How to mount another hard disk for sharing with other users in Linux

Sometimes, a drive needs to be shared by more than that primary user logged in on a Linux computer. This is to facilitate sharing of files and folders by other users on that computer. To enable all authorized users to work with files and folders on the shared drive, read on. Any commands need to … Continue reading How to mount another hard disk for sharing with other users in Linux →

How to fix error message “Please select Android SDK” in Android Studio

To fix this error, from the Android Studio menu, select the option File->Sync Project with Gradle Files The error would go.

How to create and use LUKS encrypted partition in Linux

It is easy to create a LUKS container and a partition within it, using the GUI on Linux. The application that enables this easily is the gnome-disk-utility. However, if you want to use the command line to set up a LUKS encrypted device, read on. Exercise appropriate caution before doing any of the below with … Continue reading How to create and use LUKS encrypted partition in Linux →

How to securely wipe a hard drive or USB drive in Linux using dd or scrub

Normally we'd use dd to clean wipe a hard drive as follows after opening a terminal window for a hard disk or USB drive accessible as /dev/sdb :$ sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdb status=progress <enter> Another command to do a secure wipe of /dev/sdb is scrub that can be used as follows:$ sudo scrub -p dod … Continue reading How to securely wipe a hard drive or USB drive in Linux using dd or scrub →

Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop too slow with Windows 11. Upgrade to M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD

After upgrading the Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop to Windows 11, the big problem is the speed of the laptop. It deteriorates to the extent that it takes almost 5 minutes to boot. Each click on the desktop to open an app takes almost 30 seconds. With this performance, the laptop is virtually useless. The laptop … Continue reading Dell Inspiron 5570 laptop too slow with Windows 11. Upgrade to M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD →

Experience with upgrade of RAM memory on Dell Inspiron 5580 and Dell Inspiron 5570 laptops

If you are one of those who run Virtual Box and use any other OS in it, then the base memory of the Dell Inspiron 5580 of 8 gb DDR4 RAM and an NVME PCIe SSD will still not give near good performance of Windows or the other OS in Virtual Box. The simplest solution … Continue reading Experience with upgrade of RAM memory on Dell Inspiron 5580 and Dell Inspiron 5570 laptops →

How to report battery issue to Dell using SupportAssist Diagnostics if you use Linux

Dell has an application SupportAssist on the laptops it sells. To them, this is their bible about the information on your laptop. Any issue reported to Dell, ends up with technical support staff who ask to run SupportAssist first thing. On a Linux machine, SupportAssist will not work, even in a virtual machine. To overcome … Continue reading How to report battery issue to Dell using SupportAssist Diagnostics if you use Linux →

How to run latest India income tax utility for the Financial Year 2020-21 (AY 2021-22) in Linux

The Indian income tax department has launched a new tax portal and has also created new income tax utilities to enable income tax returns filers to file their tax returns. Past years' utilities could be run on Linux or any other operating system because they were written in Java. However, this time, the utilities are … Continue reading How to run latest India income tax utility for the Financial Year 2020-21 (AY 2021-22) in Linux →

Bloatware removed from Samsung M51 device

Mobile devices come with lots of bloatware that is not used by many of us. Till there are legal regulations prohibiting the installation of factory bloatware, it pays to delete bloatware that is not used or never used. Before proceeding with the steps to remove bloatware, make sure a data backup has been taken, because, … Continue reading Bloatware removed from Samsung M51 device →

There’s something about TRIM in LinuxMint or Ubuntu Linux

Got a new PCIe NVMe SSD device? It starts lagging after a few months of use on Linux Mint and to optimize it, do the following after opening a terminal window $ journalctl | grep fstrim.service <enter>This will display when the TRIM was last executed. It normally does this once a week. Verify when the … Continue reading There’s something about TRIM in LinuxMint or Ubuntu Linux →