With support for a shockingly high number of Linux distributions and an easy-to-use Windows interface, Linux Live USB Creator makes the creation of USB boot disks effortless. From downloading the ISO to formatting your drive, there’s not much about USB booting this application doesn’t make easier than similar software.

Feel free to download Linux Live USB right now, and keep reading for an overview of the program.

5 Simple Steps

First things first: fire up the program. You’ll see 5 sub-windows, representing the five steps to making a Live USB key. The first is simple enough:

That’s right: you need to pick which key you want to boot Linux from. Once you’ve done this, pick the version of Linux you want to boot. If you’ve got an ISO or a CD handy you can use that, or you can pick from many downloadable distros:

If you select a distro from this list the program will take care of downloading the ISO for you:

So far, so good. If you want your key to keep downloaded programs and documents in place, you’re going to want persistence mode. This is step 3; simply scroll to leave room:

Step four is optional, but includes some handy tools:

Here you can choose to hide the created files on your key from being seen by Windows, useful if you plan to use your key for more than just booting Linux. You can optionally format the drive you’re writing to, and choose whether or not you want your Linux distro to be loadable in Windows.

Once you’re done you can click the lightning bolt in the fifth box to start the creation of your live CD. Congratulations; you’ve got yourself a bootable USB key.

Live Virtual Machine

The options include a step for launching your key in Windows. What is that about? Well, once your disk is created, open it up in Windows Explorer. You’ll find a new file that looks like this:

You can click this to boot your Linux distro without rebooting Windows, which is handy from time to time. Naturally you’re going to want a pretty powerful computer to try this out, but it’s a nice added touch.

Supported Distros

Wow. Just, wow. This program supports the automatic downloading and installation of many different Linux distributions. Highlights include:

• Ubuntu and Ubuntu’s many versions.
• The GParted Live CD
• Jolicloud
• UberStudent
• xPud
• Clonezilla

There’s more; check out Live Linux USB’s official list of Linux distros for a complete list.

Conclusion

Linux Live USB isn’t the first program to help users make live USB keys; uNetBootin does the same job. What Linux Live USB does better than this program is make the process painless. It’s worth checking out just for that, but according to blog OMG Ubuntu, this program works more consistently than others. So it’s easier and better.

Do you like this tool? Let us know in the comments below. Also feel free to share other tools for the job, and to discuss your favorite Linux distributions.

But having a bootable Ubuntu installation inside a thumb drive (some people prefer to call it a “jump drive“) goes beyond just trying it out. It’s – after all – a fully working computer OS inside the USB drive, complete with all of the necessary applications. You can use it as a portable computer, with the ability to save and store all documents and settings inside the USB drive itself (persistent mode). More advanced Linux users usually use this persistent mode boot drive as a recovery kit to fix problems.

Here are the steps to put a fully working, USB Ubuntu Linux boot jump drive.

Creating The Boot Drive

• To be able to create a USB Ubuntu Boot Jump Drive, you first need to have the Ubuntu installation image (burned onto a CD or mounted as a virtual CD) and a 1GB or larger USB drive.
• Plug in the USB drive, back up the content (if there’s important data on it) then format it. After that, browse onto the Ubuntu CD, find an application called “usb-creator”, and run the app.

• The “Make Startup Disk” window will open with options to customize the process. You can choose the source of installation (disk image or CD), and the destination (USB drive). Then you should set the amount of space from the USB drive that you want to use to store data.

• Since the amount of reserved space will be the maximum storage space that you can use to save your documents on the go, it’s important that you set it as large as possible. Logically, using a larger capacity of thumb drive would be better. Even though you can use a 1GB drive and set the reserved space to 250MB; you can easily set the reserved space to 3GB if you use a 4GB drive.
• After you click the “Make Startup Disk” button, the process will start. This will take a while depending on the speed of your system and the speed of the USB drive itself.

• Then after the installation is done, you may reboot the system to start Ubuntu.

• The process can also be done from within Ubuntu itself. All that you have to do is to find an application called StartUp Disk Creator and go through the similar process as you did under Windows.

Just a quick note, according to my experiments, creating the boot disk under Ubuntu is faster.

Another alternative that you can use to create an Ubuntu boot drive is Unetbootin. This application will also allow you to create a boot drive for other Linux distros.

Using The Boot Jump Drive

To use the boot drive, you need to boot your machine with the USB drive inserted. Some machines have already set the boot order to start from Optical Drive, then External Drive (USB included) and finally – when no other drives present – internal Hard Drive; while some others start with internal Hard Drive. You might have to choose the boot drive manually depending on your machine boot setup. Different machines have different setups, so you need to consult your documentation (or geeky friend) to know more.

The most common way to change the boot drive is to press F10 during boot and use the Up/Down and Enter keys to choose which drive you want to boot from. Or you could permanently change the order of your machine’s boot drive using the BIOS setup. Some machines utilize F2 key during boot up to access the BIOS setup. But again, yours might use a different method.

Installing Ubuntu (or other Linux distros) in a USB thumb drive is a perfect way to try out Ubuntu without modifying your system. It’s also a great way to have your own beautiful, fast, and virus-free personal portable working environment inside a thumb drive.

Have you tried creating USB Linux boot jump drive? What do you use it for? Share your stories using the comments below.

The solution is a registry hack or software that can delay a program (ex. my broadband network connection) at startup.

Delaying a service has many uses ““ from improving boot efficiency to troubleshooting. Windows has several manual options for specifying the sequence of startup programs and a delay between them. You can use a batch file and place it in the startup folder or get into the registry and add entries under a registry key.

But for absolute ease of use there are a few software launcher options too. Let’s look into three of them.

Startup Delayer

Startup Delayer (v2.5.138) is a 980KB free download. The latest version is more than a year old, but it works just fine on Windows 2000/XP/XP64/Vista systems. The app lists all the applications that load with Windows. You can double click on each application and edit its Launch Type and set the Delay.

Alternatively, you can drag “˜n drop the application onto the Time Chart that’s below the application list. Then, you can then drag and drop it around the Time Chart to rearrange the apps and change the delay. You can delete selected programs from the list and in case you change your mind, simply start over. The delay information is displayed on the status bar.

LaunchLater

LaunchLater (v1.3) Beta does the same job of delaying the startup time of applications. The 1.145MB freeware does require that you have .NET Framework (ver.4.0) installed.

LaunchLater is very simple: you add the applications you want to delay and specify the delay in seconds. But the simplicity also entails a bit of work, because you have to manually browse to the executable of the application you want to delay the launch for.

WinPatrol

Startup program delay is just one of the roles of this well rounded security app, WinPatrol (ver.18.1). WinPatrol’s overall role is to monitor your computer for any changes and issue alerts. Scotty, the system watchdog, sits on the taskbar and watches out for threats. Malicious software, harmful ActiveX controls, suspected key loggers, spyware etc can be kept at bay using WinPatrol. WinPatrol does not scan but takes a system snapshot as the basis for its heuristic monitoring of the system.

WinPatrol has a startup monitor that lists all the programs that load with Windows. You can simply right click on the program(s) and move it to the Delayed Start list.

Next, on the Delayed Start list, you can right click on the program and set the delay time for the program.

WinPatrol (Free) is a 1MB download and is supported on all Windows OS including Windows 7.

If you are looking for a startup delayer with some extra functionality to boot, WinPatrol is well reviewed and a good choice.  Mark reviewed it back in 2007 as well as taking a look at its portable version in 2009.

You can also go and checkout how to use Soluto to improve your Windows boot up time. Soluto also has an option that lets you delay programs and improve Windows responsiveness.

You can create your own free delay device using a simple batch file and placing it in the startup folder. Googling for it throws up quite a few samples. Windows Vista and 7 (also Windows Server 2008) have an Automatic (Delayed Start) option that ensures that selected services start shortly after a boot. You can access it from the Services Control Panel applet under Administrative Tools.

Do you use a manual option or a software to delay selected programs at startup? Let us know.

Image Credit : Shutterstock

You can run all these programs and you’ll probably notice the difference, but how can you be objectively sure they’re making a difference? For most people the general feel of quickness is enough to justify the effort, but if you’re looking for scientific evidence of speediness a lot of people like take a look at their measured boot times; that is, the time it takes from switching the computer on to having a usable desktop.

And if you want to measure your boot time on a Windows XP machine, you should really check out BootTimer. This portable application does one thing and does it well: measure how long it takes to boot. If you’re looking for scientific evidence that what you’re doing is speeding up your boot it’s really worth a look.

Note: this application does not work on Windows Vista or 7 at this time.

The Process

So, first thing first: download BootTimer over at Planetsoft or if you prefer, at Download.com. You’ll have a single executable file to work with; BootTimer is a portable application and is perfect for throwing onto the thumb drive that contains your geeky arsenal.

When you’re ready to restart your computer, go ahead and open BootTimer. You’ll see this message:

Click “Yes” and your computer will restart. Nothing unusual about that, right? When it gets into Windows you’ll be told not to touch your mouse or keyboard, so don’t; BootTimer is waiting until your desktop is usable to finish timing. When it is you’ll receive a notice like this, containing the information you’re looking for:

Wasn’t that easy? Be sure to write this time down.

Self-Cleaning

Want to remove every trace that this program ever ran? No problem. Just click “OK” and the program will go about removing itself completely from your system.

There’s one catch: BootTimer will open up its webpage and encourage you to click an ad. This is annoying, but considering how useful the program is and that it’s free I suppose it’s a harmless way to support the app.

How It Works

BootTimer doesn’t install a stopwatch on your machine and time everything; rather it check the various logs the Windows system creates in order to judge when Windows started booting and when it finished.

So why not use a standard stopwatch to determine your measured boot times? You could, but it wouldn’t necessarily be standardized in terms of when the time begins and end. Use this program and the results will be comparable.

Conclusion

Here’s how I suggest you use this program: before you go about speeding up your computer, run the program once. This will give you the slow rate to compare your end results with. Go ahead and do your usual speed-up routine. Once you’re done, go ahead and run a second test. This will give you empirical evidence that what you’re doing to speed up your machine is useful.

What do you think? Is measuring your boot time useful at all, or is it just a useless measurement geeks use so they can brag about something? Could you see yourself using a tool like this? Or do you have an alternative tool to recommend? The Internet is in need of more content, so please do your part by speaking your mind below.

Image Credit: Casey Marshall

I know in the past it has been possible to change the logon and logoff screens in Windows but the key to LogonStudio being useful is in the ease of use.  Why the option to create a custom logon screen hasn’t been built into Windows automatically, I’ll never know (I guess in Windows 7 they have finally done so).

It’s an easy download and an easy tool to use.  Let’s see what it’s all about.

Go to the site and click on the download link.

It will eventually take you to a CNET downloads page where the program file is hosted.  Once downloaded, install the program and you are good to go!  At the end of the installation process, open the program so we can take a look at the options.

As you can see by the screenshot, there are 5 buttons along the left side named “Load”, “Download”, “Create”, “Upload“, and “About.”  Let’s go through each one to see what our options are in creating your custom logon screen.

Skip the “Load” button until we download a logon package (aka “skin”).  So let’s go on to the next button for now.

Download

When you hit the “download” button you are directed to a website called WinCustomize containing a directory of many packages to choose from.

Browse around and find one you like.  For the sake of this article I will be choosing Light Blue Crystal.

Once you hit download, the next step may depend on your browser.  Since I am using Firefox, I am faced with a decision to either open the file directly with LogonStudio or to simply download and save the file to a folder.  The easier option would be to open the file directly but for the sake of seeing how the “Load” button works, we’re going to choose to save the file.  Just choose a location you can find easily.

Load

When you click the “Load” button, you are then given the opportunity to browse your hard drive for the file you just downloaded.

Double-click the file (it will have the file extension “logonvista”).  You will then have the package showing in the list of available packages.

You can then either double-click on the package or highlight it and click the “Apply” button.  This will effectively bring you to the logon screen showing your new custom logon screen.

Create

The “Create” button is for those who already have an image that they want to set up as the logon screen.

After clicking the button, just fill in the blanks, browse for the picture you are looking for and click save.  This will create the package and show it in the list for you.

Upload

If you want to upload a particular package that you created and you think others will like, you’ll need to register.  I have not tested this option but if you do, let me know how it goes!

About

Clicking the “About” button will obviously tell you more about the program.

It will also give you a link to check for updates.

You now have a simple way to create a custom logon screen for your Windows computer!  Do you have a different option?  Let us know!

For starters let me point out that you can find ready made Xsplash screens (as boot splash screens are called) on gnome-look, ubuntu-art and other such sites which we have discussed about so many times before. That being said there is a different joy and sense of accomplishment seeing a custom made boot splash screen and theme in action. Not to mention the personal touch you can put in. You can use your photos, put in your name or tag line, a motivational quote and what not. This is a great thing about Linux that I truly adore, you can chip in with code, with themes, with translations or just about any other thing you might want to change in the Operating System to suit your needs. In this article we will focus on the boot splash screen. I am using Ubuntu to demonstrate the steps but the tutorial would work for any distribution using xsplash.

Before Karmic Koala, Ubuntu used usplash to display the progress bar you saw when Ubuntu boots. Customizing Usplash, while very much possible, was a very involved task. With Karmic, Ubuntu now uses Xsplash which uses images as the background and is comparatively a lot easier to customize and tweak to your needs. You can change the background image, the “Ubuntu” text as well as the throbber that is displayed when Karmic boots up. Let’s start with the background image first.

By default Ubuntu displays a brown background with what looks like a spotlight behind the Ubuntu logo. We are going to change all that. If you have ever poked around your /usr directory (which you should) you must have noticed that this brown image we talked about is located at /usr/share/images/xsplash directory. Open it up and have a look inside the said directory, which would reveal that the same image has been made available in different resolutions. This is to make sure that the boot splash screen is displayed well irrespective of the screen size and resolution

Now, there are two ways you can change the Xsplash background image:

Option 1 requires that you know the screen resolution that is being used, you can then change only the image that corresponds to the resolution that is being used. This is trickier than it seems, because the resolution that is being used while you are working on the desktop may or may not be the same when Ubuntu displays the Xsplash screen.

So a better bet would be to use Option 2, in which you change images for all the resolutions. This way Ubuntu will use your custom image no matter what resolution it uses.

Changing the images is easy. You can use GIMP. Go under the Image menu and choose scale. Key in the required numbers, keep the ratio intact. If you don’t get the exact numbers, go for slightly larger values but keep the ratio intact. I suggest you back up all the images in /usr/share/images/xsplash into another folder on your hard drive just in case things go wrong. Then put the required file(s) into /usr/share/images/xsplash. That is it, no editing of configuration files required. The next time you boot up, you should see your custom xsplash background.

You can also customize the logo or add your own, all it requires is a little extra effort. You have to mind the positioning of the logo and the alpha transparency. In any case, if you are not familiar with the concept you can continue using the default logo. This is how it looks with what we have done so far:

If you want to go another step forward, you can create your own text or logo and save it inside /usr/share/images/xsplash with appropriate names (see image below). You will have to create different sizes depending upon the resolution so its best to start with a larger image and then you can always scale it down.

Go ahead play with the images. If you are not the one who would spend time creating images from scratch inside GIMP, you can always start with a high resolution wallpaper or photo, add your own elements to it and then scale it down to the required sizes.

What custom-made Linux boot splash screens have you made?   Let us know all about them – and how you made them – in the comments.

StartUp Manager can be used to achieve this easily. You can install StartUp Manager by using your distribution’s package manager. Or check here. Once installed, it can be found under

System > Administration > StartUp Manager.

StartUp Manager can be used to easily customize a number of options that would otherwise require you to get your hands dirty by editing configuration files. As a start, you can change boot options such as the selection timeout and default operating system. If you have multiple operating systems, a useful option here is to make the Last Used operating system as the default choice, which would automatically boot the one you used the last time. Such a setting can be quite handy when you have a clear favorite in terms of operating systems and others are just installed for completeness.

You can also change the display resolution and the color depth if you are experiencing any problems with the display of the main menu. Uncheck “Show bootloader menu” if you don’t want to see the menu, and boot the default operating system each time. “Show bootsplash” can be used to add an image as background to the bootloader menu. We did a complete tutorial on it some time back. “Show text during boot” provides you with textual feedback of what is currently happening in the boot process.

The appearance tab allows you to customize the look of the bootloader menu as well as the Usplash theme. You can add colors to the bootloader menu, pick and choose the ones you like. A Usplash theme governs the progress bar display during the boot process. You can find some Usplash themes here, click on “Manage Usplash themes” and add the one you downloaded, then select the one you like and next time you boot, it would be there to greet you.

That is not all by any stretch of imagination. StartUp Manager allows you to do pretty advanced stuff. You can password-protect the bootloader or only recovery mode entries (a good choice) or the boot options by simply placing a check against the option and specifying the password.

If you are bothered by how cluttered the bootloader gets after a kernel upgrade, you can limit the number of entries from here in. Uncheck “Create boot option for recovery mode” to remove the recovery mode altogether if you are paranoid about someone getting into your system through recovery mode root prompt.

StartUp Manager is a no fuss tool which greatly simplifies tweaking and customizing of bootloader options and helps you manage Grub and Usplash settings easily without having to go in and tinker with the configuration files yourself. What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments.