Tech Tips and Tricks By IT Geeks

Monday, February 1, 2010

How to Install BitDefender in Ubuntu

BitDefender is a program to check for Windows viruses and malware. It can be run in the background or on demand when required. Once installed it can be found under Applications - Systems Tools. It can be used as an alternative to clamav/clamtk.

Installation

Add the repository by going to System -> Administration -> Software Sources and click on the 'Third

Party Software' tab. Now click on 'Add' and copy+paste the following line:
deb http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/

bitdefender non-free

Click on 'Close' and press 'Reload' when prompted. Ignore the 'No repository key' error (if displayed). To add the repository key open a Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and copy+paste the following lines::

wget http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/bd.key.asc
sudo apt-key add bd.key.asc

Now update the sources list:

sudo apt-get update

To install the graphical interface and command line program copy+paste the following line:
sudo apt-get install bitdefender-scanner-gui

Once complete you now need to log out and log back in again. a menu shortcut will be generated (Applications -> System Tools -> BitDefender Scanner).

Before running the scanner it's probably best to install the latest virus/malware signatures by clicking on the 'Update' button.

License

BitDefender comes with a standard 30 day free license, when first installed. It is free for private and personal use - the license can be extended to one year by requesting a new license key fromhttp://www.bitdefender.com/site/Products/ScannerLicense/ For all business use a paid for license is required.

[Via link]

Enable Automatic Login in Ubuntu 9.10 Server

Ubuntu makes it easy to enable automatic login if youá��re using a login manager such as GDM. I was recently setting up a minimal Ubuntu 9.10 system with an LXDE desktopand no GDM. Hereá��s how I enabled automatic login.

Note: This was tested on Ubuntu 9.10. Previous versions of Ubuntu require different procedures because of changes to the way Ubuntu boots.

Open /etc/init/tty1.conf as root:
sudo nano /etc/init/tty1.conf

Change the last line of this file to (where USERNAME is the username of the user you want to log in):
exec /bin/login -f USERNAME < /dev/tty1 > /dev/tty1 2>&1

Reboot, and the user you chose should be logged in automatically after boot. If something goes wrong, you can switch to a different TTY with CTRL+ALT+F2 and log in normally.

If you want this user to be logged into a graphical environment instead of just a shell, thereá��s more work to be done. Open your userá��s .bashrc file:
nano ~/.bashrc

Add the following to the end of the file:

if [ $(tty) == "/dev/tty1" ]; then
 startx
 fi

This code will start X (the graphical environment) whenever the user logs in on TTY1. You can add more code after startx that will be executed if the user logs out of X.

[Via Link]

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Find your Lost or stolen Blackberry–BerrySnooper to the rescue

Let me confess, I never wanted to be a BlackBerry user and ever since I was forced to use my first RIM device, I have always been carrying one, it's been a few years now. I'm not that forgetful in general but I do forget my BlackBerry at places at times, and am usually not sure where I left it. Was that in my car or at home? Did I drop it somewhere or is it safe or not? Calling a lost phone to ring it, itself is an invitation to a thief if you left it at a public place. Does this happen to you too?

BerrySnooper is a great software by pepper.pk that you can install on your BlackBerry and find the peace of your mind. I have BerrySnooper installed on my phone and whenever I forget it somewhere, I send a text or email message to my own phone to find its current location. As a response I get the address (in text) and a map showing exact location of the phone. Here's BerrySnooper's official video that explains its working.

Moreover, if somebody has stolen my phone, obviously he will not use my SIM. He will throw my SIM card away and will put his own card in the phone to use it. As soon as the phone boots and finds out the change of Sim, it will start sending me location updates, at least in text if not in email format. I will have a good chance to go catch the thief.

Here is a typical use-case for BerrySnooper:

Lost or forgot my phone somewhere? I'll send it an SMS or Email.
Phone will find out its own location
It will send back an SMS and Email to me with the address as well as a map of the location.

You can see a detailed walk-through of BerrySnooper here in my post.

via [telecompk]

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

[UPDATE] Change DNS Settings on the Fly Using DNS Jumper v1.0.3

Recently we blogged about "DNS Jumper" which is a small and portable utility which helps you in easily switch to Google Public DNS, Open DNS or other similar DNS services.

Now a new version of this small tool has been released which comes with following new features:

You can choose your network card
Very customizable, You can add or delete a DNS
You can change the language by editing DnsJumper.ini file
You can customize DNS manually
Program tests DNS IP and measures its reaction time
Flush DNS button added
Fastest DNS test added (It tests DNS reaction times and writes best one)

You can download it using following link:

Download Link

Homepage

Google Chrome 4.0 Released

Google has released 4.0 version of its web browser "Chrome". Here is what the Official Google Blog says:

Today we're excited to introduce a new stable release of Google Chrome for Windows, which includes two of the browser's most frequently requested features: extensions and bookmark sync.

Extensions let you add new features and functions to your browser. Now you can browse over 1,500 in our extensions gallery and install them on the stable version of Google Chrome.

Bookmark sync is a handy feature for those of you who use several computers — say, a laptop at work and a desktop at home. You can enable bookmark sync to synchronize your bookmarks on all of your computers so that when you create a bookmark on one computer, it's automatically added across all your computers. This means that you won't need to manually recreate the bookmark each time you switch computers.

To those using Google Chrome on Linux, extensions are enabled on the beta channel. And for those using Google Chrome for Mac, hang tight — we're working on bringing extensions, bookmark sync and more to the beta soon. Those currently using the stable version for Windows will be automatically updated within the next week (or you can check for updates manually).

You can download the new version using following link:

Download Google Chrome 4.0

Download Offline Installer

Monday, January 25, 2010

Create & add static pages on Blogger blog

Blogger has added most requested feature of adding static stand-along pages to a blog. You can use this feature to make: about us, privacy policy, advertise, contact us pages on your blogger blog. Final page can be viewed at neat URL [like: blogname.com/p/privacy.html]. Being a new feature, as of now its only available in Blogger in Draft.

Make Static Page on Blogger blog

1. Goto http://draft.blogger.com & login into your account.
2. Open blog editor & goto Posting > Edit Pages

3. Then click "New Page" button, enter page title & contents.

4. Click "Publish Page" button, then select where you want page link to appear: sidebar, tabs or manual link.

5. Then click "Save & Publish" button. You page can be viewed at URL like blogname.com/p/about-us.html

Simple, clean and very easy to use. This feature will remove hassle of easily adding pages like about, contact, privacy on a Blogger blog – what say? [ More details]

Compare PSD photoshop files, free comparison tool

Posted: 20 Jan 2010 11:50 PM PST

Viewing a Photoshop PSD files with lot of layers of effects is not easy routine. Doing the same task for multiple PSD files is even more time consuming and effort draining. If you are an active Photoshop users, then make life easy comparing 2 PSD files using free utility ComparePSD.

Layer by Layer comparison of 2 PSD files

1. Download PSD Compare & install it on your Windows PC.
2. Launch the program & click 'File' menu option.

3. Click 'Select Left File' to load PSD in left viewer pane, then click 'Select Right File' to another PSD in right viewer pane.

4. Then start your layer by layer comparison of 2 PSD files with ease (without even need of Photoshop software).

It show detailed layer styles, effect and other sytle attribtues including visible flags of layers. Grab this tool, if you often create and work on PSD designs!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Home Windows 7 Tweaks Vista Tweaks Privacy Subscribe via RSS Subscribe via Email Recommended: Click Here to Fix Windows Errors and Optimize Windows Performance How To Make Windows Media Player Fully Transparent (Aero Glass)

If you have been following us for the last few weeks or so, you probably know about transparent Calculator and Notepad software for Windows 7. For a change, here is a cool way to make your Windows Media Player transparent (aero glass).

In this guide, you need not to replace any system files manually. The procedure is simple as well.

1. Download WMP full glass tool and extract the content to desktop to see a folder named WMP full glass.

2. In folder, you will see WMP full glass x64 and WMP full glass applications (exe files).

3. Run the appropriate (.exe) file. Note that this tool doesn't have any UI. So you won't see anything on screen.

4. Don't Reboot your PC!

5. Open Windows Media Player in video mode to see the Aero Glass Media Player. If you can't see the Glass Style, follow the next step.

6. Switch to Library mode and then revert to Now Playing mode to see the Aero Style.

Although we have tested this tool only on Windows 7 (x86) this tool should work fine on Vista as well.