New Video: Installing Linux Mint 15

In our latest video we step through how to install Linux Mint 15 'Olivia' on a clean hard drive.  In our example, I am using a new VirtualBox machine and Linux Mint 15 'MATE' edition with No Codecs.  If you have ever installed Ubuntu, then you will have no problem stepping through the installation wizard and successfully installing Mint on a system.

However, if you have not installed Ubuntu, and Mint is your first experience with Linux.  Do not fear.  As the wizard is rather simple and straight forward.  Check out our video, and as always make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to stay up to date with all of our videos as they are released.



Thanks for watching!
Checkout our YouTube channel for more videos on Linux Mint, Ubuntu, and Windows! http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts

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Remove Ubuntu from a Dual Boot Computer

In our most recent video, we are going to learn how to remove Ubuntu from a Windows 7/Ubuntu dual boot setup.  You may be asking yourself: "Wait a minute, Techie always does his best to promote Linux in general.  Why is he telling people how to remove it?".  And if that is your question, I'd say it is a very valid question.

But simply put, there are a plethora of reasons why someone would want to remove Linux from a dual-boot machine.  See below for a short list of just a few reasons:

1- They may be low on total Hard Drive space and may need to reclaim that space for Windows.
2- Maybe Ubuntu just isn't the Operating System for you.  There are thousands of Linux distros to try.
3- Maybe you want to revert back to Windows for everyday use, and run virtual machines of Ubuntu from within Windows.

There are many, many other reasons.  But whatever they may be, removing one of the Operating Systems from a dual-booting PC may sound like a daunting task.  However, I am here to report that it isn't as daunting as it may seem.  And in most cases should take less than half and hour.

Disclaimer: Anytime you start monkeying around with Operating Systems, Boot Records, Partitions, etc.  Please be sure to backup any data that is important to you.  There is always the off-chance that something could go wrong.

Be sure to check the video out below, as always I will list the steps as a sort of cheat sheet below as well.

Difficulty: Moderate Skills Are Required (Basic Understanding of Boot Records, Paritions, Partition Wizards)

Step 1

Be sure both Ubuntu and Windows are accessible and bootable.

Step 2

We need to remove the Grub Bootloader that was installed when we installed Ubuntu.  DO NOT attempt removing Grub manually.  As you will render both operating systems unbootable.  To remove Grub, we need to use a tool called: EasyBCD.

Visit the following website to download EasyBCD (there is a free community edition):

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Note: If you are using EasyBCD within a commercial setting, you need to honor the developers wishes and purchase a copy of it.

Step 3

Once EasyBCD has been installed, run it.  Click on 'BCD Backup/Repair' button.  On the right, select 'Re-create/Repair Boot Files'.  Our goal is to rewrite the MBR and restore the Windows bootloader.  Don't worry, this process takes a couple minutes.  

Once this completes, the status box will disappear.  You can then exit EasyBCD.

Step 4

Reboot the PC and make sure Grub does not appear.  If Grub is now gone, we can proceed to removing the Ubuntu Parition and the Linux Swap Partition.

Step 5

Once Windows 7 has finished rebooting and we have verified Grub is gone, click on:
-Start
-Right click on 'Computer'
-Left click on 'Manage'

This will open the computer management console.  Locate 'Disk Management' on the left side of the screen.  This will allow us to manipulate the Hard Drive's Partitions.

Step 6

Once inside the 'Disk Management' tool, locate your Ubuntu and Linux Swap Partitions.  Note: These partitions will not have a file system assigned to them.  Be sure to pick the correct partition as you don't want to delete the wrong ones.

Step 7

With the first partition identified, move the mouse of that partition in the graph towards the bottom of the screen and right click on it.  Choose 'Delete Volume'.  This should convert that partition to 'Unallocated Space'.  If it changes it to 'Free Space', right click on it again and select 'Delete Partition'.  This should convert it to unallocated space.

Repeat this step for the Swap Partition.

Step 8

You should now have a portion of the hard drive labeled as 'Unallocated Space'.  Locate the Windows 7 partition and right click on it in the graph.  Select 'Extend' from the context menu.

Step 9

The 'Partition Extension' wizard will appear.  By default it will detect the amount of 'Unallocated Space' and give you the option to use all of it.  Take the defaults and click 'Next' until you get to the confirmation screen.  Once here, simply click on 'Finish'.  It may take a few moments depending on hard drive and partition size.

Step 10

One the unallocated space has been taken up by the Windows 7 partition, simply close the 'Computer Management' console and verify the changes took effect by going into Windows Explorer and verifying your C: drive size.  Now reboot just to make sure everything looks good.

That's it, your now back at a "single" boot machine.

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New Video on Our YouTube Channel!

After a long hiatus, I'm back!  Just uploaded a brand new video to our YouTube Channel, so feel free to swing by and check it out (or watch it below).  Regardless of how you watch it, be sure to swing by our channel and subscribe so you stay up to date as we add new videos!

Ubuntu 12.10: Install Cinnamon Desktop

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Ubuntu 11.04 Nearing It's "End of Life"

Well, it's that time again.  Another Operating System is nearing it's end of life.  And nope, I'm not talking about the April 2013 Doomsday for Windows XP users.  This time it is Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal".  For those are are unfamiliar with the "Natty" it was the first time user's saw the Unity Desktop.  From that day forward Canonical would either have people who loved Unity or those who didn't care at all for it.  Some of us use it and have become somewhat fond of it, but still care for the traditional look of the Gnome/Ubuntu desktop environment.

Either way, if you are still using the 11.04 release of Ubuntu it is time to upgrade.  No need to panic, as "Natty Narwhal" will continue to get it's updates and security patches until October 28th, 2012.  You can still use 11.04 past the 28th if you like.  However, you will not be able to get any updates and this leaves an open security issue that you definitely don't want.  You can use the system updater from within Ubuntu to upgrade your installation.

It is suggested for the best upgrade experience, that if you are still running Ubuntu 11.04, unless you are going to do a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04.1 it will not matter.  Just backup your files and install away.  However, if you are upgrading from 11.04 here is the path you need to take.
-First, upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10.
-Then upgrade the installation to 12.04.1.

Personally, I like to take the time to do a fresh install of my Operating Systems rather than upgrading.  It not only gives you a fresh start.  It also gives you back a lot of used storage space that you probably weren't utilizing anyways.  I mean, we all install packages and after a few uses, we move on to something else.  Then these packages are left behind taking up space.

The choice is yours, but either way.  To stay secure, you need to upgrade.

For more visit: Ubuntu.com

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Let's Dual Boot!

Our latest video has gone live and it covers the topic of setting up a Dual-Boot system.  We will cover what dual booting is and why it is handy for those who like to play around with other operating systems without wanting or having the ability to sacrifice your existing partitions, data, etc.

At one point in time, dual booting tended to be a rather daunting process and could easily overwhelm those new to the concept.  However, it has become so common place (especially among Linux user's) that the process has been somewhat streamlined and is not all that different from performing a clean install on a fresh hard drive.  In this video we will be using Ubuntu 11.10 to setup a dual-boot system with Windows 7.

So, with that said; checkout our latest video:



Dual-Booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.10

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As always please swing by our website at:
http://www.techiesmarts.com

Also be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+:
http://www.twitter.com/techiesmarts
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http://gplus.to/techiesmarts

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How fast will Ice Cream Sandwhich be Adopted?

This is a common question I keep seeing pop up across the web over the last couple of days.  So here is my small opinion on the matter.  Like every other Android release for any device already on the market, user's are forced to wait for the update to rollout to their devices.  Some manufacturers are better at this than others.  So obviously the adoption rate of Ice Cream Sandwhich; at least as far as existing devices out into the wild are concerned, will solely rely upon how fast smartphone and tablet manufacturers take to go through it and optimize it for their devices.  And no doubt add their own mix of bloatware to the update prior to sending it out to customer's hardware.  And as far as manufacturers are concerned they will obviously place the majority of their attention on their new products and filter the update to existing devices once that is done.

If manufacturers made it easier and more accessible to manually update our devices then you would see a much faster adoption rate for every future Android release.  But I definitely don't foresee that ever happening.  Just some food for thought.

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A little more from the Windows 8 Secure Boot Front

An article on PCWorld seems to have a little more information concerning the Windows 8 Secure Boot feature.  A feature that may have the potential to prevent user's from installing alternative operating systems like Linux or even older versions of Windows.  And it seems like Microsoft may be leaving some of the decision in the hands of the computer manufacturers as to whether or not their products may have the ability to disable the UEFI key and Secure Boot features. 

Secure Boot seems to stem from a good hearted origin; it was put in place to prevent malware from being able to manipulate boot options.  However, I can't help but feel like there are other reasons involved.  Maybe to counter act those who are using non-genuine copies of Windows?  Or to ensure that their operating system will not be replaced?  Both seem to be the byproducts of Secure Boot.  Regardless, if these features are implemented in the final release of Windows 8 (and it's release is still well enough out there); I can imagine someone out there will find a way to circumvent this. 

When it comes down to it, the whole scenario feels like the freedom of your hardware is starting to drift away more than it ever has before.  I say as long as the OS is genuine leave us alone.

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Windows 8 News of the Week

Windows 8 has a new BSOD (Blue Screen of Death)

The previous look of the BSOD

If you have ever used a Windows computer, ever; you have probably seen a BSOD or Blue Screen of Death at one point or another.  If you remember right, it has always been somewhat scary looking in appearance and layout.  To the average computer user, it is full of crazy looking numbers and terrifying white text on a blue background.  But to the computer tech it is filled with useful information about what failure occured to cause the BSOD and what the Stop error is.

However, with the upcoming Windows 8 making news lately, a screen shot of the new BSOD from Windows 8 has been leaked from what is supposedly the Windows 8 Developer Preview.  And let me go on the record to say, as a PC technician; if I were to service a computer for someone who kept getting the new BSOD, it would be a bad day for all soon thereafter.  Take a look:

Windows 8 Developer Preview BSOD

Yep, that is a frowny face.  And another thing to notice is there is very little information on this BSOD about what the issue is that caused the error.  There is a reference to a an error (in small printer under the frowning face and apology for the issue).  But we all know Windows errors can be somewhat vague.

So, to Microsoft I say: "Thank you for removing a tool many of us use to help your existing customer base keep a happy computing experience..."

And I will also go on record to say that I haven't seen the developer preview of Windows 8 (I'm not a developer so no surprise to me).  But this is the first report of the new BSOD so take it lightly (at least until more confirmations are made to be on the safe side).  Plus, if this is indeed from the Developer Preview copy, there is no guarantee that it won't change between now and release day (at least somewhat).
Source: TechCrunch

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Microsoft shows love to ARM devices

Second in Windows 8 news from the week, Microsoft has made another announcement about Windows 8.  One that will not surprise the world as heavily as the new interface layout did; however, is huge from the business standpoint of things.  Previously, manufacturers could only ship products (i.e.: computers) with Windows preloaded if they adhered to the Intel x86 architecture.  Since we already now that Windows 8 will be fitted onto tablets, and there are a lot of tablets out there (and upcoming release products) that are running on the ARM architecture, Microsoft will start allowing ARM products to be shipped with Windows 8 loaded on them.

Source: CNN

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Future Windows 8 ARM devices can't run x86 Apps?  WTH?


So this week Microsoft now doubt dazzled the world by releasing the info that Windows 8 will run on ARM devices.  ARM devices are typically mobile devices of some sort.  Usually in the form of small notebooks and tablet devices.  So, it's great that Microsoft is spreading the love right?  Well, sort of.  They back pedaled somewhat when they added an addendum to that release note.  Even though Windows 8 will run on ARM architectures, there isn't the compatibility there to allow it to run x86 apps (applications from the PC).  So, if you were hoping to grab a copy of  something like 'Adobe Reader'; unless the software developers directly port it over to the new architecture, you'll only run it on an Intel x86 based machine (i.e.: your PC).

I'm sure Microsoft will be one of the first to port their software, otherwise you'll not be able to run very much besides the operating system at launch on these ARM devices if they don't.  Will other developers follow suite?  I'm sure they will.  But I'm also sure for a while at least; there will be some slow adoption from some software developers to make sure people have a demand for these ARM devices running Windows 8.  After all, it takes time to port software and re-write code; and time is money in the corporate world.

Source: SlashGear

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Setting Up a VirtualBox for a Guest OS

Checkout our latest video on how to Setup VirtualBox for a Guest OS.  Using Virtual Box isn't difficult, and it is a fantastic way to test out or even use other operating systems when you are limited to how much hard drive space or lack the hardware to have a dedicating computer for testing other operating systems.

And one question I get quite a bit is "How do you setup VirtualBox?".  So to address this question, I made the following video.  As always if you have any questions or comments feel free to drop me a line.







Be sure to swing by my YouTube Channel and subscribe for updates on when new videos get posted!
The next video will continue the 'Help!: Ubuntu' video series with a step by step guide to performing a full Ubuntu installation using the Virtual Machine created in this video.

TechieSmart's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TechieSmarts

Happy Surfing!

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Virtual Boxes-No Install Required?!

That's right, now live is an awesome archive of preinstalled VirtualBox operating systems images.  If you're not familiar with VirtualBox don't fear.  VirtualBox was created by Sun MicroSystems and is no owned by Oracle (don't frown, I know Oracel blows).  Anyways, it is an open source Virtualization solution.  Meaning, you can install the Windows Client of VirtualBox and install other operating systems within your Windows install by creating these "virtual machines".  Basically the virtual hard drive is a single file.  VirtualBox see's the virtual hard drive file as a physical hard drive within it's client.  That file houses the entire guest Operating System.

So if you're looking for a solution to allow you to run Linux from Windows or vice-versa.  VirtualBox is pretty much cross-platform as well.  Offering support for Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X.  After downloading VirtualBox, you'll need to find an operating system disk (or ISO file) and install the operating system.

Where the VirtualBoxes.org site comes in handy, no more sitting through the installation process of some of the popular Open Source operating systems.  There is an extensive list of Linux OS's available as preinstalled VM's from Puppy Linux to Ubuntu and everything in between.  I do however recommend if you are new to Linux and/or Virtualizing Operating Systems; that you actually install some of the OS's before using the preinstalled machines.  It's handy to know how to install the operating system.  And honestly, if you're looking into Linux, you really should know how the install process works.

Anyways, if you're looking for a quick VM fix, swing by: http://virtualboxes.org

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Vista PC Pain...

Well, after trying every bit of advice I could possibly find.  Still no luck with this infernal reboot problem I am stuck with on a friend's computer. So, after receiving a phone call last night from the computer's owner and being informed that they located their Reinstallation disks.
I have since paid them a visit and picked up the disks and am now attempting an Operating System reinstallation.  So far so good, the process is going along better tha it has all week.

Hopefully, I'll have a good report to post soon.  Stay tuned.

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Software of the Week: Combofix

Ok, I have to give props to the guys at Bleeping Computer and sUBS for Combofix.  I have had to use it twice this week and both times it has come to my rescue.  If you have never heard of Combofix, check it out.  It's pretty sweet (and free, so that makes it all the more awesome).  Combofix is a tool that will scan and help remove malware for Windows. It supports the modern Windows Operating Systems back to Windows XP.  And uses the Windows Recovery Console for part of the repair.

If you don't have the Windows Recovery Console installed, no problem Combofix will download and install it for you.  If you have an outdated version of the Windows Recovery Console then it will be updated by Combofix too.  Both computers I used it on were running XP (one was XP Home and one was XP Pro).  The scan took close to 10 minutes on each computer and so far has resolved both malware issues those computers were encountering.

Combofix is a powerful tool and shouldn't be used just for testing.  If you are having malware issues always be sure to do your homework for your situation and remember no two malware removal processes are the same.  Combofix can help, but ultimately you are accountable.  If malware removal is beyond your comfort zone, do then safe thing and take your computer to a professional (or your local computer geeks house).  And if you need more info on Combofixmornthe folks at Bleeping Computer, start here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

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Jolicloud: Mozilla's entry into the Netbook OS Market

Ok, check it out. I love Firefox. It's great. Constant updates, fast software, reliable. It's awesome in my opinion. I do not own a Netbook (would like one, for novelty sake, don't really need one, but it looks like a neat toy for me). But if I did, I would more than likely be running the Netbook Ubuntu Remix.

But with Mozilla behind this project, it would be tempting to at least check it out. Their site claims that 'Wifi, Bluetooth, and 3G modems work out of the box on a growing list of supported hardware.' Check out the Hardware Compatibility List at: http://www.jolicloud.com/compatibility

Mozilla's goal is to turn the netbook into a 'web device' by using this 'Internet operating system'. By using this Open Source, cloud based solution you can try to combine your web and computing experiences. According to the Jolicloud site it is based on: Ubuntu and Debian Linux (Ubuntu is a derivative of the Debian OS). Which means it should be rather stable. And it looks as though it will be fairly simple to install (which has been one complaint of people who wish to install their own OS on a netbook).

Netbooks (by standard adoption) do not include a physical disk drive, leaving the user to install software via USB Flash Drives or external Hard Drives. Some of this has been addressed by alternative OS installs, but it still is present to those who wish not to use Windows XP on their Netbook.

Personally, this sounds like a pretty tight little piece of software. I will be keeping watch on it, and I have also registered for an Invitation to try out the OS. Which could mean for some fun working with VirtualBox. Swing by their site and check them out: http://www.jolicloud.com

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