SabNZB setup on Ubuntu

To be honest, this is really very easy. we start by opening a terminal onto the machine we are going to install the package onto and type:

sudo apt-get install sabnzbdplus

Now we edit one of the config files:

sudo nano /etc/default/sabnzbdplus

USER=root

# The Host one can be 0.0.0.0 if you only have one IP address

HOST=0.0.0.0

# Change this to another port if 8080 is already in use.

PORT=8082

Then we make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/sabnzbdplus

Then we restart the service

sudo service sabnzbdplus restart

Once this has finished point your browser to http://ipaddress:8082 and finish setting it up, you will need a usenet provider, I use newsdemon myself.

Clementine and High CPU Usage

I've used Clementine as my music manager for quite a while now but for some reason it's been causing some high cpu utilisation lately with the cooling fan sounding like a hovercraft. A bit of research seems to indicate that it's a bug Clementine and my Nvidia drivers.

This is the article that pointed out the problem to me:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/65099/clementine-has-high-cpu-usage-even-after-shutting-it-down

Effectively you use the following command to start Clementine.

Exec=env __GL_NO_DSO_FINALIZER=1 clementine

Now we don't want to have to type in this line every time we want to start the app up, in KDE it's quite simple, just right click on the start button and select Edit Applications, find Clementine and replace Clementine &U with the above line.

Simples

MS Office Removal Tool

Having trouble removing or uninstalling Microsoft Office, there is a removal tool

which can be found here.

Word 2007 and 2010 losing spaces in a document

Apparently there are incompatabilities between Word 2007 and 2010 which result in spaces being randomly dropped in a document.

There's an article here, which tells you how to sort it.

Fix an unmountable boot volume

How to troubleshoot "unmountable boot volume" in XP.

If you are unable to start Windows and get an error message saying you have an "unmountable boot volume," this can be caused by a corrupt boot.ini file or by a defective hard drive.

To troubleshoot the problem, do the following:

Boot into the recovery console at startup, using your Windows XP CD.

In the recovery console, type chkdsk /p If disk errors are discovered, you may need to replace the hard drive.

If no disk errors are discovered, reboot the computer and go back into the recovery console.

Type the following command at the command prompt:

bootcfg /rebuild

The bootcfg utility will scan the drive and display the results.

When the prompt asks if you want to add installation to the boot list (Yes/No/All), type Y and press ENTER.

When asked to "Enter Load Identifier," type the name of the operating system (for example, Windows XP Professional) and press ENTER.

When the prompt says "Enter OS Load options," type Fastdetect and press ENTER.

Remove the Windows XP installation CD from the drive and type Exit.

Reboot the computer. Windows XP should start normally.

Windows 7 password expiry time

Had a Windows 7 machine which forced the customer to change the password every 90 days and unlike older versions of Windows, there was no option to change this in Administrative Tools.

So it's back to the command line, run this as administrator:

net accounts /MaxPWAge:Unlimited

That means you won't need to change it again.

Copying data from a corrupt user profile

Occasionally user profiles become corrupt.

You can copy data from your old profile to a new one, to preserve your settings, preferences and documents.

Here's how:

First create a new profile by logging on with administrative credentials and clicking Start | Control Panel | User Accounts

1. Under "Pick a Task," click "Create a new account," enter a name, and click Next.
2. Select the account type and click "Create account."
3. Now log on with an account that is not the one you're copying the files from or to.
4. Right click Start, select Windows Explorer, and click Folder Options.
5. On the View tab, check "Show hidden files and folders," uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System files," and click OK.
6. Navigate to 
7. Press and hold the CTRL key to click every subfolder and file in this folder except: Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log, and Ntuser.ini.
8. Click Edit | Copy or press CTRL+C or right click and select Copy.
9. Navigate to the :\Documents and Settings folder again and find the folder with the user name of the new profile. Open that folder.
10. Click Edit | Paste or press CTRL+V or right click and select Paste.
11. Log off and then log on with the new user account. This will transfer your preferences (wallpaper, desktop icons), settings and documents from the My Documents folder. This will not import your email messages to the new profile.