Remove the background in desktop shortcuts in Xubuntu

To remove the background color on your Xubuntu desktop do the following:

Open your editor of choice with the sudo command.
E.g. sudo gedit ~/.gtkrc-2.0

Paste the following lines into the empty file:
style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 0
fg[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"
fg[SELECTED] = "#000000" }
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"

Save the file and log off/log in to see the changes. Now your desktop labels will have a white foreground with transparent background.

You can change the #ffffff (white) to any color it suits your desktop colors. Don't forget to change the #000000 (black) to something that will be visible on your wallpaper.

Add a second HDD to ClearOS

Connect to the console on ClearOS.

1. Type fdisk -l to display the list of HDD in your system.
2. Type fdisk /dev/hdb to create a partition on your second drive (in this case hdb). Select P for primary partition, 1 for Partition number and Hex Code 83 (for Linux file system). At the end type W to write the partition.
3. Type mkfs.ext3 -b 4096 /dev/hdb1 to create a filesystem to that partition. Follow prompts.
4. Type sudo mkdir /mnt/DataDrive to create a mounting point call DataDrive (or any other label you see fit).
5. Type mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/DataDrive to mount the DataDrive.
6. Type nano /etc/clearos/flexshare.conf to edit the configuration file that controls the flexshares.
7. Find the line that shows FlexshareDirCustom and change it to FlexshareDirCustom==Disk1:/mnt/DataDrive/ to make permanent the change. Press Control+X to exit nano. It will ask you if you want to save. Say Yes.

Now you can use the second hard drive in ClearOs. I would like to thank all the people with their posts that helped me to be able to add a second HDD (finally) to my ClearOS system.

Oracle Java 7 removal and re-installation

I had some problems with an update on the Oracle Java the other day; it couldn't upgrade. To solve this problem I followed these steps:

sudo rm oracle-java7-installer*
To remove the installer

sudo apt-get purge oracle-java7-installer
To purge the installer from the system

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
To re-enter the repository into the list

sudo apt-get update
To update the list

sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer
To download and install the package

And that was it.

WSUS doesn't report client status

Some times WSUS server will not report the status of client computers into the management screen. If the reset authorisation and reportnow commands don't work try the following:

• Open a command prompt
• Type in:

1. net stop wuauserv
2. REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate" /v SusClientId /f
3. net start wuauserv
4. wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow
5. wuauclt /reportnow 

And that's it. Clients should start reporting back after a refresh in the WSUS.

Fix slow connection to windows shares in Ubuntu 12.04

I had this annoying issue with my Ubuntu 12.04; it wouldn't connect sometimes to a NAS system in my network. Sometimes it would, other times it would say can't connect to share. I was pulling my hair (what ever is left after all those years in IT support) when finally I found a mention to the same problem online. Now there were a few suggestions that unfortunately didn't work for me. At the end I did a bit of mix and match and I got a solution:

open a terminal window and type the following:
sudo apt-get install smbfs winbind


Next type in:
sudo gedit /etc/nsswitch.conf
to open the nsswitch file for editing

There is a line showing the following:
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4

change it by adding the word 'wins' before the 'dns' like so:
hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] wins dns mdns4


One quick reset later, and my Ubuntu would connect to the share straight away!

I would like to thank all the people that contributed to this solution. Unfortunately I can't remember all the web sites I got ideas from, so a big THANK YOU to each and all of you.

Windows firewall is missing in Services

That is mainly due to a virus/malware infection. To repair the registry entries do the following:

*** Taken from http://www.hageltech.com/blog/2012/02/07/base-filtering-engine-problems.html ***

First of all apply the firewall registry fix: 

http://dl.hageltech.com/blog/Firewall-Repair-Windows-7.reg

Then apply the BFE reg fix 

http://dl.hageltech.com/blog/BFE-Repair-Windows-7.reg

Fix permissions in the registry:

1.     Open Registry Editor (type regedit in Start Menu):

2.     Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\BFE\Parameters\Policy

3.     Right-click and select Permissions

4.     Click Add, enter “Everyone” and click OK

5.     Click on Everyone in the list at the top, and check the “Allow Full Control” checkbox below.

6.     Click OK to dismiss this dialog.

**********************************************************

Copy and paste the following to a .bat file and run it as Administrator.

sc config MpsSvc start= auto

sc config KeyIso start= auto

sc config BFE start= auto

sc config FwcAgent start= auto

net stop MpsSvc

net start MpsSvc

net stop KeyIso

net start KeyIso

net start Wlansvc

net start dot3svc

net start EapHostnet

net stop BFE

net start BFE

net start PolicyAgent

net start MpsSvc

net start IKEEXT

net start DcaSvcnet

net stop FwcAgent

net start FwcAgent

If you get an Error 5 for MpsSvc do the following:

Fix permissions on the SharedAccess registry

1.     Open Registry Editor (type regedit in Start Menu):

2.     Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess

3.     Right-click and select Permissions

4.     Click Add, enter “Everyone” and click OK

5.     Click on Everyone in the list at the top, and check the “Allow Full Control” checkbox below.

6.     Click OK to dismiss this dialog.

And that’s it.

Add a Google search function to a web site

To add a Google search function to a web site add the following code:

*form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search" target="_blank"**

*input type="text" name="q" size="31" maxlength="255" value="" /**

*input type="submit" value="Google Search" /**

*/form**

Replace * with < and ** with >

And that's it.

Removing Rythbox from the sound indicator in Ubuntu

To remove, or add another media player, on the sound indicator on Ubuntu do the following:

• Install Dconf-editor (use sudo apt-get install dconf-tools)
• Run it with Dconf-settings
• Navigate to com.canonical.indicator.sound interested-media-players 
• And delete the name of the media player you don't want to have, or ad the one you want.
  

Manually resync local time with Microsoft clock service

To manually sync your computer's local time with Microsoft's time server type the following (or create a batch file) in console window:

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:”time.windows.com” /syncfromflags:manual
w32tm /config /update
net stop w32time
net start w32time
w32tm /resync /nowait

And that's it. No more problems. Just make sure you actually have connection to the Internet because it won't wooooooork.

Creating desktop launchers in Ubuntu 12.04

To create a launcher in the desktop download first Gnome Panel:

Sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel

and then type in this command:

gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

A dialogue box will appear. Add all information and press OK. Your new shortcut is ready.

Adding Java on Ubuntu

To add Java from Oracle and not the OpenJDK just type the following into a terminal window:

Sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

This will download a script that will install Java. The PPA doesn't actually contain files it self.

Replacing AutoCAD in Ubuntu

One of the task I had set on my self to do was to replace AutoCAD with a program that would run on Linux. After alot of searching I found one. It's called DraftSight (http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/).

DraftSight is using the same engine as the AutoCAD alternative in Windows IntelliCad (http://www.intellicad.org/).

The only problem with DraftSight is that running the .deb file by itself is not installing it properly because there are some files missing that DraftSight is not installing by default. Those files can be installed as follows:

1) Open a Terminal window and type in:
sudo apt-get install libdirectfb-extra libxcb-render-util0

2) Install the .deb package using the force option. In this example we assume that the file is located in the Dowloads folder:
sudo dpkg --force-architecture -i ~/Downloads/draftSight.deb


And that's it. Draftsight is a very good AutoCAD replacement. And if you have been working with AutoCAD from the first days of its production (like I did, wow do I feel old now) you will be just fine because it even uses the same key commands as AutoCAD.

So go ahead. Give it a try. It's great!

Release and renew an IP address in Ubuntu 12.04

There is a very simple way to release and renew your IP address under Ubuntu.

To release the existing IP address type in a Terminal window:
Sudo dhclient -r


To renew the IP address type in a Terminal window:
sudo dhclient

And that's it. Simple.

Playing DVDs on Ubuntu 12.04

I finally did it. I have replaced 100% my Windows system with Ubuntu 12.04. I must say it wasn't easy. I had lots of troubles with even the simplest things that I was used to do in Windows, but at the end it was all good.

In the light of this I decided to write down the steps that I took to have the programs/function I had in Windows. Well this is step number 1; how to play DVDs in Ubuntu.

a) Open up a Terminal and type: sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
b) When it finishes type in to the terminal box: sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

And that's it. From now on, you will be able to play DVDs. If for any reason when you restrart the computer, you lost the ability to play them (like it happened to me before) run the step b again. It should do the trick.