How to improve speed or performance of Linux Mint XFCE on old computer

Decrease swappiness whereby the use of swap is curtailed$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness <enter>returns the value of swappiness which is 60 initially. Make this 20 as follows:$ sudo xed /etc/sysctl.conf <enter>Add a line to the end of the filevm.swappiness=20Save the file. Disable Java in LibreofficeOpen Libreoffice Writer.Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Java OptionsUncheck Java … Continue reading How to improve speed or performance of Linux Mint XFCE on old computer →

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 Support Experience to order and replace laptop battery

This is based on the experience of one of my family with Dell Support whose Dell Inspiron uses a 3 cell 4.1V 3500 mAH Li-ion battery - part number FW8KR11. This was confirmed in Linux using dmidecode. Open a terminal window and enter the command below.$ sudo dmidecode <enter>Portable BatteryLocation: Sys. Battery BayManufacturer: BYDManufacture Date: … Continue reading Dell Support Experience to order and replace laptop battery →

Download Windows 11 ISO

To download Windows 11 or to install it on a Windows 10 computer, visit the below link. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 Below are the SHA256 check sums that can be used to validate the integrity of the ISO file downloaded. English 64-bit 667BD113A4DEB717BC49251E7BDC9F09C2DB4577481DDFBCE376436BEB9D1D2FEnglish International 64-bit B117FE6A87E8707FB2E228591F1CFF3C062C08679F2D856D48D01BE5A052BB30 The check sums are available at the Windows 11 download link and … Continue reading Download Windows 11 ISO →

Upgrade RAM on a Dell Inspiron 5580 laptop

The easiest way to do this is to visit the Crucial site, and scan the computer if you use Windows. However, on Linux, find out details about the RAM installed open a terminal window and enter :$ sudo dmidecode | more <enter> And scroll through the list till you get to the DIMM block. Here … Continue reading Upgrade RAM on a Dell Inspiron 5580 laptop →

How to run latest India income tax utility for the Financial Year 2021-22 (AY 2022-23) in Linux

The India 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 2021-22 (AY 2022-23) in Linux →

Use insync by insynchq to manage and sync multiple Google Drives and One Drives on Linux

If you are looking for a good tool that enables syncing of Google Drive and One Drive folders and files, you can use insync from https://www.insynchq.com/. They have recently added the capability to sync many Google drives or One drives to their license terms. It is a life saver for those who use Google Drive … Continue reading Use insync by insynchq to manage and sync multiple Google Drives and One Drives on Linux →

Email: [Firebase] Client access to your Cloud Firestore database expiring in X day(s)

The easiest way to overcome this expiry is to change the date in the rules after logging into the account:match /{document=**} {// from previous date 2020, 11, 11 to new date 2021, 12, 11allow read, write: if request.time < timestamp.date(2021, 12, 11);} However, do note that it is important to drop access using this method … Continue reading Email: [Firebase] Client access to your Cloud Firestore database expiring in X day(s) →

How to fix initramfs-tools error when updating it

Below error appears when updating the initramfs-tools: Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.8) …update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.1.0-15-genericI: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/dm-1I: (/dev/mapper/vg0-swap)I: Set the RESUME variable to override this. Before proceeding beyond this point, take a data backup. This error usually occurs if the computer had dual booting and a swap file that … Continue reading How to fix initramfs-tools error when updating it →

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 →