Misc Archives - Page 7 of 10 - Yet Another Linux Blog

Speed up your Windows XP Computer!

If you’re like me, you get frustrated on a daily basis with your XP box. I hate to see people slow themselves down with spyware, adware, and virus’ so I have decided to share my secrets to speeding up your Windows XP Computer!

Boot into Windows XP
Hit F8 every 2 seconds until you’re given the option to boot into ‘Safe Mode with Networking’
Now your computer should be blazing because none of that nasty spyware is running.

Now that you are able to finally operate your computer, let’s speed it up even more.

Download This File (note: it may take quite some time based on your connection speed)
Once the download is finished, get This Program, and install it.
Using the program you installed from #2, burn the file downloaded from #1 to CD.
After burning is finished, put the disc back in your CD tray and reboot the computer

Now you’re halfway done! Soon your Windows XP computer will be operating very fast with zero virus’ and absolutely NO spyware!

After reboot, enter into your BIOS…if you don’t know how, there is a list on this page that contains which key to hit to get into your BIOS.
Set your computer’s boot order to: 1. CD 2. Hard drive 3. Whatever else you may have.
Exit and Save the BIOS.

Allow your computer to boot. If you’re presented with the opportunity to enter text onto a line, just hit enter. You should see much text flying across the screen. Rest assured, this is part of the remedy of a slow XP computer. Soon, you’ll come to a screen that looks like this:

Click the guest icon and enter the password ‘guest’
Allow the login to take place.
YOUR improved Windows XP Computer is complete! It will now operate without virus’, spyware, adware, and will be extremely fast and efficient! Enjoy your new and improved speedier desktop!

Disclaimer: The above instructions allow you to use the PCLinuxOS LiveCD and is intended for educational purposes only. These directions are provided to you ‘as-is’ and since they are for educational purposes only, they should be attempted only by those that desire to be educated. Do not try this at home unless you feel really really ticked off about Virus laden, spyware riddled, adware inundated Windows computers. I am not responsible for how you use the above information, use it at your own risk. If you’d like to install this operating system onto your hard drive, please see this link for more information. Please rest assured, this article is for entertainment and exposure purposes only.

Old Hard Drive, Bad

I’ve had some trouble brewing at home. Had a 120 GB Share go down 2 weeks ago and I’ve had major problems trying to get my much needed data back from the drive. I lost almost everything as far as settings, passwords, games, etc. But, life goes on right? The only problem is that I’ve had to order a new drive to use for Linux since I’m using the old Linux drive for my main computer which, due to work, must run Win XP. So I’m down and out and have been for about 2 weeks now. I ordered a hard drive and it came in this past week so it shouldn’t be too much longer before I’m able to get back into things. Unfortunately, not having a working computer for about a week and not having the info I needed put me in a fix for Kapps and articles. Look for entries to resume on a more normal schedule this next week. Thanks for reading and sorry for the lack of articles.

Updates on Kapps

A thousand apologies for not updating my Kwhat? category. I’ve had to shuffle things around quite a bit here at the house (computer-wise) and am now the proud owner of a Slackware 10.X server running on a PII 350Mhz with 512MB of PC100! I had a RAM slot in my server mobo go bad so I was down for a few days while I moved motherboards from case to case. Back up now, but had to reinstall my favorite desktop distro in order to get back into the KWhat? mood.

Not to mention I’ve worked 50+ hours in the past two weeks on big projects. So, now that I have time to breath this weekend…I’ll look to finally getting into the Kswing of things. I hope to cover something I find handy like Kid3, KCheckGmail, and KLinkStatus along side of something that comes installed by default like Klipper (something that most of us see but never use even though it is a powerful little tool). So look for something to pop up this weekend and once again, sorry to those of you who were waiting for me to get my rear end in gear and publish something.

UPDATE: I’ve had some last minute contact with developers and am trying to incorporate this into the article. Please look for this to publish Wednesday or Thursday. I’ve selected Klipper as the KWhat? application we’ll be looking at.

1 Week to Go…Donate and Win 2 Laptops and More!

Previously, Yet Another Linux Blog posted an article about co-sponsoring a donation drive with Lobby4Linux.com. That drive is still up and running until 11:59 PM CST on 14 August 2005. If you donate through Lobby4Linux.com and remember to provide your email address, you’ll be entered in a drawing various prizes. What prizes? I’ll let Helios from Lobby4Linux fill you in:

“Lobby4Linux proudly displays the first place prize for the donation drawing to be held live on the 15th of August. Now how can you go wrong with 2 used laptops and a printer? Hey…didja think this was a high Class operation? Actually these machines are great for accessing the internet, printing and just plinking around. Both machines have successfully run Debian and are very useful. While the photo,which can be viewed here, is not the best our intentions are and you have helped us help one of our own. Please remember the donation drive is open until 11:59PM CST 14 August, 2005 and your donation qualifies you for the drawing. Second place is a Linux-compatable DVD burner, third and fourth places receive a Cisco 1600 series two port router and the next five winners will receive a registered copy of MyBooks Pro from Appgen. Thank you again for your generosity. It will not go. un-noticed.”

Remember also that all proceeds from this donation drive are going to save a prominent Linux website from going under. The webmaster lost their job and is in danger of losing their residence as well. All donations through this drive will go to that website. Of course, I am withholding the name of the webmaster through request. Trust me when I say it is a major Linux site that does Linux news and many, many distro reviews.

Some of you may be saying, “Well, so what? How do I know where this cash is going? How can I be sure that it is going ‘to a good cause’?” Think of it this way. Lobby4Linux is a community run site that will donate the cash it raises to an open source or Linux project that is voted on by the community. So you can’t go wrong by donating because the money will always go back to open source. Helios, the author and creator of Lobby4Linux, already owns and operates a successful business and isn’t doing this for profit. In fact, he’s already spent appx. 20 thousand dollars over the past couple of years trying to expand the Linux message. Helios is doing this because he wants to see Linux and open source proliferate throughout the world. So, at the very least, you’ll be donating to open source indirectly.

Yet Another Linux Blog was happy to give the two first place prize laptops to this cause and I support this donation drive 100%. If you’d like to win some hardware and software and have 5 or more bucks to give toward open source, get on over there and give some cash. Hopefully, we’ll be able to raise enough money to save a gem of a Linux website. Thanks for helping out and good luck in the drawing.

Donate to a Good Cause, Win a DVD Burner and More…

A lot of us take what we have for granted. We often look at that lazyboy recliner or that big screen TV. We look at our 5 or 6 computer network and our PVR and just sigh, not ever thinking twice about those that aren’t able to have what we have. Most of you have probably heard this more than once from various charities and organizations around the world or in a city near you. Outside influences and rotten luck often cause people to lose their house, their land, their cars, and subsequently their livelihood. What happens if someoone is pinkslipped from their job and is in danger of losing their house? Most of the time, this would go unnoticed and people would kick back and switch channels on the Sony 47″. This time, it’s different.

A major Linux website webmaster is in trouble. They’re in danger of losing house, home, and practically anything that isn’t bolted down including their site which has been around for quite some time. To help this person, Lobby4Linux.com and “Yet Another Linux Blog” have teamed up to hold a Drawing for those who donate to help save this Linux site AND this webmaster from the dire straits (not the 80’s band either) and to help keep this website and this webmaster afloat until they’re back in the proverbial saddle again.

Therefore, if you donate to help this pillar of the Linux community, (using the Lobby4Linux paypal link and include your email and name) you will be added into the fray for a drawing where the winner will win a Linux compatible DVD Burner and five runners up will receive a licensed copy of Apgens MyBooks Pro.

As more incentive to donate, Yet Another Linux Blog is adding two older model laptops for a prize package…A Panasonic CF-75 Toughbook and an IBM 755c Thinkpad. Both have had hard drive upgrades (10GB in the Toughbook and I think 2GB in the Thinkpad) and both will work with Linux (Debian installed on both quite easily) and each comes with a nice carrying case/backpack. I’ll leave it up to Helios, webmaster and organizer of the donation drive at Lobby4Linux.com to decide which place in the drawing will receive the laptops since I feel they should be offered together.

Once again, you won’t be entered into the drawing unless you donate! Get over to Lobby4Linux.com now and donate to this good cause and enter yourself in the drawing to be held on 15 August 2005. Don’t forget to add your name and a valid email address so you can be contact if you win in the drawing.

Thanks for helping out and let’s hope that we can save this site from going under.

Edit: I’ve been asked not to reveal the identity of the person or site until after the 15 August deadline. I know it sucks quite a bit for those donating…but I respect this person’s wishes.

Think of it this way…if you donate to Lobby4Linux anyway, you’d be donating to open source since Ken doesn’t take any cash for himself (except to cover the cost of webhost) since he has his own business and does fine without income from a website. So if you donate, you have nothing to lose and some hardware/software to gain.

The cool part is that if you donate now, Lobby4Linux will give all donations to save a major Linux site. It’s a win win situation. Thanks again if you donate!

Shhh…you’ll wake the Linux…

Shh…Microsoft is up to something. When isn’t Microsoft up to something? Usually never. Redmond has quietly been developing something in the background to silence the Linux rise in the business sector and perhaps even the educational field.

Linux has been attracting much attention as a cost saving alternative to Windows in the school system. Indeed, Linux is a very thrifty way of changing all of those Pentium II and III’s into a nice internet PC or email computer. An alternative way of configuring Linux in education is through using each computer as a thin client. In this arrangement, a central ‘server’ computer would be the main computer to which each satellite PC would ‘log in’ to and would run programs remotely using this server. This means that each satellite can have NO HARD DRIVE. Most of you probably already know about K12 Linux and The Linux Terminal Server Project. But did you know that Microsoft has been quietly readying their own “thin client” to battle Linux in this arena?

That’s right, Microsoft has begun development of a Lean or Thin Client OS Codename “Eiger” and you can bet that businesses are not the only ones Redmond is eyeing to push this ‘thin client’ on. While it is not technically a terminal server style computer, it would work on a 500MB hard disk with 1GB recommended and 64MB of RAM. If my memory serves me right, a Pentium II Dell or Gateway would be right up that alley. These machines could be configured remotely using standard IT deployment methods. While I think they’ll probably nail this in the business market, I don’t think they’ll be able to make it stick within the educational arena. Most schools have decentralized networks with a volunteer IT person to take care of things…I just don’t think it will hold water there though.

I just think back to a time when we configured about 10 computers using K12 Linux Terminal Server in a small community college. Nothing can match the power of a properly configured Linux thin client….and then there was the best part…you only had to install updates to ONE COMPUTER…not to mention zero virus threats (well, actually about 4 I think but you gotta be really dense to get a Linux virus). Very nice. Let’s see Macrocrud match that one.

In the meantime, remember that Linux can run quite nicely using 4MB of RAM and a Pentium 75Mhz CPU or equivalent and still remain quite productive. It’s a shame that businesses didn’t know that one…they might have kicked their Windows 95 boxes to the curb.