Category: Useful Applications & Tips

  • Protect your personal images on Facebook with McAfee social protection plugin

    You might start getting some blurred images in your notifications or news feed at the end of the August this year — it is not something to do with the Facebook, but the new privacy plugin by McAfee which is going to be release at the end of the August.

    The plugin seems very promising and can solve all your privacy issues. The plugin “social protection” by McAfee is one step solution to keep your personal photos locked for unwanted intruders by letting you control who can see your photos on the site and prevents people from downloading those pictures to view elsewhere. 

    When you upload your photos using the app, your photos will appear blurry and indistinguishable to people you don’t know.

    What’s more, no one –not even your friends and family who you’ve granted access to your photos– can save, print, download or screen capture them.

    Social Protection also prevents you from capturing a screenshot of the image, displaying a padlock icon over the picture if someone makes an attempt.

    In addition to keeping your photos safe, the plug-in will also help keep your identity safe. Facial recognition software will alert you in anyone in your network uploads a photo to Facebook that looks like it might be you and doesn’t tag you in it.

    If you’re doing something you’d like to keep hidden from the world in the photo, you can ask your friend to take it down quickly before you’re tagged.

    The plug-in will first be available for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome on PCs at the end of August, with support coming for Macs soon after and for iOS and Android by the end of the year.

    [via Mashable]

  • Firefox 13 is here – new homepage, speed dial and more

    Firefox 13 is here – new homepage, speed dial and more

    Firefox 13 is out now! You can download the latest version of Firefox web browser from their official website, which will bring the most anticipated improvements and features to enhance your experience.

    Finally, Firefox 13 brings some visual improvements and features to the browser. If you have already upgraded to the newest version, you will immediately notice the – new sleek start page with “common settings” shortcuts.

    New sleek start PageYou can find the speed dial in the “new tab”, where you can keep your most frequently visited web pages in a tile, to get zippy access to them.

    Then there comes some internal CSS and script optimization which makes the browser more stable and ready for the future web.

    Speed dialFirefox can now prove to be good asset for those, who uses greater number of multiple tabs in the single session. Also When loading a previous session’s tabs, Firefox will not load each tabs contents in the background, but only when you ‘switched’ to it. This is aimed at speeding up browser performance for users of tab-heavy sessions.

    Developers toolFirefox has improved their “In page Element Inspector“, which now included “inspect elements” feature. It is found that the default element inspector works flawlessly, which may get some attention of web page developers – who prefer to use chrome to do the similar work.

  • Tribler, a new method to keep bitTorrent alive forever

    Tribler, a new method to keep bitTorrent alive forever

    BitTorrent or P2P protocols are the best means to transfer large files over the distance, without contributing much load on any centralized environment. Millions of People use p2p protocols to transmit files of their needs.

    BitTorrent is branded as a peer-to-peer technology, but despite this label the downloading process still relies heavily on central servers. In the first place, there are the BitTorrent search engines and indexes such as The Pirate Bay and isoHunt. These are needed to search for content and to grab the .torrent file one needs to download a file.

    Besides these torrent sites, most BitTorrent downloads are still managed by so-called trackers. These servers coordinate the download process and make sure that people can find others who are sharing the files they want to download. To a certain degree, trackers are no longer needed with ‘trackerless’ technology such as DHT, but even DHT often uses a central server to get a torrent started.

    Finally, central servers are used by moderators to help hunt spam and malware. All file sharing programs without such central checking have become practically useless over time.

    In the last year these ‘central server’ vulnerabilities have caused a number of minor inconveniences for torrent users. When trackers go offline, downloads usually slow down or may stop entirely, and when a torrent search engine such as The Pirate Bay has technical issues, users have to search for alternatives.

    While the file-sharing ecosystem is currently filled with uncertainty and doubt, researchers at Delft University of Technology continue to work on their decentralized BitTorrent network. Their Tribler client doesn’t require torrent sites to find or download content, as it is based on pure peer-to-peer communication.

    “The only way to take it down is to take the Internet down,” the lead researcher says.

    Introduction

    2-tribler-introductionTribler is an open source peer-to-peer client with various features for watching videos online. The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use, instead of including features. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. Due to this overlay network Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content. Tribler features include: video-only searching, experimental video streaming, and an integrated video player. Tribler is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
    The name Tribler stems from the word Tribe, referring to the usage of social networks in this P2P client. The first version of Tribler was a small enhancement on the ABC (Yet Another BitTorrent Client)

    Features
    Tribler adds keyword search ability to the BitTorrent file download protocol using a gossip protocol, somewhat similar to the eXeem network which was shut down in 2005. The software includes the ability to recommend content. After a dozen downloads the Tribler software can roughly estimate the download taste of the user and recommends content. This feature is based on collaborative filtering, also featured on websites such as Last.fm and Amazon.com. Another feature of Tribler is a limited form of social networking and donation of upload capacity. Tribler includes the ability to mark specific users as online friends. Such friends can be used to increase the download speed of files by using their upload capacity. Due to these features Tribler differs from other popular BitTorrent clients such as Vuze and µTorrent.

    The tribler offers some basic and advanced features which you can’t find on your current torrent client. Ofcourse it could be the future file transfer protocol adopted by the current p2p users. 

    Settings window

    3-tribler-settingsThe “settings” windows offers very basic and useful option which could be helpful while using the client. It is the place where you can add your user profile and enjoy online identity.

    Search listing & downloads

    4-tribler-search-listingTribler offers search listing of your queries which works on different mechanism of other torrent websites. It doesn’t relies on the centralized server to perform its queries, rather it can retrieve the data and .torrent files from other peers connected to your client. To get the most relevant and most relevant result you must keep your client running for at least 5 minutes before performing the search query, as the client connects to other peers and maintains an index while it is running, which can further help you get the most relevant search results of your desired destination.

    5-tribler-mrta-informationThe download process if very easy and is performed on the fly, downloading a torrent file was never so easy. You just need to click on the name of the file you want to download in your search results and information related to the file will slide in right below the name, where you can find all the relevant information about the file right inside your client. You’ll find download button after each filename, clicking on which download starts automatically and tribler will download .torrent meta file from other peer on the network and start your download.

    Channels

    6-tribler-channelsThis is the features, which makes me happy. It is not much of the useful thing atm, but soon, when other users will start listing the torrent files which they find useful for them on their own profile, it will be the best thing on the client or any other p2p software out there. 

    Users can list down the torrents they like or think they should recommend to others to their channels and people on the network using tribler can view or download the files from it. 

    For example you can look for eztv channel and can crawl to the torrents listed by them at one place. just go to the channel and click on the download button right beside the torrent name you can want to download.

    SwarmPlayer
    The SwarmPlayer is a Python based BitTorrent Internet TV viewer. It allows you to watch BitTorrent-hosted peer-to-peer digital media distribution of video on-demand and plays live Tribler streaming media. It is based on the same core as the Tribler TV application.
    The core software is free and open-source software based on the Tribler platform, licensed under the LGPL 2.1.

    Development
    Tribler was created by university researchers trying to improve peer-to-peer technology. Tribler is designed to enhance BitTorrent by removing the need for central elements such as the websites for finding content. The aim is to increase performance, reliability, and scalability.

    The Tribler BitTorrent client is no newcomer to the BitTorrent scene. It has been in development for more than 5 years and has delivered many innovative features, which have mostly been ignored by the masses.

    What is it all about?
    Today, however, Tribler is more relevant than ever before.

    Developed by a team of researchers at Delft University of Technology, the main goal is to come up with a robust implementation of BitTorrent that doesn’t rely on central servers. Instead, Tribler is designed to keep BitTorrent alive, even when all torrent search engines, indexes and trackers are pulled offline.

    “Our key scientific quest is facilitating unbounded information sharing,” Tribler leader Dr. Pouwelse tells TorrentFreak.

    “We simply don’t like unreliable servers. With Tribler we have achieved zero-seconds downtime over the past six years, all because we don’t rely on shaky foundations such as DNS, web servers or search portals.”

    So how does it work?

    8-your-centralised-informationLike many other BitTorrent clients, Tribler has a search box at the top of the application. However, the search results that appear when users type in a keyword don’t come from a central index. Instead, they come directly from other peers.

    Downloading a torrent is also totally decentralized. When a user clicks on one of the search results, the meta-data is pulled in from another peer and the download starts immediately. Tribler is based on the standard BitTorrent protocol and uses regular BitTorrent trackers to communicate with other peers. But, it can also continue downloading when a central tracker goes down.

    The same is true for spam control. Where most torrent sites have a team of moderators to delete viruses, malware and fake files, Tribler uses crowd-sourcing to keep the network clean. Content is verified by user-generated “channels”, which can be “liked” by others. When more people like a channel, the associated torrents get a boost in the search results.

    The latest addition to Tribler is a Wikipedia-style editing system dubbed “Open2Edit,” where users have the option to edit names and descriptions of torrents in public channels. All without a central server, totally decentralized.

    According to Dr. Pouwelse, Tribler is fully capable of resisting any pressure from outside, and it will still work when all torrent sites and trackers are gone. It simply can’t be shut down, blocked or censored, whatever laws politicians may come up with.

    One thing that could theoretically cause issues, is the capability for starting users to find new peers. To be on the safe side the Tribler team is still looking for people who want to act as so-called bootstrap Tribler peers. These users will act as super peers, who distribute lists of active downloaders.

    “Together with software bugs and a code cleanup, that is now our last known weakness,” says Pouwelse.

    While the Tribler client only has a few thousand users at the moment, for avid file-sharers it must be a relief to know that it’s out there. No matter what crazy laws may pass in the future, people will always be able to share.

    Those who want to give it a spin are welcome download Tribler here. It’s completely Open Source and with a version for Windows, Mac and Linux.


     

    tribler update

    Update: After an article on TorrentFreak and DigitFreak in February 2012 mentioned Tribler’s decentralization and the fact that its index is impossible to take down, the website became hugely popular, causing it to be reduced to just the download page to comply with demand.


    Download: Tibler for cross OS


    Source: TorrentFreak, Havard Internet TV, Wikipedia, other sources.

  • Linux Mint is not losing it’s ground over Ubuntu distros

    Recently, there were lots of rumors floating around that Linux Mint is dominating over Ubuntu distros. The reports and graphs collected by “DistroWatch” stirred up the arguments even higher. 

    People supporting this phenomenon, referred to an even bigger increase in Linux Mint’s DistroWatch ranking, a chart derived from the number of hits each distro page on the site receives. 

    Like a domino effect of misinformation, this week has been chock full of reports by tech news sites that Ubuntu’s market share is declining, being surpassed by the Ubuntu spin-off and close cousin Linux-Mint.

    The source of this dramatic revelation is none other than DistroWatch, the site that all Ubuntu haters love to quote, and all Ubuntu lovers love to hate. – Joey sneddon, author OMG! Ubuntu

    To talk about the facts, we should notice what Distrowatch is claiming in their graphs and reports. The Data is collected from their own website and the user who visit their pages. Actually they store the information of the visitors who register a hit on their page (which cannot be taken as any official reports or something which can be a source for some conclusion).

    Putting aside the fact that Linux Mint’s recent increase in “Page hits” on the site has been helped in part by blog after blog talking about/linking to Mint on Distrowatch as evidence of its rise against Ubuntu. There is no doubt that Linux Mint is attracting renewed attention.

    But many in camp Mint/camp anti-Unity claim that the distro is now well on its way to being, if it’s not already, more popular than Ubuntu. One infamous ‘opensource’ site with a notable distaste for Ubuntu’s Unity desktop even assures its readers that:

    “There is no way that Ubuntu will cover this distance in the near future, unless they change something dramatically.”

    Well, if you are taking a website page hit as an evidence, why not talk about some other websites which can provide better information with Billions of hits per month? 

    Let’s say “Wikimedia”, can we get relevant information from that site? Well, we investigated a little bit and this is what we found.

    To help give perspective to the whole Mint Vs Ubuntu debate lets see what some real, hard stats say.

    The stats were posted on OMG! Ubuntu, which is quoted below:

    As ZDNet report, the Wikimedia Traffic Analysis Report of Operating Systems Visiting wikimedia Pages* in October 2011 show:

    * 16,924,000 hits from Ubuntu

    * 556,000 hits from Linux Mint


    Half a Billion computer using your OS is not a bad stat at all, but it does challenge the often aggressive posturing of many in the anti-Unity brigade that Unity has been nothing short of a disaster for Ubuntu.

     

    If we look fast-forward to look at Wikimedia stats fro December 2011 then things look even brighter for Ubuntu:-

    * 29,432,000 hits from Ubuntu

    * 624,000 hits from Linux Mint

     

    There’s a hralthy 68,000 hit increase from Linux Mint users – certainly indicating a surge in its use. But look at Ubuntu – almost 13 million hits up from October, which, perhaps not coincidentally, saw the release of Ubuntu 11.10

    Linux Mint is definitely, one of the best Distros out there, which comprises huge dedicated developers swarm and a group of loyal followers thoughout the world, but getting on to a conclusion that Ubuntu is loosing it’s ground just because of it’s “co-distro” will not be a reasonable and noble effort. 


    Source: OMG! Ubuntu, Wikipedia

  • Common Mac OS X (Mac system) keyboard Shortcuts [image]

    Common Mac OS X (Mac system) keyboard Shortcuts [image]

    We all strive to get our work done as quickly as possible. Being able to do something and knowing some tricks are two different things. Mac OS X is apple’s very well know Operating system used by Mac lovers. Apple bundles their PC’s and laptops with Mac OS. Sometimes the keyboard shortcuts proves to be handy to get our work done quickly. Here is the image which contains the most common Keyboard shortcuts used on Mac OS. The image is designed by K. Brock on sanhaus.

    Click here to download the original size.

    osx-keyboard-shortcut-resized


    Image Courtesy : K. Brock Flickr

  • Things you can do after installing Ubuntu 11.10

    Things you can do after installing Ubuntu 11.10

    Ubuntu 11.10 is quite a large over-ripped (and wrapped) version of it’s predecessor. The new Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric ocelot was released on Oct 13th 2011. I have been using Ubuntu 11.10 since it’s release (and even before, when alha 1 was released). Ever since the arrival of Unity, many new and old Ubuntu users are looking for ways to improve the functionality aspect of Ubuntu and customize the Unity environment to their respective needs. Here are the few tips and tricks you can opt for, for your new Ubuntu 11.10 :

     

    1) Installing Restricted extras during Installation

    * Starting from Ubuntu 11.04 release, you can install restricted codecs package(which include Adobe Flash, MP3 codecs and such) during installation of Ubuntu OS itself.

    Screenshot* Notice the arrows pointing to the boxes in the screenshot above. If you tick both of them during the Ubuntu installation process(make sure you are connected to the internet before doing so), restricted extras package will be installed automatically and you will be able to play mp3’s and watch flash videos(YouTube videos for example) right after Ubuntu installation is complete.

    * But there is a catch. If you have a slow internet connection(which is very rare these days), ticking the boxes shown in the screenshot above will unnecessarily lengthen the installation process. I for one prefer to do all that after installing Ubuntu. If you are like me, the next two steps are for you.

     

    2) Update Repositories

    * After you install brand new Ubuntu 11.10, the first thing you need to do is to update repositories and make sure you have the latest updates installed(Like I said before, you need to do this only if you haven’t ticked the boxes shown in the above screenshot).

    *Open Terminal(Ubuntu 11.10 Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T) and copy-paste the following command into Terminal. 

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

    * Done. Ubuntu repositories have been successfully updated.

     

    3) Install Ubuntu Restricted Extras

    * Install the “ubuntu-restricted-extras” package. This will enable your Ubuntu to play popular file formats like mp3, avi, Flash videos etc. Click Here OR simply copy-paste the command below into Terminal to install the package(You need not do this also if you have ticked the ‘right’ boxes).

    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

    * Done.

     

    4) Enable Full DVD Playback(Dual Layer DVD Support)

    * Though installing the restricted extras package will solve most of your problems, you may not be able to play dual layer dvds yet in your Ubuntu.

    * For that, you need to install libdvdcss2 package from medibuntu repositories. Simply do the following in Terminal.

    sudo wget –output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get –quiet update && sudo apt-get –yes –quiet –allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get –quiet update

    sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

    * Done.

     

    5) Check for Availability of Proprietary Hardware Drivers

    driver copydrivers ubuntu1110
    * In my case, all the hardware drivers including graphics, sound and wireless drivers were enabled automatically(though, as you can see, I still have a proprietary wireless driver on offer, which I have not activated). But this may not be the case with everyone.

    * If you are among the not-so-lucky, open Unity dash (Ubuntu 11.10 Keyboard Shortcut: Super key) and search for ‘Additional Drivers’ application.

    * Check for additional drivers available and activate the ones you want. In 90% of the cases, this will do the trick. Those who were not able to get their hardware drivers enabled yet will have to do fair amount of digging through ubuntuforums.

     

    6) Install Compiz Config Settings Manager

    digitfreakccsmCompizConfig Settings Manager 019
    * Compiz desktop effects are available in your Ubuntu by default and if you have any kind of 3D acceleration available(graphics driver ie), you are good to go with Compiz.

    * Now to tweak Compiz desktop effects in Ubuntu, you need to install “compizconfig-settings-manager” package. Click Here OR simply copy paste the following command into Terminal to install “compizconfig-settings-manager”.

    sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

    * Done. Compiz Config Settings Manager(CCSM) is significant as far as Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot is concerned. We will get to that later on.

     

    7) Essential Ubuntu Unity Keyboard Shortcuts

    * Productivity can be increased significantly in new Ubuntu Unity desktop if you know the essential Unity keyboard and mouse shortcuts. Here are some of the most important among them.

    * Super Key(Windows Key) – Opens dash.

    * Hold Super Key and hit 1, 2, 3 etc – Open an Application from Launcher. When you hold the Super Key, specific numbers will be displayed in order above each application.

    * Alt + F1 – Put keyboard focus on the Launcher, use arrow keys to navigate, Enter key launches the application, Right arrow exposes the quicklists if an application has them.

    * Alt + F2 – Opens dash in special mode to run any commands.

    * Super + A – Opens up applications dash.

    * Super + F – Opens up files and folders dash.

    Super + W – Spread mode, zoom out on all windows in all workspaces.

    * Super + D – Minimize all windows(acts as Show Desktop). Hitting it again restores them.

    * Super + T – Opens trash can.

    * Super + S – Expo mode (for everything), zooms out on all the workspaces and let’s you manage windows.

    * Ctrl + Alt + T – Launch Terminal.

    * Ctrl + Alt + L – Lock Screen.

    * Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right/Up/Down – Move to new workspace.

    * Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left/Right/Up/Down – Place window to a new workspace.

    * F10 – Open the first menu on top panel, use arrows keys to browse across the menus.

     

     Mouse Shortcuts/Tricks for Ubuntu Unity

    * Clicking and holding an icon and then dragging it around will allow you to reorder it on the launcher. You can also drag it off to the right of the launcher to move it around. Note that you need to make an explicit movement to the right to move the icon off the launcher before you can move it around.

    * Dragging and Dropping an icon into the trash can will remove it from the Launcher.

    * Moving and holding the cursor on the left side for a few seconds will launch Unity dock.

    * Moving the cursor to top-left corner(near Ubuntu icon) will launch Unity dock as well.

    * Scrolling the mouse wheel while over the Launcher scrolls the icons if you have too many and need to move around quickly.

    * By Scrolling the mouse wheel while over the Sound icon on top panel helps you increase or decrease system volume.

    * Middle click on an application’s launcher icon – Open a new instance of the application in a new window. Very useful at times. In laptops with touchpads, hitting left/right click buttons together is akin to middle click.

    * Maximizing – Dragging a window to the top panel will maximize it.

    * Restore/Unmaximize – Dragging the top panel down OR double clicking on the top panel will do.

    * Tiling – Dragging a Window to the left/right border will auto tile it to that side of the screen. One of the highlights of new Unity experience.

     

    And Some Useful Window Management Shortcuts(Generic)

    * Alt + F10 – Toggle between Maximize/Unmaximize current window.

    * Alt + F9 – Minimize current window.

    * Alt + Tab – Toggle between currently open windows.

    * Alt + F4 – Closes current window.

    * Alt + F7 – Moves the current window(both keyboard and mouse can be used).

     

    8) Enable Transparency for Unity Top Panel

    ccsmCompizConfig Settings Manager 021
    * Launch CCSM. Hit Super + a and search for CCSM.

    * After launching CCSM, select Ubuntu Unity Plugin from ‘Desktop’ category. Now choose the Experimental tab from above.

    * There you will see the ‘Panel Opacity’ option. Change it to the value you like.

     

    9) Increase/Decrease the Launcher Icon Size

    CompizConfig Settings Manager 021* Just as before, Launch CCSM(Super + a and search for CCSM) and then browse to Ubuntu Unity Plugin. Choose ‘Experimental’ tab.

    * Adjust the value of ‘Launcher Icon Size’ by simple scrolling. The default value of ‘Launcher Icon Size’ is 48, but I like it around 40 for my laptop.

     

     

    10) Change Desktop Size

    * By default, Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot gives you four workspaces to play around. Keyboard shortcut for activating the four workspaces is Super + s. Now, if you want to increase/decrease that number do the following.

    * Launch CCSM yet again, and select General Options from the category ‘General’. Select the tab ‘Desktop Size’ and choose the values you want. Simple as that.

     

    11) Add your Favourite Places As Quicklist for Home Icon in Unity

    Unity quicklistsQuicklists are something that I thought would be included as a default feature in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot(at least some of them). But that didn’t happen. Home Menu quicklist in my opinion, is a must have feature(see screenshot to know how it will look like). Follow the steps to add your favorite places as quicklists.

    * Copy ‘Home Folder’ launcher file to your home directory. For that, you need to open Terminal(Unity Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T) and copy-paste the following commands.

    cp /usr/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop ~/.local/share/applications

    * Open the file in your favorite text editor. I am using Gedit here.

    gedit ~/.local/share/applications/nautilus-home.desktop

    * Now replace the content of the file with the following text.

    [Desktop Entry]

    Name=Home Folder

    Comment=Open your personal folder

    TryExec=nautilus

    Exec=nautilus –no-desktop

    Icon=user-home

    Terminal=false

    StartupNotify=true

    Type=Application

    Categories=GNOME;GTK;Core;

    OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

    X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Bugzilla=GNOME

    X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Product=nautilus

    X-GNOME-Bugzilla-Component=general

    X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=nautilus

    X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=Videos;Documents;Music;Pictures;Downloads

    [Videos Shortcut Group]

    Name=Videos

    Exec=nautilus Videos

    TargetEnvironment=Unity

    [Documents Shortcut Group]

    Name=Documents

    Exec=nautilus Documents

    TargetEnvironment=Unity

    [Music Shortcut Group]

    Name=Music

    Exec=nautilus Music

    TargetEnvironment=Unity

    [Pictures Shortcut Group]

    Name=Pictures

    Exec=nautilus Pictures

    TargetEnvironment=Unity

    [Downloads Shortcut Group]

    Name=Downloads

    Exec=nautilus Downloads

    TargetEnvironment=Unity

    * And restart Unity. Hit Alt + F2 and run the following command to restart Unity.

    unity –replace

    * Done. If that doesn’t work, you might need to log out and log back in to restart Unity.

     

    12) Enable Uity Grab handles

    CompizConfig Settings Manager 022CompizConfig Settings Manager 023CompizConfig Settings Manager 024unity grab handles
    This is another feature that I thought would be included as a default. Unity grab handles are a easy and eyecandy way of resizing windows, better suited for touch screen devices though.

    * Launch CCSM(just search for CCSM in Unity Dash).

    * Make sure that the category Png(highlighted above) is ticked.

    * In the Uncategorized section at the bottom of CCSM, make sure that Unity MT Grab Handles is ticked as well. Click on Unity MT Grab Handles option now.

    * You will see that the Toggle Handles option is Disabled by default. Click on the Disabled button and tick the resulting Enabled box.

    * Hit Grab key combination button and select the shortcut you want. As you can see in the screenshot above, Control + Alt + g was my choice. Its up to you.

    * Done. Unity Grab Handles are enabled in Ubuntu 11.10 successfully.

     

    13) Install sysmonitor App Indicator

    Unity’s top panel is locked down and it is not easy to add apps to it anymore. App Indicators are an excellent way to extend the functionality of Unity top panel in Ubuntu Oneiric. And Sysmonitor application indicator is one of my favorite.

    digitfreak2Screenshot at 2011-12-15 025139
    * To install Sysmonitor Indicator in Ubuntu 11.10, you need to copy paste the following commands into Terminal.

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexeftimie/ppa

    sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get install indicator-sysmonitor

    * Done. Now, simply launch Sysmonitor Indicator from Unity dash.

     

    14) Install Gnome Shell on Ubuntu

    Screenshot at 2011-12-09 112836
    Installing GNOME Shell in Ubuntu is not “mission impossible” anymore. Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot is GNOME 3.0 based and installing GNOME Shell in Oneiric is just a click away. Instead of one simple GNOME interface, now you have two, each one unique and special in its own way. Here is how you install it. Just search for ‘GNOME Shell’ in Software Center OR do the following in Terminal.

    sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

    Read How to Install Gnome 3 in Ubuntu 11.10, for more details and further configurations.