Geek's Stuff!: Tips-Linux

Showing posts with label Tips-Linux. Show all posts

Play on Linux

"Linux is the world,Linux is freedom... blah blah blah". Everyone has heard such things and we keep hearing them. Even though linux has grown from a mere console to a user friendly interface in a short time frame, lets accept Linux is still in the growing phase. Its gonna take some time before the doors and windows are gonna shut and every house will have a penguin in their computers.

I agree when im talking about linux, initially its not for normal people. Its for science, using sophisticated tools, programming etc... But since the inception of Ubuntu, the attitude towards linux has changed. It has shown the world that linux is for everyone.

One of the most frustrating feature of linux is there are not many games that support the OS. Mostly because the windows has the market of household desktops still under its captivation and most of the games are developed considering windows in mind. I know we get many bundled up games with linux distros, but are they enough? What about the games like Counter strike, Need For Speed etc? Do linux have support for them? This is what i went on to explore... and thats when i stumbled upon this site... PlayonLinux

Its the software that can help you to install games and apps made for windows... Though it internally uses Wine.. it has a list of softwares and games that it supports and guarantee's that it can work on linux... I straight away installed this and yes.. it truly supports few of my favorite games which i was addicted on windows...

I'm yet to explore more on this.. Go ahead explore...PlayonLinux

Cracking the root password III

Long time back I had written about how to change the root user password before on ubuntu

http://bit.ly/mP2x4m

But the method that i had described before is obsolete now... With ubuntu evolving, today that method in my previous post wont work.

I was trying to install windows 7 over the existing ubuntu and as you know the windows bootloader overwrites the boot sector and thus the grub got wiped out. Wanting to fix the grub, i logged in as a live user session after long time. But to my surprise.. i couldn't change the root user password as i mentioned in my previous post. Hence i went searching for the new way to change the root password because without the root password i wont be able to run install grub ...and other commands.

finally i found a more simpler way to crack this and reset the password.

if you run the command below from the terminal

:~$ sudo passwd root

it does the job, it asks for the new password and you can type in the key patterns you want and use it as the root user password. This should work on ubuntu 9.10 and the after flavors.

De-Bugging the Web registrations!

Many websites and most of the online forums require the user to have been registered and logged-in in order to read the individual posts completely. But many of us get irritated to register just to read a post in a forum which we might not even visit another time. So what is the work around?

Method 1 - BugMeNot

bugmenot-logo

BugMeNot is a free online service where people share their login information of thousands of websites and online forums. All you have to do is, visit BugMeNot and search for the website / forum you want. You will get multiple login details, most of the times they will be valid. If the website you are looking for is not in the list or if none of the login information available is correct then read further for a more fool-proof method.
Method 2 - User Agent Switcher

Almost all the websites which mandates the user to register in order to view the hidden “exclusive” content blocks the Unregistered users, but NOT the Google Bot! Google Bot has the privilege to freely browse through the website without any restriction! We will just be exploiting this special privilege if Google Bot to our advantage ;)

We will be using a Firefox add-on called User-Agent Switcher.

1. Install this plugin and then go to Tools > User Agent Switcher > Options and then again to Options.

user-agent-switcher-options

2. Select User Agent from the left sidebar and click Add. Now in the description field type, add:

crawl-66-249-66-1.googlebot.com

and in user agent field type:

Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)

user-agent-switcher

3. Select Google Bot as your User Script by going to Tools > User Agent Switcher.

user-agent-switcher-google-bot

4. That’s it! Now browse any website or forum without registering!

Cracking the Root Password Part II

This is the sequel of my post hacking the ROOT

Here i would like to write about a new technique through which we can hack into the root.
This does not have limits... i mean to say this method can be used even if the grub of any system is locked down...
But both my methods the former one in the previous post and the one that i will present here all need physical access to the system...!!

This method requires the live cd.. preferably Ubuntu... since its simple

Insert the live cd and boot from the cd.

You can choose the option " Try ubuntu without any changes to your system"

- you need not have ubuntu installed on your harddrive.. u just need to boot it live.

let ubuntu boot up normally.... now go to System->Administration-> Users and Groups in the menu bar above.
you will have a "user settings" window poping up

just select root , click on properties and set the password by hand.Finally press ok

( sometimes you will also have to unlock , if you are not able to select root )

Now Shoot open the terminal.type su , it will ask for the password you just created.

Type fdisk -l in the terminal window. This will display the list of partitions on the harddrive. we are looking for a linux partition here.
next my linux drive here is /dev/sda2 or /dev/sda3 you will have to mount the partition. since i have two linux installed on my disk, let me work on my sda2 partition
lets create a folder to mount type mkdir /media/linuxpartition to create a directory.
now type mount /dev/sda2 /media/linuxpartition to mount the partition.
Now lets change the root type chroot /media/linuxpartition for my example here.
now you should have the command prompt symbol changed as shown below
Type passwd and enter the new password, and there you go... you have just changed the password for your linux root.
type reboot to restart the machine and login with your new password.. and enjoy...!!!

Reinstall GRUB

Grub, by default, resides in the Master Boot Record(MBR). When you try to install some other boot loader or try to install/reinstall Windows, the grub information in the MBR will be overwritten. So, Grub might have to be reinstalled.

When some/any part of partition information is changed, the grub configuration won’t be automatically notified of it and so, the grub configuration will remain as it is. There maybe many cases in which the partition information maybe changed like when you create an extra partition, which is something trivial and may or may not affect the grub boot loader. However, most of the times, changes in the partition information will result in errors when the grub boot loader is loaded. So, the grub configuration has to be updated and the easiest way is to reinstall Grub.

There are many such cases and in these cases, people tend to treat the effect, more than the cause. By this, I mean people tend to usually reinstall Ubuntu or Fedora or whichever GNU/Linux operating system they are using, through which Grub will be automatically reinstalled. But is it necessary? No, Grub can be reinstalled without reinstalling the entire operating system! In fact, Fedora CD/DVD does offer to reinstall Grub if you choose to upgrade your system. However, I have tried to use that option in many of my friends’ computers and it has never worked! I have no idea why it doesn’t work. So I resort to the easiest fool-proof method I know - COMMANDS @ TERMINAL

COMMANDS TO REINSTALL GRUB:

All you need to do is access the terminal using the installation CD/DVD of your GNU/Linux operating system. Ubuntu installation CD is a live CD and so, when it loads, you can run the terminal from there. Fedora installation CD/DVD offers options through which you will have to choose to upgrade the system using commands(rescue mode).

Once you are at the terminal, you will have to access the ‘grub’ shell to change the grub configuration. So, give this command at the terminal:

$ grub

If it says that you don’t have the permission, in which case you will not have logged in as root(as in Ubuntu), give this command at the terminal:

$ sudo grub

You will get the grub-shell prompt:

grub>

Now, you will have to find out in which partition Grub had been installed before, so that you reinstall in that partition only. Give this command at the terminal:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

(returns value)

It returns the number of the partition in which Grub i.e your GNU/Linux had been installed.

e.g.,

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

(hd0,2)

NOTE:

Sometimes, when Grub has not been installed properly, the file “/boot/grub/stage1″ may not exist. So, the output will be “Error 15: File not found”. In such a case, come out of the grub-shell by pressing “Ctrl+c”. Then, at the shell prompt, give this command at the terminal:

$ fdisk -l

Again, if you are not logged in as root, give this command at the terminal:

$ sudo fdisk -l

The output will list all the partitions and it’s properties, including the file system type.

e.g.,

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 1 654 5253223+ b W95 FAT32

/dev/sda2 * 655 1962 10506510 7 HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda3 1963 3924 15759765 83 Linux

The “System” attribute of your GNU/Linux operating system will be “Linux”. So note down that partition number.

e.g., sda3

Since it’s array numbering, sdaN is mapped to (hd0,N-1).

Just (hd0) will be the Master Boot Record(MBR).

sda1 will be (hd0,0) and so on.

So, sda3 will be (hd0,2)

Now, log into the grub-shell prompt again.

Before reinstalling Grub, you will have to notify the partition that your Grub i.e. GNU/Linux is resided in. So, give this command at the terminal:

grub> root (returned value)

e.g.,

grub> root (hd0,2)

Now, reinstall grub in the MBR i.e. the returned value without number part.

e.g., (hd0)

So, give this command at the terminal:

grub> setup (returned value without number part)

e.g.,

grub> setup (hd0)

Exit the grub-shell prompt using “Ctrl+c”.

Exit the shell prompt using “Ctrl+d”.

PS:

You can also reinstall Grub in your GNU/Linux partition, only if this GNU/Linux partition is “primary” and you have another boot loader installed at the MBR(in case of more than one GNU/Linux operating systems) through which you can boot this primary partition. To do that, give this command at the terminal:

grub> setup (returned value)

e.g.,

grub> setup (hd0,2)

Intrepid- Flash Update Problem

I usually run any updates on a my Ubuntu. For the Flash update in Intrepid Ibex I’ve made an exception: each page I opened that contained Flash (and in these days, which doesn’t?) pulled my CPU to 100%. That’s annoying.

If you have the same problem, just search for the flash update in your Update Manager and install it. Right click in the list, select “Uncheck all” and select only the flash update. After a restart of firefox you should be OK.

In my install the Update Manager started complaining that it wanted to do a Partial update. Don’t worry, just click “Close”.

Overall 8.10 is running extremely well. There are a few bugs that are annoying:

NetworkManager forgets the password if you use multiple wireless networks.
The dimming of the screen still doesn’t work right. If I plug in then it will dim to a fixed value, even if I selected it to be at a lower value. And plugging it in will select a higher value.
Suspend and Wakeup works very good on my Sony. But it seems that changing anything during sleep kills the stability. I mean stuff like: unplug, or plug, the AC or attached (yes, or detach) an external monitor. I understand that’s complicated stuff: you wake up and the world has changed. I have that every day.
I still had to do some tweaking to make the external monitor work. What’s good: at least it tried to adjust the Virtual setting in xorg.xonf.
Compiz still can’t handle more then 2048×2048. Is it just me, or is that a bit outdated?

What I miss in the release is the USP, the killer app, … Of course it’s faster, uses less memory, works better with the hardware, but what makes this release special? It should have been the theme, but that is too weak for me.

It’s going to be a good release. Probably it will bring Ubuntu up to the level where XP was after about 7 or 8 years: stable and just working. Let’s hope the next release will take that step extra that pulls it above M$(yea!, M$) and Apple.

Update UBUNTU 8.04 without internet! (!)

Darn!, I want to install ubuntu, but, unfortunately I have not an internet connection..:(

Is that you question?!..

Err!, Worry not..here's a simple solution to your question..And all that you require is a "genuine friend" who has a system with Ubuntu + packages installed on it..

Use a computer where they have installed basic utility packages or where they have updated ubuntu. The packages will be in the folder “/var/cache/apt/archives”. Copy it to a removable disc or write them on to a CD/DVD (which ever makes you happy(!))”

Assume that the media name is Pen_Drive

Now, give this command in the terminal of that system which is updated(i.e from the place where you intend to copy the packages.
sudo cp -R /var/cache/apt/archives /media/Pen_Drive

Once the copy process is complete.

Unmount the removable device..and then insert this device in you computer..

and follow it up with these commands on the terminal:

cd /media/Pen_Drive/archives sudo cp -R * /var/cache/apt/archives

Now, if you want to install all the packages that is on your removeable device, then, type this command:

sudo dpkg -i *

However, if you want to install just selected packages, give this command:

sudo apt-get update

Then, go to Synaptic Package Manager and install the packages you want.

Rescue a "crashed linux" without re-installing...

"Whilst attempting to boot Fedora from the NTLoader, I recieve the following "message': "GRUB _" (The underscore represents a blinking cursor thing)...

Is that you QUESTION?!!
If Yes,
Then with the grub cursor flashing it sounds like the system can't find grub you might want to do a reload of Fedora .. But DONT DO THAT!, Fixing is is much easier than what meets the eye..:)

You could actually try duel booting using XP boot manager (My Preference. I don't like third party boot managers.)

Run the command
dd if=/dev/hda5 of=boot.lnx bs=512 count=1

If hda5 is Not your boot partition, change it as appropriate. Type: df then determine which hda# is associated with your /boot partition. A file named boot.lnx should now have been created in the root's home directory or where ever you told it to be. Do an ls -l boot.lnx to confirm this.

Mount your pendrive drive use the command mcopy boot.lnx J: Or if your internet is up and running email it to yourself.
Now reboot and go to Windows XP.
J: Copy boot.lnx C:\ (It will land it in C:\ root.)
Double click your boot.ini file and add one line at the end it should read c:\boot.lnx="Fedora 7".
Then save it.
When you reboot your XP boot manager will come up when you chose Fedora it jumps to the Grub Boot manager on your second drive.
Reboot to Fedora and Enjoy!

Mac OS X Dashboard style on Ubuntu 8.04

KDE 4, Windows, and Mac OS all have some sort of desktop widgets. Your Ubuntu desktop can also, using Screenlets. This post will guide you through installing and using Screenlets on Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04.

Compiz’s Widget Layer plugin can be used with Screenlets to achieve an effect similar to the dashboard in Mac OS X. Your Screenlets will only be visible by activating a view that dims the desktop and displays the Screenlets on top of everything else.

In the Appearance Preferences dialog (System->Preferences->Appearance), open the Visual Effects tab and switch to the Custom effects level. If this option is not available, you need to install CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM) first:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Now, open CCSM by clicking the Preferences button. Find the Widget Layer plugin and select the box to turn it on.

For all the Screenlets you want on the Widget Layer, open their right-click menus and select Window->Widget. The Screenlet will disappear from your desktop. Press the default Widget Layer key, F9, to dim the desktop and display your widgets.

Installation

Installing Screenlets
You can keep up-to-date with the latest version of Screenlets by installing it through the repository.

Open your sources.list file to add the repository:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add this line to the end of the file (for Ubuntu 7.10):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gilir/ubuntu gutsy main universe

Add this line to the end of the file (for Ubuntu 8.04):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gilir/ubuntu hardy main universe

Save and close the text editor. Run this command to update apt:
sudo apt-get update

Install the Screenlets package:
sudo apt-get install screenlets

The package python-feedparser may also be required if it is not already installed:
sudo apt-get install python-feedparser

If starting the Screenlets Manager nags you that Gtkmozembed needs to be installed, some Screenlets may not work. Run this command to fix it:
sudo apt-get install python-gnome2-extras

How to take a System backup in Ubuntu!?

It’s a good idea to ensure that you have a backup and restore system in place. Today we’ll see how in a few very easy steps you can setup system backup and restore in Ubuntu. The good part is that there’s no rocket science involved.

In order to achieve this we are going to need software called SBackup. This is not installed by default in Ubuntu and hence we need to install it. First, let’s see a little bit about this wonderful software.

Homepage: http://sbackup.wiki.sourceforge.net/

Description: SBackup is a simple backup solution for Linux. It is generally developed with a Gnome desktop in mind, but will also work in other desktop environments and also on the console.

Features of SBackup

Back up using GUI and hence avoid the terminal.
Restore using the GUI in simple steps.
You can easily setup automatic backup.
Custom choose the files to backup.
Exclude and include files using regular expressions.
Backup files depending on size and extension.
You can also use terminal to backup and restore.

Limitations of SBackup
As of now you can only backup data to local or remote machine. Backing up to DVD or CD is not available as of now. However, it’s not difficult to burn a backup to disk yourself manually.

Install SBackup
Install SBackup from the package sbackup (click the link to install), or by running the command below in your terminal:
sudo apt-get install sbackup

Launching SBackup
In order to launch SBackup go to System->Administration->Simple Backup Config.

Configuring and setting up backups using SBackup
Once you launch SBackup it’ll open a configuration window for you to configure backup and restore.

SBackup configuration window

If you notice, there are three options available for setting up the backup and they are self explanatory. I’d suggest Use recommended backup settings for most users.

However, you can also select Use Custom backup Settings and setup your backups based on various criteria like file size, file extension, etc. You can also add and remove folders from the ones which you want to backup and the ones you don’t. All this can be achieved by navigating to the Include and Exclude tabs and changing settings as per your requirements.

You can also change the destination where SBackup will backup your stuff. This can be achieved by going to Destination tab.

the

By default SBackup backs up your files to your local machine in /var/backup. You can custom choose the location and backup stuff to another machine using FTP or SSH.

Once you have selected the mode of backup, all you have to do is click Backup Now!. You should see a confirmation dialog.

Scheduling Backup
Scheduling backup is as easy as it can get. Just go to the Time tab and setup when you want to backup.

the Time tab

Purging old backups to avoid replication and excessive disk usage can also be setup using the Purge Tab. As I said, in most cases the Use recommended backup settings option is the best.

Restoring the data using SBackup
You can easily restore data from your backup using SBackup restore. You can do a directory-wide restore or just restore the files. To restore the data you’ll have to start the SBackup restore manager, go to System->Administration->Simple Backup restore.

Simple Backup restore

Click on Available backups.
Choose the backup from which you want to restore files or directories.
Select the specific file or directory.
Click Restore.

You’ll be prompted if you are sure, click Yes and your files/directories will be restored.

I hope this guide will make backing up and restoring on Ubuntu a cake walk.

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SOURCE : TNerd.com

Mount ISO images without burning..:)

Some times you want to use iSO images without burning them.If you don’t want to waste your CD’s/DVD’s here is the simple possible solutions using these tips you can mount and unmount ISO images without burning them.

I know two possible solutions

1) Using Nautilus Scripts

2) Using kernel loop module

Now we will see each one in detailed

Using Nautilus Scripts

I am taking this tip from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=87369&page=3 first you need to download two scripts for mount iso images download from www.debianadmin.com/images/iso/mount.sh and to unmount iso images download from www.debianadmin.com/images/iso/mount.sh

Once you have these two scripts you need to change the permissions using the following commands

sudo chmod +x /home/username/mount.sh

sudo chmod +x /home/username/unmount.sh

Now you need to copy them nautilus scripts

sudo mv /home/username/mount.sh ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/

sudo mv /home/username/unmount.sh ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/

That’s it now you are ready for mounting and unmounting your ISO images.

Animate your Ubuntu!

Have some spare CPU cycles to burn? Using a utility called XWinWrap you can use screensavers, videos, and other applications as your desktop wallpaper.

One drawback is that you will not be able to use desktop icons with XWinWrap due to a limitation in Nautilus. Compiz desktop effects are not required, but a fairly powerful computer if you don’t want reduced performance.

Animated Wallpaper

Install XWinWrap
XWinWrap is not available in the Ubuntu repositories, but an easily installable DEB package is available. Download and extract the zip archive, and then install the DEB package from the i386 or x86_64 folder depending on your CPU type.

XWinWrap only works properly for me once I’ve disabled desktop icons. Do so with the following command:
gconftool-2 -s '/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop' --type bool false

Run this if you want to undo and enable desktop icons again:
gconftool-2 -s '/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop' --type bool true

Using XWinWrap
Now you’re ready to run XWinWrap commands to create an animated wallpaper effect. You can start XWinWrap from a terminal or from the Run Application dialog (F2). To exit XWinWrap from the terminal, just press Ctrl-C. To exit XWinWrap when it’s started from the Run Application dialog, run the command below:
killall xwinwrap

While trying out different effects, remember to exit XWinWrap before starting it again.

Animated Wallpaper - Screensavers
This command will start the glmatrix Matrix screensaver as your wallpaper:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID

Here a few other screensavers you can run as wallpaper for a neat effect:

Tunnel:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/atunnel -window-id WID
Toasters:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/flyingtoasters -window-id WID
Plasma (slow speed):
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/plasma -window-id WID -x 30 -s 1

Animated Wallpaper - Video
Using the MPlayer video player, you can use any video with XWinWrap.

Install MPlayer from the package mplayer (click the link to install), or by running the command below in your terminal:
sudo apt-get install mplayer

This XWinWrap command will loop play the video file video.ogg:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- mplayer -wid WID -quiet -loop 0 video.ogg

Once you’ve found an effect you like, you can add the command to the startup programs in System->Preferences->Sessions to load it when you log in.

Animate you Ubuntu!

Have some spare CPU cycles to burn? Using a utility called XWinWrap you can use screensavers, videos, and other applications as your desktop wallpaper.

Animated Wallpaper

XWinWrap only works properly for me once I’ve disabled desktop icons. Do so with the following command:
gconftool-2 -s '/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop' --type bool false

Run this if you want to undo and enable desktop icons again:
gconftool-2 -s '/apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop' --type bool true

While trying out different effects, remember to exit XWinWrap before starting it again.

Animated Wallpaper - Screensavers
This command will start the glmatrix Matrix screensaver as your wallpaper:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glmatrix -root -window-id WID

Here a few other screensavers you can run as wallpaper for a neat effect:

Tunnel:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/atunnel -window-id WID
Toasters:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/flyingtoasters -window-id WID
Plasma (slow speed):
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- /usr/lib/xscreensaver/plasma -window-id WID -x 30 -s 1

Animated Wallpaper - Video
Using the MPlayer video player, you can use any video with XWinWrap.

Install MPlayer from the package mplayer (click the link to install), or by running the command below in your terminal:
sudo apt-get install mplayer

This XWinWrap command will loop play the video file video.ogg:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- mplayer -wid WID -quiet -loop 0 video.ogg

Once you’ve found an effect you like, you can add the command to the startup programs in System->Preferences->Sessions to load it when you log in.

Re-installing grub; After "Windows wipes out Fedora"

"I reinstalled my Windows XP and my grub was fully erased in my Windows’ MBR. I could not boot my Fedora 8 anymore."

Is that your question?!

This could be of big help to you. Just follow the simple instructions below.

Insert your Fedora 8 installer (CD1) and set your boot sequence to your CD.

When the CD is loaded, choose “Rescue installed system” from the menu.

Wait for it to be loaded and follow the wizard.

In the command, check first the name of your partitions,

fdisk -l

It says something like sda, sda1, sda2/hda, hda1, …

In my system, my Windows is installed on my first partition which is the sda.

Change the current directory to /mnt/systimage with a root privilege.

chroot /mnt/sysimage

Install grub to your MBR’s location device, which is the Windows partition

/sbin/grub-install /dev/sda

Perfect! Restart your system and set the boot to your hard drive. It will show you the menu listed your Windows and your Linux.

If these steps will not work, repeat again because this really works.

Upgrade hardy to intrepid!!

Ubuntu 8.10 is the upcoming version of the Ubuntu operating system. The common name given to this release from the time of its early development was “Intrepid Ibex”.

Note: This is still a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released in 30th October 2008.

Important Notes Before Upgrade

Take a complete Back up all your data. There is no guarantee that all will go well.

Remember that this software is still beta at this time. It is not for production machines.

Be sure that you have all updates applied to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS before you upgrade

Procedure to follow

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04, press Alt+F2 and type in “update-manager -d” (without the quotes) into the command box.

---Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release ‘8.10′ is available. Click Upgrade

---This will show you Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex Release notes click on upgrade

---If you are using any third party sources in your /etc/apt/sources.list file it will be disabled at the time of upgrade process click close

---

Testing Your Upgrade

You can check the ubuntu version installed using the following command

sudo lsb_release -a

Output Looks like below

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu intrepid(development branch)
Release: 8.10
Codename: intrepid

Speed up your Comp- The Geek Way!

Over time personal computers tend to slow down - particularly so with those running on Windows. I have heard stories of computers getting so slow that the owner just eventually gave up and bought a new computer instead.

But there are things you can do to speed up your computer.

There are a number of reasons why computers start to run slowly. Some of the most common are viruses and spyware working in the background of your computer, files scattered around your computer hard drive so your machine has to work harder to link them all together, and errors which gently build up on your hard drive.

There is a huge market of companies who make considerable profits sorting these issues out each year but instead I want to tell you about 3 free options that will help you do all of the above. I have been personally testing them for some time now and am really liking what I see so now I want to take a moment to show what I hope will be a few really helpful tips.

Antivirus

Personally I use Norton antivirus and swear by it but Norton *will* cost you some money. I pay for a multi-user license so I can have it installed on my 3 computers and have protection no matter which one I’m on.

However many people swear by AVG which is free. Personally I would only trust a tiny handful of brands as being truly useful. Plenty of people have old versions of antivirus or some other free application but its vital your antivirus is updated constantly. With new viruses being created daily, an antivirus program that doesn’t update online each time you log onto the Internet is probably failing to recognise some viruses and this can be dangerous.

Defragmenting

We download programs, delete files, uninstall software and so on. Over time this turns into a jumble of files and empty spaces on our hard drive and defragmenting hopes ot get rid of this fragmentation. This should therefore seepd up your computer.

Windows itself comes with a defragmentation application so you actually probably already have one right now. The problem is how slow it is. I have over 200,000 files on my main PC and a full defrag takes pretty much a whole night on my PC. That’s too slow for my liking.

However I recently discovered a really nifty tool called Smart Defrag that works cleverly when you’re not using your computer. So if you nip off to the loo, or watch TV, or even to check something in a book, the defrag software realises and jumps into action. As soon as you start using your computer again it goes into sleep mode.

In this way every time your computer is idle it defragments itself a little more, and as soon as you start using it, it goes into sleep mode. So you get the benefits of constant defragmenting (which means you don’t have to remember to do it!) but your PC doesn’t slow down while it’s working. What a great idea!

Registry Problems

There are loads of paid applications when it comes to sorting out registry problems but I have found a free one that works great. Called Advanced WindowsCare V2 this application will look at everything that goes on “under the hood” with your computer and then bring up a list of suggestions about what needs speeding up, improving or fixing. You select what you’d like it to do and it goes for it. I noticed a significant increase in speed personally when I used it and would strongly recommend it to you.

How to find and delete files-All at once..:)

I was trying to delete a list of files with a character '-' in their filenames from a directory, containing lots of other files. Thanks to linux, you get everything you need here.

#find ./directorypath -regex '.*-.*'
lists all the files/directories containing '-' anywhere in the filename or directory name.
-regex allows to give any pattern to do powerful custom search.

To list only the files, add -type f
#find ./directorypath -type f -regex '.*-.*'

To delete all the files/directories with any pattern, just add command to the above line as shown below
#find ./directorypath -regex '.*-.*' -exec rm -rf {} \;

-exec rm -rf {} \;
executes rm -rf (remove forcefully and recursively in case of directory). The files/directories found by find command is passed to the rm -rf command via {}, which deletes them. \; marks the end of the command.

I suggest you first move all the files to some directory, before deleting them, just incase you don't accidentally delete some important files.

Appnr - A Simpler Synaptic

I recently stumbled upon a website called www.appnr.com. Apparently, this happened to be one of the best sites that I have come across in a long time. Appnr has a reservoir of apps(1700+) exclusively for Ubuntu and provides a great way to find and install them. No more apt-gets, add/remove programs or even Synaptic Package Manager. Just click the button "install" and you're done. Leave the rest; your system will take care of it. Appnr is best suited for newbies who find it difficult to use command line or select packages. No more tears! With Appnr, software installation is just a click away. Another wonderful thing about this site is - its FREE! No registration required. You can install the applications straight from the site. With all these pros, I'm still struggling to find some cons for this site. Anyway, I do want to provide some screenshots of how things work.

1. Select a software that you want

2. Click Yes when it asks you to install

3. Downloads Relevant Packages

4. Installs Software

5. Finalizes Installation

6. Completes Installation

7. Installed Software - Works like a Charm!

As simple as that!

Command Line Package Management Utility

Most of the Linux newbies say it is difficult to install softwares on Linux. Well, they are newbies! However, when it comes to installing softwares, a migration from Windows to Linux is always expected with an installation file and some "next" buttons which must be pressed for completing the formalities. Well, everyday cannot be a sunday. You can't expect the same thing to happen in every operating system. I am one of those people who take the shorter route. There is absolutely no need to worry about downloading the relevant packages and compiling them to make a software work. Linux uses a simple command line package management utility which makes the job unusually simple! Yes. One simple command can install a software without you having to monitor the process of installation. What good is an Operating System if it banks on us for something that we want it to do? Anyway, Linux uses this command line thingy to ease our work in installing stuff! Unfortunately, the commands differ with different distributions. But of course, each distribution uses its own package management system. Lets take a look,

yum - Yellowdog Updater Modified

This is used by RedHat Linux and its children Fedora-Cores. To install a software using the yum command, simply type

# yum install (package-name)

To make the whole process automated, add -y

# yum install -y (package-name)

(Wave goodbyes to the crappy "Next" buttons). Now the installation is much more easier than before. Just give the command and the package management system will take care of the rest.
OK! How the hell am I supposed to get rid of this software? Its as simple as you installed it. Just fire the following command and let yum do the talking!! Or cleaning, rather!

# yum remove -y (package-name)

With this, all the dependencies and packages would be removed and your Linux will be a lot cleaner now.

For Ubuntu, we have no dogs! But we do have something called Aptitude. Aptitude is a text-based front-end to the APT (Advanced Packaging Tool). There is hardly any difference between aptitude and apt-get. But people do prefer using aptitude. Both share the same repositories and install softwares. But the difference comes when a software is to be removed. Both aptitude and apt-get remove the dependencies. But aptitude removes those packages that are no longer in use. apt-get fails to take care of this simple, yet important, aspect. Anyway, I would like to introduce you one of the wonders of Ubuntu,

# sudo apt-get install (package-name)

# sudo aptitude install (package-name)

As said before, its easy to uninstall a software. Use remove in the place of install and you're done!

# sudo apt-get remove (package-name)

Of course, -y is always there!!

Okay now. What about SUSE?

SUSE has the famous Yast configuration tool. Yast, which actually stands for Yet Another Setup Tool, has been graded as one of the most efficient package management systems. Like other Linux distributions, Yast is also used for maintaining packages and installations in SUSE. It has various functions like installing software, configuring hardware, setting up networks, etc. Something I like about Yast is that it has a better GUI compared to other package management utilities which makes it easier to navigate and find things. However, the command line installation is done through zypper.

# zypper install (package-name)

# zypper update (package-name)

To uninstall a software, use

# zypper remove (package-name)

Residence of a Software

Where did I install my software by the way?
Well, some of you may find it hard to locate the files of a software that you installed. Unlike windows where almost all the relevant files that are associated with the software go into the folder - Program files or whichever directory that you installed, there is a way to locate the hideouts of the softwares and packages by giving a simple command in the terminal.

# dpkg -L (package-name)

This command tells us where a package is installed (works for Debian based distros). However, the binary files (or executables as what we call it in the usual "windows lingo") are always stored in the folder:

/usr/bin/

This command may come in handy if in case you want to look for the files of the software that you installed.

Geek's Stuff!

Play on Linux

Cracking the root password III

De-Bugging the Web registrations!

Cracking the Root Password Part II

Reinstall GRUB

Intrepid- Flash Update Problem

Update UBUNTU 8.04 without internet! (!)

Rescue a "crashed linux" without re-installing...

Mac OS X Dashboard style on Ubuntu 8.04

How to take a System backup in Ubuntu!?

Mount ISO images without burning..:)

Animate your Ubuntu!

Animate you Ubuntu!

Re-installing grub; After "Windows wipes out Fedora"

Upgrade hardy to intrepid!!

Speed up your Comp- The Geek Way!

How to find and delete files-All at once..:)

Appnr - A Simpler Synaptic

Command Line Package Management Utility

Residence of a Software

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Device	Boot	Start	End	Blocks	Id	System
/dev/sda1		1	654	5253223+	b	W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2	*	655	1962	10506510	7	HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3		1963	3924	15759765	83	Linux