurant. The glass windows of this restaurant offer a magnificent view of Lake Michigan, the marina, the boats, the beaches beside the lake, Lakeshore Drive and millenium park. The view is worth watching and clicking. The restaurant is a little bit costly though. So, you can decide based on your budget. Otherwise, the John Hancock tower has its own observatory accessible by paying some entry fee. This is covered in the city pass if you purchase it.

Apart from the locations offered by CityPass, do not miss the location called "Millenium Park". It is open to all for free. It is a must see destination in Chicago. It is right by the Michigan Avenue in downtown. Also, you should not miss walking on the 2 miles stretch north of Millenium Park, along the Michigan Avenue. That is the main downtown of Chicago. There you will find most tourists spending their time taking photographs and looking at Chicago's magnificent planned city architecture.
Right on michigan avenue near millenium park is the Art Institute of Chicago.

You may also go to "Navy Pier". Frankly, I do not like that location much, but most of the tourists make it a point to go there. This is good to visit with kids. There is also a Children's museum at Navy Pier. At Navy Pier, you can get on few short(1 hour) cruises which take you around in the Lake Michigan. (I have been on one such cruise, it gives a nice view of the skyline but apart from that I did not find much value in it. They are so costly.) At Navy Pier, there is a "Giant Wheel" in which you can take a ride for about $12 per person. That also gives a good view of the skyline. Apart from these two, this is like a "to hang around" place, buzz with restaurants, small shops and crowd. There is a museum(free entry) called Smith Museum which has a collection of glass paintings by different artists. It is nice. It takes just 20-30 minutes to pass through that museum. Also, check the timetable of fireworks at Navy Pier. I know they have one every wednesday at around 8PM. Check it online if you want to see the fireworks.

If you are staying just for 3 days, then above locations should keep you occupied. If you want to go for more, you can purchase the card called "Go Chicago Card". The cost is same as the City pass that I mentioned above. But, this card does not give you direct entry to locations like Sears Tower and John Hancock Observatory without going through queues, so it does not add much value. It covers a lot of destinations though, but they are not must-see.

For all the people from India, there are some more locations to visit:
1. Swaminarayan Temple
2. Swami Ramkrishna Universal Temple: Recently the "Vivekanand Vedanta Society" moved the temple from Hyde Park Chicago to "14630 S. Lemont Road, Homer Glen, IL 60491". This is a universal temple, in the sense that no matter which religion you belong to, you can come to this temple to worship the real ideals of humanity. It is a very simple temple, it has a book store and a library inside, they also run Yoga and Sanskrit classes here on Saturdays and Sundays and also have spiritual discourses with visiting Gurus from all over the world. See the calendar on their website if you want to attend any such event. There is no canteen facility at this temple (at least as of today).
3. Art Institute of Chicago - This is where Swami Vivekanand gave all his historic talks on Hinduism in front of the Parliament of Religions in 1893. The road in front of the Art institute is also named after him as "Swami Vivekanand Road". (This building is easy to locate right by the Millenium Park on Michigan Avenue, it has two lion statues in front of the main door)
4. Devon Avenue - This is located far away from downtown, around 15 miles. You will need a car to reach this place. There is ample metered parking available on the roadside at Devon Avenue. Frankly, there is nothing special here. But, all the Indians like to go to Indian kind of shops and restaurants to get those things which they don't get in a typical American shop/restaurant. This is one of such places. A stretch of around 1 mile on Devon avenue is full of Indian shops and restaurants on both sides of the road. Even the style of arranging things in the shops is Indian. You will see big mannequins from the glass windows of the clothes shops wearing Indian clothes like Saari, Salvaar, Kurtaa, Dhoti, Shervaani etc. etc. Everything that you get in India is available here including but not limited to clothes, food, utensils, electronics, devotional stuff, music, paanipuri, bhelpuri, chaat masala etc. etc. Almost all the people from Chicago and vicinity go to Devon Avenue for buying grocery items as well because you get all the Indian vegetables, herbs, spices in the shops here. So, it is as good as a major shopping and grocery road in any big city in India. Go to this place only if you want to see this. If not, then skip this place, it is not a must see.

I will keep updating this page as I find time to update minute details of each place.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Scheduling Data Cleanup on Windows Operating System for Performance Improvement

These steps are to schedule the disk cleanup and defragmentation tasks to contribute to performance improvement efforts on windows operation system. These are by no means only methods to improve performance, but if you do these on your machine, you may see a little bit faster response. I did these on my Windows XP machines.

A. Deleting the Cache, Cookies, Temporary Internet Files and Temporary Windows Files
1. Open Notepad.
2. Paste the following commands in it
C:\

cd C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Cookies
del /F /S /Q *

cd C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
del /F /S /Q *

cd C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Temp
del /F /S /Q *

cd C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Temp
del /F /S /Q *

cd C:\WINDOWS\Temp
del /F /S /Q *
3. Save the file on C drive with ".bat" extension. My saved file is named "delCacheCookiesAndTempInternetFiles.bat"
4. Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
5. Click on "Add Scheduled Task".
6. Click Next on the window that pops up.
7. On the subsequent window, click "Browse"
8. Browse to C:\delCacheCookiesAndTempInternetFiles.bat
9. Select the frequency to run this scheduled task as per your choice. I run it weekly once.
10. Select other parameters for the scheduled task and save it. (I would suggest select the time to run within next 5 mins and see if it actually starts and runs at that particular time. Once you see it running successfully, you can change the scheduled run time to some other time per your preference.

B. Schedule Disk Cleanup to Run Automatically
1. Goto Start -> Run -> Type "cmd"
2. Paste the command "cleanmgr /sageset:1" and hit Enter.
3. It opens a dialog as shown below:
4. Check your preferred checkboxes on this screen and click "Ok"
5. Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
6. Click on "Add Scheduled Task".
7. Click Next on the window that pops up.
8. On the subsequent window, click "Browse"
9. Browse to "c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe"
9. In the "Schedule" tab, select other parameters for the scheduled task. Select the frequency to run this scheduled task as per your choice. (I run it monthly once.) Click "Ok" to save the scheduled task.
10. Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
11. Right click on the task "cleanmgr", go to "Properties".
12. In the "Run" textbox, edit the text to append "sagerun:1"
13. Select other parameters for the scheduled task and save it. (I would suggest select the time to run within next 5 mins and see if it actually starts and runs at that particular time. Once you see it running successfully, you can change the scheduled run time to some other time per your preference.


C. Schedule Disk Defragementer to Run Automatically
1. Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
2. Click on "Add Scheduled Task".
3. Click Next on the window that pops up.
4. On the subsequent window, click "Browse"
5. Browse to "C:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe"
6. Select the frequency to run this scheduled task as per your choice. (I run it weekly once.) Click "Ok" to save the scheduled task.
7. Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
8. Right click on the task "defrag", go to "Properties".
9. In the "Run" textbox, edit the text to append "C:". This is how you are specifying which drive the defragmenter should run.
10. In the "Schedule" tab, select other parameters for the scheduled task. Click "Ok". (I would suggest select the time to run within next 5 mins and see if it actually starts and runs at that particular time. Once you see it running successfully, you can change the scheduled run time to some other time per your preference.
You do not need to follow this procedure for scheduling Defragmentation in Windows 7. Windows 7 has its own scheduler for Defragmentation accessible from Disk Defragmenter Application itself.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Wish you all a very happy new year 2011. Now that other things have settled a little bit, I personally plan to do a hell lot of actual concrete work this year. Wish me luck friends!



Posting this poem that I had composed in Dec 2006.

-----------TIME-----------

He is the healer, Silent killer
Whatever drops, He never stops
With fast gallops, Always hops

Conquer the time
With courage sublime
Let this year
be everything clear

Let Him be the charioteer
On your side
With time against
your own guide

Let Him be the scent
In successful event
Hearty wishes for you
Before adieu

With family and friends,
You enjoy,
Endless journey,
With cheerful cry !

Let me be there,
by your side,
to share your cry,
to share your joy !