Category Archives: repair

After upgrading my Ubuntu 10.04 LTS I had an error window at every boot up session. The message advised me about:

Could not update ICEauthority file /home/username/.ICEauthority

ICEauthority is the Inter-Client Exchange (ICE) Protocol that allows authentication, negotiation, setting up and taking down connections between programs. In few words, if two programs have the same cookies, they will talk and exchange data through ICEauthority.

To fix this matter open the Terminal and type:

ls -al

Then you find a line similar to this:

-rw——- 1 root root 35226 2011-10-06 00:24 .ICEauthority

This means that your profile (username on a Linux OS) is not allowed to manage ICEauthority and you have to gain full permission to solve the boot up problem:

sudo chown username:username ~/.ICEauthority

Where username is your user profile on Linux.

Then type:

sudo chmod u+rw ~/.ICEauthority

To check if you succeeded, type again:

ls -al

and this time you will find a line like this:

-rw——- 1 username username 35226 2011-10-06 00:24 .ICEauthority

That’s all!

System Recovery Tools: a possible cross-platform approach through open source and proprietary solutions

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The following system recovery tools will be useful to you if you are facing problem of data loss or if your system is simply crashing. It is advisable to burn copies of these tools much before any disaster strikes.

Open Source and Free approach:

G4L aka Ghost for Linux is one of the system recovery tools that is mainly a cloning and hard disk and partition imaging tool. This tool is similar to “Norton Ghost”. The images created are compressed optionally and transferred to a FTP server instead of opting for cloning locally. Ideally, of the several tools described above it is advisable to use the most suitable tool for your needs. The tool that will be most useful during a crisis like a crash or server failure will be a better tool.

The Ultimate Boot CD is one of the system recovery tools which will be very helpful when you want to run CDRom-based diagnostic tools thereby consolidating as many diagnostic tools into one bootable CD as possible. Since you can now boot from USB memory devices a script you can run “Ultimate Boot CD” from USB memory stick and a script on the script on the CD will enable you to boot newer systems from your USB sticks. This is many steps ahead than many of the other recovery tools. Moreover it gives you the flexibility of booting your system with a USB memory stick.

Knoppix is one of the system recovery tools which is essentially a bootable CD with GNU/Linux software. It ensures automatic detection of hardware and supports a wide range of devices like sound cards, most of the graphic cards, USB and SCSI devices and other peripherals. It can be used as an educational CD, a Linux demo or for system recovery purposes. Alternatively it can be used as a commercial platform for software demos. There is no need to install anything on the hard-disk as the CD is capable of storing 2GB of software installed in it. Thus this tool is a truly multi-purpose recovery tool.

Proprietary solutions:

O&O Disk recovery: This software tool scans every portion of your hard-disk, digital camera or memory card for lost files. It is so effective and reliable that it is possible to reconstruct data even when files systems have been destroyed or formatted. More than 350 types of files like music formats, word documents, movie, graphics, Excel workbooks, photo and access databases can be recognized, reconstructed and restored.

SuperDuper is one of the system recovery tools makes recovery effortless as it creates a completely bootable backup effortlessly. The strengths of this software are that it is user-friendly, easy to use with a built-in scheduler that it makes backup automatically. Moreover it performs well independent of the processor that is both on Power PC Macs as well as Intel PCs. It is particularly useful when your software application with the latest update is not working or when your hard drive begins to make noise. It is also very handy when you want to restore a stable copy of your system though you do not want t lose your existing system files or cases like this.

Some Linux security tips for Rootkit Hunter

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If you run Rootkit Hunter and you haven’t modified your stock Red Hat configuration of the SSH service (sshd), chances are it will find that you allow root logins. Rootkit Hunter considers these as possible security risks. However, to fix this, you can simply login as root, fire up a text editor, and edit the file

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

Make the following changes:
You’ll find a commented line like this:
#Protocol 2,1
Uncomment it and change it to:
Protocol 2
This will disallow logins using the older versions of the protocol

Look for the commented line
#PermitRootLogin yes
Uncomment the line and change it so it reads:
PermitRootLogin no
This will configure sshd NOT to allow root logins.

After this, be sure to restart sshd (assuming you run the service in the first place so:
Service sshd restart

By the way Rootkit scanner is scanning tool to ensure you for about 99.9% you’re clean of nasty tools. This tool scans for rootkits, backdoors and local exploits.

Stay safe! Install Rootkit Hunter on Linux and FreeBSD

How to repair a bad upgrade on Ubuntu!

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This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we posted some tips about repairing a bad Linux upgrade. In fact, it is rare but sometimes, unfortunately, it happens. I mean one or more error during an upgrade installation on Ubuntu. In my case the problem was caused by a blackout and a battery which did not worked properly. When I restarted the PC it worked only in text mode and it asked me the login and the password to enter into the Ubuntu root mode. Obviously, as usual, I typed the requested data and then, after reading how to solve similar problems on internet, I decided to go forward with sudo apt-get update. At this point Ubuntu advised me that something had been wrong during the last update and suggested to try with sudo dpkg –configure -a. I followed the suggestions and I concluded the “repair session” with sudo apt-get upgrade –fix-broken. Fifteen minutes later and after rebooting all the “bad upgrade” problems were solved. Recommended!

Hardinfo: simple, efficient hardware and system profiler for Linux.

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Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have posted a brief but effective review about Hardinfo: the best system and OS profiler we have never found for Linux. Hardinfo is a very useful program specifically created to deeply scan your hardware and create reports in HTML or in plain text formats. We suggest to use this software before upgrading your pc or when you suspect something is wrong with your hardware. Moreover, Hardinfo let you to easily benchmark your pc performance with just a click. Last but not least, you can download the source code or, if you prefer the autopackage file (suggested) which will automatically install the program in your computer.

How to upgrade or repair your Macintosh or Ipod: a quick reference guide to useful websites!

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Apple Today, in our Freeware Page we have added a new (and very detailed) post with useful links to websites containing terrific instructions to upgrade or repair Ipod, Apple desktops and laptops. These websites can be useful for the people (like us) who do not desire to throw away their Macintosh only because a new model has been launched. Last but not least we have decided to insert also some links to websites which have Macintosh news and guides about regenerating old notebook batteries. If you have some more useful and free websites to suggest, please, write a comment!