Ubuntu 11.10 brings Ubuntu Unity closer to fine

Ubuntu 11.10 brings Ubuntu Unity closer to fine

Takeaway: With the release of Ubuntu 11.10, Ubuntu Unity makes some progress on the desktop front. Is it enough? Here's the take on the state of the desktop from Canonical.

If you’ve been following me long enough, you know since the inception of Ubuntu Unity my relationship with that new desktop has been one of love-hate. When Unity was first rumored and the designs and philosophy were made known, the relationship was one of love. But when 11.04 was released, that relationship quickly shifted to hate. But now, 11.10 is out and Ubuntu has had a chance to make good on their Unity promises. I have to say, after upgrading to 11.10 … I’m pretty impressed with the improvements.

I’ll preface the rest of this by saying it’s not perfect, but it’s closer to being a fine desktop than it’s previous iteration.

Now … just what has improved? Let’s take a look. I am taking this from the perspective of an end-user, so there will be no talk of development this or power-user that. What I am interested in is whether or not Unity has come far enough along for the average end user.

The Good

The Unity Dash has had a bit of overhaul, making it easier to access various pieces. Figure A shows the Dash in action. Click on the Dash icon to reveal a new overlay that allows you to do the following (via icon):

• Open up various categories of apps (Media, Internet,  and More).
• Open up default apps (as configured within System).
• Find files.

You will also notice, at the bottom of the Dash overlay, a row of tabs. These tabs are (from left to right):

• Dash Home
• Applications
• Documents and folders
• Media

So what the developers of Unity have done is make it incredibly easy to get to various applications, files, and folders. This is a big plus for not just average users, but for any level of users. Another nice addition to the Dash is the ability to quickly filter results by categories. Take a look at Figure B (sorry, wallpaper is set to randomly change.)

Click on the Applications Tab in the Dash Overlay and you can then filter by various categories, making the search for that specific file or application much easier.

It is also possible now to eject external discs and USB devices from the Launcher. Simply right-click the device to reveal a menu offering:

• Open
• Eject
• Safely Remove

The not so good

The Metaphor is still the big issue. Most end users do not like change — of any kind. They don’t like drive letters to change, they don’t like the look and feel of things to change. This is the one glaring problem with driving such a grand, sweeping change such is Ubuntu Unity. New users will take one look at it and say “Where’s my Start button? Where are my icons?” There is no way around this and new users will just have to accept that change is an inevitability with the PC desktop. Even with Windows — change happens and users have little to no choice but to move on. Eventually the touch-screen friendly desktop interface such as Unity and Gnome 3 will be less a shock to users (granted it would help if Canonical would come through on the promise of touchscreen hardware to happily marry with the interface).

More not so good

Why is it the developers of Ubuntu Unity have decided that configuring the desktop is just not something we mortals need. Sorry people, but I am a serious tinkerer on the desktop. I want my desktop cake and I want to eat it too! But alas — configuring the Unity desktop is just not meant to be (outside of changing your desktop background.) This does need to change. People (even new users) want to configure that desktop!

Even more not so good

I’m still not sold on the Apple-like application menu. No more do applications have their own menu. You want to access an application menu, you have to have that application in focus and then go up to the main bar at the top of the window. This isn’t terribly efficient when you have many windows open.

And speaking of many windows open — I want, nay need, my sloppy focus. I do not like to have to click on titlebars (or any location within the window) to give a window focus. I am all about making as few clicks and points with the mouse as possible. Give me sloppy focus and auto-raise back!

The conclusion thus far

Okay, so Unity is beginning to show promise. I have two suspicions here:

1. Given time Unity will finally become a legitimate player on the average user desktop field.
2. Given the proper touch-screen hardware, Unity will finally be able to show just how user-friendly it can be.

Linux GUI vs CLI

Linux GUI(Graphical User Interface) vs CLI(Command Line Interface)

-- GUI makes it easy for the user, therefore makes the OS user-friendly. 
-- GUI interface means the OS is "dumbed down"


-- CLI gives the user more control and options.
-- CLI is stone-aged; it belongs to a "The History of Computers" museum.


-- Xwindows is progress compared to the CLI.
-- Xwindows presents a really big security risk...load it and you are asking to be hacked.


-- Using GUI is faster. Picking and choosing icons sure beats trying to remember and typing command lines.
-- Using CLI is faster. A keyboard is pretty much all you need here, much faster than all that clicking, scrolling, clicking some more, scrolling some more, and more typing, then clicking.


-- GUI consumes too much CPU and memory.
-- With newer and more powerful computers, that is not a problem. And its benefits are well worth it.


My feeling is that people's strong preference for one interface and stern rejection to the other are sometimes more psychological than technical. There are those who are afraid that without the comfort of the colorful clipart they have grown accustomed to seeing on their screen, the blank screen will take them right back to the dark ages, when computers were handled only by a few tech wiz'. At the other end of spectrum, there are those with what's known as the "superiority complex" over GUI. For these people, GUI is totally beneath their über-geek status and mastering CLI is matter of wiz-kids honor.


The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle. CLI and GUI are essentially complementary modes of interacting with the computer. CLI is generally easier if you can remember the commands and the options, which is the case if you use them a lot. If you don't use certain functions a lot, a nice GUI can help you find them quickly. Of course whenever you have to repeat a command many times you should automate the process by writing a script, but in theory you could link that script to a button or menu item in a GUI. It doesn't have to stay at the command line.


So, in the user-friendly vs. control and options debates, both sites have a point. But there is a third point: GUI and CLI can be used together to achieve great things that either one alone can't. This is particularly true with Linux where the user is given the flexibility of switching back and forth between GUI and Command Line easily. One example is that Linux CLI and GUI can give the user the ability to work on any computer on the network as if you were sitting at that computer. On Unix/Linux (running X-Windows) all you need to do is use the xhost command to specify which computers you want to allow access, and the DISPLAY environment variable to specify on which computer you want to start the GUI of the program you want to run.(See details on how to do this)

Adding your own messages to Windows 7's logon screen

Adding your own messages to Windows 7's logon screen....

If you are responsible for managing Windows 7 systems that are open to the public or have multiple user accounts, you may want to add a warning message to the logon screen. You may also want to display logon statistics on the logon screen. Fortunately, doing so is easily accomplished by tweaking a couple of existing registry settings and adding a new setting.In this edition of the Windows Desktop Report, I’ll show you how to delve into Windows 7’s registry to make the appropriate changes.

Editing the registry
It is important to keep in mind that the registry is vital to the operating system and changing it can be dangerous if you inadvertently make a mistake. As such, you should take a few moments to back up your system by creating a Restore Point as well as by creating a system image in the Backup and Restore tool. That way if anything goes awry, you can restore your system and get right back to work.

To launch the Registry Editor, click the Start button, type Regedit in the Start Search box, and press [Enter]. When the UAC dialog box appears, respond appropriately.


Getting started
Once the Registry Editor launches, locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

From this key, shown in Figure A, you’ll be able to make all the following changes to the Logon screen.

Figure A

From this key, you’ll be able to make all the necessary changes to the Logon screen.


The warning message
The warning message that you’ll add to the Windows 7’s logon screen is actually made up of two parts: the title and the message text.
To add a title to the warning message, locate and double-click the legalnoticecaption value. When the Edit DWORD dialog box appears, type the title in the Value data text box, as shown in Figure B, and click OK. As you can see, for my example I chose to use a Welcome message, but you can essentially type anything that you want for your title. You can use up to 80 characters, including spaces, for the title.

Figure B

The legalnoticecaption value allows you to specify a title for your warning message.

To add the warning message, locate and double-click the legalnoticetext value. When the Edit DWORD dialog box appears, type the warning message in the Value data text box, as shown in Figure C, and click OK. Again, you can essentially type anything that you want for your message text. You can use up to 16,383 characters, including spaces, for the message text.

Figure C

You can type a lot of text into the legalnoticetext value.


Tracking logons
If you want to be able to keep track of logons that were made on your system, you can configure the Logon screen to display logon statistics. Right-click anywhere inside the System key and select New| DWORD (32-bit) Value. When the new value appears, type DisplayLastLogonInfo and press Enter twice. When the Edit DWORD dialog box appears, simply type a 1 in the Value Data text box, as shown in Figure D, and click OK.

Figure D

If you want to be able to keep track of logons that were made on your system, set the DisplayLastLogonInfo value to 1.


The new logon display
Now when you restart your system and access the logon screen, you’ll see the warning message, as shown in Figure E. Just click OK and you’ll see your user icon and be able to continue with the logon operation.

Figure E

The warning message will appear on top of the logon screen.

When you select your user icon on the logon screen and type your password, you’ll see the logon statistics, as shown in Figure F. Just click OK to complete the logon operation, and you will

immediately see the desktop as you normally would.
Figure F

After you click your user icon, you’ll see the logon statistics on the logon screen.


ENJOY........ ^_^

Few best practices for Windows security....

Few best practices for Windows security....that you can do to secure your Windows and data from unwanted attacks by viruses,spywares,etc.

Windows Security Shield

1) Reduce the attack surface whenever possible:-
One of the first steps you should take when hardening a machine is to reduce its attack surface. The more code that's running on a machine, the greater the chance that the code will be exploitable. You should therefore uninstall any unnecessary operating system components and applications.

2) Use only reputable applications:-
Given the current economic climate, it might be tempting to use freeware, deeply discounted, or open source
applications. While I will be the first to admit that I use a handful of such applications in my own organization, it is critically important to do a little bit of research before adopting such an application. Some free or low cost
applications are designed to serve ads to users; others are designed to steal personal information from users or track their Internet browsing habits.

3) Use a normal user account when you can:-
As a best practice, administrators should use normal user accounts when they can. If a malware infection occurs, the malware generally has the same rights as the person who is logged in. So of course that malware could be far more damaging if the person who is logged in has administrative permissions.

4) Create multiple Administrator accounts:-
In the previous section, I discussed the importance of using a regular user account whenever possible and using an Administrative account only when you need to perform an action that requires administrative permissions. However, this does not mean that you should be using the domain Administrator account.
If you have multiple administrators in your organization, you should create a personalized administrator account for each of them. That way, when an administrative action is performed, it is possible to tell who did it. For example, if you have an Administrator named John Doe, you should create two accounts for that user. One will be the normal account for day-to-day use, and the other will be an administrative account to be used only when necessary. The accounts might be named JohnDoe and Admin-JohnDoe.

5) Don't go overboard with audit logging:-
Although it may be tempting to create audit policies that track every possible event, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. When you perform excessive auditing, the audit logs grow to massive sizes. It can be nearly impossible to find the log entries you're looking for. Rather than audit every possible event, it is better to focus on auditing only the events that matter the most.

6) Make use of local security policies:-
Using Active Directory based group policy settings does not nullify the need for local security policy settings.
Remember that group policy settings are enforced only if someone logs in using a domain account. They do
nothing if someone logs into a machine using a local account. Local security policies can help to protect your
machines against local account usage.

7) Review your firewall configuration:-
You should use a firewall at the network perimeter and on each machine on your network, but that alone isn't
enough. You should also review your firewall's port exceptions list to ensure that only the essential ports are
open.A lot of emphasis is typically placed on the ports that are used by the Windows operating system, but you should also be on the lookout for any firewall rules that open ports 1433 and 1434. These ports are used for monitoring and remotely connecting to SQL server and have become a favorite target for hackers.

8) Practice isolation of services:-
Whenever possible, you should configure your servers so that they perform one specific task. That way, if a
server is compromised, the hacker will gain access to only a specific set of services. I realize that financial
constraints often force organizations to run multiple roles on their servers. In these types of situations, you may
be able to improve security without increasing costs by using virtualization. In certain virtualized environments,
Microsoft allows you to deploy multiple virtual machines running Windows Server 2008 R2 for the cost of a
single server license.

9) Apply security patches in a timely manner:-
You should always test patches before applying them to your production servers. However, some organizations really go overboard with the testing process. While I certainly do not deny the importance of ensuring server stability, you have to balance the need for adequate testing with the need for adequate security.When Microsoft releases a security patch, the patch is designed to address a well-documented vulnerability. This means that hackers already know about the vulnerability and will be specifically looking for deployments in which the patch that corrects that vulnerability has not yet been applied.

10) Make use of the Security Configuration Wizard:-
The Security Configuration Wizard allows you to create XML-based security policies, which can then be applied to your servers. These policies can be used to enable services, configure settings, and set firewall rules. Keep in mind that the policies created by the Security Configuration Wizard are different from security templates (which use .INF files) Furthermore, you can't use group policies to deploy Security Configuration Wizard policies.

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