AVG is a smaller application, so it does not bloat your system with features that you will never use.  I am yet to ever need the Lotus Email function in my Symantec products….but I did pay for it! AVG offers neat, effective protection which stays silently minimized in your system tray and only activates when needed to protect your system.

This is precisely one of the best things about AVG Anti-Virus. It works completely in the background, without the need of half the system resources and of course, without constantly bothering you with warning windows or update messages. You can just go on with your work and you won’t even notice you have an antivirus application up and running.  The default install has slightly more verbose language than I like, but you can edit the settings and disable these notifications.

AVG Anti-Virus features real time system protection against viruses and spyware, an email scanner, special plug-ins for Office and a browser toolbar that lets you browse the web safe and sound. Please note that installing the AVG Toolbar with Yahoo! obviously installs the Yahoo! toolbar.  You can opt to not install it if you choose.

The whole package should be enough to ensure you’re not infected with any virus. Also, the program integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer, thus allowing you to scan files from context menus by right clicking. AVG Anti-Virus’s database is automatically updated on a daily basis so you are always protected even from the most recently discovered threats.   You can obviously change the settings as to how frequently the database is updated.  From what I have seen, the database is very comprehensive and provides more than adequate protection.  The program supports scheduled scans as well so for those that are super paranoid, you can have it run every night, or every week without having to sit there.

AVG is offered in English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Brazilian (Portugese) and works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and many Linux flavours.  We’ll have more articles on that later.

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This guide shows you how to map your /home/Music folder in Ubuntu, to your Windows iTunes folder. Doing this means only one folder needs to be maintained and any music program you installed on Ubuntu will load your Windows music library.

The same technique can be used for other folders to accomplish the same thing.

You first need to mount your Windows partition mounted. Next open up terminal and type the following;

cd /home

rm -r Music

ln -s /media/WINDOWSDRIVENAME/Users/USERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Music/ Music

From this point forward, an application that uses your /home/Music folder, the application will be using your Windows iTunes music folder.

PID is a unique number tagged with each processes running on a system, and used by most operating systems to identify a process.  This comes in handy when, let’s say Lotus Notes crashes on you and you want to see what other services were started by nlnotes.exe so that you can kill them.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use Task Manager. Task Manager does not display PID information by default.

To display the PID field in Task Manager, go to the Processes tab, click on the View menu, then click on Select Columns.

In the Select Columns or Select Process Page Columns dialog, place a checkmark in the  checkbox for PID (Process Identifier), and click OK.

You will now see the PID column in your Task Manager.

If you press the space bar right after the BIOS screen and just before the Windows boot screen appears, you will be taken to the Windows Boot Manager. Users can select which operating system to boot or hit F8 key for the normal recovery options. If you hit the Space bar when you  are prompted with “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD” will also lead you to the Windows Boot Manager.

We’ll start from the assumption that you actually installed Version Cue. To use a Version Cue Server, you’ll need to turn it on and configure initial settings. Once you’ve configured initial settings, you can configure additional Version Cue Server settings in the Version Cue preferences and specify advanced server settings (such as enabling SSL) in Version Cue Server Administration.

For a video on setting up the Version Cue server, see Version Cue Video.

1. Do either of the following:

Click Start My Server in the Adobe dialog box or in Adobe Bridge.

Open the Control Panel and double-click Adobe Version Cue CS3 (Windows) or click Adobe Version Cue CS3 in System Preferences (Mac OS), and then click Start.

Version Cue starts Version Cue Server Administration and displays the Initial Configuration window.

2. In the Initial Configuration window, specify a system administrator password in the Password text box.
Note: Be sure to note the password you specify. If you forget the system administrator password, you’ll need to reinstall the Version Cue Server.

3. Specify a name for the server in the Server Name text box.

4. Choose an option from the Server Visibility menu:

To prevent other users in your network from seeing the server, choose Private. Private Version Cue Servers can be accessed only from your local computer.

To make the server visible to other users in your network, choose Visible To Others. (You must configure the server to be visible to grant others access to projects on the server.)

Note: If Version Cue is installed on a Windows computer that uses a firewall and you want to share the server with others, make sure that TCP ports 3703 and 5353 are left open. If you’ve enabled SSL for the Version Cue Server, also leave port 3704 open. If Version Cue CS2 is installed on the same computer, also leave port 50900 open (and 50901 if you’ve enabled SSL).

5. Choose an option from the User Accounts menu:

To enable users to access the server without an existing user account, choose Automatic User Creation. If you select this option, Version Cue creates a new user account without a password when a new user accesses the server.
If you enable automatic user account creation and then subsequently enable LDAP support, LDAP users are automatically imported when they access the server with their LDAP account name. Users imported in this fashion are added to the Everyone group, given a user access level of None, and are not able to log into Version Cue Server Administration. Use this technique to automatically assign LDAP users default access rights to projects on a Version Cue server without having to explicitly import users.

To specify that only named users, defined in Version Cue Server Administration, can access the server, choose Manual User Creation.

6. Click Save & Continue to log in to Version Cue Server Administration and specify advanced server settings.

Set Version Cue Server preferences

You can configure many Version Cue Server settings in Version Cue preferences, such as the amount of RAM available to Version Cue and the location of the Data folder. To configure advanced settings, such as enabling SSL, changing the name of the Version Cue Server, specifying server log options, resetting user locks, or backing up the server, you must use Version Cue Server Administration.

Access Version Cue Server preferences

1. Do one of the following to access Version Cue preferences:

Open the Control Panel and double-click Adobe Version Cue CS3 (Windows) or click Adobe Version Cue CS3 in System Preferences (Mac OS).

In Windows, double-click the Version Cue icon  in the system tray at the lower-right of the screen.

In Mac OS, click the Version Cue icon  in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and choose Version Cue CS3 Preferences from the menu.
Note: The Version Cue icon is hidden by default. To make it visible, select Show Version Cue CS3 Tray Icon (Windows) or Show Version Cue CS3 Status In Menu Bar (Mac OS) in Version Cue Server preferences.

2. Click the Settings tab in the Adobe Version Cue CS3 dialog box.

Make the Version Cue Server visible

1. To grant others access to shared Version Cue projects on the server, choose Visible To Others from the Server Visibility menu. To hide the Version Cue Server from other users, choose Private.

Note: If Version Cue is installed on a Windows computer that uses a firewall and you want to share the server with others, make sure that TCP ports 3703 and 5353 are left open. If you’ve enabled SSL for the Version Cue Server, also leave port 3704 open. If Version Cue CS2 is installed on the same computer, also leave port 50900 open (and 50901 if you’ve enabled SSL). For instructions, see Windows Help.

2. Click Apply.

Specify a workgroup size

1. From the Workgroup Size menu, choose the number of people who use the Version Cue Server on a typical day. This setting controls how the Version Cue Server handles the potential load.

2. Click Apply.

Keep the Version Cue icon visible

1. Select Show Version Cue CS3 Tray Icon (Windows) or Show Version Cue CS3 Status in Menu Bar (Mac OS) to keep the Version Cue icon visible.

2. Click Apply.

Turn Version Cue on when the computer starts

1. Select Turn Version Cue CS3 On When The Computer Starts.

2. Click Apply.

Connect to remote servers

Note: You can perform this task only if you have access to the full Version Cue feature set. See Accessing Version Cue features.

When you need to work on Version Cue projects that are located on a different subnet, you can use the IP address of the computer to access the remote Version Cue Server, as long as it is configured to be visible to other users. Version Cue Servers within your subnet that are configured to be visible are visible automatically.

1. Do one of the following:

In Acrobat, Flash, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, or Photoshop, choose File > Open. If you’re using the OS Dialog box, click Use Adobe Dialog. Click Version Cue in the Favorites panel, and choose Connect To Server from the Tools menu or Connect To from the Project Tools (Acrobat) menu .

In Bridge, choose Tools > Version Cue > Connect To Server.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog box, type the IP or DNS address and port of the Version Cue Server (for example, http://153.32.235.230). If you’re connecting to a server that is on the same system as a Version Cue CS2 workspace, append the port number 50900 to the end of the Version Cue URL (for example, http://153.32.235.230:50900).
Display the Version Cue Server Administration login page to identify the Version Cue URLs that remote users and WebDAV applications need to access the server. Alternatively, view the URLs in the Inspector in Bridge.

3. Click OK.

A shortcut to the remote server is automatically included in your list of available Version Cue Servers.

Connect to a Version Cue Server using WebDAV

Adobe recommends managing non‑Adobe files with Adobe Bridge. However, if you’re collaborating with other users who don’t have access to Adobe Bridge, they can use the Version Cue WebDAV Server URL to access projects on a Version Cue Server.

You can access a Version Cue Server by using a WebDAV-enabled application, such as a Microsoft Office application. In Windows, specify a project on a Version Cue Server as a network place by specifying the project’s WebDAV URL. In Mac OS, specify the project’s WebDAV URL by using the Connect To Server Command from the Finder. Before attempting to connect, refer to your application’s documentation on using its WebDAV features.
Enter the Version Cue WebDAV URL, the port number (3703, or 50900 if you’re connecting to a server that is running on the same system as a Version Cue CS2 workspace), webdav, and the project name. For example: http://153.32.235.230:3703/webdav/ project_name

A word of note before we begin.  I found that it works great in XP, and will work on most installations of Vista.  You don’t actually have to install the program, you just extract it and run the .exe.  Download RK Launcher and extract it to a folder.  Then just launch pklauncher.exe and away you go.  That’s all there is to it.  You can also use the right-click functionality on the Dock.

Foxmarks has been offering a synchronization solution for quite a while, now with password synchronization included their service, Foxmarks has entered the big leagues.

Foxmarks works by taking your Firefox personal data, encrypting it with a 256bit encryption algorithm using a PIN-code that only you will know and then uploading the content to the Foxmark server. 

Once you setup Foxmarks on another Firefox client, you will be prompted whether to merge the bookmarks and passwords, use the server data, or use the client data. It then keeps track of changes in the clients and synchronizes them with the server. The server also acts as a backup of your browser data in case you have a system crash.

You can download Foxmarks.com on their website.

The program is called Crossover Linux from Codeweavers.  It’s a neat little app that will allow you to run the most common Windows programs within Linux easily and efficiently as well as be able to install and use shareware ad no so common programs as well.  Crossover calls these programs Unsupported Software, but it basically means any program that is not from a well known, brand name vendor.

If you are using Ubuntu you can just download the .deb package from www.codeweavers.com.  They also have Mac packages.  Once you download the file just double-click the .deb file to get the install started.

Click Install Package.

This is the trial version, so if you ever want to buy the full version just select Applications – Crossover – Register and unlock this Demo.  You will be prompted for your account info to unlock the program.

To install a Windows program, go to Applications – Crossover – Install Windows Software.  You will see the following screen;

If the application you wish to install is on the list, just click on it to highlight and click Next.  Just follow the on screen instructions to finish the installation of the application.

If the application you wish to install is not in the list, just place a check mark in the Install unsupported software box.  Then follow the on-screen instructions.
Menu items will be created for the installs, and you can access the programs from the Applications menu.

You can do some pretty sophisticated things with this software, so play around with it and see what you can do!

At its core the Indexing Service is just keeping track of all of your files.  If you have a lot of files and the files change often you are probably putting a heavy load on the indexing service. 

I would recommend that you Index only the Documents Folders (C:/Users), the Start Menu and any Offline Files that you use.

Click on the Start Orb and type Indexing Options and hit Enter.

You will see the following window. 

Click the Modify button.

Click on Show All Locations.

Uncheck any folders you do not want to be indexed.  When you are finished, click OK.

There is also an Advanced button to customize your choices even further.  Click on the button if you would like to customize the settings some more.

The real difference will be noticed after you restart your computer.