How to share files and folders in Ubuntu

This brief tutorial will outline how to enable file sharing in Ubuntu.

SimpleHelp.net

Tux4Kids

Tuxmath and Tuxtype is a great way to teach kids.  Available for Linux, Mac, or Windows.

Tuxtype can teach kids to type at early age.  Tuxmath is an asteroid like game were you have to enter the answer to common math problems for points and advance to next level.  If your 4th grader beats out your 6th grader, it may be time to introduce him to these Tux games.

sudo apt-get install tuxmath tuxtype tuxtype-data-nonfree

windows binaries here.

Tux4kids

Get XP Updates or Change Invalid Product Key

If your windows installation has issues, or for some other unmentionable reason is unable to get updates from the windows server, this is what you need to do.

TECH-RECIPES

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Chrysler to shut down 789 dealers

The company stated this action will help improve the landscape of
the Chrysler dealership network following the sale and enhance the full
line portfolio of Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler products for customers. 

Download a complete list of the facilities being closed.

slashexec and pidgin plugins

The SlashExec plugin provides a command line interpreter for Gaim, much like XChat, Irssi, BitchX, and other IRC clients do.

On UNIX-like platforms (Linux, *BSD, etc.), the command you give to /exec will be executed with your user account's shell. For example, if you type

/exec ls -1R | sed 's/ /\\ /'

into a Gaim conversation and if your shell is /bin/bash, SlashExec will execute

/bin/bash -c "ls -1R | sed 's/ /\\ /'"

On Windows systems, however, commands will be executed with "cmd.exe /c". This means that Windows ME users will be unable to use /exec. Pipes may or may not work.

As the above example indicates, piped command lines will work if your
shell supports them; this is a major change from the previous releases
of SlashExec, which were separate from the Plugin Pack.

Adding the -o flag to /exec causes SlashExec to send the output to the conversation (i.e. the buddy or chat receives the output). For example, /exec -o ls -1R | sed 's/ /\\ /' will cause the output to be sent.

Note that the plugin ID has changed since incorporating SlashExec into the plugin pack, which means you will need to unload or remove previous releases of SlashExec before attempting to use the current version.

Bangexec features
As many Gaim users recall, there used to be a plugin for Gaim 1.0.0 to Gaim 1.5.1dev called bangexec.

Since that plugin's author no longer has the time to maintain his
plugin, we have absorbed its features into SlashExec. You can do the
following:

• !command - executes command, sends the output to the conversation (i.e. the buddy or chat receives the output), and displays it locally.
  
• !!command - executes command and displays the output locally only.
  
• !!!command - sends the literal text !command to the conversation (i.e. the buddy or chat receives the output).
  

Both the /exec and !command functions are optional.

3 Best Firefox Extensions / Addons

  Adblock Plus

Adblock Plus blocks most annoying ads online and you customize which ads to block.  I might consider another browser, but NONE of the competition even comes close.

  User Agent Switcher

User Agent Switcher is used to test one thing, is the website or web application blocking access to their site from Firefox Linux?

  ScribeFire Blog Editor
This is probably the best Blog editor available today for Windows or Linux.  It just happens to be a Firefox Extension!  I use ScribeFire to post to my blog here at Blogger.  ScribeFire opens right below the currently opened tab in Firefox which not only makes it the perfect editor but also a great research tool.

Chrysler's Kiss of Death

While reading a story on CNN about a Chrysler dealership in a small town in Georgia losing it's trademark,,,

cnn story (Claxton Chrysler)

I think this statement pretty much explains it...

"Womack intends to stay in business as a used car dealer after the agreement with Chrysler ends June 9, but it will be a very different operation. With no warranty work, the service and parts departments will be closed, Shontz said."

You mean a dealership doesn't have any customer pay tickets, no payin' customers?  Yeap, that pretty much sums it up.  They price themselves out of business over the years just like the car manufacturers by raising the prices and adding on hidden fees and services to the bill.

Hardly nobody goes to a dealer any more - unless they "think" it's under warranty!

Anybody who didn't see this coming must have been on another planet.

A General manager for a GM dealership told me 3 years ago that GM wanted all it's brands under one roof.  Nothing new is happening with the closing of dealers.  Most everybody in the biz seen this one coming long before it was public knowledge.

I once thought that the problem to high car prices was because of easy financing.  I always said, if everybody had to pay cash then you could purchase a car for what it was really worth.  I now believe this theory was dead wrong.  I never realized that in reality, they would just stop making cars instead of cutting executive salaries and lowering prices.

Theses people, investors, executives, those running the car manufacturing business, could care less about the company, the brand, retirees, or traditions.  All they care about is how much money they can put in their pocket in the shortest amount of time.  It surprises me they held out this long.

Best blog editor

ScribeFire is an extension for the Mozilla Firefox Web Browser that integrates with your browser to let you easily post to your blog: you can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.

Install ScribeFire Now »

Are you a Goodyear dealer?

It seems that Goodyear dealers get a deal on ALLDATA access. Much better than most indy shops :(

Windows 7 - Display Downloads folder on Start Menu

Want to show "Downloads" folder on Windows 7 start menu?

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and choose "Properties".

2. The "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" multi-tabbed dialog box appears. Click the "Start Menu" tab.

3. Click the "Customize" button.

4. The "Customize Start Menu" dialog box appears. Underneath "Downloads" click the "Display as a link" or "Display as a menu" radio button.

5. Click "OK" on the dialog boxes to close them.

New Windows 7 Tips

Speed up the taskbar’s thumbnail display

For myself, the delayed response in hovering over icons in the
taskbar can be annoying when I’m trying to get work done quickly. With
a little registry tweak you can speed it up and get things done quicker.

1. Press WinKey + R to bring up the run command, type regedit, and press enter.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Mouse and double click MouseHoverTime
3. Change the value from 400 to 50 (or whatever value you want, the delay time is in milliseconds) and press the OK button.
4. Restart your computer and voila! Faster response time.

Disable minimize/maximize animations

The minimize/maximize animations don’t really add any functionality
and all it does is make the operating system seem slower. Disabling the
minimize/maximize animations will make your system feel snappier.

1. Bring up your start menu and click Control Panel
2. Navigate to System and Security > System and click Advanced system settings located on the left sidebar. Under Performance click the Settings button.
3. Select the Custom option and uncheck the box next to Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
4. Click OK and the settings should be applied instantly.

See all possible tasks in control panel

Tired of navigating through all the links in Windows 7’s control
panel? Well with this trick you will be able to see all tasks in the
control panel in an easy to navigate list.

Notice how there are 281 tasks available

1. Right click the desktop and click New > Shortcut.
2. For the location put explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and click on the Next button. Proceed to name your shortcut and click Finish.
3. Double click your newly created shortcut and enjoy!

Use the new hot keys available in Windows 7

Some of the hot keys are very easy to remember and can be useful to
speed up your daily tasks. I haven’t listed all of them, just a few
that I found were useful.

• Maximize Window - WinKey + Up
• Minimize Window - WinKey + Down
• Snap Window to Left - WinKey + Left
• Snap Window to Right - WinKey + Right
• Peek at desktop - WinKey + Space
• Maximize Window - WinKey + Up

For a more complete list of hot keys, visit Neowin.net forums.

Other cool features

There are some other cool features available in Windows 7 that might
not be completely obvious at first. Here are some neat ones I found:

• Peek at desktop (Aero Peek) - Hover your mouse to
  the right of the date/time area of the taskbar (or if you have your
  taskbar set on the left/right side it is below the date/time).
• Minimize all windows besides focused one (Aero Shake)
  - Click and hold the titlebar of an existing window and shake it. All
  other windows will be minimized. Shake the window again to restore all
  windows.
• Close windows with middle click (scroll button down)
  - Go to your taskbar and mouse over an icon to bring up thumbnails of
  existing windows. Middle click on any thumbnail to close out of it.
• Snap a window to the left/right - Drag a window to
  the left/right side of the screen to snap it to that side. Drag it to
  the middle of the screen to unsnap it. This feature is great for
  comparing documents.
• Maximize a window by dragging it to the top - You can maximize a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, similar to the feature above.
• Access Jumplists - Right click on any icon in the
  taskbar to access its jumplist. A jumplist allows you to access certain
  features of the program without even opening it. For example, the
  jumplist for explorer allows me to access frequently accessed documents.

Update: Tim Sneath, a Microsoft employee, has posted his own tips via his MSDN blog. Check it out for additional tips and tricks. It is really quite useful.

Thunderbird Global Inbox

When creating a new account

When you create a new POP mail account in Thunderbird, the Account Wizard will ask if you want to use the Global Inbox for that account. If you do, then make sure that the box for this feature is checked. If you don't, then make sure the box is unchecked.

If you often create new accounts, you can set the default in the Account Wizard by setting the preference mail.accountwizard.deferstorage to true (to check the box by default), or false (to clear the box by default). In a new Thunderbird profile this preference does not exist initially, so you must create it as a new Boolean preference.

Changing the Global Inbox setting for an existing account

To change the Global Inbox setting for an existing account, you need to follow three simple steps.

Change the destination Inbox

Go to "Tools -> Account Settings -> Server Settings" and click on the "Advanced" button. A dialog box will then pop open.

To set the account to use the Global Inbox, select "Global Inbox (Local Folders Account)" and click "OK".

Important: if the account already has messages in the Inbox or other folders, you should copy or move these messages into Local Folders before setting the account to use the Global Inbox. If you don't copy or move the messages into Local Folders and you set the account to use the Global Inbox, the account will no longer be displayed in the folders pane and you will not be able to access those messages unless you go back and undo the Global Inbox setting.

To set the account to not use the Global Inbox, select either "Inbox for this server's account" or "Inbox for different account" and click "OK".

Check settings for other folders and filters

After you have changed the account's setting for which Inbox to use, see if any of the following need to be changed:

• Go to "Tools -> Account Settings -> Copies & Folders", and look at the destination folders for Sent, Drafts, and Templates. Make sure that the messages for each will be stored in your preferred folder locations.
• If you are using junk-mail filtering for the account, go to "Tools -> Account Settings -> Junk Settings" and verify that the folder selected for Junk messages is the one you want to use.
• If you have set up any filters, go to "Tools -> Message Filters" and make sure that they will work properly with your new Inbox configuration. Especially important if you are changing an account so that it will start using the Global Inbox: if you have set up any filters that sort messages into any of the folders for the account, you should disable/delete those filters or change the destination folders.

Exit and restart Thunderbird

Important: exit Thunderbird and restart before downloading mail into any account whose Inbox/Global Inbox setting you've changed. If you do not exit and restart, messages might continue to download into their "old" locations (e.g., into the individual account Inbox rather than the Global Inbox). Furthermore, you may lose current messages in the old mail folders!  It's best to setup Global Inbox when you create the account!!!

Fravia – Famous software cracker/hacker dies

 

Fjalar Ravia (1952–2009), better known as Fravia, was a European software reverse engineer, who was probably best known for his web archive of reverse engineering techniques and papers. He died of cancer on May 3, 2009

I didn’t see anything in the regular news channels about his death, and thought it was worth mentioning.

Fravia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Searchlores.org

ResSwitch & ResCopy

WORKS WITH WINDOWS 7!

Tired of using the Windows Control panel to quickly change your graphics cards display mode. This program uses the command line sent to it, to change the display mode. With this structure you can create a number of shortcuts to ResSwitch on your desktop using different command lines which will allow you to change mode with a simple double click on your desktop. By setting up shortcut keys in the shortcut file to ResSwitch you can quickly change modes by just using the keyboard only.

Also included is ResCopy which is a simple dialog based app which lists all the display devices and available display modes which ResSwitch can use. It also allows a filename to be specified via its command line, using this will just output the available display devices and display modes to that file a line at a time without displaying the dialog.

The enclosed zip file contains the ResSwitch and ResCopy source code, and some MFC classes to wrap access to the two underlying API's ResSwitch and ResCopy uses and a prebuilt binary version of both programs. The enclosed binary requires that you have the MFC 6 DLLs already installed. If you haven't already got them on your machine (MFC42.DLL in your Windows system directory), then grab them from http://www.naughter.com/download/vcredist.exe

ResSwitch & ResCopy v1.24

Windows 7 Release Candidate Customer Preview Program

 

Thank you for testing the Windows 7 Beta. You're playing an important role in helping deliver the best version of Windows yet. Now, we hope you'll join us for the next part of the Windows 7 journey, testing the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC).

This is the really fun part of the testing process: you help by simply using the RC. When you do, your PC will automatically and anonymously send our engineers the information they need to validate the changes and fixes they made based on the Beta tests and your feedback.

Read this first

Here's what you need to know before you get started:

• You don't need to rush! The RC will be available at least through July, and we're not limiting the number of downloads or product keys. So you have plenty of time.

• Installation: If you are running Windows 7 Beta you’ll need to back up your data (preferably on an external device) and then do a clean install of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Then, you’ll need to reinstall applications and restore your files. If you need help, please see the Installation Instructions.

• Tech details/updates: before installing the RC, please read the Release Notes and Things to Know for important information about the release.

• Routine news: For day-to-day news, keep an eye on the team blog. And, you can get non-technical news, tips, and offers by subscribing to the monthly Exploring Windows newsletter.

• Back up your data: We know you know this already, but please back up your data and please don't test the RC on your primary home or business PC.

• Keep your PC updated: To get critical updates, be sure to turn on automatic updates in Windows Update.

• Remember expiration dates: Please plan ahead for the Beta and RC expiration dates. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to rebuild your test machine using a valid version of Windows before the software expires. Windows will notify you that the expiration process is beginning and two weeks later your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. The Beta expires on August 1, 2009, and bi-hourly shutdowns will begin July 1, 2009. The RC will expire June 1, 2010, and the bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1, 2010. In both cases, you’ll need to rebuild your test PC to replace the OS and reinstall all your programs and data.

Get the download

Both the 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 RC are available in five languages: English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish.* Just choose the version that fits the system you'll be using for the test, pick your language and click go to register for and download the software.

Downloading Windows 7 RC could take a few hours. The exact time will depend on your internet provider, bandwidth, and traffic. The good news is that once you start the download, you won't have to answer any more questions – you can walk away while it finishes. If it gets interrupted, it'll restart where it left off. See this FAQ for details.

Windows 7 Release Candidate Customer Preview Program

How to read your Slashdot emails in Outlook 2007

 

The Solution

1. In Outlook, click on your Inbox folder so your emails are shown on the screen.
2. Chose the menu item "Tools->Macros->Visual Basic Editor".
3. Cut and paste the following code into the main editor area...

   	Sub FixSlashdot(Item As Outlook.MailItem)
   		Item.BodyFormat = olFormatHTML
   		Item.HTMLBody = Replace(Item.HTMLBody, "FONT SIZE=2" , "FONT face=courier SIZE=2" )
   		Item.Save
   	End Sub	

   
   



4. Close the Visual Basic window.



5. Choose the menu item "Tools->Rules and Alerts..."



6. "New Rule...", "Check messages when they arrive", "Next>"



7. Check "with specific words in the sender's address"



8. Click on the words "specific words" in the lower window and enter "slashdot@slashdot.org" then "add" then "ok"



9. Click "Next>" then check "Run a script".



10. Click on the words "a script" in the lower window and then select the FixSlashdot script we created above and click OK.



11. Click finish followed by OK.



12. You're done! You can even do "run rules now" to fix any amputated slashdot emails already sitting in your Inbox.

Now Outlook will automatically run the FixSlashdot script on each slashdot email the instant it arrives in your inbox. Basically all the script does is to tell Outlook to display the email as HTML rather than plaintext. Apparently the Outlook HTML rendering engine is more forgiving than the plaintext one. The "replace" just sets the font to courier because Slashdot emails just don't look right unless they are in a fixed point font. You can change the font or size here to anything you want as long as it is in keeping with the Slashdot aesthetic (no hevetica).

How to read your Slashdot emails in Outlook 2007