February 7, 2012

Posts Comments

Changing Desktop Images and Themes When Using Gnome in Linux

Xfce graphical user interface

Image via Wikipedia

One of the most common type of Linux operating system is known as Gnome. This type of Linux operating system last few users to choose the environment and software collection that they want. Many people assume that just because they are going with this type of operating system they are stuck with a certain background, theme and other various effects that come preloaded with this Linux operating system. That is not the case at all. Computer users are able to choose the background, theme and fonts they want. Here’s a look at how to change the themes of the desktop when using Gnome Linux operating system.

Changing the Background. To change the background image or theme US had to the system menu which is located on the top of your desktop. You will then select preferences and then choose appearance. A new window will pop up. In a new window select the tab titled background. You will then be shown a number of images and you can choose the image which you would like as your background. You must then add this picture to the default settings by clicking the button titled ADD, then selecting open and this will add the available image to background.

Changing the Theme. You must head to a website that lists the available themes for the Linux operating system. There are hundreds of available themes. Just make sure that the in that you download is compatible with the version of Gnome that you are using. Went to have downloaded the theme and save it to your desktop you will be able to utilize it by following a few simple steps. First select the system menu, then select preferences and choose appearance. You’ll need to select the install button which is in the lower bottom right corner. You will then need to locate the file you just downloaded and select open. You must choose if you want to apply the theme now or at a later date.

Filed Under: Linux Community Tagged With: ,

Changing Your Linux Desktop Themes

The Linux operating system is quickly becoming one of the most popular types of operating systems. Many computer users enjoy using Linux because it allows them to customize the computer settings and get exactly what they want and need from the computer. The problem is that since Linux operating systems are open source operating systems it can often be very intimidating to customize your operating system to what you want exactly. However, with a little walk through customizing your Linux operating system to be user-friendly and to what exactly you want is not hard at all. Here’s a quick walk through on how to customize your Linux desktop.

Step one. In order to customize your Linux desktop you’ll need to boot into Linux. There are two ways to boot into Linux you can either run directly on Linux were doing dual-boot. Either way is fine for customizing your desktop.

Step two. The first thing you might want to change about your desktop is the image that shows. You can change the Linux desktop system to show a preinstalled picture or a customize pictures that you have taken. To do this you right-click on your desktop and select the option titled change desktop background icon.

Step three. You may also want to change your desktop theme. You can change your desktop theme and change the desktop colors, icons and fonts. To this new click on the preferences tab which is located in the system menu on your Linux desktop. You can then choose the tab titled themes icon.

Step four. Once inside the themes icon you can change the icons and colors to what you want. This can be done by choosing a pre-existing theme or you can choose the colors that you want. To do this go into the system then choose preferences and then choose customize. You will then choose one of the appearances and that will allow you to change.

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks Tagged With: ,

Apple Wants to Trademark the Term “App Store”

Image representing Microsoft as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

Apple recently opened a Mac App Store for the new desktop operating system X Lion, and there seems to be a bit of trouble about it. Apple likes to make things they can take a cut of, for every single thing they produce that can run on its operating system. Back in 2008 Apple applied for a trademark on the name “App Store.”
Microsoft isn’t too happy about it. Everyone who has apps for purchase (or for free), including Research in Motion, Google, among others, has created their own version of an app store. It’s not a term only applicable to Apple’s app stores, but to every download emporium there is. Nobody wants Apple to have this trademark.
So Microsoft asked for a summary judgment in a motion filed recently to refuse the trademarking registration on the grounds that the term is used universally by the general public, press, Apple’s competitors and even Steve Jobs. It’s become a generic term that Apple shouldn’t corral for it’s own, exclusive use.
Repositories, App Stores and Software Centers – Are They the Same?

Prior to this, software ‘warehouses’ or emporiums were usually only found in the Linux arena where these emporiums are called ‘repositories’ or ‘repos.’ However, some Linux users will beg to differ. They say repositories are much different from app stores because repositories contain end user products such as Packages, which are much more than apps.
One difference is that Packages are used by people who know what they’re doing with codes, and app stores sell end-user products that are easy to use and go along with the OS already there, without any knowledge of writing code.
So Linux users don’t really care. Ubuntu, which is one of many Linux OSes, call their repositories “software centers,” which is a more appropriate name for all of them. However, if Apple has it’s way, Apple and only Apple can use the term ‘app store.’
Filed Under: Software Development Tagged With: ,

Google’s Chrome OS Laptop Coming Soon

Google Chrome Icon

Image via Wikipedia

Google is coming out with its own laptop and it’s touted to be a quality machine, not flimsy like some of the new netbooks. It’s called the cr-48 (the chemical symbol for Chromium) and it has a Google Chrome OS that only takes 7 seconds to boot up – it’s the fastest boot-up around.
There will be some minor changes with the new cr-48, like the caps lock button has been removed. Google figures nobody needs it. Google is saying that people can live within the confines of a browser window, and it’s out to prove it so with this new product. Price is aimed at $300-$400 and it’s a jet-matt black.
The 16gb OS barely uses the disk drive unless the user is doing something with photos or graphics. Most programs have a web-version somewhere, but Google has a Chrome Web Store with so many apps to install inside the browser window, and many of them are free and/or work without being online.
Google’s Chrome Laptop is Perfect for Students
By using an online attitude, a user can do most of what they want free. There’s Internet-based email, image resizing/editing/converting, there are online word processors and calculators, etc. A person could even have a separate hard drive for storing photos and programs. However, the cr-48 does have ample room if a user wants to use it like a regular laptop.
There are printing bugs, for one. Right now a user has to utilize Google’s Cloud Print to access a computer that’s connected to another computer, but things are coming along. Rumor has it that HP is developing a printer with a function allowing a Chrome laptop to print.
All around it’s a simplified laptop OS that’s easy to maintain – it updates itself – and it’s virtually setting-free for novice users.
If it lives up to all the hype being created about it, we’re looking at another iPad or Android craze.
Filed Under: Developing Tools Tagged With: ,

Internet Explorer 9; Why do I Want It?

Internet Explorer 9

Image via Wikipedia

End users are told they’re going to love Internet Explorer 9. Why? Here’s five reasons.
1.) Streamlined Design
Internet Explorer 9 has been changed to allow the user to see more on the screen and less of the browser. The tool bars are all minimized by default and the user simply has to click on them. The new UI is super easy to use and the bookmarks, back button, etc. are all still there.
2.) Pinned Sites
This new feature allows a user to drag a website down to the task bar and pin it there. A user can then return later and go straight to the website by clicking on the icon and Internet Explorer 9 will automatically launch a window and display that pinned site. In that browser window, the back and forward buttons change color to match the site displayed.
3.) Download Manager
Everyone’s worked with some type of download manager before, but this one has been improved greatly. Not only does the new manager track downloads and record when a file was created or modified, but now Internet Explorer 9 will tell the user if the file is malicious or not and, where they can find the download in the computer.  It will also allow the user to stop a download at any time, and then resume it later, or even through a faster connection somewhere else.
4.) Tab Improvements
Back in the day, a user had to open a new window for every task, but now users access several tabs within one window (Like Chrome and Firefox). That makes work easier to keep track of and now users can grab a tab and ‘tear it off’ to open in another window. Two windows can be viewed side-by-side now, and the tabs are colored for easy reference.
5.) Hardware Acceleration for Graphics
Hardware acceleration uses the PC’s GPU for graphic-intensive tasks, so the user’s experience is improved with faster graphics.
Filed Under: Developing Tools Tagged With: ,

Criminals Looking at Apple for Their Entertainment

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: In this photo ...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Cyber-criminals in 2011 are looking at Android and Apple OS, as it says in Cisco’s 2010 Annual Security Report. In fact, Apple is under a watchful eye as criminal hackers switch their focus from Windows-based computers to the harder to hack operating systems. Included in the list is smart phones, tablet computers and mobile platforms. Most recently, iPad was a target when the ID thieves broke into AT&T’s servers and stole customer email addresses and phone numbers.
Any time there’s something completely new on the market, it usually has a few bugs and glitches that need to be worked out. Criminal hackers look for those places to confront the system and get what they want. Android’s users came in huge numbers, especially over the recent holiday season, which is very attractive to those that like to compromise and exploit.
Criminals Pretend to Be You to Trick Unwary ‘Friends’

Cisco’s report advises that criminals are looking at the new platforms in hopes they’re easier to get into. PC security has gotten much better over the years, but has become passé, as studious criminals look for larger challenges. The report also states that the current onslaught of mobile devices and applications can be a whole new danger to users who like to have all the latest downloads. Third-party mobile applications are coming over the horizon as the newest type of threat.
Computer users who frequent social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have gotten used to the barrage of viruses and worms, and given the level of ‘trust’ that users put in their online ‘friends’ makes them more vulnerable. People on social sites actually think they know people by making friends with them online. In a perfect world, maybe, but this isn’t true in real life. Those very ‘friends’ are the dangerous ones.
The report also tells us that for the first time in Internet history, 2010 saw Internet spam volumes drop.
Filed Under: Developing Tools Tagged With: ,

Free Image Editing Software Online

Open source software gains ground in higher ed...

Image by opensourceway via Flickr

One thing nice about the Web is that there are tons of freebies online. Lots of Open Source software is out, but one has to know what they’re doing to use those programs.
Image editing is something many people need. Websites that allow users to upload images always have a size limit and won’t upload anything bigger than the recommended size. There are many ways to make a photo bigger or smaller and one way is to use a site called ImageEditingFree.com.
Directions are in plain, step-by-step instructions. The site allows the user to edit a single photo or upload multiple photos in a zip file to resize, add a watermark, and convert from one file format to another. For instance, the user can change over his .gif files to .jpg files. The steps are explained below.
Resize Photos With ImageEditingFree.com

1.) The user selects a jpeg, png or gif image and uploads it (or an entire selection of 20 or less images for batch conversion) to the site. Select the “choose file” button and find the photo(s) wanted in the computer.
2.) In the next step, check the box on the left to resize images. Select the width and  height – or just one of them; the user can select only the width OR the height and the program will make the other dimension default to the size that goes with it.  The user can use default sizes or make custom ones by entering the dimensions in the custom box.
3.) The next step is the watermark. Type in the text the watermark will display. Now choose which transparency for the text; add a value between zero and 100%; lower numbers mean less transparency, higher numbers mean higher transparency. Next select the size of the watermark text and where it is to be located on the photo.
4.) Format options; find the quality wanted and file type. Click convert images; it’s all done.
Filed Under: Software Systems Tagged With: ,

Use Debt Settlement Software to Help With Unmanageable Debt

There are a lot of companies nowadays that deal with personal financial problems for the public, and each one of those companies has hundreds or thousands of clients. Keeping everything straight can be a problem at times. There’s software to help them and they should be using it.
Debt settlement software isn’t for the customer to use and lower their bills or consolidate loans. It’s actually for the financial firms that do negotiations and make settlements with debtors, as it aids in successfully managing the financial accounts of their clients. It’s made to effectively run all phases of a financial business.
In these last several years, economic woes all over the world are experiencing the recession close-up, and millions of people have turned to debt settlement companies to help them out with unmanageable debt. These companies can use the software to make them more reliable while the software is watching all the activities in a client’s account.
Use Debt Settlement Software to Help Relieve Stress
Efficient settlement software can make a world of difference to the client who needs fast planning. Tools for negotiating with debtors, tools for keeping track of payments and balances, statistical analysis reporting are all vital functions of the software.
Particulars for keeping a correspondence history and dedicated notes by the creditors list is important to keeping accurate, accessible information available to the negotiator working on a case. A look at account summaries is also an important function of debt settlement software, so the settlement agent can see clear details of all customers’ information at a glance.
Here’s a list of some pages that have debt consolidation and other financial software to download. These are here for the user’s discretion and nobody is saying they are the best; just that they’re available.
Filed Under: Software Development Tagged With:

Box.net’s Enterprise Software is Overhauled, Compared to SharePoint

A Palo Alto, California company known as Box.net released a newer, better version of their cloud-hosted content management application, Enterprise, on Thursday. It also has real-time notification abilities and new alliance features.
Made available to users, the beta version of the overhauled application is partnered temporarily with the old version, so users can toggle back and forth between them. This will go on through the end of February, when the two will no longer be partnered.
The updated user interface offers vastly more space for seeing the content while users can participate in threaded discussions inside folders, rather than just within certain files.
Box.net is a One-Stop Shopping Site

Box.net offers users an Apps Marketplace, where they can choose and download any of 150 complimentary programs that are pre-integrated. Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box.net says the new app is created with simplicity in mind. No classes on how to figure out this app.
Box.net is known for making the user’s experience important to them and they recognize the need to persist along that path. This company was begun in 2005 with a goal to reach all levels of users, with competitive products on the high end (like Microsoft’s SharePoint) and at the lower end with companies like Sugarsync and Dropbox.
Box.net’s Enterprise Wants to be Like SharePoint When it Grows Up

They’re in direct competition with SharePoint for small and mid-size companies, especially in working areas of collaboration, basic and social content management services, according to research analyst Rob Koplowitz.
Although, Box.net does have a harder time trying to attract users because the apps don’t do as much as SharePoint does, like, business intelligence, application development and advanced search capabilities. Koplowitz added that companies looking for a more broad array of functionality won’t be crazy about Box.net’s new app, yet.
Filed Under: Operating Systems Tagged With:

Google Used to Spread Malware

Fake virus software is ripping around the web and it’s had Twitter techs resetting passwords like crazy. The user clicks on a post-given link that disguises the trick as being from a “goo.gl” URL, using Google’s URL shortening service to hide the link’s destination.
Nicolas Brulez of Kaspersky Lab said the connection runs through a bunch of redirection URLs, then takes the user to an IP address that’s been linked with other malware and fake antivirus rip-offs.
Users that land on the fake page are directed to give their computer a scan because it’s ‘been hit with a virus’ (touted to be like a worm, but isn’t). When the user follows the directions the page prompts them to remove the threats from their computer, and if they do, a download of bogus antivirus called, “Security Shield.”
Fake Antivirus Software Wants Your Money

The user isn’t downloading antivirus software at all, but the program will repeatedly harass user to pay for the full version. None of the downloaded programs work.
Head of Twitter’s Internet Security, Del Harvey wrote that they’re working hard on the problem, removing malware links and resetting passwords on accounts that have been compromised. She ‘tweeted’ that anyone following a goo.gl link asking the user to download Security Shield has been affected. She instructed Twitter followers that the links lead to malware and don’t install it.
People in Internet security are thinking it could be related to a December 2010 attack on Gawker Media, which posts a lot of malware and stolen user information on the site. Gawker’s attacker was a group of hackers that call themselves Gnosis. Everyone who used the same password for that site as for their other sites (including Twitter) was in danger of having their information pilfered.
GFI Software, who owns Sunbelt Software, supplies users with explicit instructions on how to get rid of the Security Shield software in one of it’s forms.
Filed Under: Developing Tools Tagged With:
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »