Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon
Join Dr. Bill as he examines the wild and wacky world of the web, computers, and all things geeky! Hot Tech Tips, Tech News, and Geek Culture are examined… with plenty of good humor as well!
By the way, do you want to know which printers are best to use with Linux? Check out the Open Printing Database listings! You can put your printer in the widget they have on the site, and it will tell you how Linux compatible it really is!
Nice!
Looking for a Linux distro that is very “Windows User Friendly?” Try Zorin! No, it is not a Star Trek villian this time (see Star Trek: Generations, the movie!) This is a very nice distro, and worth a look!
“The Zorin OS operating system gives you the ultimate desktop experience. Some of the advantages of Zorin OS:
Top-notch security
People are in constant fear of viruses and malware in this digital world. Thanks to Zorin OS’s immunity to Windows viruses you will never have to worry about them. Zorin OS also comes with integrated firewall software to keep your system extra safe. When a potential security threat arises, software updates usually come within a matter of hours through the Update Manager. With Zorin OS you are sure to have peace of mind.
Easy to use, familiar desktop
The main goal of Zorin OS is to give Windows users easy access to Linux. That is why Zorin OS incorporates the familiar Windows 7-like interface by default to dramatically reduce the learning curve of this system while still experiencing the main advantages of Linux. You can also utilise the desktop with other interfaces. This is thanks to the exclusive Zorin Look Changer which lets you change your desktop to look and act like either Windows 7, Windows XP or GNOME 2 in the free versions of Zorin OS. The Premium versions also include the Windows 2000, Unity and Mac OS X looks.
Out-of-the-box software solution
Zorin OS is packed with software, ready for you to take advantage of. From the versatile LibreOffice suite to the feature-packed OpenShot video editor, it’s got it all. Zorin OS is sure to facilitate all of your everyday tasks such as web browsing, document creation, social networking, making videos, chatting with your friends and beyond, all without having to install anything.
We have even split up Zorin OS into seven different versions to facilitate the requirements of various user groups with additional software. Those versions include the free Core version for general use, Lite for use on old and low-spec computers, Educational Lite for use in schools and universities and the premium Business, Multimedia, Gaming and Ultimate versions.
Software Galore
If the pre-installed software isn’t enough for your requirements, there is no need to worry about it. Zorin OS comes with the Software Center which allows you to download and install tens of thousands of free and paid-for programs. All you have to do is open the Software Center from the start menu, find a program which you want and click Install. You can even install Windows programs on Zorin OS in a similar way with PlayOnLinux. You are also able to download installable packages (.deb and .exe) like in your current operating system.
Compatibility
Nearly every file that you use with your current operating system will work perfectly in Zorin OS with no need for additional setup. All your office documents, music, videos, pictures etc. will work out of the box in Zorin OS. Zorin OS also supports a large library of devices such as printers, scanners, cameras, keyboards. These devices will work as soon as you plug them in without the need for installing additional drivers.
Flexibility
Zorin OS gives you more flexibility. It allows you to use Zorin OS alongside your current operating system. While you install Zorin OS to your computer you have the option to keep your current operating system alongside Zorin OS and choose which one to load on start-up.
Accessibility
We want to make computers usable by everyone including disabled people so we have included tools in Zorin OS which make it one of the most accessible operating systems around. It includes such helpful tools as a text to speech program, Orca screen narrator, a screen magnifier for the visually impaired and a dwell click feature for pressing a mouse button automatically.”
Victims of the DNSChanger trojan will be cut off from the Internet on Monday. Check your system now!
DNSChanger victims to lose internet on Monday
“This coming Monday, 9 July, the FBI will be turning off the DNS server which currently intercepts queries from DNSChanger victims. This will mean that users who are infected with the malware will be almost completely unable to access the internet normally. Users are therefore advised to check whether their computers or routers use one of the FBI-listed IP addresses for DNS queries, well before the server shutdown, by visiting dnschanger.eu or dns-ok.us.
Users who want to check their configuration manually need to look out for the following IP address ranges:
85.255.112.0 to 85.255.127.255
67.210.0.0 to 67.210.15.255
93.188.160.0 to 93.188.167.255
77.67.83.0 to 77.67.83.255
213.109.64.0 to 213.109.79.255
64.28.176.0 to 64.28.191.255
If an address from one of the above ranges is already set as the DNS server on the computer or router, it is infected with DNSChanger. Users can find out where to locate this DNS server information for their particular case using a wizard set up by the eco association. Future DNS queries can be made using servers such as Google’s at 8.8.8.8.
Until November 2011, criminals were intercepting DNS queries from infected computers and redirecting them to fake web sites. This allowed them to steal credit card details, sell fake anti-virus software and undertake click fraud.
The FBI then destroyed the DNSChanger network in Operation Ghostclick and, as a temporary solution, set up a replacement server which redirected DNS queries from affected computers to their correct destinations. On 9 July, this server is set to be switched off. Although this date and the DNS problem have been public knowledge for several months, there are still thousands of infected computers in use in the UK. Two months ago, the FBI was still registering queries from around 20,000 UK IP addresses.”
So, $39.99 for Windows 8 if you have a LEGITIMATE earlier version of Windows. Pretty nice!
Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99
“We set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8. Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets. And if you want, you can add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after your upgrade.
When you use Windows.com to purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant makes upgrading simple by walking you through the upgrade process step-by-step from purchase to download and then of course installation.
The Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will check to make sure your PC is ready for Windows 8. It will provide a detailed compatibility report that lets you know of anything you may have to address before or after the upgrade and outlines actions to take.
It will also inform you of any application or device compatibility issues. It will ask you what you want to keep from your current Windows installation. You will be able to upgrade from any consumer edition of Windows 7 to Windows 8 Pro and bring everything along which includes your Windows settings, personal files, and apps. If you are upgrading from Windows Vista, you will be able to bring along your Windows settings and personal files, and if you are upgrading from Windows XP you will only be able to bring along your personal files. Of course, if you want to start fresh, you can choose to bring nothing along. Or if you prefer to format your hard drive as part of your upgrade experience, you can do so as long as you boot from media and then format your hard drive from within the setup experience for installing Windows 8, not prior to it.”
I LOVE Audcacity… it is my only audio editor, and it rocks! And, it is Open Source, and FREE! Check out the bug fixes and features below:
Bug fixes
Interface
Selection Toolbar: a value for the previous whole second displayed if the value was close to a whole second.
Finding zero crossings could cause the selection to expand into white space at either side of the clip.
Clips did not drag to another track if mouse was over a selection.
Mixer Board: Rendering four tracks resulted in a redundant Track Strip followed by a crash.
Imports, Exports and Files
Exporting to WAV or AIFF led to a “Libsndfile says” error or corrupted output due to order of metadata in imported files.
(Mac) Fixed crashes importing MP3 files on PPC machines.
(Linux Ubuntu) .Aup files could not be associated with Audacity (they opened in the web browser instead).
Effects and Analysis
Normalize: Fixed issues where normalization could be to wrong value if applied with DC offset correction, or if applied to “read-directly” WAV and AIFF files before On-Demand completed.
Sliding Time Scale: fixed an audible discontinuity at the beginning of the processed selection; fixed a serious quality problem on Linux 64-bit.
Other miscellaneous bug fixes
including fix to prevent zooming with mouse wheel or ball scrolling the content off-screen.
Changes and Improvements
Shortcuts can now be added in Keyboard Preferences to items in the Generate, Effect or Analyze menus, including user-added plug-ins.
Nyquist Effect plug-ins can now be added to Chains.
New “Paulstretch” effect for extreme slowdown without pitch change.
New “Sample Data Export” Analyze effect for exporting a file containing amplitude values for each sample in the selection.
New Preference (off by default) to import files On-Demand (without seek ability) when using the optional FFmpeg library.
New Preference (off by default) to retain labels when deleting a selection that snaps to the label without extending past it.
(Windows installer) New option to reset Preferences on next launch.
(Mac) Audacity now has excellent compatibility with the VoiceOver screen reader. For details, please see https://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/accessibility.html#mac.
CleanSpeech Mode (no longer supported) will not now be enabled even if it was enabled by an earlier version of Audacity.
Added Serbian (Latin and Cyrillic) translations.
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The iTunes Podcast application is out, Google scientists find evidence of machine learning by finding cats! Scientists develop spray-on batteries, GSotW: The Fog Project, businesses and universities embrace Google applications, Gmail overtakes Hotmail!
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:25 — 12.3MB) | Embed
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The iTunes Podcast application is out, Google scientists find evidence of machine learning by finding cats! Scientists develop spray-on batteries, GSotW: The Fog Project, businesses and universities embrace Google applications, Gmail overtakes Hotmail!
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And now, Gmail has overtaken Microsoft’s Hotmail as the world’s most used mail service. Google is on a roll (all over M$!)
Gmail overtakes Hotmail as world’s largest email service
“Gmail has surpassed Hotmail as the world’s largest email service, according to figures revealed in a post on Google’s blog on Thursday.
‘Gmail, which launched in 2004, has evolved from a simple email service to the primary mode of communication for more than 425 million active users globally,’ wrote Google SVP for Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichal.
Google wasn’t willing to independently verify that it had overtaken Microsoft’s popular email service, but if the figures are correct it represents significant growth for Gmail, which according to Google had just 350 million active users in January.
The steep increase could be attributable to the recent upsurge in Android phones, which require a Google account in order to access the firm’s app store, Google Play. Google said at its I/O Conference keynote on Wednesday that 400 million Android phones have been sold thus far.
While it’s probable that many people have multiple accounts, the figure is still an impressive number, equivalent to nearly a fifth of internet users in the world.
However, according to figures release last month from internet analysis group Comscore, Google has just 289 million users in May, with Microsoft’s Hotmail holding 325 million and Yahoo claiming 298 million.
We are awaiting comment from Microsoft regarding Google’s latest figures on Gmail adoption.”
More and more businesses and universities are switching to Google applications for their base “Office apps.” Quite an in-road on M$’s business!
“Google announced that Gmail now has 425 Million users at its annual Google I/O developer conference today. It’s being used by government agencies in 45 states and 66 of the top 100 universities in the U.S. have already gone Google. Google also announced that over 5 million businesses have now ‘gone Google.’ This, says Google, includes a number of large companies, including Roche, KLM and others.
Google’s Sundar Pichai also noted that its Google+ social layer on top of many of its apps allows users to do things that ‘you just can’t do with Sharepoint.’ Google especially focused on Google+ Hangouts in its demos today and featured a video of Hall and Oates collaborating on songwriting over Hangouts (‘Just try doing that with Sharepoint.’).
He also noted that ‘the web has changed since 2004.’ Static websites have now been replaced with dynamic, rich web apps like Gmail thanks to AJAX other technologies.
Need to back-up or clone a lot of Windows systems on your network? Set up a Linux server with “FOG” and do it from a central web page! Cool stuff!
“FOG is a Linux-based, free and open source computer imaging solution for Windows XP, Vista and 7 that ties together a few open-source tools with a php-based web interface. FOG doesn’t use any boot disks, or CDs; everything is done via TFTP and PXE. Also with fog many drivers are built into the kernel, so you don’t really need to worry about drivers (unless there isn’t a linux kernel driver for it). FOG also supports putting an image that came from a computer with a 80GB partition onto a machine with a 40GB hard drive as long as the data is less than 40GB.
Fog also includes a graphical Windows service that is used to change the hostname of the PC, restart the computer if a task is created for it, and auto import hosts into the FOG database. The service also installs printers, and does simple snap-ins.
The FOG server, by default, provides DHCP, NFS, PXE, FTP, HTTPD, and WOL services to the clients on the network. All computers on the network should have PXE boot as their first boot device, then as is shown by client 1, FOG will chose if the machine should boot the FOG image, or to the local hard disk. Client 2 in the diagram is pushing an image to the server and storing it using NFS, where it could later be pushed down to other computers. The manager is the machine that controls all the tasks of the FOG server. The manager can be any web enabled device from an IPod touch with Safari to a XP desktop top running IE.”