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System reinstalls can be daunting.  To someone who hasn’t done it before, reinstalling any operating system can be a pain in terms of time, confusion, help, and data.  I have found that in most cases, operating systems are reinstalled because of malware or slow system performance.  Unfortunately, many users go back to using their system just as they did before the reinstall, and a vicious cycle develops.  We must remember that to keep our systems healthy and strong, we must optimize usage and learn from mistakes.  Having a good start on a fresh operating system install is extremely important in minimizing the number of times you’ll have to do it again!  For this reason, I have listed the programs in the application suite that I install on every system as soon as I format and reinstall it.  Below is a brief explanation of each of these applications and where you can download them (keep in mind, all of these are free!).

• AVG Antivirus Free Edition - AVG Free provides the safety components that any computer user might need.  It is equipped with basic anti-virus and anti-spyware functionality, as well as safe search and surf LinkScanner technology.  Not only does AVG quarantine and destroy viruses on your system, but it works to try and prevent viruses from installing in the first place!  You can get it here.
• ZoneAlarm Free Firewall - ZoneAlarm Free prevents your data from being available to unauthorized users outside your network.  It also prevents hackers and anonymous individuals from stealing private information such as passwords, personal information, and financial data.  It detects and prevent intrusions, all in a light, easy to use interface!  You can get it here.
• Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free - Ad-Aware (a clever pun on “adware“) is a powerful security application including real-time monitoring, threat alerts, and automatic updates of malicious software including adware, spyware, Trojans, rootkits, browser hijackers, keyloggers, and more!  You can get it here.
• Spybot Search and Destroy - Spybot Search and Destroy is the last security application I install on a fresh system.  Spybot detects and removes spyware applications, and is commonly updated with new detection lists to ensure that as much spyware as possible is removed.   You can get it here.
  
  (Together, the 4 applications above make a nearly unstoppable team when it comes to system safety.  What’s more impressive is that all 4 can work together to identify safety and security issues and prevent/remove them.  Each has a different niche in system safety, and using all 4 together is certainly a very good idea.)

  The next few applications are productivity and common-use programs.  I would say I run these programs almost every time I use my computer.

• Mozilla Firefox - Ah yes, here it is.  The all-in-one, customizable, scalable, safe, and popular browser.  Mozilla Firefox has it all, and what it doesn’t have built in, can be given to it from extensions and addons developed by users and developers!  Refer to this older post for some essential Firefox plugins, and this other post that compares commonly used browsers.  You can get it here.
• OpenOffice - Taken from the OpenOffice website: “OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.”  To put it simply, it’s a free version of Microsoft Office!  You can get it here.
• Adobe Reader - PDFs are becoming an increasingly more common way to transfer and present documents across the web.  PDF is a file format seen often on reference guides, manuals, job/college applications, and more.  Adobe Reader is a free software that can interpret and open these files.  You can get it here.
• VLC Media Player - VLC is an amazingly useful media player.  It can play almost any audio/video format imaginable (specifics are here).  It has tons of cool features, such as online video streaming, aspect ratio customization, subtitle support, and various effects.  You can get it here.Installing these applications after a system reinstall (or even on a working system) will be a great service to your PC.  What’s more to say, you can’t beat the price!

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While it may be pretty cool to have a computer that runs Linux, why don’t you set up a server so you can share your files? This is also extremely useful if you are a web developer and want to be able to test changes to a site locally on your own machine.

I will be using a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) for this tutorial. The instructions should be more or less the same for all of the newer Ubuntu releases and some of the steps may be similar across the other Linux distributions. I will write another tutorial on how to do this on a Fedora box since most people would rather use that distribution as a server; it is all a matter of opinion.

So let’s get down to business! We are going to be installing what is known as a LAMP server. (No, this is not a type of light fixture!) The term, LAMP, is an acronym denoting the capabilities of the webserver:

• Linux - the operating system it will be installed under
• Apache - the web server itself
• MySQL - a database management system
• PHP - a scripting language that preprocesses HTML

You may or may not know what all of that means. If you just want a plain server to play around with HTML or sharing files online, you may just want to install apache and save the rest for later.

Whip out your trusty terminal and we can start installing software packages. Listed below is the code that will install the needed packages:

• sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-server php5 php5-mysql

After running the previous code, apt will have to download a fair number of package files. Before apt begins installing the packages, you will be asked to provide a MySQL “root” password. This is the password you will use to manage all MySQL activity so be sure to set a good password.

Once everything has installed, launch a browser and point it to localhost or the IP address 127.0.0.1. Both of these URLs will point your browser to your newly installed LAMP server. If the page reads “It Works!,” then apache is installed correctly!

All of the files on your server can be found in /var/www on the host machine. Open up a root terminal or type `su -` in a regular terminal (if this fails, chances are you haven’t set a root password yet; you can set it by running `sudo passwd root`). If you are properly authenticated, the terminal prompt should read “root@computer-name:~#” and should now allow you to run all commands as the root user.

You should now change to the server directory by running `cd /var/www/` in the root terminal. Run `ls` and you should see a listing of everything on the server (which should just be index.html at the moment).

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It seems sometimes that your system is only as strong as the software it runs.  Accompanying my last post on Recuva, by Piriform, I have decided to write about yet another Piriform tool that is indispensible as a system optimization utility.  Seriously, get it right now!  You’ll be amazed with it’s user friendliness as well as effectiveness.  The program is called CCleaner (the first C referring to “crap”), and is available here.  CCleaner optimizes your system by dealing with the stuff that is just occupying space and making your computer perform poorly.

CCleaner holds a wealth of features, including temporary files, browser history, cookies, download history, and form history from almost every popularly used browser (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Google Chrome, and Safari).  It also cleans Windows’ Recycle Bin, the recent documents log, other old system logs, and temporary files.  It also removes a wealth of temporary files and recent file lists from many popular programs, including Windows Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Microsoft Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, and WinZip!  To top it all off, CCleaner comes ready to go with a powerful registry cleaner!  For those of you who aren’t sure what the “registry” is - the registry refers to the Windows Registry, which is the heart of your computer’s functionality.  Changing registry values is dangerous if done improperly or without proper guidance.  Additionally, as you spend more and more time on your computer, your system’s registry becomes overburdened and populated with hundreds of thousands of registry keys and “hives” (subfolders).  Registry cleaning software takes care of unreferenced, old, and unused registry values to make your system perform considerably and noticeably better.  While many of these programs are commercial, CCleaner is absolutely free, and garners funds on a donation basis.

All in all, CCleaner is a quick download, and a quick run.  It performs exceptionally well amongst other programs that I’ve tried in this field, and I recommend it to all of you.  It is a critical tool to have on your system (just like Recuva).  Use it!  As usual, contact us or comment for questions!

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Explained below are the folders found in the top-level directory of my Ubuntu 9.04 box. Every Linux distribution is built on a similar hierarchy, so your installation should have a comparable make-up. While some of the folder names are somewhat self-explanatory, other are extremely cryptic, so I will try to explain what each directory is for.

• /bin is where the critical command binaries are stored.
• /boot is where the information needed to boot the system is stored.
• /dev is where the system device nodes are stored.
• /etc is where the system configuration files are stored.
• /home is where individual user files are stored.
• /lib is where essential shared libraries and kernel modules are stored.
• /lost+found is where files recovered during a filesystem check (fsck) are stored.
• /media is the mount point for removable media.
• /mnt is the mount point for mounting a filesystem temporarily.
• /opt is where third party software packages are installed.
• /proc provides information about system processes.
• /root is the home directory for the root user.
• /sbin is where essential system binaries are stored.
• /srv provides information about system services.
• /sys contains system kernel information.
• /tmp is where temporary files are stored.
• /usr is where user binaries, libraries, configurations, and such are stored.
• /var is where variable data such as log files are stored.

I have only given a simplistic description for each directory; if you wish to know more, look up the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) specifications here or check out this site for a more simplistic explanation.

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It’s happened to all of us - even the best.  Losing a file.  Data loss is always frustrating, especially when you’re the one to blame!  Sometimes, we absent mindedly delete a file that we do not intend to.  Sometimes we even miss our target when right clicking or selecting something for deletion.  And worst of all, sometimes we empty the Recycle Bin after doing it!  Although this may seem devastating, there is an easy and tidy solution for getting those files back!

You don’t have to go to your local Best Buy and ask them to recover your data, or even try to use expensive recovery software that does it.  Meet Recuva, a very handy utility by Piriform.  Recuva allows you to (as it’s name implies) recover files that were deleted from the recycle bin, or even wiped by viruses, spyware, and other malware.  You can scan different drives and partitions for those files deleted on each, and recover these files to specified locations on your hard disk.  Recuva has saved me several times from deleting things like 6-page papers to critical system files; it picks up a wide variety of deleted data.  In some cases, I’ve found old files or pictures that I realized that I’d like to keep when browsing through the list of files that I could recover.  After downloading Recuva from the website (or a mirror such as FileHippo), install it to Program Files (if you want it on your computer), or install to a folder and drag it onto a USB/flash drive if you want to carry Recuva around with you (as I do).  After installing, run Recuva and scan for files after specifying your drive letter.  You can sort the files for convenience, and select certain ones to be recovered.  Donate to Piriform if you like their software!  It is available free for use, but remember, it took a lot of work to make it work.  Chip in if you can!

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So you read the previous post and found it useful, but want to schedule tasks in Linux? It works much the same way as in Windows, but there is no GUI as far as I know. Open up a terminal and let’s get started!

To open the cronjob editor, run `crontab -e` as root in the terminal and press enter (using either sudo command or su -c "command"). This should open up a text editor such as nano or vi. Cronjobs are typed one per line in the format of # # # # # command. The number signs represent the time (or times) the command will be run.

The numbers should be entered in the following order (separated by spaces):

• minute (from 0 to 59)
• hour (from 0 to 23)
• day of month (from 1 to 31)
• month from (1 to 12)
• day of week (from 0 to 6)

Any of the above numbers can be replaced by a wildcard (asterisk) and thus allows a command to be run at more than one time. For example, by placing a wildcard in the month column and setting all of the other columns to zero, the command would run once at the beginning of every month at midnight (0 0 0 * 0 command).

You can also choose ranges of times for the command to run; this is specified by two numbers in the same column separated by a hyphen. For example, if you wanted to run a command once every weekday, you could specify the range 1-5 in the day of week column and put zeros in every other column (0 0 0 0 1-5 command).

If you wanted to run the command at more than one time but a wildcard or a range doesn’t fit your needs, you can specify each individual value separated by a comma. For instance, if you wanted to run a command every 15 minutes, you would put 0,15,30,45 in the minute column and wildcards in the other columns (0,15,30,45 * * * * command).

If you want to run the command every five minutes, it may get a bit tedious typing in every single value between zero and 59 that is a multiple of five. A simple solution to this is to use a wildcard followed by a forward slash followed by the incrementing factor. In this case you would have */5 in the minute column and a wildcard in the other columns (*/5 * * * * command).

You think this is too complicated to be useful? Well there are some simple keywords that make using cronjobs easier. All you have to do is replace the five time columns with a keyword (keyword command). Some useful keywords:

• @reboot
• @hourly
• @daily
• @weekly
• @monthly
• @yearly

Each of these keywords causes the command to run at the beginning of each specified period. For example, using the @weekly keyword will cause the command to run once at the beginning of each week.

When you are done editing your cronjobs, save the file by hitting Ctrl-X in nano or hitting Esc and then typing :wq in vi. Have fun making your Linux box as autonomous as you can, it’s really nice to have your computer do most of the work!

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Task scheduling is one of the most underutilized, yet extremely useful capabilities of Windows XP.  The Task Scheduler allows you to do just what it’s name implies - schedule tasks to run at certain times on certain dates, both once or repeatedly!  It is a tool that I have used many times for things as trivial as running iTunes to shutting down my computer, or even more complicated things such as estimating the time it takes to finish a download, copying it to my flash drive, and deleting it from my hard disk!  Here, I will show you how easy the Task Scheduler is to use.

First, navigate to Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Scheduled Tasks.  Next, select “Add Scheduled Task.”  The window should look like this:

Click Next.

Browse for the application you are looking to run.  Many applications are commonly used ones such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.  These kinds of applications should appear under the list of applications present in the window.  If your application is not displayed here, then click Browse… and manually locate your .exe (application) file.  For programs, these files are usually found in the C:/Program Files/%software name here%/ directory.  You can also browse to other standalone .exe applications that were found online or are in your documents by navigating to My Documents and selecting the application.

Click Next.  The window should look like this now:

Enter a mildly descriptive name for your task so you don’t lose track.  Chances are, if you grow fond of this, like I have, that you’ll set up a lot of tasks!  Confusion between these tasks is never good, so you should name your task after the application you wish to run.  Select how often you want the application to run under the Perform this Task section.

Click Next.

Select the time and date for the task to be run on the next screen, and click Next.

Now, enter the login information of the account you want the application to be run as.  For example, if you want to run the application with the username “shahn” , then change the post-slash part (everything after the ) to “shahn”.  Same thing goes for other usernames.  Enter your password, and confirm it too.  This authorizes the task as running legitimately.

Click Next again.  You should be presented with a screen that looks like this:

Click Finish.  Congrats!  You’ve scheduled your first task.  It’s always cool to schedule a task as a test, and have it run once, at a time 1-2 minutes in the future so you can see it run with your own eyes.  It gives a lot of satisfaction to see your computer doing what you want it to do without any user input.  Test it out for yourself, and as always, don’t hesitate to ask questions!

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So you heard about Linux and its amazing desktop effects, but you installed Ubuntu and you don’t see anything special? Most of these advanced effects use the desktop compositing engine, Compiz, preinstalled on every Jaunty installation of Ubuntu. While Compiz comes set with some decent settings, the Compiz Configuration Settings Manager (CCSM) unlocks many powerful customizations and provides a user-friendly interface to present them.

With no further ado, let’s install CCSM and ensure Compiz is installed by running the following code in a terminal: `sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager`.

If Compiz is already installed, a message similar to “compiz is already the newest version” should be output to the terminal. If it is not on your system already, it will be installed along with the settings manager.

Run the command `ccsm` in a terminal, or you GUI-lovers can go to System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager in your Gnome Menu. Once the manager has fired up, take a look at the myriad of possible settings for your desktop effects. The best way to figure out what each option does is simply to play around with them, but I will set you up with a good combination of settings to start out with.

The first point of interest is the Desktop Cube and Wobbly Windows. After all, this is what Linux is about right? Well, not quite. Stick around and we will be discussion much more important uses for such a great operating system. Go ahead and check the boxes beside the Desktop Cube and the Wobbly Windows settings. Go ahead and disable any conflicting options, such as Snapping Windows, when it prompts you for confirmation.

Now grab the CCSM window’s title bar and drag it around the screen? Pretty awesome, huh? (If your windows are not wobbly, run the following command in a terminal to ensure Compiz is initialized: `compiz --replace & exit`). Now drag that same window off the side of the screen. Yeah, you can move windows to other desktops by dragging them! So if you haven’t passed out from the sheer awesomeness of Wobbly Windows, let’s continue setting up the other effects.

What’s the use of a desktop cube if you can spin it? Go ahead and check the boxes beside Rotate Cube, Viewport Switcher, and 3D Windows. Now test it out by hitting Ctrl+Alt+LeftArrow and Ctrl+Alt+RightArrow. Another way to invoke this effect is to press Ctrl+Alt+LeftClick and drag your mouse around the screen.

So a desktop cube may be pretty cool, but a desktop cylinder has to be even better! To transform the cube into a cylinder (or a sphere), enable the Cube Reflection and Deformation option. Go to the settings for this effect because it requires a bit more configuration than the other options. Expand the Appearance subheading under the Cube Caps tab and set the Cube Top Color and the Cube Bottom Color to zero opacity. Remove all of the image files by selecting each one and hitting delete on each one individually. With this completed, go to the reflections tab and clear the checkbox next to the word Enabled, in order to disable it. Now switch to the Deformation tab and choose either the Cylinder or the Sphere deformation and test out the newly enabled effects.

Now you are all set up to use the advanced desktop effects provided by Compiz. If the above instructions are too complicated for you (or you are feeling lazy), you can download this configuration file and import it into CCSM to set up your desktop effects like those described in this tutorial. Right click here and save the CSSM profile to your computer.

Once you have downloaded the profile, head on over to preferences in CCSM (on bottom of the left panel on the application). Click on the Import button and browse to the profile in order to load up the settings. If the changes are not apparent immediately, re-initialize Compiz by running `compiz --replace & exit` in a terminal and retrying.

Mess around with the settings manager; there are many more settings to customize your computer with. Nothing impresses people more than awesome Compiz effects (except perhaps typing crazy commands into a terminal… but we will get to that later).

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There is a method to quick and effective computing.  In Windows, everything can be done via a keyboard.  While it is important that you have a mouse for quick and easy access - keep in mind that some of these keyboard shortcuts can save you the time and frustration of misclicks and mouse mayhem.  These shortcuts, when used with each other, can provide a fluent and fast computing experience using just a keyboard.  You’ll be amazed how much more efficient you will be if you take the time to practice and learn these shortcuts.

Control + C - copy (text or image)
Control + V - paste (text or image)
Control + Z - undo last action
Control + X - cut (text or image)
Control + A - select all items on page (text and images)
Control + Tab - switch tabs inside an application (Firefox, Pidgin, etc.)
Alt + F4 - exit current program
WindowsKey + R - show Run dialogue
WindowsKey + E - show Explorer menu
WindowsKey + L - switch user
Alt + Tab - switch between current application
Control + W - close a tab (Firefox, Pidgin, etc.)
Control + Shift + T - reopens a tab that you’ve just closed
Control + Alt + Delete - displays the Task Manager
Control + F - finds text in current window
Print Screen - takes a screenshot of what you see on your screen at the moment (you can paste this screenshot elsewhere)
Alt + Print Screen - takes a screenshot only of the current application you are using (you can paste this screenshot elsewhere)

Make it a habit to use these shortcuts, and don’t hestitate to refer back to this post if you forget one!  Just keep in mind that the time it will take you to learn these shortcuts depends on how often you try to use them.  They will help you much more than you can imagine in the long run.

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After installing numerous programs, the Start Menu begins to get cluttered up and makes finding the program you want a great challenge. Why should it take you over a minute to locate that elusive shortcut, when you can easily alphabetize the menu?

This is a very simple fix, but does require the modification of the registry. Simply mentioning the registry usually causes unexperienced users unnecessary fear and anxiety; just follow my instructions, and everything will work out fine!

Let us begin by firing up the registry editor. Press WinKey+R or go to Start -> Run… to bring up the “Run Program” dialogue. At the prompt, type in “regedit” (without the quotes) and press enter. If successful, this should bring up the dreaded registry editor.

Now let’s get to business! Over in the left pane, browse down through the registry hierarchy to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\. There, that was the hard part! Now just scroll down in the left pane until you find the “MenuOrder” hive (folder). Highlight it by clicking on it, press delete, and confirm the deletion.

Now all you have to do is wait a few minutes and open up your start menu. You will be amazed by the organization and will soon be able to find any shortcut in a matter of seconds!

NOTE: This is all completely unnecessary on the newer Windows platforms such as Vista and 7 because they automatically alphabetize their start menus (which saves the user from this triviality).

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