A couple people have asked questions about the HID retrofit in my WRX headlights… And after deleting some of the emails, I myself had to search to find what was put into them… My “kit” consisted of FX-R Bi-Xenon Projectors, custom painted Apollo Projector Shroud, Morimoto 3Five Ballast and 5,000k bulbs, Morimoto CCFL Angel Eyes. The headlight housing and reflectors were blacked out. All of the parts were sourced from theretrofitsource.com.
I’d been debating the idea of selling my Jeep for awhile now. I didn’t drive it nearly as much as I should’ve and it was taking up space, plus insurance and yearly maintenance costs… It just seemed like it was time to let it go. The build started in 2005 after picking up a bone stock 95 Sahara edition Wrangler… Thanks to Travis who let me drive his TJ a few weeks prior and getting me hooked on the idea of wanting one! 
It didn’t stay stock for long, and slowly turned into a pretty capable off-road beast. Clearly not capable of making it through Lake Christy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGBaVXKwutQ), but handled everything else that we tried to tackle.
The rig was sold to a friend, so I know that it’s in capable hands and hoping for the best of it. Maybe one day I’ll build something else. I’ve always loved a built XJ, but I’m still feeling a truck somewhere in my future too.
I often think about what makes someone code a virus like this… Then I realize that if 0.01% of the people that get infected with a virus, turn around and stick their credit card number into the computer to “fix problem now!”… someone obviously makes out pretty well.
The majority of the viruses infected machines I see coming into the shop are fake anti-virus infections… That includes a XP Security Tool, Vista Security 2011, Windows 7 Security Center, and so on… Popups and stuff saying “you’re infected”, “drive failure”, and “out of memory” pop up on startup, while running IE, etc… Annoying mostly, but not super malicious. Clean up is pretty easy with the right tools.
The one that has pushed my buttons the most though is one that I’ve only seen hit XP machines, called “Windows XP Restore”. This not only includes popups, but it also HIDES all of your files on the system drive… Clean up is pretty easy, until you realize that one the virus is gone and you’ve unhid your files… everything in the Start menu is missing! What?!
If you’ve been in this situation… You realize what a pain in the butt this is going to turn out to be… The 1,687 applications that you had installed are all now missing from the Start menu and you’ve got to recreate shortcuts.
But…… This may save you some time! The virus moves your Start menu and Quick Launch icons into 2 hidden folder locations. You may want to save/recover these files BEFORE virus cleanup, as I’ve had 2 cleanups in which the files were removed during cleanup.
Start Menu – C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\temp\smtmp\1
Quick Launch – C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\temp\smtmp\2
Anyways… Hope that helps, and good luck cleaning up!
A few months late… but changes all for the better. I took a new job back in February. In addition to posting my junk on the website, I’m going to add in some cool or helpful tips on the site that I’ve spent far too many hours researching.
I fix computers that come into a small computer shop in Millersburg. We work with a bunch of businesses too, but the majority of my time is spent building new rigs for people or repairing stuff that comes in broken or virus infected… I’ve only had ONE virus get the best of me… After 8 hours of cleanup in attempt to save a re-load, I gave in and started over.
Anyways – new posts to come shortly.
As of last week, I’m the proud owner of an 02 WRX Wagon. Mods and pictures to follow.
Visited Rausch Creek over Easter Weekend with Steve and the gang… met a couple members from the JK Forum and had a great time. Visited a lot of blue trails, a few blue/blacks tossed in, and got to put the MetalCloak fenders to the test. Did a lot of rubbing with the 33′s and everything came out looking like it went in, less some paint. 
Pictures from the trip are in the Gallery here.
Recently installed MetalCloak tube fenders on the Jeep. The fronts are their Overline series with 6″ flare, which gives it a nice flat tube fender look (compared to their normal “arched” fenders). The rears include the corner guard and 6″ flares as well.
Pics of everything, including some install and then post-install shots are in the Gallery here.
Brian over at BearBumStudio.com hooked me up once again. This time, he created me a full out custom logo for the website. It is based off the basic shape of the Festiva and then “lettered” out for the URL.
I’ve gone through several different “logo designs” in the last 7 years, but nothing that has ever stuck… I have a feeling this is going to stick around.
Anyone looking for custom renderings, logo design, or whatever, please check out Brian’s website and check with him on your needs. And please let him know that Simon sent you.
Stumbled upon an artist while searching for some Jeep renderings over the weekend. Brian over at http://www.bearbumstudio.com/ is great to deal with, prices are fair, and he’s great at keeping in touch with the process. Up next is a rendering of the bike!
If you’re looking to get a drawing done, check in with Brian… And let him know you found him from my site.
After an eventful day of wheeling at Rausch Creek, the group of us decided to hit “Lake Christy”… And since I sport a snorkel, I thought I could handle the water a little to the left of the route that everyone else took. Needless to say, I couldn’t.
The water measured 4 feet where I stopped moving. In addition to the wet interior, I also flooded the center console which had my Nikon D80 SLR, Nikon CoolPix 5200 point and shoot camera, JVC CD player, CB, and BlackBerry Storm…
After being saved from the middle of the lake, we pulled the plugs and cranked til the water was gone… It fired up and idled a little rough, but was able to make it back through the lake (this time staying to the side!) and back up the hill to make it back on the trails. It made it 20~ miles back home without a problem. Fluids changed (which came out looking similar to a McDonalds milkshake) and it seems to be running pretty well. Now hopefully the smell will be able to come out of the seats too.