Case Studies – Page 12 – PC Doctor Godalming

Terminal History Manipulation

08/12/2015

BASH (Bourne Again SHell) is the default command line shell used in Ubuntu and Kubuntu and many other Linux distributions. BASH allows you view and manipulate the command line history.

The following examples are from Kubuntu Konsole

List History

user@hostname:~$ history
1 sudo restart
2 sudo restart --help
3 reboot
4 sudo reboot
.
..
...
709 history
user@hostname:~$

List last 10 lines of history

user@hostname:~$ history 10
700 dmesg | less | grep error
701 sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
702 history
703 ls
704 cd Annex
705 cd Annex 1
706 cd Music
707 cd ..

WordPress Paste Snapshot Images Work-around

30/11/2015

I have tried various image paste WordPress Plugins but always come across some drawback or other. Imagepaste works well but puts the image in wp-content\uploads with an unrecognisable random file name and does not add the name to the Media library. Image-elevator looks good but forces you to use the premium (paid for) version to get any real value out of it.

However I have discovered a work-around in Kubuntu using the fantastic KSnapshot screen capture program. This allows you to drag and drop the snapshot image directly into WordPress.

Windows “Checking for updates” never ends

19/11/2015

Checking For Updates

After installing a new copy of Windows 7 SP1 the first Windows Update can take several hours “Checking for Updates…” and appears to be hung. However, don’t give up. It is processing over 200 updates! The time it takes to complete depends on the speed of your Internet connection and computer. Times can be up to 1 hr.

To avoid the frustration of waiting try to run this first update overnight. Ensure you have set Disk Sleep to “Never” within Control Panel | Power Options to avoid it sleeping mid-way through.

Upgrade JIAYU JY-S3 from Kitkat to Lollipop

12/11/2015

The following SP Flash method to upgrade your phone is based on a Windows host system. To upgrade from Kitkat you have to use the flash method. This method will also get a bricked phone working again. The steps below include resetting the IMEI number. The IMEI number cab be found inside the case cover or on the box it came in or in Settings|About Phone|Status|IMEI Information.

To simplify finding the required programs and ROMs download and extract the files below to a single JIAYUS3 folder with relevantly named sub-folders for each component.

The Right Way to Clean a Flat Screen Monitor

17/12/2014

clean-lcd-screen-1

Prepare the Screen

Turn the monitor off. Do not clean a screen until it is cool. Remove as much dust from the screen as possible without actually touching it, e.g. vacuum or blowing . Use a soft lens brush to remove stubborn dust. Lightly wipe the screen with a dry and clean microfiber cloth. Shake out any dust from the cloth between wipes to avoid rubbing dust into the screen and scratching it. Don’t use paper towels,

AirPort Roaming Network Configuration

16/12/2014

The above diagram shows a home Airport network with wired (RJ-45) Airports in the Sitting room, Reception (Time Capsule) and Study (Loft) and a wirelessly connected Airport in the Conservatory connected to a HiFi system using a audio mini-jack port. Due to the proximity of the Airport HiFi it wirelessly connects to the nearest AirPort Time Capsule in the Conservatory. The wired AirPorts are connected to the LAN using a straight Ethernet cable connected to the WAN port and nearest room RJ-45 wall port.

Kate editor not parsing @media queries correctly

15/12/2014

This problem exhibits itself when viewing css files with @media {…} queries with Kate text editor versions < v3.14. Kate highlights these sections incorrectly with red underline or similar.

The fix for this bug is to add <DetectSpaces/> to the MQEV context of Kate’s css.xml highlighting file so that it parses spaces after @media attribute and before the curly brace correctly.

In Kubuntu 14.04 css.xml is located in /usr/share/kde4/apps/katepart/syntax/css.xml

Edit this file with Kate as follows

kdesudo kate /usr/share/kde4/apps/katepart/syntax/css.xml

Find the second occurrence of “MQEV”

Backup using FreeFileSync

12/10/2014

FFS Dialog

FreeFileSynch (FFS) can be directly downloaded and installed from the author’s site: http://www.freefilesync.org/. FFS is a free Open Source application for backing up and restoring user files and folders on Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. One of the major benefits is that once the first backup has been completed only changes are backed up making subsequent backups faster. Also it supports USB backup drive names, e.g. [My Passport] as targets rather than relying on a drive letter which can change depending on which port the USB cable is plugged into,

Disable Avast Email Signature

04/10/2014

Using the Avast User Interface (Avast UI) you can disable options such as: insert note into out going mail; audio notices; social networking; pop-ups and others.

Open the Avast UI

Navigate to the Avast icon in the Windows notification area. This is to the right of the Taskbar at the bottom right of the screen. If not visible click on the arrow head to the left of the notification area to reveal hidden icons. Right-click on the Avast icon and select Open Avast UI.

Transform Windows 8 to Windows 7 with Classic Shell

27/08/2014

To have a Windows 7 desktop like the one above on your Windows 8/8.1 desktop or laptop follow the steps below:

Install Classic Shell and Windows 7 Desktop data Files

Download Classic Shell 4.1.0 or later from http://www.classicshell.net/ and install with the default settings.
Download [filedownload file=”downloads/Classic_Shell.zip” style=”color:#0000EE;”]Classic Shell.zip[/filedownload] This contains Windows 7 desktop background; Start Button images and Classic Shell “Menu Settings.xml” file with the following custom settings:
- Enable Category View for Control Panel
- Disabled all Active Corners
- Replace Start Button using Windows 7 Start button
- Skip Metro desktop on boot or login
- Metro Apps.

PC Doctor Godalming

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