Category Archives: Computadoras

Use chkrootkit to fight against rare (but always possible) rootkits on your Linux PCs!

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we would like to focus your attention on chkrootkit, an interesting software for Linux which can really help you to detect malicious rootkits on your Linux PC. Unfortunately, the last update we have found on the chkrootkit homepage is dated December 2007 but we hope to see a new release during the 2009. To check if you have chkrootkit already installed, type chkrootkit on you Terminal:

desktop:~$ chkrootkit

and you certainly will receive this message:
The program ‘chkrootkit’ is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install chkrootkit

Follow the above instructions and you will be ready to execute the software just typing:

sudo chkrootkit

Please, note that, at our first scan on Ubuntu 8.10, we found a false positive:

Checking `sniffer’… lo: not promisc and no packet sniffer sockets

eth0: PACKET SNIFFER(/sbin/dhclient3[4835])

Do not worry! This (unfortunately frequent) false positive has already been discussed by the community at

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=556517

and

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=270340

If you know other good anti-rootkits, please be so kind, to add a comment on this post. We are really interested to discover new “security software” (especially anti-rootkit) for Linux machines! AddThis mp3 link

Instantbird: the best cross platform and multi-protocol instant messaging client on the market now!

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted a brief post about Instantbird which could be actually considered as the most complete and flexible software to manage all your instant messenger client you normally use (IRC, ICQ, AIM, SIMPLE, SILC, YAHOO, MySpaceIM, XMPP, Sametime, Google, etc..). Moreover Instantbird is completely free, open source and cross platform so you can use it on every PC you have (also at work). We have tested Istantbird for a couple of weeks, without stressing it too much, and we really did not find any bugs so we are really satisfied from the results. Frankly speaking, this software does not contain any “revolutionary” new feature but it can be considered as the state of the art software in its category; something everyone has to benchmark if he (or she) is planning to develop a new instant messaging client! Recommended! AddThis mp3 link

How to install XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief tutorial about installing XBMC on Ubuntu 8.10. As you certainly know, XBCM is a complete Media Center based on Ubuntu. This program is multiplatform (Linux, Windows, OS X and also XBOX – not officially supported-) and, in our opinion, is the most efficient and complete open source media center you can find today on the Internet. Moreover, XBMC has developed a special version that could be installed on a USB Key on a Live CD to freely test the application before installing on your PC. The post is brief but contains all the complete instructions to quickly install XBMC without problems. Please, be sure to digit sudo apt-get update in Terminal after you install the new repositories. Recommended!! AddThis mp3 link

Do not spend money for professional hardware when you can create your hi-tech router with less than 50 bucks!!

This week, in our Freeware Page, we have posted a brief review about Tomato and DD-WRT two unofficial firmwares to upgrade your router into a professional machine which allows you to properly manage and strengthen your wi-fi signal. Surfing in Internet we found more manuals for DD-WRT than for Tomato. On one side it is possible to affirm that DD-WRT is more flexible for traditional home users than Tomato which has been developed for more professional users. On the other side when you read the “Supported hardware” of both the websites it is clear that DD-WRT is able to support many more devices than Tomato but we really were satisfied for all the test we made with both the firmwares on a old Linksys WRT 54G v.2. If your device supports both the firmwares we really suggest to spend a couple of days for testing them and decide what is the best for your needs. Recommended for all that people who do not like to waste money! AddThis mp3 link

Save your money! Install DeLi Linux on your old (or “ancient”) PCs!

Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we added a post about DeLi Linux, an interesting distribution which allows you to use your old PCs and save money. The first time we tested DeLi we sincerely did not believe to obtain so interesting results. In fact we were able to install DeLi on very old PCs and laptops (486) with at least 64MB of RAM. About the RAM, we found some screenshots on the DeLi website where it runs on laptops with just 16MB of RAM. Moreover, DeLi is very light, 251.1MB for the ISO and 750MB of hard disk when installed. This particular version of DeLi Linux, the 0.8, is very flexible and complete if we think that it contains all the main programs that a medium user can ask. When we try to install it on the PCs, we have not found particular matters: the installation was easy and enough fast. When used, DeLi is fast and stable; in few words we could affirm that DeLi represents a strong reality for all that people which are looking for a PC or laptop and do want to spend just few bucks… Recommended!! AddThis mp3 link

How to install the WI-FI Realtek RTL8187SE drivers on Ubuntu 8.10 – Intrepid Ibex

Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have added a brief post to install the Realtek RTL8187SE WI-FI card on Ubuntu 8.10. Surfing Internet we found different possible solutions and well done manuals to solve our problem but at the end we decided to select only the most effective. In particular we would like to focus your attention on the third discovered link http://boskastrona.ovh.org/download_en.html which contains the most effective solution we have tested. Useful! AddThis mp3 link

Three interesting extensions to enjoy a real Web 2.0 experience with OpenOffice 3.0

After more or less a month from its release, the new OpenOffice 3.0 is receiving tons of positive comments. Anyway, this week, in our Freeware page, we have posted some brief notes abut three different extensions which are able to improve your effectivenss in office routines. First of all we have ooo2gd a simple menu bar which allows you to directly upload or download all kind of documents from Google Documents and Zoho. The second one is the Sun PDF Import Extension which has been created to allow minimal but useful changes to PDF documents. After few minutes we were able to make some interesting changes to a complex PDF documents with just a couple of clicks and export the result “into a hybrid PDF file, which is a PDF with the embedded source file asODF “. Last but not least we tested Sun Presentation Minimizer: an effective extensions which cuts the size of presentations reducing, for example, the image sizes. Using Sun Presentation Minimizer you will be able to simply and freely decide what kind of changes you want to make to your multimedia files contained in the presentations. To conclude it is necessary to focus your attention on the feature that also allows Sun Presentation Minimizer to work on Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.  In few words we think that these extensions are guaranteed to be 100% satisfactory!! AddThis mp3 link

How to solve some screen resolution problems when upgrading the kernel on Ubuntu!

Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we added a brief, elemental guide to fix a particular inconvenience that sometimes happens with new kernel versions on Ubuntu. In fact, every time I decide to upgrade the kernel I have big problems with my graphic card (NVidia) and when rebooting I am not able to see my screen. I think that one of the possible problems is the AWN (a -MAC style- bar) I have installed on my PC. After many wasted hours trying to fix this matter I find a very fast solution. I start my Ubuntu 8.04 in the safe mode (sometimes using the previous kernel version) and I launch EnvyNG (Applications – System Tools – EnvyNG) to automatically reconfigure my video card. I know that probably this is not the most advanced way to fix my kernel problem but you can believe that it is very fast and effective. Try it if necessary! AddThis mp3 link

Mixturtle: an interesting online mp3 searcher

Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have added a brief review about MixTurtle an on-line music portal we have recently discovered surfing the web. MixTurtle is very easy to use: you have only to type your favourite artists (or songs) in the search tab and in less than a second it will bring interesting results to you. During our tests we were also able to find some “rare” (for our experience) mp3 files. Moreover, with a simple registration (email, username and password) you will 100% enjoy all the feature offered by MixTurtle.  In fact, after the registration you can “virtually” capture all the music files you want linking them to your account. in this way, when you prefer you can listen to your favourite music with just few clicks. Something to try! AddThis mp3 link

Symbaloo: a new interesting web portal to improve your time efficiency in internet!

This week in our Freeware Page we posted a review about Symbaloo: a new interactive  web portal which allows you to directly manage many everyday tasks directly on the web. As soon as you register yourself on Symbaloo you are able to freely modify your personalized Symbaloo, adding new features or deleting the default ones. Symbaloo is an interactive grid with 60 different squares (each of them hosts a different feature) and a central rectangle where some of your features can directly be visualized. Symbaloo is very flexible and allows you to deeply personalized itself. During our test we did not find any bugs and we were able to insert the 95% of the the features we planned to create there. Moreover, clicking on the plus (+) button on the upper left corner you can create a Symbaloo news page or share a new Symbaloo public page with your friends. Just to know, Symbaloo is available in The Netherlands, Spain, France, the UK and the US in beta. To sum up, it is possible to affirm that at the end of a three days test we do think that Symbaloo can really contribute to reduce time wasted on routine internet tasks. Something to try! AddThis mp3 link