That pesky envelope icon

It seems that every time I install Ubuntu I want to get rid of the Envelope icon that indicates new messages in Evolution (which I don't use). And every time, I seem to try several different things to achieve it, usually losing another icon along the way. So here is the best post I've ever seen about how to do it. Why didn't someone say it was this simple!

One sentence answer...

Article from the Reg about useful extras

"The easiest way to get this code – and several other useful extras – is by adding a new repository from a project called Medibuntu. The Medibuntu instructions are on the site, but in brief, copy this and paste it into your command prompt:

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

After this, you can just install the last few bits:

sudo apt-get install app-install-data-medibuntu apport-hooks-medibuntu libdvdcss2 w32codecs"

From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/24/reg_linux_guide_3/page2.html

Delete (or change) the envelope icon from the indicator applet panel

Navigate to
/usr/share/indicators/messages/applications
Delete the evolution file or anything else you want.
If you want to add a new icon to the indicator applet, thunderbird for example, create a new text file in that folder, name it thunderbird and put
/usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop
in it. Restart the gnome panel and... there you go.

Java moves house

Java has moved from the Universe repository to the new Partner one. I must read up about that when I get a chance, it sounds very official and corporate. But for now, I'm just trying to install Sun Java on a customer machine.

Updated Java installation instructions here

Multiple monitors, multiple panels

I have successfully managed to use Twinview with a panel on each monitor, containing only the active windows for that display. Every time I created an extra panel it was immovable, but that was fixed by turning off the "Expand" option in panel properties. Then I just moved it to the bottom of the second screen and added a Window List applet.

So now the panel on my main display shows active windows in that display only, and the second display has its own panel for its own open windows, respectively. I heart this.

I'm currently playing with the Expand option because when it's expanded for some reason minimized windows on the second monitor disappear off the edge of the screen. Gotta be something simple.

Remote support

I've been thinking about this for a little while - what is the best way to support users from a distance, to save them having to return a PC or Laptop to solve what may be a small issue?

I've used VNC extensively in the past and admire its versatility and open-sourciness. If I had access to the customer machines and their routers, it would be great to get them using VNC, but the configuration could be too complex for the average home user if they had to set it up themselves, even with me on the phone.

But I found out today about a product called Teamviewer. It comes with a .deb Linux client which also doubles up as a server (though it took me a long time to figure this out, and I was just about to give up and investigate other solutions...). Best of all, it's very simple to use. All a client would do is start it up, then give me the unique numbers and passcodes that it has generated for that session. I'm guessing (well pretty certain actually), that it uses the Teamviewer servers to manage the initial connection - it may channel all traffic through there too, though this makes less sense.

I've used it on two PCs on my desk and it all seems to work fine, so now I need to trial it with another tame user before considering installing it on any client machines that I happen to get my hands on. It could be handy for those "just in case" moments when I need to tweak a setting or two on a customer machine.

Link here

Managing startup applications

I've been looking into streamlining boot times, and seeing if there is an easy way (either text or gui based) to decide which services and programs to keep and which to disable.

Here are a few programs to try out if you want to check which services and applications are being loaded at startup (and disable if you want to free up memory).

sysvconfig
bum (boot-up manager)
sysv-rc-conf

I'll add a few more details once I've had a play with them.

Spell checking in Open Office

Had a query today from a customer about spell checking - basically it didn't seem to be working, but without seeing the machine in front of me it's difficult to diagnose. I pointed her at the troubleshooting steps on the OO forums, but when I get a chance I will see if my handover checklist needs something else including to prevent this happening again.

Instructions for troubleshooting here

Fix for Antispyware XP

Had a customer come to me after getting an infection via a Facebook malware spamming application. Quite a tricky problem to resolve!

BitDefender found 8 infections which were cleaned. Problem persisted. Spybot S&D found another 658 problems, which were fixed. Problem still there! Malwarebytes from bleeping computer finally resolved the issues but unfortunately left another problem in their place.

Rundll32.exe was no longer registered, meaning many programs and controls wouldn't load. Eventually fixed the problem using a registry file from Doug Knox, which reassociated all the vital system executables and allowed all programs to load once more.

There are a couple of things of note here.
1. Safe mode ain't so safe any more! Even in safe mode, the infections appeared just after Windows had finished loading.
2. Fixing and deleting the "issues" that your scanners find, will not necessarily be the end of your troubles.
3. This was a fully patched Windows installation with up to date AV software and it still became infected. Those malware writers are getting better and better.

Good trick with a Live CD

I've had a couple of machines so far that refused to load from the CD due to dirty lenses or other malfunctions in the drive, but I recently found a fantastic script to get around the problem.

Basically, if you boot from a live CD in another machine and then run this command, it turns the machine into a network boot FTP server, then mounts the CD as a bootable device across the LAN. Boot the "broken" machine from the network card and it will go off and find an image across the LAN.

So basically, I'm sat here now looking at a laptop with a dodgy CD drive that is running a Live CD image across the LAN. Absolutely marvellous. Well, to me. Your mileage may vary.

Instructions here

Slow and old PCs

Did another laptop last night, but it's a bit slow, purely because it's quite old and underspecced. Not sure whether to just give it back (with a slowness caveat) or have a go with one of the "lighter" versions of Ubuntu, that take up fewer resources. As usual, it's a balance between my time, and keeping the customer happy, and support overheads. Mind you, I'm not doing much today so may as well have a go, even if it's just to see what Xubuntu (light version) looks and runs like.

NewBuntu

New branding has been announced - good job I've not put the logo on my business cards or I'd be out of date in a month!

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand - (scroll down a bit)

I quite like it, especially the new font

Searching for an answer

Chatting online tonight to an ex-colleague who knows a bit[1] about web marketing. So I now have an entry on Google Local Listings (or at least I will within 24 hours).

Now I need to change all the titles of my pages, insert some metadata, and look at Google Analytics before running my site through websitegrader.com. Apparently.

And here was me thinking all my marketing would be through word of mouth from people down the pub. I guess I'd better go and find out what metadata is. Wonder if anyone down the pub knows...


[1] This may well be an understatement

Email - now there's a thing

Another reason to note down the customer email address is in case they would like it backed up. Of course, if they just want to clear Windows off and replace it, then they need to understand that ISP-downloaded emails could be treated the same as other data such as music, photos, documents, and lost for ever.

Just about to hop over to the website to remove some of the weirder design elements left in place by my *cough* web designer.

Good customer bad customer

Had an interesting discussion last night with S.O. about whether a customer with no computer knowledge at all, is a good or a bad thing. I took a call from one of mine, he couldn't get into his email. When I asked how he used to get into email on Windows, he said he had no idea:

Customer: "I just used to click it and it would open"
Me: "Click what?"
Customer: "My email"
Me: "Was it in your browser?"
Customer: "I don't know"
etc. etc.

I think that having customers like these at the start of the business is probably a good thing. I get so used to just making assumptions about people's computer literacy that I need a customer to keep me in check. This is also perhaps something for the checklist - find out what email address they use so that I can determine how they collect mail when I hand their machine back. It would also be useful to match the email address to the customer record anyway.

S.O. thought customers like these were bad for business, because they will be ringing me up every ten minutes whenever anything goes wrong that's vaguely computer related. Whilst this could be an issue in the future, I don't really mind so much at the start of the business, if it makes me more aware of the issues people will face in the future.

The jury's still out, and probably will be for a few months yet

Funny strip

This kind of sums up what I'm all about. Don't know who Howard Dean is though: xkcd

My office

Popped out to my local office to return a laptop to a customer today, but he didn't have a bag or payment. He said he'd give me a ring tomorrow to collect it in the afternoon. Trouble is, my local office is the pub, and before I could leave the landlord had poured me a pint. This could turn out to be an expensive business if I have to have a pint every time I have a "meeting".

Still, the customer went outside for a cigarette with his mate, and by the time I'd finished my pint, customer had persuaded his mate to use my services too, so I gave him my number and he will be in touch next week. Has to be a record for the quickest word of mouth recommendation.

My flat is beginning to look like a computer repair shop, but I guess that's because it is one.

Powerful Pierre

Picked up a laptop from a customer this afternoon (my first one since becoming self-employed, mini-yay). But he didn't have the power lead! Wouldn't be a problem with a desktop as I have kettle leads coming out of my ears, but laptop supplies are a little more specific.

Luckily he had one in his bag for his *own* laptop which happened to work, so I'm using that one now. Just doing the virus scan and report.

Need to amend my pre-sales questionnaire to ask about power supplies for laptops.

Marketing

Having a few ideas about marketing today:

1. Maybe a "local business startup" feature in the local newspaper - best give that idea a month or so to build up some customer base
2. Double-sided fliers - BSODs on one side with various text, link to ZeroDanger on the reverse with a few of the taglines from the website
3. Need something that works on one side, for sticking up in sandwich shops, pubs, local businesses etc.
4. Business cards - need to think about design of these. Double sided would be good

Big Day!

Went live today with the website for ZeroDanger. I'm not expecting it to generate a great deal of business itself, but it's nice to have a presence to refer to in my other marketing endeavours. It should have been live this morning but unfortunately the web designer misunderstood my requirements and so I've spent most of the day "gedit"ing HTML files. Learning curve steep much?

Also rang the revenue and told them that I'm officially self-employed from today. Now all I need is some paying customers!

Support call

Took a support call from a customer yesterday. Not sure what he had done, but he was having difficulty printing a document. I popped round and ran "lpq" in terminal... the same job was queued up 46 times. I think he had a paper jam but didn't realise, so kept re-clicking and resubmitting. Cleared the print queue down with a "cancel -u " and all was well again. Gave customer some Zen advice about patience, before leaving.

Generated two more leads though, nice.

out of hours...

Had an idea - wondering if there is any demand for an out-of-hours data recovery service. I've certainly performed this kind of thing before, maybe there is a need for it if someone loses their work the day before a deadline etc.

Get ready for the launch!

Hoping to launch the website next week. Once it's live then I can use the design to create some flyers, business cards and other promotional materials. Hopefully, these will then generate more traffic to the site, and more business.

Meanwhile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-yhsV-UbA