Category Archives: windows

Don’t let them to track your internet behaviour! Use Ghostery for Firefox

We know that every time we visit a website we are caught by “invisible” robotized voyeurs which analyse our behaviour and share information to the site owner or to specialized data-collecting companies. These companies usually analyze the obtained information to improve the quality of their web service (in the most optimistic case) or to create a profile about the user with the specific goal to better sell services in the near future.

The real problem is that normally we are not able to realize what is happening. all this “ghost” activity happens in a silent mode without any tangible trace. To avoid this data collection and protect in a more efficient way our privacy we can use Ghostery, a specific add-on for Firefox and Chrome.

Ghostery defuses trackers, web bugs, pixels, and beacons placed on web pages by Facebook, Google Analytics, and more than 1,000 other ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers and companies interested in your web activity. As for every Firefox add-on, Ghostery is simple to install and manage. After the installation you can choose if you want to share anonymous information with the Ghostery servers to improve the quality of its services or if you prefer not to collaborate with them. You also can decide if you want to automatically update your Ghostery library and choose the specific trackers you want to neutralize. You can also create a policy for your cookies or (recommended) define a Whitelist for the websites you trust.

During my tests, Ghostery has not slowed the navigation speed in a sensible way also because I spent a little of time on creating a personalized Whitelist during my first use of this add-on.

Last but not least, Ghostery provides a very powerful information section where you can learn about any tracker it has blocked for you.

To conclude I can say that Ghostery is an add-on you must have on your Firefox to better protect your privacy!

galigio.org: 2011 in review

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 150,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Multiboot CD /DVD and USB Builder: Sardu

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The last generation of external 3.0 usb disks allows us to create fast multi-boot drive that can be used for different purpose. Commonly we use these “special” drives as recovery tools when something goes wrong in our computers or when we would dig, in a deeper way, a particular desktop.

The best software to create multi-boot disks or ISO have been developed for Windows and the only exception is a French, multi-step solution named LiveUSB Multi-Boot.

Today we focus our attention on Sardu a multi-language Italian project developed for Windows machines. After you have downloaded it you can unzip and save the folder in your favorite location. The sardu.exe file will run the program and you can start to decide if you prefer to create a multi-boot ISO or a multi-boot usb key.

The menus are complex but in a couple of minutes you will be able to properly navigate them and select the software and ISO you’d like to have in your CD or USB key. You can also decide to manually add a specific ISO which is not directly supported.

The CD-DVD burner is included in Sardu consequently you can create your bootable CD-DVD in just few clicks.

In the everyday world, Sardu is also useful to test computers when you want to quickly install a Linux distribution and you are not sure about the best one to choice.

Moreover, Sardu is plenty of extra freeware which can help you to recover the GRUB, partitions, lost files and passwords.

Unfortunately Wine is not able to run Sardu in a correct way and when we tested it on Ubuntu we were able to use just few basic features.

Setting up File Sharing Between Windows, Linux, and Macs with Samba! by NixiePixel

Another way to share files between Ubuntu and Windows

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This tutorial will show you another way to share and to access the network share folders between Windows and Ubuntu machines. When file sharing is enabled, both systems can access files and folders on any of the PCs. Users with accounts on Ubuntu systems will also be able to access the content directly from your home.

1. To begin, you will need to log on to your Windows operating system. Click ‘Start’ -> search for ‘Network and Sharing Center’ and click on it.

2. Access the ‘Change advanced settings sharing. ” option.

3. Enable file sharing and backup as well.

4. At this point, you need to switch your operating system to Ubuntu. Once you log in, click on ‘Ubuntu menu -> System Tools ”

5. Then select ‘Ubuntu Software Center. ”

6. Find and install ‘Samba‘. This software is required for a better compatibility between the two operating systems.

7. After Samba is installed, you should go to ‘System → Administration –> Samba’.

8. Then click ‘Preferences -> Server Settings’.

9. Write the name of the workgroup you set for your Windows PC(s). If you do not know the exact name because you did not set it, the default name for Windows Workgroups is set to ‘WORKGROUP‘ (capitalizing is not required, however, since Windows is generally not case-sensitive).

Video – Change GRUB menu list by curemind

How to Change the Boot Order in Ubuntu

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If you installed Ubuntu and Windows at the same time, you probably noticed that when you start your computer you can choose what operating system to launch. The responsible software for this is usually the GRUB loader and its menu. Obviously, after you install Ubuntu, it is placed as the first option and if you do not explicitly choose Windows in a few seconds, Ubuntu will be started. But what if you want Windows as your default option? Here is how you change the order:

1. Launch a new Ubuntu Terminal (Applications, Accessories). Type in the following command:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup

This will create a backup of the GRUB configuration file.

2. Now open the file. We’ll do it with a new command:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

You will be prompted for a password, after which a text editor will be launched. In most of the situations, the menu.lst file contains many comments. You have to search for a line that says

default 0

This should not be very far from the end of file. Here you will have to intervene. After a few lines you will the variable called ‘timeout’ and its value (10 by default). If you want to have more or less time available for choosing your operating system, change the 10 with what number you want.

So back to the boot sequence. Scroll through the file again until you find:

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic

There will be more titles. Count the order number of Windows, but start from 0. The value you choose should overwrite the default one. For example, if Windows is the 4^th title in the list, you will need to type

default 4

instead of ‘default 0’, which was described above. All you need to do at this point is to save the file and restart your computer.

Google Music con Aplicación también para Linux

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Desde hace unos meses Google ya ofrece el servicio Musica por streaming y de poder tener hasta 20.000 canciones almacenada en ” las nubes “; todavía este servicio no está disponible en España y Europa pero es igualmente posible conseguir una invitación.

Ante de todo hay que tener una cuenta de Gmail o crearse una. Luego dirigirse a la pagina de proxy.org para elegir un proxy de USA. Después de elegir el proxy hay que pegar la dirección que permite pedir la invitación a nombre de vuestra cuenta de Gmail y ya esperar que llegue la invitación por parte de Google, yo ya recibí la invitación y ya tengo mi Google Music activado.

Es un servicio muy interesante y funciona muy muy bien, aparte de los Artistas y las Canciones que nos Ofrece Google de forma gratuitas también podemos administrar nuestra música, la que tengamos en nuestro PC y subirla a nuestro Google Music gracias a una Aplicación especifica para Linux ( .deb, rpm, 32/64 bit ), así que ya no hay que instalar la versión para Windows y lanzarla con Wine. También está disponible una Aplicación para Android para que podamos escuchar en Streaming y administrar nuestra música sin tener que llenar la memoria de nuestro Smartphone.

Me parece un excelente servicio por parte de Google, funciona muy bien y sin coste alguno. Os dejo unos enlaces para que podáis pedir la invitación (yo tengo 8 disponibles, si alguien quiere inviar su correo yo puedo enviarle una invitación) y también otros para poder bajar la Aplicación para Android.

Proxy.org: http://proxy.org/

URL Invitación: http://music.google.com/music/usernotinvited.

Aplicación para Android: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.music