Ubuntu Articles - How-To Geek Page 3

How to Disable Ubuntu’s Guest Session Account

Ubuntu and Linux Mint come with a “Guest Session” account, which anyone can log into from the login screen – no password required. If you’d rather restrict access to your computer, you can disable the guest account….

Chris Hoffman Jul 3rd, 2012

How to Downgrade Packages on Ubuntu

Ubuntu’s Update Manager keeps your packages at the latest version, but occasionally a new package version may not work properly. You can downgrade an installed package and lock it at a specific version to prevent it from be…

Chris Hoffman Jul 2nd, 2012

How To View and Write To System Log Files on Ubuntu

Linux logs a large amount of events to the disk, where they’re mostly stored in the /var/log directory in plain text. Most log entries go through the system logging daemon, syslogd, and are written to the system log….

Chris Hoffman Jul 1st, 2012

How to Change Your Default Applications on Ubuntu: 4 Ways

There are several ways to change your default applications on Ubuntu. Whether you’re changing the default application for a particular task, file type, or a system-level application like your default text editor, there’s …

Chris Hoffman Jun 29th, 2012

How to Install KVM and Create Virtual Machines on Ubuntu

If you’re using Linux, you don’t need VirtualBox or VMware to create virtual machines. You can use KVM — the kernel-based virtual machine — to run both Windows and Linux in virtual machines.

Chris Hoffman Jun 28th, 2012

7 Ubuntu File Manager Features You May Not Have Noticed

The Nautilus file manager included with Ubuntu includes some useful features you may not notice unless you go looking for them. You can create saved searches, mount remote file systems, use tabs in your file manager, and more…

Chris Hoffman Jun 26th, 2012

How to Share Files Online with Ubuntu One

Ubuntu One, Ubuntu’s built-in cloud file storage service, allows you to make files publically available online or share them privately with others. You can share files over the Internet right from Ubuntu’s file browser….

Chris Hoffman Jun 20th, 2012

7 Tips to Get the Most Out of BleachBit, a “CCleaner for Linux”

Like CCleaner on Windows, BleachBit frees space by deleting unimportant files and helps maintain your privacy by deleting sensitive data. And, just like CCleaner, there’s more you can do with BleachBit than just clicking a si…

Chris Hoffman Jun 19th, 2012

How to Easily Add Custom Right-Click Options to Ubuntu’s File Manager

Use Nautilus-Actions to easily and graphically create custom context menu options for Ubuntu’s Nautilus file manager. If you don’t want to create your own, you can install Nautilus-Actions-Extra to get a package of partic…

Chris Hoffman Jun 18th, 2012

8 Ways to Tweak and Configure Sudo on Ubuntu

Like most things on Linux, the sudo command is very configurable. You can have sudo run specific commands without asking for a password, restrict specific users to only approved commands, log commands run with sudo, and more….

Chris Hoffman Jun 18th, 2012

How to Create a Separate Home Partition After Installing Ubuntu

Ubuntu doesn’t use a separate /home partition by default, although many Linux users prefer one. Using a separate home partition allows you to reinstall Ubuntu without losing your personal files and settings….

Chris Hoffman Jun 17th, 2012

How to Turn Your Ubuntu Laptop into a Wireless Access Point

If you have a single wired Internet connection — say, in a hotel room — you can create an ad-hoc wireless network with Ubuntu and share the Internet connection among multiple devices. Ubuntu includes an easy, graphical setu…

Chris Hoffman Jun 12th, 2012

Use Ubuntu’s Public Folder to Easily Share Files Between Computers

You’ve probably noticed that Ubuntu comes with a Public folder in your home directory. This folder isn’t shared by default, but you can easily set up several different types of file-sharing to easily share files on your l…

Chris Hoffman Jun 11th, 2012

How to Recover an Encrypted Home Directory on Ubuntu

Access an encrypted home directory when you’re not logged in – say, from a live CD – and all you’ll see is a README file. You’ll need a terminal command to recover your encrypted files.

Chris Hoffman Jun 11th, 2012

How to Disable Home Folder Encryption After Installing Ubuntu

Ubuntu offers to encrypt your home directory during installation. The encryption has some drawbacks – there’s a performance penalty and recovering your files is more difficult. If you change your mind later, you can remov…

Chris Hoffman Jun 9th, 2012

How to Encrypt Your Home Folder After Installing Ubuntu

Ubuntu offers to encrypt your home folder during installation. If you decline the encryption and change your mind later, you don’t have to reinstall Ubuntu. You can activate the encryption with a few terminal commands….

Chris Hoffman Jun 8th, 2012

How to Quickly Encrypt Removable Storage Devices with Ubuntu

Ubuntu can quickly encrypt USB flash drives and external hard drives. You’ll be prompted for your passphrase each time you connect the drive to your computer — your private data will be secure, even if you misplace the drive…

Chris Hoffman Jun 7th, 2012

6 Ways to Speed Up Your Ubuntu PC

Ubuntu is pretty snappy out-of-the-box, but there are some ways to take better advantage of your system’s memory and speed up the boot process. Some of these tips can really speed things up, especially on older hardware….

Chris Hoffman Jun 5th, 2012

How to Configure Ubuntu’s Built-In Firewall

Ubuntu includes its own firewall, known as ufw — short for “uncomplicated firewall.” Ufw is an easier-to-use frontend for the standard Linux iptables commands. You can even control ufw from a graphical interface….

Chris Hoffman May 29th, 2012

5 Cool Things You Can Do With an SSH Server

SSH offers more than just a secure, remote terminal environment. You can use SSH to tunnel your traffic, transfer files, mount remote file systems, and more. These tips and tricks will help you take advantage of your SSH serv…

Chris Hoffman May 25th, 2012

How to Use Xmonad, a Tiling Window Manager for Linux

Tiling window managers make your life easier by automatically arranging windows on the screen for you. Xmonad is a minimal one that’s easy to get started with — all you have to do is learn a few keyboard shortcuts….

Chris Hoffman May 24th, 2012

How to Resize Your Ubuntu Partitions

Whether you want to shrink your Ubuntu partition, enlarge it, or split it up into several partitions, you can’t do this while it’s in use. You’ll need a Ubuntu live CD or USB drive to edit your partitions….

Chris Hoffman May 21st, 2012

How to Add Screensavers to Ubuntu 12.04

Ubuntu 12.04 doesn’t ship with any screen savers, just a black screen that appears when your system is idle. If you’d rather have screensavers, you can swap gnome-screensaver for XScreenSaver.

Chris Hoffman May 16th, 2012

How to Re-Enable Hibernate in Ubuntu 12.04

If you’ve just updated to Ubuntu 12.04, you may notice an option missing in its system menu. The Hibernate option is now hidden by default, but you can get it back if you prefer to hibernate your system….

Chris Hoffman May 14th, 2012

How to Remove Media Players From Ubuntu’s Sound Menu & Add Your Own

Ubuntu’s sound menu contains Rhythmbox by default. Any other media players you install will also appear in the menu, assuming they support the MPRIS2 specification. You can hide media players in the menu or add any applicat…

Chris Hoffman May 14th, 2012

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How-To configure your Ubuntu Linux Installation

How to Disable Ubuntu’s Guest Session Account

How to Downgrade Packages on Ubuntu

How To View and Write To System Log Files on Ubuntu

How to Change Your Default Applications on Ubuntu: 4 Ways

How to Install KVM and Create Virtual Machines on Ubuntu

7 Ubuntu File Manager Features You May Not Have Noticed

How to Share Files Online with Ubuntu One

7 Tips to Get the Most Out of BleachBit, a “CCleaner for Linux”

How to Easily Add Custom Right-Click Options to Ubuntu’s File Manager

8 Ways to Tweak and Configure Sudo on Ubuntu

How to Create a Separate Home Partition After Installing Ubuntu

How to Turn Your Ubuntu Laptop into a Wireless Access Point

Use Ubuntu’s Public Folder to Easily Share Files Between Computers

How to Recover an Encrypted Home Directory on Ubuntu

How to Disable Home Folder Encryption After Installing Ubuntu

How to Encrypt Your Home Folder After Installing Ubuntu

How to Quickly Encrypt Removable Storage Devices with Ubuntu

6 Ways to Speed Up Your Ubuntu PC

How to Configure Ubuntu’s Built-In Firewall

5 Cool Things You Can Do With an SSH Server

How to Use Xmonad, a Tiling Window Manager for Linux

How to Resize Your Ubuntu Partitions

How to Add Screensavers to Ubuntu 12.04

How to Re-Enable Hibernate in Ubuntu 12.04

How to Remove Media Players From Ubuntu’s Sound Menu & Add Your Own

Complete Guidesby How-To Geek

Our Latest Product Roundups

Reader Favorites

More from How-To Geek

Latest Geek News

Reader Favorites

More from How-To Geek

Latest Reviews

Across LifeSavvy Media

Complete Guides
by How-To Geek