Javeed Abdul

Linux Cheat sheets

Javeed Abdul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:42:59 +0000

Below list of Linux cheat sheets can be used by everybody who administer Linux operating system including beginners/newbies and bearded gurus.

PDF | Command Line Interface (CLI), Security, Networking

Unix/Linux Command Reference by fosswire.com
THE ONE PAGE LINUX MANUAL (A summary of useful Linux commands)
LINUX System Call Quick Reference
LINUX Admin Quick Reference
Linux quick reference card
Linux Shell quick reference guide
Linux Security Quick Reference Guide
tcpdump cheat sheet
Wireshark display filters
Netcat cheat sheet

HTML | CLI, Gnome/KDE

HTML | Linux Distributions Cheat Sheets

HTML/PDF | vi, sed, awk

Let me know if you have of your favourites.. I will add them on.. cheers.

IT Concepts That Non-IT People Don’t Get

Javeed Abdul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:34:01 +0000

Since I “work with computers” I tend to get asked to do fair amount of unofficial technical support for family and neighbours. I’ve noticed that the same confusions about IT crop up again and again. Here’s my top ten.

(Note that due to my background this is going to be Windows-centric. Please don’t take this to mean that I think Windows PCs are unfriendly – it’s just I don’t know enough about other systems to be able to comment. I also don’t want to come across as elitist – if non-IT people don’t understand something, that’s not because they’re dumb – it’s because we haven’t made computer systems obvious enough.)

1. When to Click and When to Double-Click

This one is a continual source of annoyance to IT people, and especially to those in support. It seems obvious to us which should be used when, but before you get mad with the user you’re helping, consider this: can you make rules for when to click and when to double-click? Why do you double-click an icon to perform the action, but only single-click a button? What if Windows is set to “single click to open an item”?

Add into the mix the close cousin right-clicking, together with triple-clicks in text editors, double-single-clicks to rename, and of course modified clicks (holding down control or shift), and I think confusion is the correct response.

2. Hierarchical Folders

Hierarchical folders are a great idea – don’t get me wrong – but they’re a good example of a neat metaphor overextended and hence confused. Most people are familiar with cardboard folders that can store bits of paper – and equally most people are happy to store their files in folders on their PC. Where it all goes wrong is with folders within folders, as this very rarely happens in the real world. Many users are simply unaware that they can create additional folders inside “My Documents” – hence the usual tendency to find hundreds or even thousands of files, all at the same folder level.

Making the problem even worse is the fact that “Save As” and “Open” dialogs often look nothing like the standard file explorer. This makes it more difficult to mentally link the save operation with the save location. This leads to the common problem of a user “losing” all their files – when in fact the “open” dialog has for some reason defaulted to another directory, and hence shows a different list of files to those the user was expecting.

(And don’t even get me started on the fact that folders like “My Documents” appear in TWO locations in the folder tree – the physical one that users can’t find or recognise, and the virtual one which isn’t supported by all applications).

3. Using Add/Remove Programs

I need to clarify here. When a user wants to remove a program they chose to install, they head over to Add/Remove Programs – no problems. I’ve found however that when it’s software they didn’t install (or didn’t intentionally install) – there’s a problem. Messages that pop-up on start-up, unwanted system tray announcements, even auto-starting applications – these are all a source of annoyance, and often there’s no obvious way to associate the offender with the appropriate entry in Add/Remove Programs. Often trialware pops up nag screens at startup, giving the user the option to purchase it – but without an option to uninstall.

Even worse is the case where a user wants to keep the application, just not have it launch at startup. There are many different ways an application can hook into the startup sequence, and most of them are inaccessible unless you’re comfortable using something like msconfig (which, let’s face it, non-IT people aren’t).

4. Installing Bundled Software Hurts

IT people know that bundled software (aka “crapware”) isn’t included for our benefit – it’s generally a way hardware manufactures or system builders lower costs by basically pushing unwanted adverts for unwanted products onto your machine, in the hope that you won’t be able to uninstall them, and will finally buy them (see item #3 above).

Unfortunately a standard user assumes that if a hardware item comes with a disk, that disk is there for a good reason – and so installs the lot. Sometimes this is just an annoyance, but sometimes it’s more sinister – bundled software often stops the PC functioning correctly. The worst offenders seem to be the software that comes with wireless network adapters. For some reason they all want to turn off Window’s standard wireless zero-configuration system, and install their own. Sadly, their own offerings often don’t work (especially if they were written pre-XP) and the user is left with a completely non-functioning wireless system. Had the user simply plugged in the hardware and let Windows do the rest, it probably would have worked. The instructions said to install the software – and possibly stung by all the geeks who kept telling them to “RTFM” – they did so.

5. That There Is A Choice Of Software

Odds are that you’re reading this on Firefox – or if not, as a reader of a coding blog, you at least know the name of the browser you’re using. This almost certainly isn’t the case for the majority of PC users – they don’t use a browser, they use the internet (or if not the internet, then they use msn, facebook, google, or whatever). Most people simply use the browser as a means to an end. The same goes for music players, email clients (generally dictated by their ISP), and anti-virus (generally the one with the biggest display in the local PC shop).

Unfortunately this means that when things go wrong, or go expensive, or go ad-ridden, these users aren’t even aware they can change. Adverts on the web are annoying, but if you have no idea you can change your browser and install an ad-blocker, you have no choice but to suffer them. This also means that poor software can survive in the marketplace – since for correctly positioned, pushed, and marketed software, there ceases to even be a marketplace.

6. What Updates Do

While writing this article – the first two weeks of September – my laptop has installed updates on the 1st, 4th, 9th, 11th and 14th of the month. Since this is a rather slow laptop, that means that if I choose to install them, I have to put up with bad performance, and if I don’t, I have to put up with repeated nagging. Even when I do install them, I know that in another couple of days they’ll be back.

I know updates are necessary – but do we need them every three days? Do they need to be quite so slow? And do they have to nag when I’m trying to use my PC – couldn’t they wait a while to see if the screensaver kicks in, as that’s likely to be a better time than now, now, now.

7. Software Licensing

We need to put aside a discussion of whether software should be free or not for this one, and let’s just assume that people are happy paying for software for now.

The problem is that buying software isn’t really like buying other goods – what you buy isn’t the box, or the media, but a license. With normal goods, once you’ve purchased it, you keep hold it, and if it turns out to be an illegal purchase, someone (eg the police) have to come and physically remove it. With software, if the vendor decides it’s not a valid purchase, then the software magically stops working, with no easy recourse for the customer.

I’ve come across many cases of people who thought they were legitimately purchasing software, but in fact weren’t – either purchasing from someone who was knowingly selling illegal software, or purchasing from someone who believed they had the right to sell, but didn’t. Either way, the honest software purchasers had no immediate way of knowing the software they were buying wasn’t legit.

To be fair, most software vendors are taking steps to improve this – although the cynic in me says this is mainly to protect revenue streams, not customers.

8. What Memory (RAM) Is For

I think most computer users have a pretty good idea what disk storage is for – that’s where their files are stored. What I think users have a bigger problem with is volatile memory. It’s very difficult to describe to a non-techie what RAM actually does – just saying “it’s what running programs use” doesn’t give a full description by any means.

Making the problem worse is that fact that most consumer PCs are sold with the bare minimum of RAM. Users can easily see that they have a good amount of disk storage free, but it’s more difficult to get a feeling for whether they have enough RAM. Most users simply don’t realise that computers don’t have to be slow, and don’t have to spend all their time swapping virtual memory.

9. How To Use Networking

As computers become cheaper, many households now have more than one. As that happens, this question is asked of me more and more often: “I’ve saved my files on the office computer; how can I get them on the laptop?”. The first couple of times, I set up a simple home network and created shortcuts to shared folders on each desktop. Unfortunately, this didn’t really cut it.

I think the main problem is that home networking fundamentally doesn’t fit in with most people’s work patterns – if they’re working on the laptop (say), why would the office computer be switched on? Having to leave both computers on just doesn’t fit. From the user’s point of view, sometimes the files are there (when the other computer is on), and sometimes they’re not.

I’ve found that solutions like Dropbox are much more palatable – while all the home computers might not be switched on, the internet connection almost always is. The networking in this case is transparent – the user doesn’t have to do a thing – and the files are magically up-to-date on all their computers.

10. The Display Is Not The Computer

For a long time, the sheer size of CRT monitors led many users to assume the monitor was the computer, and if they thought about the box below the desk at all, they thought it was “the hard-drive”. Now that monitors are much slimmer, people understand that the monitor is just a display mechanism, and the computer actually is under the desk.

Where it all goes a little confusing is when the computer in question isn’t near the display in front of the user – remote desktop, remote assistance, and the like. Even more flummoxing seems to be the notion of servers in general – for some reason a computer without a display unit doesn’t seem to be easily understandable. Despite the familiarity of the web, the idea that accessing a website involves a computer, often running a familar operating system, somewhere remote, seems a difficult one.

Any More?

Have I missed any other concepts that are repeatedly misunderstood? Any common problems you have to deal with? Let me know!

Bash Shortcuts

Javeed Abdul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:02:07 +0000

Keyboard shortcut	Action
Navigation
Ctrl-A	Go to the beginning of the line (note that if you use GNU screen, you can use the Home button to do this, especially considering that Ctrl-A is a special control character in screen).
Ctrl-E	Go to the end of the line (note that if you use GNU screen, you can use the End button to do this).
Alt-B (or ESC, left arrow)	Jump back one word using a non-alphanumeric character as delimiter.
Alt-F (or ESC, right arrow)	Jump forward one word using a non-alphanumeric character as delimiter.
Ctrl-PGUP or Shift-PGUP	This may or may not work, and it works differently on different console apps. It will either scroll up one line at a time, 1 page at a time, or it may not work at all. I’m inclined to think it’s not a bash shortcut at all.
Ctrl-PGDN or Shift-PGDN	Same as the above but scrolling is done in the opposite direction.
Up/Down	Previous/Next command in history. This one is way too obvious but I’m including it for completeness.
Ctrl-R	History search. For example, Ctrl-R svn Ctrl-R Ctrl-R … will cycle through all recently run commands with the ‘svn’ in them. It is one of the most useful shortcuts in bash.
Command Line Manipulation
Ctrl-W	Cut one word backwards using white space as delimiter.
Alt-BACKSPACE	Cut one word backwards using a non-alphanumeric character as delimiter (different from Ctrl-W, for example, abc;bcd will cut to abc;).
Ctrl-K	Cut everything forward to end of line.
Ctrl-U	Cut everything backwards to beginning of line.
Ctrl-T	Transpose the current character with the previous one. I almost never use this. Never mind, I never use it, but someone might find it useful.
Alt-T	Transpose the word at cursor with the one before cursor. In other words, swap them around.
Ctrl-Y	Paste whatever was cut by the last cut command.
Ctrl-V	Insert the next character literally. For example, Ctrl-V TAB inserts the actual TAB character. This shortcut is often misunderstood because of mistyping Ctrl-V and not realizing what it does.
Ctrl-_	Undo the last command. Don’t forget – it’s Ctrl-Shift-MINUS, not Ctrl-MINUS.
Alt-R	Revert all changes to current line. Very useful if you accidentally modify a command in history.
Alt-U/Alt-L/Alt-C	Uppercase/lowercase/capitalize from cursor to end of word and move cursor past end of word.
Terminal control
Ctrl-L	Clear screen while keeping whatever is already typed in the command line intact.
Ctrl-S	Suspend currently running terminal.
Ctrl-Q	Unsuspend the terminal suspended by Ctrl-S. You need to be aware of this shortcut because 99% of the time you’ve accidentally pressed Ctrl-S and need to undo its effects.
Ctrl-Z	Suspend the currently running process (usually followed by bg to resume it in the background or fg to resume in the foreground).
TAB	Autocomplete. Start typing, then hit TAB. You will either get a list of possible completion values (2 TABs needed) or the only choice will be filled in (only 1 TAB is needed). This shortcut is quite obvious and well known, so I put it at the bottom of the list.

Security Software Tools for Linux

Javeed Abdul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:06:26 +0000

Linux is a hacker’s dream computer operating system. It supports tons of tools and utilities for cracking passwords, scanning network vulnerabilities, and detecting possible intrusions. I have here a collection of 10 of the best hacking and security software tools for Linux. Please always keep in mind that these tools are not meant to harm, but to protect.

1. John the Ripper

John the Ripper is a free password cracking software tool initially developed for the UNIX operating system. It is one of the most popular password testing/breaking programs as it combines a number of password crackers into one package, autodetects password hash types, and includes a customizable cracker. It can be run against various encrypted password formats including several crypt password hash types most commonly found on various Unix flavors (based on DES, MD5, or Blowfish), Kerberos AFS, and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 LM hash. Additional modules have extended its ability to include MD4-based password hashes and passwords stored in LDAP, MySQL and others.

2. Nmap

Nmap is my favorite network security scanner. It is used to discover computers and services on a computer network, thus creating a “map” of the network. Just like many simple port scanners, Nmap is capable of discovering passive services on a network despite the fact that such services aren’t advertising themselves with a service discovery protocol. In addition Nmap may be able to determine various details about the remote computers. These include operating system, device type, uptime,software product used to run a service, exact version number of that product, presence of some firewall techniques and, on a local area network, even vendor of the remote network card.

Nmap runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows, Solaris, and BSD (including Mac OS X), and also on AmigaOS. Linux is the most popular nmap platform and Windows the second most popular.

3. Nessus

Nessus is a comprehensive vulnerability scanning software. Its goal is to detect potential vulnerabilities on the tested systems such as:

-Vulnerabilities that allow a remote cracker to control or access sensitive data on a system.
-Misconfiguration (e.g. open mail relay, missing patches, etc).
-Default passwords, a few common passwords, and blank/absent passwords on some system accounts. Nessus can also call Hydra (an external tool) to launch a dictionary attack.
-Denials of service against the TCP/IP stack by using mangled packets

Nessus is the world’s most popular vulnerability scanner, estimated to be used by over 75,000 organizations worldwide. It took first place in the 2000, 2003, and 2006 security tools survey from SecTools.Org.

4. chkrootkit

chkrootkit (Check Rootkit) is a common Unix-based program intended to help system administrators check their system for known rootkits. It is a shell script using common UNIX/Linux tools like the strings and grep commands to search core system programs for signatures and for comparing a traversal of the /proc filesystem with the output of the ps (process status) command to look for discrepancies.

It can be used from a “rescue disc” (typically a Live CD) or it can optionally use an alternative directory from which to run all of its own commands. These techniques allow chkrootkit to trust the commands upon which it depend a bit more.

There are inherent limitations to the reliability of any program that attempts to detect compromises (such as rootkits and computer viruses). Newer rootkits may specifically attempt to detect and compromise copies of the chkrootkit programs or take other measures to evade detection by them.

5. Wireshark

Wireshark is a free packet sniffer computer application used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. In June 2006, the project was renamed from Ethereal due to trademark issues.

The functionality Wireshark provides is very similar to tcpdump, but it has a GUI front-end, and many more information sorting and filtering options. It allows the user to see all traffic being passed over the network (usually an Ethernet network but support is being added for others) by putting the network interface into promiscuous mode.

Wireshark uses the cross-platform GTK+ widget toolkit, and is cross-platform, running on various computer operating systems including Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Wireshark is freesoftware.

6. netcat

netcat is a computer networking utility for reading from and writing to network connections on either TCP or UDP.

Netcat was voted the second most useful network security tool in a 2000 poll conducted by insecure.org on the nmap users mailing list. In 2003, it gained fourth place, a position it also held in the 2006 poll.

The original version of netcat is a UNIX program. Its author is known as *Hobbit*. He released version 1.1 in March of 1996.

Netcat is fully POSIX compatible and there exist several implementations, including a rewrite from scratch known as GNU netcat.

7. Kismet

Kismet is a network detector, packet sniffer, and intrusion detection system for 802.11 wireless LANs. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw monitoring mode, and can sniff 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g traffic.

Kismet is unlike most other wireless network detectors in that it works passively. This means that without sending any loggable packets, it is able to detect the presence of both wireless access points and wireless clients, and associate them with each other.

Kismet also includes basic wireless IDS features such as detecting active wireless sniffing programs including NetStumbler, as well as a number of wireless network attacks.

8. hping

hping is a free packet generator and analyzer for the TCP/IP protocol. Hping is one of the de facto tools for security auditing and testing of firewalls and networks, and was used to exploit the idle scan scanning technique (also invented by the hping author), and now implemented in the Nmap Security Scanner. The new version of hping, hping3, is scriptable using the Tcl language and implements an engine for string based, human readable description of TCP/IP packets, so that the programmer can write scripts related to low level TCP/IP packet manipulation and analysis in very short time.

Like most tools used in computer security, hping is useful to both system administrators and crackers (or script kiddies).

9. Snort

Snort is a free and open source Network Intrusion prevention system (NIPS) and network intrusion detection (NIDS) capable of performing packet logging and real-time traffic analysis on IP networks.

Snort performs protocol analysis, content searching/matching, and is commonly used to actively block or passively detect a variety of attacks and probes, such as buffer overflows, stealth port scans, web application attacks, SMB probes, and OS fingerprinting attempts, amongst other features. Thesoftware is mostly used for intrusion prevention purposes, by dropping attacks as they are taking place. Snort can be combined with othersoftware such as SnortSnarf, sguil, OSSIM, and the Basic Analysis and Security Engine (BASE) to provide a visual representation of intrusion data. With patches for the Snort source from Bleeding Edge Threats, support for packet stream antivirus scanning with ClamAV and network abnormality with SPADE in network layers 3 and 4 is possible with historical observation.

10. tcpdump

tcpdump is a common computer network debugging tool that runs under the command line. It allows the user to intercept and display TCP/IP and other packets being transmitted or received over a network to which the computer is attached.

In some Unix-like operating systems, a user must have superuser privileges to use tcpdump because the packet capturing mechanisms on those systems require elevated privileges. However, the -Z option may be used to drop privileges to a specific unprivileged user after capturing has been set up. In other Unix-like operating systems, the packet capturing mechanism can be configured to allow non-privileged users to use it; if that is done, superuser privileges are not required.

The user may optionally apply a BPF-based filter to limit the number of packets seen by tcpdump; this renders the output more usable on networks with a high volume of traffic.

* Ettercap

Ettercap is a console-based network sniffer/interceptor/logger that is capable of intercepting traffic on a network segment, capturing passwords, and conducting active eavesdropping against a number of common protocols. Ettercap supports active and passive dissection of many protocols (including ciphered ones) and provides many features for network and host analysis. Ettercap also has the ability to actively or passively find other poisoners on the LAN.

* Nikto

Nikto is a web server scanner that is known to perform comprehensive tests against web servers for multiple items, including over 3500 potentially dangerous files/CGIs, versions on over 900 servers, and version specific problems on over 250 servers. It performs generic and server type specific checks. It also captures and prints any cookies received.

* OpenSSH

OpenSSH is a Free and Open Source version of the SSH connectivity tools providing encrypted communication sessions over a computer network. It encrypts all traffic (includingpasswords ) to effectively eliminate eavesdropping, connection hijacking, and other attacks. Additionally, OpenSSH provides secure tunneling capabilities and several authentication methods, and supports all SSH protocol versions.

* Aircrack-ng

Aircrack-ng is a wireless tool and password cracker. It is a network software suite consisting of a detector, packet sniffer, WEP and WPA/WPA2-PSK cracker and analysis tool for 802.11 wireless LANs.

* Tripwire

Tripwire is a security and data integrity tool that is useful for monitoring and alerting on specific file change(s) on a range of systems. Used with system files on a regular basis, Tripwire can notify system administrators of corrupted or tampered files, so damage control measures can be taken in a timely manner.

* Metasploit Framework

Metasploit Framework is an advanced open-source platform for developing, testing, and using exploit code. The extensible model through which payloads, encoders, no-op generators, and exploits can be integrated has made it possible to use the Metasploit Framework as an outlet for cutting-edge exploitation research. It ships with hundreds of exploits, as you can see in their online exploit-building demo.

* THC Hydra

THC (The Hacker’s Choice) Hydra uses a dictionary attack to test for weak or simple passwords on one or many remote hosts running a variety of different services. It was designed as a proof-of-concept utility to demonstrate the ease of cracking poorly chosenpasswords . It can perform rapid dictionary attacks against more then 30 protocols, including telnet, ftp, http, https, smb, several databases, and much more.

* Dsniff

Dsniff is suite of powerful network auditing and penetration-testing tools and utilities that includes code to parse many different application protocols and extract interesting information. The information that can be obtained from this sniff application are: usernames andpasswords, web pages being visited, contents of email, etc.

* RainbowCrack

RainbowCrack is a password hash cracker that makes use of a large-scale time-memory trade-off. It differs from “conventional” brute force crackers in that it uses large pre-computed tables called rainbow tables to reduce the length of time needed to crack a password drastically.

* rkhunter

rkhunter scans for rootkits, backdoors and possible local exploits. It does this by comparing SHA-1 hashes of important files with known good ones in online database, searching for default directories (of rootkits), wrong permissions, hidden files, suspicious strings in kernel modules, and special testsfor Linux and FreeBSD.

Do you have a favorite security software tool for Linux? Feel free to comment and tell us about it.

Creating Web Design Layouts

Javeed Abdul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:26:10 +0000

Feel free to check out these Innovative Photoshop Tutorials for Creating Web Design Layouts and take a look at the tips shared by the authors. You may be amazed at how simple procedures can create spectacular effects. Apart from the learning experience that you will gain, you’ll also enjoy the reading through this article!!!

Create a Slick and Minimalist Web Layout in Photoshop

The tutorial will help you create a web layout with minimal designs.

How to Design a Band Website Layout in Photoshop

Learn to create a band-themed layout through this tutorial.

Design a Minimal and Modern Portfolio Layout with Photoshop

This tutorial will teach you to create a modern portfolio layout in Photoshop.

Create a Very Simple Portfolio Web Layout with Photoshop

In this tutorial, you will be guided in creating a simple web layout in Photoshop.

Create a Grungy, Translucent Web Portfolio Design

This tutorial will guide you in creating a grungy and translucent web layout.

Create a Fashion Web Layout (PSD Template) Using Photoshop

Learn to create a fashion web layout in Photoshop.

Create a Company/business Web Layout using Photoshop

The tutorial will guide you in creating a business type web layout.

Design a Web Template using the “960 Grid System”

Create a web layout using another cool system.

Create An Orange Web Layout Using Photoshop

Here is a tutorial on creating an orange-inspired web layout in Photoshop.

Create a Green/eco Friendly/environmental Web Layout

This tutorial is on creating environment-themed web layout.

Create a Portfolio/business Website Layout

Another tutorial in creating a business-themed layout is illustrated here.

How To Create a Clean and Colorful Web Layout – Photoshop Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will be guided to create a clean and colorful web layout in Photoshop.

Graphic Design Studio Web Layout

The tutorial is on creating a graphic web layout in Photoshop.

Create a Magazine Wordpress Theme from Scratch in Photoshop

Create a magazine-themed layout in Photoshop.

Modern and Colorful Web Layout

Here is another tutorial on creating a colorful web layout.

How to Make a Creative Blog Layout

Learn to create unique blog layout with this tutorial.

Create a Gritty Website Layout

In this tutorial you will be guided in creating a gritty web layout in Photoshop.

How to Make an Impressive Blog Layout in Photoshop

The tutorial is on creating impressive web layout in Photoshop.

How to Make a Light and Sleek Web Layout in Photoshop

Learn to create sleek web layout in Photoshop.

Create a Watercolor-Themed Website Design with Photoshop

In this tutorial, an illustration of creating watercolor—themed web layout is given.

How to Make a Highly-Textured Site Layout in Photoshop

Create a highly textured web layout through this tutorial.

Create a Web Layout with 3D Elements using Photoshop

Here is a tutorial in creating a web layout with 3D elements.

Design a Typography Layout

Learn to create a typographic web layout in Photoshop.

Create a Modern Blog Layout

The tutorial is on creating a modern web layout in Photoshop.

How to Create a Unique Colorful Site Layout

This tutorial illustrates creating unique and colorful web layouts in Photoshop.

Create a Simple Layout for Architecture or Real Estate

In this tutorial, an illustration on creating web layout for architecture and real estate concept is given.

Design Grunge Wordpress Theme

Create a grunge-themed layout with another set of techniques for this tutorial.

How to Create a “Worn Paper” Web Layout Using Photoshop

Here is a tutorial on creating a paper-themed web layout in Photoshop.

Designing Freelancer Portfolio Layout

The tutorial is on creating a freelance-theme web layout in Photoshop.

Design a Light Wordpress Theme in Photoshop

This tutorial is on creating a light web layout in Photoshop.

Photographer Portfolio Layout

Create a photo-themed web layout through the techniques offered by this tutorial.

How to Make a Green & Sleek Web Layout in Photoshop

This tutorial is on creating a green and sleek web layout in Photoshop.

Create Dark Wordpress Theme

In this tutorial, you will be guided in creating a dark-themed web layout.

How to Create an Illustrative Web Design in Photoshop

Here is a tutorial on creating illustrative web layout in Photoshop.

Grunge Web Design Tutorial

Learn new techniques in creating a grunge web design in Photoshop through this tutorial.

Simple Troubleshooting steps in Linux

Javeed Abdul — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:21:50 +0000

Hardware

Getting ram information

cat /proc/meminfo

or if you want to get just the amount of ram you can do:

cat /proc/meminfo | head -n 1

Another fun thing to do with ram is actually open it up and take a peek. This next command will show you all the string (plain text) values in ram.

sudo dd if=/dev/mem | cat | strings

Getting cpu info

Sometimes in troubleshooting we want to know what processor we are dealing with along with how much cpu is currently being used by our OS and programs. We can do this with these two commands.

cat /proc/cpuinfo

top

Check the temperature of your CPU

Keeping a computer within a safe temperature is the key to maintaining a stable system.

cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature

List PCI and USB devices

To list all the PCI devices in your system issues the following command:

lspci

For USB use:

lsusb

Check out how much hard drive space is left

df -h

See what hard drives are currently detected

It is often times helpful to know what hard drives are connected to a system and what name was given them in the Linux directory. This info allows us to mount the hard drive and manipulate it.

sudo fdisk -l

Installed Programs

Packages

Ever want to find all the packages that are installed on your system? You can find all the packages and also find out why they are on your system. You can even determine what packages depend on them if any.

Find all installed packages

dpkg –get-selections | less

Find out why a packages is installed and what depends on it

aptitude why packagename

Find out where the package stores all of its files

dpkg -L packagename

Kill a process

ps -A | grep ProgramName

kill 7207

Miscellaneous

Go to a terminal

Ctrl + Alt + f3

return with, Ctrl + Alt + f7

Show all network connections

There are many great network scanners and assessment tools available for Linux but netstat is a very easy to use often a first step in troubleshooting network issues. We will leave the rest of the network tools for a later article as there is so much to cover.

netstat

List all files that are currently open on the system

This command will allow you to see all the files that are currently open on your system. Limiting the directory or coupling this command with grep is often useful for finding files that are still open restricting the ability to unmount a device. Lsof will also ouput the process id or PID. You can then kill the process using the kill command above.

lsof

Keep an eye on something for awhile

The watch command will repeat a command at a set interval (default 2 seconds) and output the response. This is useful for watching directories that change, watching hard drives fill up when a lot of data is being transfered, or using it with lsusb to watch for USB devices being plugged in.

watch ls

watch df -h

Find where a binary is stored and its libraries

Often times when running a cron command you want to include the absolute path to the command. Sometimes I run scheduled PHP tasks. This can be acomplished by using the ‘whereis‘ command.

whereis php5

Logs

See if you have kernel boot issues

dmesg | less

For more logs just cd into the /var/log directory and start using, cat, less, tail, grep, find or any other tool to view and search.

Easy Cd case

Javeed Abdul — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:35:34 +0000

Easy Cd Case ….NO Glue …. For Everybody…. – Amazing videos are here

Web browsers

Javeed Abdul — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:59:31 +0000

Firefox. Internet Explorer. Chrome. Safari. Opera. We’ve pretty much all heard of them by now. They’ve been fighting for market share for the past few years (Internet Explorer has been fighting for it for a lot longer than that), and it’s unlikely any of them will ever come out the absolute winner. They try to be all things to all people. And that’s great.

Except…

What if you’re looking for a browser that does just the things you want to do online? What if you’re sick of all the browser-war hubub and want something that’s truly unique and different (and, maybe, works better than the mainstream options)? What then?

Well, there’s good news. There are more than a dozen excellent alternative browsers out there if you’re looking for something distinctive. Below are ten such web browsers, along with why you might want to consider using them.

1. Stainless

Stainless is a browser created in response to Google Chrome. It utilizes multi-processing architecture like Chrome (which, at the time of inception, wasn’t available for OS X), but also has some excellent features not found in other browsers. One of the most interesting features is the ability to log into one website using two different accounts in separate tabs.

Why you should consider it: The ability to log into a site with different credentials in different tabs makes this an excellent option for many. It’s especially useful if you have, say, work-related Gmail accounts and personal Gmail accounts.

Current release version: 0.7.5

Operating systems supported: OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.

2. Maxthon

Maxthon is a highly configurable browser that places an emphasis on security. It has a built-in Ad Hunter that blocks most ads, as well as security features to prevent spyware, malware, and viruses. It lets you fully customize your browsing experience (you can choose between using menus, hot keys, word aliases, toolbars, or mouse gestures, plus there are more than 1,400 plug-ins to add functionality). It has filters available to block irritating or offensive content.

Other Maxthon features include a built-in screen capture tool, URL aliases for faster surfing, a built-in feed reader, an online favorites service, advanced proxy rules, and an anti-freeze feature.

Why you should consider it: If you want a customizable browser, Maxthon might be what you’re looking for; it’s built specifically for power users. Between plugins, skins, filter packs, and other customizable features, it truly lets you personalize your browsing experience. For parents concerned about their children’s’ activities online, the filters for blocking content can be reassuring.

Current release version: 2.5.11 (the Classic Version is also available: 1.6.5)

Operating systems supported: Windows

3. Sleipnir

Sleipnir is very popular in Japan with a majority share in the country. It’s a profoundly customizable browser that maintains speed and performance despite customizations. There are skins and plugins available for it, letting you change the design and settings of the browser to suit your needs. And as all good browsers should, it stresses on security and usability, and allows for tabbed browsing.

Why you should consider it: Sleipnir is an option if you want a highly customizable browsing experience.

Current release version: 2.9.2

Operating systems supported: Windows 98 and newer

4. Swiftfox

Swiftfox is an optimized build of Firefox that’s faster and more cutting edge than the regular Firefox distribution. It works with Firefox plugins, making it remarkably extensible. The overall user interface is similar to Firefox, but is a bit more minimalist and clutter-free. Most other features are in line with what Firefox has to offer.

Why you should consider it: If you love Firefox but want something faster and lighter, then Swiftfox is your best bet.

Current release version: 3.5.6

Operating systems supported: Linux

5. Lunascape

Lunascape is the world’s first and only triple engine browser. That’s right: it’s a hybrid browser that runs on Gecko, Trident, and WebKit. It supports plugins and add-ons from Firefox, Internet Explorer, as well as their own plugin platform. It’s touted to be faster and lighter than many other browser options.

Why you should consider it: If you find yourself constantly switching back and forth between browsers (either for cross-browser testing of web designs or because of add-ons available only to Firefox or Internet Explorer), Lunascape is a perfect fit for you.

Current release version: 6.0.1

Operating systems supported: Windows

6. Konqueror

Konqueror combines web browsing, local and remote file management, and a universal viewing app that lets you view documents without having to launch other programs. It’s open source and HTML 4.01 compliant. It embraces Netscape plugins (like those for Flash or RealVideo). Konqueror also has a built-in FTP and WebDAV support.

Why you should consider it: If you’re a Linux user who wants a browser that can multitask, then Konqueror is definitely something to look into. It’s especially useful for those who want to be able to manage files right from within their browser.

Operating systems supported: Linux

7. SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey is developed by Mozilla and is an “all-in-one” internet suite of apps. While the browser within SeaMonkey is pretty standard (and not unlike Firefox), what sets it apart is that it has integrated email, newsgroups, an HTML editor, IRC Chat, and web development tools. The mail feature offers tabbed reading and supports tagging and alternate views for better email finding and reading. The HTML editor renders CSS and gives you dynamic image and table resizing. For web developers, you can take advantage of the JavaScript debugger and a DOM inspector.

Why you should consider it: For developers and designers, SeaMonkey has a plethora of useful built-in features. It’s also a great option for people who like to run the bare minimum number of apps.

Current release version: 2.0.1

Operating systems supported: Windows 2000 and newer, Mac OS X 10.4 and newer, and Linux.

8. OmniWeb

OmniWeb is a WebKit browser created by the same people who created OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner. It aims to be fun and easy to use (like other Omni products) and shares a similar user interface. It has all the standard browser features we’ve come to expect (including tabbed browsing, bookmarks, and ad blocking), but also includes Workspaces, which lets you save browsing sessions to open later and includes an auto-save option and a built-in RSS reader.

Why you should consider it: For Mac users who want a browser that’s efficient and easy to use, OmniWeb might be just what you’re looking for. It’s appropriate for power users too, and the Workspaces feature is especially handy.

Current release version: 5.0.1

Operating systems supported: Mac OS X 10.4.8 or newer

9. Camino

Think of Camino as a Firefox build specifically for Macs, built on the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine. It includes phishing and malware protection, tabs (including a tab overview function that lets you see all your open tabs at once), “annoyance blocking” (which blocks ads, pop-ups, and Flash animations), Keychain support (to save your browsing credentials), and download notifications. It also includes AppleScript support, feed detection, session saving, recently closed tabs, and full keyboard access.

Why you should consider it: Camino is a great browser for Mac users who like Firefox but want something built specifically for the Mac.

Current release version: 2.0

Operating systems supported: Mac OS X 10.4 or newer

10. Flock

Flock is probably better known than many of the other browsers above, especially if you’re a social media addict. Flock was created specifically to make managing your social media activities easier from within your browser.

Flock focuses on staying connected through social media by making sharing and publishing things easier. It integrates directly with Facebook, Gmail, Digg, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, WordPress, Blogger, Delicious, Bebo, TypePad, Picasa, and more. Special features include a People sidebar, a Media bar (to browse photos and videos from your favorite sites), a built-in feed reader, a photo uploader, a blog editor, and more. There are also extensions and custom themes available for download.

Why you should consider it: Flock is a great choice for social media power users who want to be able to connect with all their social media accounts from one place.

Current release version: 2.5

Operating systems supported: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X

Free Software Programs for Your PC

Javeed Abdul — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:47:08 +0000

With all these thousands being presented to you, it’s hard to decide which apps to use and which ones to discard. To make it easier for you, we have managed to compile a list of the top 15 absolute must-have tools for everyday tasks.

[Update: This list is continuously updated ]

These are the essential programs that we recommend you install and keep on your arsenal.

1. Firefox / Chrome (Web Browser)

Both Firefox and Google Chrome are excellent browsers. They are both fast, user-friendly and known to be secure. So, which one do you choose? The rule of thumb here is that you should use Firefox if you’re looking to add additional features (i.e. ad blocker, password manager, video downloader, page translator etc.) to your browser.

You can see all add-ons for Firefox at https://addons.mozilla.org/. There are extensions for Google Chrome as well, but the choice is rather limited. See, 10 Cool Extensions for Google Chrome.

2. AVG Anti-Virus (Anti-virus Software)

AVG Free Anti-Virus is the most popular free anti-virus software in the world. It’s also the most downloaded software program according to Download.com.

Most of the MakeUseOf authors use AVG and we highly recommend it to others. It’s easy to use, consumes a relatively small amount of system resources and auto-updates itself with virus definitions on a daily basis. Install it once and it will keep your system secure without your intervention.

For those of you who frequently shop online and do regular online banking, AVG recommends AVG Internet Security. While it’s not free, it does offer complete Internet Protection that will keep you safe even from advanced online threats.

Download AVG Free: http://free.avg.com/gb-en/homepage
Download AVG Internet Security (Free Trial): www.avg.com/gb-en/download

(Platform: Windows only)

3. Auslogics Disk Defrag (Disk Defragmenter)

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a must-have free PC maintenance tool that was designed to cure system sluggishness and prevent crashes caused by disk fragmentation. Windows already comes with its own disk-defragmenter but Auslogics Disk Defrag is considerably faster and much more efficient.

It’s extremely simple to use, does not require any analysis phase and is faster than most of the other disk defragmentation software.

While there are several other free disk defragmenters, Auslogics seems to be the defragmenter of choice according to the poll results on MakeUseOf, Lifehacker and mega tech sites like CNET.

Download: www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/overview

(Platform: Windows only)

4. Glary Utilities (System Maintenance)

Glary Utilities is a free system maintenance tool for protecting, cleaning, repairing, and speeding up your PC. It comes with a one-click maintenance option that automatically runs all optimizations and repair jobs with a click of a button.

But the best thing about Glary Utilities is that it integrates over 15 other useful tools that nearly every computer user is likely to make use of. These are:

- Uninstall Manager
- Startup Manager
- Memory Optimizer
- Context Menu Manager
- Registry Defrag Tool
- Track Eraser
- File Shredder
- File Undelete
- File Encrypt/Decrypt Tool
- Disk Space Usage Analysis
- Duplicate File Finder
- Empty Folder Finder
- File Splitter and Joiner

Highly recommended!

Please note, it’s highly recommended that you create a System Restore point when using system maintenance tools like Glary Utilities. This is a precaution to ensure that you can always revert your PC to an earlier state in case something goes wrong unexpectedly.

Note: During the installation process make sure to uncheck the Ask Search toolbar.

Download: www.glaryutilities.com/gu.html?tag=download

(Platform: Windows only)

5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Spyware Removal)

[update: In the original list we recommended the Spyware 360 as a primary tool for fighting spyware. But then we found out that Security 360 was actually using the definition library of Malwarebytes.]

Malwarebytes currently ranks among the top 10 most downloaded software on Download.com. It’s a very simple tool that does an important job, that is protecting your computer from spyware, hijackers, keyloggers and other kind of malicious craplets.

What makes Malwarebytes standout from the pack is its huge library of threats to protect against. That’s exactly what it makes so effective when it comes to detecting spyware that other spyware scanners miss. This same library made the earlier recommended Security 360 a powerful tool.

Malwarebytes may not be as feature-laden as say Spybot Search and Destroy (another good spyware removal tool), which has a ridiculous number of tools, but it is a very lightweight alternative with good spyware coverage.

There are both free and premium versions. The only difference between the two is real time protection. With real-time protection, Malwarebytes will alert you about the spyware before it’s even able to install itself on your system.

Download MalwareBytes (Free): www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
Download MalwareBytes (Premium): https://store.malwarebytes.org
(use SE3-91Z-YNH code to get 15% off, valid until December 31’st)

(Platform: Windows only)

6. 7 zip(Universal Archiver / Extractor)

One archive utility to rule them all. This archiver suppots both popular (ZIP, RAR, ACE, 7-ZIP, TAR etc.) and less popular (IMG, ACE, TZ, GZ, TAZ etc.) archive formats.

Basically this unpacker/archiver gives you everything you get with other popular archivers (ex. Winzip, Winrar etc.) but with additional features and support for a huge number of archive formats. It can decompress archived folders in over 40 formats.

7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CDI, CAB, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MBF, MDF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO

That is to say, it supports pretty much every format you’re likely to come across.

There is something else, you can also use the IZArc utility to open CD image files like ISO, BIN, CDI and NRG. Do you know of any other free archiver that can do that?

Download:http://www.7-zip.org/

(Platform: Windows only)

7. Google Picasa Software (Photo Management)

Picasa automatically finds all the photos on your PC, wherever they are, and organizes them in seconds. It’s an excellent photo manager, editor and viewer for your computer.

With Picasa not only you can nicely organize your photos but also fix common problems (i.e. red eyes), add cool effects and even browse photos by people in them. Yes, it includes face recognition!

Plus one really cool thing about it is that regardless of changes you make to your photos on Picasa the original version of each photo always preserved.

Features include:

- create video slideshows and photo collages from your photos.
- organize photos based on the people in them.
- browse photos by folders, albums, people.
- geotag your photos on Google Maps.
- one-click fixes for common problems like red-eye, color, and lighting.
- 12 cool effects to make your best photos look even better.

You can find out more about Picasa by watching this Youtube video. The Google team compiled a getting started guide for Picasa. Highly recommended for new users.

Download: http://picasa.google.com/

(Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux)

8. doPDF (PDF Printer)

Almost everyone once in a while needs to convert documents to PDF. The doPDF is the easiest tool that does exactly that. It installs a virtual printer on your computer that you can select using the print option from any program on Windows.

Whenever you need to convert a web page, Word document, Excel spreadsheet, photo or pretty much anything else to a PDF file just go to the print option in your program and select doPDF from the ‘Printer’ drop-down menu.

You can set the resolution to anything from 72 dpi to 2400 dpi, and the “printed” files are text searchable.

Download: www.dopdf.com

(Platform: Windows only)

9. Memento (Post-It Notes)

Chances are you have never heard about this program before. Memento is a simple bare-bones post-it notes program for your desktop. It’s better than anything else out there because it’s extremely simple and yet a very effective tool.

Whether you want a program to keep track of your tasks or quick note taking, Memento can help. It’s very intuitive to use and consumes very few system resources. Highly recommended!

It’s an excellent program – and I’ve compared many other free ones! I have been using this for the last 5 years and recommend it to everyone. The very first MakeUseOf article was about this app .

It’s also easily transferable from one PC to another, it saves all your notes in Memento.notes file that is stored in the My Documents folder.

Features:

- double click memento icon on the taskbar to create a note
- show/hide notes on the desktop
- keep notes expanded or closed
- notes always remain on top of other windows
- position notes anywhere you like
- instant autosave
- notes are resizable
- randomly makes each note a new color
- make notes transparent

Download: http://www.guyswithtowels.com/downloads.html

(Platform: Windows only)

10. xVideoServiceThief (YouTube Video Downloader)

Almost everyone is on Youtube these days. And the fact that Youtube has more searches than Yahoo is good indication of this. The only issue with Youtube is that there is no option to download videos so that you can watch them on your computer, PSP, iPhone, mobile phone, iPod etc.

Fortunately there are lots of free software for that, and my favorite is xVideoServiceThief. Apart from downloading videos, it can automatically convert the downloaded video file to another format.

xVideoServiceThief can convert videos to several formats, including AVI, MOV, MPEG, DIVX, MP4 and several others.

Moreover, xVideoServiceThief works with other sites as well, not only Youtube. It can also download videos from Yahoo Video, Google Videos, Metacafe, Dailymotion, CollegeHumor etc.

Download: http://xviservicethief.sourceforge.net/index.php?action=downloads

(Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux)

11. Mozy (Backup)

Backups are very important! Here on MakeUseOf we have published dozens of articles explaining why you should always keep a fresh backup of important data. And Mozy is the perfect program for that. It’s an online backup and recovery service that allows you to select files and folders on your computer and safely back them up online.

It’s fully automated, just set it once and it will do the backups without bothering you again. What’s even better, whenever you make changes to individual documents or files within selected folders, your changes will be replicated on your backup copy as well. So your backup always stays up-to-date.

In the case of file corruption, accidental deletion or hardware failure, you may easily restore your backed up files from the web to the original computer or any another computer, be it a Windows or Mac.

Mozy offers both free and premium accounts (only $4.95/month). The only difference between those two is that free account comes only with 2GBs of storage space. It should be more than enough for backing up important files and documents. On the other hand, if you want to backup your music library, photos, videos or maybe an entire drive then we recommend signing up for a premium account.

(Note: Discount for MakeUseOf users. When signing up for premium account use ‘ MAKEUSEOF’ (all caps) promo code to get 10% off.)

Download Mozy (Free): https://mozy.com/registration/free/
Download Mozy (Unlimited): https://mozy.com/registration/unlimited/

(Platform: Windows / Mac)

12. Digsby (Multi-protocol Instant Messenger)

If you chat on a regular basis and are active on social networks then this is a must-have program for you. There is so much this app does that it’s hard to explain it all in a few lines. Firstly, it’s a universal instant messenger that allows you to chat with your friends on MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Google Talk, Facebook, Myspace, ICQ and Jabber, all from a single messenger.

Secondly, it allows you to read and reply to your emails. That’s right folks, whether you have a Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail account you can receive and reply to emails all from Digsby’s slick interface. Currently Disgby works with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, AOL/AIM Mail, POP Email, IMAP Mail accounts.

And that’s not all, you may also monitor alerts and set status message notifications for Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and LinkedIN accounts. Pretty cool, huh!

Other less important but still noteworthy features include:

- chat history (with search option)
- file transfer history to keep a log of sent/received files
- a widget for site owners to chat with visitors

(Note: Pay close attention when installing Digsby on your computer and make sure to deselect (selected on default) the additional components you don’t need. Plus, once the app is installed go to the preferences window and disable Digsby research.)

Download: www.digsby.com

(Platform: Windows / Mac / Linux)

13. VLC Media Player (Video Player)

With over 67 million downloads so far and roughly 7 downloads per second it’s one of the most popular video players around.

VLC is a highly portable multimedia player supporting most audio and video formats and can play pretty much any video files you throw at it, including physical media like DVDs. Plus it doesn’t need any external codec, program or codec pack to work.<

The VLC can be used both by beginners as well as expert users for working with video files.

The player can also play Youtube videos, convert video files, play subtitles, etc.

Download: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

14. Foobar2000 (Music Player)

The foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for Windows and supports pretty much all popular audio formats. This is an audio player of choice for many audiophiles (the reader polls on MakeUseOf and Lifehacker confirm that). But what’s in it for you? Well, leaving aside its rich feature set, there are two things that make it stand out from the crowd.

First, when it comes to the appearance of the player, it’s HIGHLY customizable. There is NO OTHER audio player out there that can be customized as much. The Foobar2000 lets you change everything starting from buttons, layout, background colors, menus to visualization details.

But the best thing about this gem, it needs very little of your system resources when compared to Windows Media Player, iTunes or Winamp.

The Foobar2000 has also plug-ins for iPod support and things like lyrics and album art. There is also a portable version if you prefer to carry it on your thumbdrive.

Download: http://www.foobar2000.org/download

(Platform: Windows only)

15. ImgBurn (CD / DVD Image Burner)

There are many reasons we need a simple, fast way to burn disks. ImgBurn is a CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray burning application that is fast, lightweight, and completely free.

With ImgBurn you can:

- backup your data or media files to DVD.
- backup your DVD movies to your PC.
- create Audio CDs from any music files such as MP3, WAV.
- create a duplicate copy of any DVD or music CD
- create video discs (DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray) playable in your DVD player

ImgBurn supports a variety of image formats and almost all types of discs, so you don’t need to look any further for your disc burning needs. There is also a portable version that you can carry with you on your USB drive. For additional details see the MakeUseOf ImgBurn review here.

(Platform: Windows / Linux)

Download: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

BONUS (+ 5 programs)

16. Revo – Free powerful uninstaller for Windows. It can uninstall programs that you are not able to remove using Windows’ default program manager.

17. OpenOffice – Free alternative to Microsoft Office. Though requires some adjustments to program settings before it can fully replace the Microsoft Office.

18. Foxit – This one is basically a lightweight replacement to Adobe PDF reader. With Foxit you may launch PDF documents as fast as notepad files.

19. Spyware Terminator – A compliment to the above mentioned Malwarebytes. It’s not as comprehensive but comes with real-time malware detection and fast daily scans.

20. Portable Apps – A huge collection of free programs that you can carry on your USB thumbdrive. The suite includes several of the above apps, plus many more. Carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you where ever you go. Use them on any Windows computer without leaving any personal data behind.

So there you go, the top 15 that you should have on your system and use on a frequent basis. Since everyone is different with different needs, you will probably disagree with us on some of these choices. If so, head on down to the comments section below and let us know which apps you would put in their place and why.

If you like this article, please spread it around and share it with your friends. It took us us a while to get it done and test all the apps thoroughly.

Google Chrome OS in VirtualBox

Javeed Abdul — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:44:02 +0000

Recently a build of Google’s Chrome OS was released for testing. Though it’s not ready for prime time, you might want to test it out in a virtual machine. Today we take a look at how to setup and run it in VirtualBox.

Note: In this example we are using VirtualBox 3.0.12 running on a 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate.

Setup VirtualBox

The first thing to do is click on New to create a new machine in VirtualBox.

The New Virtual Machine wizard opens where you just want to click Next.

Type in a name for the machine and for OS Type you want to select Linux and the default version will be Ubuntu…you can leave that and click Next.

Now you want to select the amount of memory to allocate for the machine. In our test we used 512MB which seems adequate, but you can experiment with different amounts.

In the next step, select Use existing hard disk…

Then add the VMDK file you downloaded to Virtual Media Manager and select it.

You’re brought back to the wizard where the screen should look similar to this.

Then you’re presented with the summary of the new VM and if everything looks correct click Finish.

Now you will see the Chrome OS in the list of your virtual machines and you can start it up.

The Chrome OS will start up and the first screen you’re presented with is the log on. You need to enter in your Google account name and password to begin a session.

That is all there is to it. Now you can start playing around with the new OS from Google.

Conclusion

For those of you who like to try out the newest technology, this is a good option for testing out the Chrome OS. At this time don’t expect a whole lot of awesomeness with this build of Chrome OS. At least you can geek out on it and see what the hype is all about. Of course you can run it in VMware Player as well, but if you’re partial to VirtualBox, this will get you going.

Download Chrome OS from gdgt

Download VirtualBox