u/MathWest209

I recently posted about how my data got corrupted because of pirated software and carelessness. This is the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PakistaniTech/s/n8Fc7sR8qV

Basically .bbyy ransom encryption. I lost thousands of pictures and videos. And recovered them with the following tool.

A recovery tool was suggested by u/TrashyGames3. Thank you. It worked, and I have recovered most of the files.

I recently posted about how my data got corrupted because of pirated software and carelessness. This is the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PakistaniTech/s/n8Fc7sR8qV

A recovery tool was suggested by u/TrashyGames3. Thank you. It worked, and I have recovered most of the files.

Around 2022, my brother installed some pirated games from a very fishy website. And all our data was marked as .bbyy files. They were encrypted, and we are still waiting for a solution out there.

There was a message note as well with details for the ransom money. Around 1000$ was asked for. Obviously, we did not pay and just updated the whole system. The files are still there, we hope to recover them. They are memories, and only a few of them were backed up on external drives or DVDs (I know old school). So does anyone else have the same experience with that, and any way to recover? Would love those pics back.

EDIT: Should I keep the files anyway for the future chances of recovery?

Most of you might know this, but the guy I usually go to whenever I need a laptop for a friend or me, they usually has a pirated version of Windows installed with 2010 Office too. And usually there are stupid bugs and issues, such as the app store not working, etc. So I usually just reinstall Windows myself from the official Windows website.

The thing is that most laptops come with the OEM license for Windows. And when I install a fresh version its automatically activated. It's safer, faster, and more stable (Kinda). So if you get a laptop, try this out, and even if your device doesn't have an OEM license, the official Windows doesn't really limit you; it just has a watermark, which ain't a big problem for most.

I want an estimate of the specs that I can get around that. The market is really messed up. But any chance to get 16 gigs of RAM and a 500 SSD in this?

I loved lens, and they just removed it. And I think they added it to Microsoft 365 or something. Ok then. Any better options with simple scanning flow.

Just cleared the AZ-900 with 873/1000 for some structured learning around cloud basics, and now I'm trying to figure out the next step. I have about 2 years of backend experience and already handle basic deployments on other clouds, so I understand that side of the equation.

Most online guides default to "AZ-204 for devs, AZ-104 for admins." But I'm wondering if taking AZ-104 would actually be more valuable to learn proper cloud governance, networking, and infrastructure management? Or will AZ-204 give me better hands-on experience to become a stronger cloud-native software engineer?

For those who have taken them:

• What overlaps and core differences did you notice?
• Which one actually offers better hands-on learning for someone who already knows how to deploy code?

Thanks in advance.

https://preview.redd.it/eax0n77vgsgh1.png?width=942&format=png&auto=webp&s=918c40d56c71faeb32e23bccf2059bee9567eac3

1. I have done 1 test on the web with 100 percent.
2. One test from Pete Zerger and got 83 percent.
3. And on the Microsoft Azure official practice exam, I got 98 percent.

Am I ready for the AZ-900? And any suggestions on what I should focus on the last day?

Everything they do doesn't make any sense. I was locked out of my laptop because I updated the BIOS and somehow was unable to find keys. I had a print version (I know I am old school), but I still couldn't find them after recovery. And the encryption removal is on a whole other level. TBH I don't even remember turning on encryption on my laptop. This should be informed to the user in case they don't know and lose access by accident. In which case, all the data is lost.

And today I am unable ot log into some of their services. It has been redirected around 500 times now. LITERALLY, I wish I was exaggerating.

So I thought I should post here. Honestly, I don't want to hate Microsoft. I have used Microsoft products since I was a kid and loved Windows, such as XP and Windows 7 were the ones I used and loved. And also Office. But hell, they are hard to love now.

And also Copilot is driving me crazy recently.

I had to go through a lot of issues before getting the booking for my exam. I just want to share this so that anyone else looking for solutions to the same kind of problems I had has a clue of what's going on.

Initially, I wanted an AWS certificate exam. I signed up on the AWS training and cert platform. And started booking, redirected to PearsonVue. Filled in all the information and chose the payment method. Right after choosing, it said Cannot do the payment. "This payment method is not valid for your country" Or something in the same sense.

I tried other ways, and they did not work, but I just stopped.

Later, I wanted another Azure certification. And I had thought that the card would not work again, so I contacted the TNAedu (Technologies Network Alliance) center, which is an authorized testing center. And they promptly answered my queries and said that they would book for me (And no surcharges like some other services charge. It was very close to the USD exchange rate and the discounted price Microsoft has for Pakistan).

So I thought if my own payment fails, I would ask them. I started my booking from the Microsoft Learning platform and on to Pearson and gave all the required information, and it redirected me to a different payment page than AWS. And the payment provider was named WordLine Payment. Added my card information, and it worked. The card was from NayaPay. The same one I used for the AWS exam registration.

---

So try your card, if it doesn't work, ask a test center directly, like TNAedu (Technologies Network Alliance), to book the exam for you. Or you can use another service (Not tried it myself and have no idea about authenticity): voucherpaisa. Their rates are the USA ones, and not the ones the platform gives specifically for Pakistan, which are really cheaper than the US ones.

So I hope this would be of help. It's a really stupid problem that we have just because of being in Pakistan. But we have to tackle this ourselves and find a way through because we do not have a government that understands modern digital infrastructure, and we cannot easily just make payments online, let alone accept payments, that is a whole different story.

TLDR; Here are the key points:

• Every certification provider has different dynamics and processes.
• Try your card. It might work for some certification providers.
• Otherwise, contact an authorized test center near you to book for you.
• International payments from a friend or family abroad seem very fraudulent, such as changing addresses, etc., and might cause some problems because of the payment discrepancies.
• Get vouchers if you can.

I had to go through a lot of issues before getting the booking for my exam. I just want to share this so that anyone else looking for solutions to the same kind of problems I had has a clue of what's going on.

Initially, I wanted an AWS certificate exam. I signed up on the AWS training and cert platform. And started booking, redirected to PearsonVue. Filled in all the information and chose the payment method. Right after choosing, it said Cannot do the payment. "This payment method is not valid for your country" Or something in the same sense.

I tried other ways, and they did not work, but I just stopped.

Later, I wanted another Azure certification. And I had thought that the card would not work again, so I contacted the TNAedu (Technologies Network Alliance) center, which is an authorized testing center. And they promptly answered my queries and said that they would book for me (And no surcharges like some other services charge. It was very close to the USD exchange rate and the discounted price Microsoft has for Pakistan).

So I thought if my own payment fails, I would ask them. I started my booking from the Microsoft Learning platform and on to Pearson and gave all the required information, and it redirected me to a different payment page than AWS. And the payment provider was named WordLine Payment. Added my card information, and it worked. The card was from NayaPay. The same one I used for the AWS exam registration.

---

So try your card. If it doesn't work, ask a test center directly, like TNAedu (Technologies Network Alliance), to book the exam for you. Or you can use another service (Not tried it myself and have no idea about authenticity): VoucherPaisa. Their rates are the USA ones, and not the ones the platform gives specifically for Pakistan, which are really cheaper than the US ones.

So I hope this would be of help. It's a really stupid problem that we have just because of being in Pakistan. But we have to tackle this ourselves and find a way through because we do not have a government that understands modern digital infrastructure, and we cannot easily just make payments online, let alone accept payments, that is a whole different story.

TLDR; Here are the key points:

• Every certification provider has different dynamics and processes.
• Try your card. It might work for some companies.
• Otherwise, contact an authorized test center near you to book for you.
• International payments from a friend or family abroad seem very fraudulent, such as changing addresses, etc., and might cause some problems because of the payment discrepancies.
• Get vouchers if you can.

Just watched season 1, and it's pretty cool and has great characters. It brought back something similar to the good parts of the original show.

And one of the best parts? Carol's entry in the final episode.

If there is a raigebait god, it's my client. This idiot literally sent me a Word doc with messed-up formatting, most probably he did not even open the document, and there was code in it, and it also included the same old AI lines at the end:

>Let me know if you want to implement this and that...

I asked him a question about something in the doc that I wanted clarity on before implementation, and he said, "Just ask AI to explain it. And also please revise the timeline, I think you can build this faster, as I gave you the foundational code"

I had to take 5 minutes of break, so I don't write something stupid to my client. But this guy pays okayish, so I went on with it and implemented the actual solution. But the disrespect, OMG.

This is getting out of hand.

I had built a product with a single-tenant model so as to test it before building multi tenant complatet saas solution. Now I have to manage 3 separate servers for the users. I need to migrate. I have some plans. But I need expert advice from people who have done something similar. What would be your priorities?

I will have to do this eventually, and I am planning this now, so I thought I should also get advice from people already in the market. The purpose here is to have just one application to monitor and manage, rather than managing many servers, their backups, and a lot of other operating nightmares.

We kept seeing references to the CRM and a hidden state or a bigger sustainable community throughout the main show. And just getting 6 episodes feels a bit off.

This could have been one of the most special spin-offs. They change CRM so fast with some grenades, comeback so fast. And the ending is also very.... Let's just say it could have been far better.

I mean, it was still beautiful for a TWD fan, 8 out of 10. But it's just that I expected more.

I hope to get far better from the Daryl Dixon one.