I love the Ubuntu Software Center. It’s  easy to use and not too complex for Linux beginners to figure out. It goes a long way toward making software in Linux as easy to manage as software on the iPad. It’s also not without its faults, however. It’s frequently slow and doesn’t quite integrate everything you might want to do with a package manager.

That’s not true of the Deepin Software Center, which is beautifully arranged and very quick. Sure, at times it can be a little confusing. There are also many things this piece of software does right compared to the alternative – it looks great, functions fast and is intuitive to explore in a way the Ubuntu Software Center isn’t. It’s worth checking out, if only to see how easy a Linux package manager can be.

Using Deepin Software Center

The start page of Deepin Software Center will look immediately familiar to anyone used to the App Store for Mac.

A few applications are highlighted at the top, with slick graphics for the job. Beneath are more recommended apps, broken down by category.

It’s easy to find something you like here, and you just might find something new and awesome. You can click the “Install” button to launch software immediately, or click the software’s name to see more information. There will be a write-up and screenshots, but be warned, the reviews will mainly be in Chinese.

Want to explore more software? Click the “Repository” button at the top. Here you can explore software offerings by category.

Again, click the “install” button to install and the software’s name to see more information. Perhaps the best thing about this software center is the ability to quickly sort the software offerings by rating, number of downloads or recommendations. It’s quick, and gives you new ways to explore.

Deepin Software Center can also handle updating software for you, if you want. This is found on the “Update” page. You can manually pick which packages to update, or update everything – it’s up to you.

By default, Deepin’s Software Center doesn’t blend nicely with Ubuntu. You can change this by picking a different theme. Sure, none of them are perfect, and standard GTK would be nice, but it’s a nice change of pace in some ways.

Change is instant. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but it’s fun.

Installing Deepin Software Center

Do you want to try this out? It’s easy to do, thanks to this Debian package. I tested this on Ubuntu 11.10 and it worked great. It should work on Linux Mint and other Ubuntu derivatives, so try it out.

Deepin Software Center won’t work on any Linux distro that doesn’t use the Debian package manager.

Conclusion

Is this the perfect software center? Probably not, but it’s nice in a lot of ways. I hope the Ubuntu team incorporates ideas from this to make the software center better.

Thanks to the OMG Ubuntu team for pointing out Deepin Software Center to me. Do you want to learn more about Deepin? Check out the Deepin Linux page on Distrowatch.

How do you guys like this software center? Leave your thoughts below, because I love hanging out with you and talking tech.

It’s not that Linux is hard to use or understand, but it simply doesn’t fit the Windows mindset that most people have. Expecting to do everything in Linux exactly like in Windows is where problems start appearing, which can easily deter a good number of users. Thankfully, there is now a Linux distribution that could make the process a whole lot easier.

About Zorin OS

Zorin OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, but besides identical packages and base system there are some major differences between the two. One of the major goals of Zorin OS is to offer a user interface that is similar to that of Windows, making Windows users feel more comfortable when they use Zorin OS. I must say that Zorin OS does a pretty good job with it.

Downloading

You can download the ISO for Zorin OS by going to this page and downloading their “Core” ISO. The developers also offer lite and educational variations for you to download, but in most cases you’ll have the better experience with just the core. This review will focus on the Core edition.

Additionally you’ll find a Premium page where they offer you Ultimate, Business, Multimedia, and Gaming editions, which is mostly just the Core software with many additional applications for that type of system. The effort it takes to put all those extra programs into the ISO is why they charge for those editions.

Once you have your downloaded ISO burned onto a CD, written to USB, or ready to go for VirtualBox, you can boot straight into the live environment. Loading shouldn’t take very long, and in no time you’ll be presented with the Zorin OS desktop.

Desktop

As you might recognize, the default look for Zorin OS mimics Windows 7 quite well. There are only a couple of shortcuts found on the desktop, and in the taskbar you’ll find the Start menu on the left (with Zorin OS branding, of course), the icon tray on the right, and then in the middle you’ll find the cool looking buttons that show which programs are currently open (do those even have a technical name?). Overall, it looks very much like Windows 7, which is very impressive.

Start Menu

If you actually click on the Start menu, you’ll see a lot more Windows 7-esque goodness. The Start menu, which appears to be GnoMenu with an appropriate theme, looks extremely similar to Windows 7′s Start menu. Keeping a small Linux touch, however, all programs in the left side of the menu are organized into the regular categories that regular Linux users are familiar with. There is also no “Recent Programs” list as is in Windows 7.

Look Changer

So all this stuff that looks a lot like Windows 7 is great for someone coming from Windows, right? Well what if they’re trying out Linux because Windows XP is starting to become very dated for an operating system? No need to worry there either. In the Control Center, there is a button called Look Changer, which will open a new window where you can choose between a Windows 7, Windows XP, and regular Linux Gnome desktop. With Windows XP available too, switching to Zorin OS is even easier for more people.

Default Applications

Zorin OS also comes with some pretty interesting default applications. Instead of Firefox as the default browser as is the case in all major distributions, Zorin OS chose Chrome in part due to its ever-increasing popularity. Many will enjoy this, while those that don’t will simply need to install their browser of choice. Not a hard thing to do. Zorin OS also includes Nautilus Elementary over Nautilus, which offers a tweaked user interface for a cleaner look. As for everything else, the usual applications that you would expect are included.

Conclusion

This interesting Linux distribution has some great incentives for Windows users to try out the Linux side of computing. Aside from all the differences between itself and Ubuntu, the rest is business as usual, letting you get work done like a pro.

What do you think about Zorin OS? Is it the best way for Windows users to try Linux? Let us know in the comments!

The difference between the two is simply the desktop shell, which is much more a difference in looks and functionality than a technical one. However, Gnome Shell has finally started to build itself a place in my heart, while Unity has not.

Here are three reasons why this is the case.

Speed

This may come as a major surprise to many, but my first point is all about speed. From personal experience, I’ve always found Gnome Shell (especially when version 3.2.1 came out) to be faster than Unity. The Activities screen in Gnome Shell loads as fast as the Dash in Unity, but the dock launcher on the left side in Unity is somewhat slow and sluggish. This is especially noticeable on my netbook, whereas Gnome Shell runs smoothly.

It’s quite a surprise to myself, actually, because Compiz, the window manager framework of which Unity is a plugin for, was touted to be the better and faster alternative to Mutter, the window manager framework on which Gnome Shell runs. Although I have to admit that Gnome Shell at it’s first release was a little sluggish too, it has improved quite a bit. Now that Unity is the default desktop shell for the second straight release in Ubuntu, it has only gotten slower.

Organization and Design

The organization and design of the desktop environments is also a major factor between the two. Unity tries to be organized, but with lenses, the Dash, and the different categories inside the Dash, things quickly get confusing. I know when I looked at Unity that it took a while before I understood what everything is for.

As for Gnome Shell, everything is better hidden and organized. You see nothing but the desktop until you go into the Activities screen, where inside you’ll be presented with favorites, different open windows, and the different workspaces for each application or task. In the applications view, all you get is a list of applications and the different categories for each. That’s it. It’s simple, clean, and works well.

Extras in Unity like the ability to search your music collection is a cool idea, but I find it unnecessary. It’s not any harder to just go look around in your Music folder or to open up your music player and easily find and play your music through that.

Unity for Ubuntu Only

While this isn’t a major reason, it’s still worth mentioning. For those that do enjoy Unity, they are forced to use Ubuntu in order to get that experience. With Gnome Shell, that isn’t an issue, as it’s available on any distribution in existence that has moved up to Gnome 3. The world of Linux that we currently live in is very well used to being able to put any desktop environment that they like on their distribution.

Unity is the only desktop environment out of all the major players that is specific to only one distribution. I’m sure that Canonical has their own reasons for doing this, but in the spirit of free software I don’t believe that their choice goes in the right direction.

Conclusion

Say what you like, but those are just my opinions on the matter. I simply find Gnome Shell to be a little more usable with its clean look and design, unlimited workspaces that automatically get created or destroyed, and overall ease of use. The Gnome developers definitely changed the desktop as they had hoped, and I find it to be enjoyable. For those who don’t think the same, you still have to admit that some pretty innovative ideas are presented in Gnome Shell.

What’s your own opinion on this? Do you agree with me or am I just an idiot? Let us know in the comments!

Ubuntu is a free/libre, open-source computer operating system with 20 million users worldwide. But it’s also so much more than that: it is an ethos, a collaborative project and, first and foremost, Ubuntu is a community of people.

If you’re reading this guide, you’re probably interested in moving away from proprietary operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS X; perhaps you’ve already installed Ubuntu on your computer but are not sure where to start.

Migrating to a new operating system can be daunting, especially when faced with unfamiliar words like ‘FLOSS’, ‘command line interface’ and ‘kernel’. Many people are intimidated by the technical jargon of a non-commercial operating system and believe it’s too advanced for them. Well, that is simply not true. Ubuntu is easy to install and simple to use. Best of all: it’s completely FREE!

DOWNLOAD Ubuntu: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide

The guide is free but password-protected. Gain access to the password by:

1- subscribing to our newsletter (you may do this on the download page itself, link above). Existing subscribers will receive the guide via email in the next couple of hours.

OR

2 – Simply join our Facebook page. Quick and easy.

This complete, free guide will teach you:

• What Ubuntu is, in every sense of the word
• What makes Ubuntu free, as in freedom
• How Ubuntu and Linux are related
• How to install Ubuntu for absolute beginners
• Where to find free support for Ubuntu questions
• How to use the Unity interface
• How to find software in Ubuntu, and which software to use

DOWNLOAD Ubuntu: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide

The guide is free but password-protected. Gain access to the password by:

1- subscribing to our newsletter (you may do this on the download page itself, link above). Existing subscribers will receive the guide via email in the next couple of hours.

OR

2 – Simply join our Facebook page. Quick and easy.

About ClamTk

ClamTk is available for most of the popular distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora, but is installable on all systems via compilation of the source code. In Ubuntu, you can install it by searching for “Clam” and installing the “Virus Scanner” or by running this in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install clamtk

In Fedora, you should be able to install it by searching for “clamtk” in the package manager or running in the terminal:

sudo yum install clamtk

Interface

Once it has been installed, go ahead and open it from your dash/menu/etc. You will now see the (very simple) main window of the application. There are a couple of different buttons to scan your home folder, a directory, or a file, or to exit the application. Below those buttons are a few checks made by the program to see if the latest version of the ClamAV engine, the latest GUI version, and the latest virus definitions are installed.

The virus definitions should be updated automatically through the scheduler (more on that later), while the engine version and GUI version are dependent on what is pushed to your distribution’s repositories. If any of the two are majorly out-of-date, you should notify the repository maintainers using the recommended method. Most distributions ask that you file a bug complaint or simply wait.

Menu Options

Aside from the very simplistic interface, some more advanced features are hidden within the menus. Under Scan, you’ll find a few more options for scanning, including quick and recursive scans. Under View, you can see the history of actions taken with the program, as well as clear that log. Under Quarantine, you can check the status of your quarantined items, restore or delete individual quarantined items, or simply empty the whole quarantine.

Under Advanced, you can schedule scans, run the antivirus wizard, submit a file for analysis, or tweak other preferences. The scheduler is an important feature as it makes staying virus-free easy and doesn’t require you to remember to run the scanner. It also makes up for the lack of real-time protection. With the scheduler, you can schedule scans of your home folder or entire computer, as well as virus definition updates.

The preferences include multiple scanning preferences, startup options, an option to whitelist directories so that they won’t be scanned, and proxy options so that you can get your virus definitions without any issues.

Finally, under Help, you can manually check for updates for the antivirus engine and the GUI, as well as look up information about the GUI itself.

Conclusion

ClamTk is an easy-to-use GUI for the ClamAV engine that should help you keep your Linux system virus free. However, more importantly, this easy tool will help you get rid of nasty viruses that may be on a separate hard drive or removable media. Don’t forget that as a rescue solution, you can boot up a Linux environment using a LiveCD and install ClamTk to combat the virus that may be plaguing your Windows machine.

What do you think of ClamTk? Is there any antivirus solution on Linux that is better? Let us know in the comments!

Would-be Ubuntu users should check out this online demo of the user interface, but it can only show you so much. That’s why I’m glad Ubuntu put an entire catalogue of applications in the Ubuntu Software Center online for the world to browse. It’s simple, fast and perfect for exploring.

Even if you’re using Ubuntu, though, you might find this website to be faster than the actual Ubuntu Software Center on your computer. There are many ways to tweak the Ubuntu Software Center, but none can make it as speedy as this website. You can quickly browse or search for the package you want.

What It Does Now

You’ll find this online catalogue at apps.ubuntu.com/cat. Open the page and you’ll be presented with a simple user-interface:

You can click any of these categories to see some software and sub-categories:

Unlike the desktop version of Ubuntu Software Center, where programs can be sorted by rating, this online catalogue arranges things alphabetically. Still, it’s not hard to find what you’re looking for, even if it can be a little frustrating.

You can search for applications, though you might end up finding a number of sub-packages instead of what you’re looking for:

This could be improved, particularly for exact phrases, and I hope the team is on it.

You can read more about any program, and see screenshots from it, by browsing to that program’s page:

You’ll note that I’m told this program won’t work on my current operating system, and I’m encourage to download Ubuntu. This is a flaw, because it shows up even for programs you can use on other systems. More on that later.

You’ll find the reviews available in the Ubuntu Software Center here as well, along with ratings. These Amazon-style reviews give you notes from other users, allowing you to figure out what’s worth installing.

Overall, this is a speedy web-based version of the Ubuntu Software. I’ll be using it a bit when I’m away from my Ubuntu machine, so check it out.

What I’d Like To See

This isn’t to say this setup is perfect: there’s a lot of potential here. I can think of a few ways to improve this.

First of all: this site really shouldn’t tell people software isn’t available on their platform when it is. Many of the programs listed in this catalogue are available on other platforms, and no website should say otherwise.

Second: I’d love to be able to add a PPA to this online tool and be able to browse the additional packages. Some soft of sign-in will be needed for this, which is okay with me.

Finally: I’d love to be able to install packages in Ubuntu regardless of whether I’m using Ubuntu or not. This service could be tied to Ubuntu One, allowing my packages to be synced across multiple computers.

Think about it: you could visit this website, click “install” and have the software installed automatically on all computers connected to your Ubuntu One account. There’s no major desktop operating system out there offering anything like it, so this is a unique opportunity for Ubuntu. Of course, I bet Canonical and the Ubuntu community are already working on it. If not, though, please steal this idea, because I want it to exist.

Conclusion

I’m glad there’s an online place to browse the Ubuntu Repositories. This was possible before, of course, but not from an interface even nearly this nice. Ubuntu’s been on fire lately in terms of usability, and this website is just one small part of an overall vision.

What do you guys think? I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments below, because that’s just how you roll. Still, I’d like to encourage any shy people out there to speak up and let me know what features you’d like to see added to this little online catalogue.

Such videos are much better than a written guide or review because you can see how something works or where you can find it. You can also hear the person who made the video talk about what he or she is doing, along with any other notes. A video, therefore, is much more effective.

Let’s see how we can construct them ourselves.

How Do You Make Them?

That’s great, but how do they make those videos in the first place? What do you do if you want to make a video yourself? You’ve may have seen some people use their video camera to point to the monitor, but those look very unprofessional when compared to others that show only what the monitor shows, without the monitor acting as a border around the video. Those people use screencasting software.

What Does A Screencasting Software Do?

Screencasting software works much like the PrtSc button on your keyboard, as known as “Print Screen”. In Windows, this button copies the entire screen onto your clipboard which you can simply paste into Paint or any other image editing software. In Linux, the button copies the entire screen and then opens a window to ask you if you want to copy it to the clipboard or save it as a file.

However, screencasting software captures the screen and makes a video out of it instead of an image, and also lets you capture the sound that would usually be coming out of your speakers or whatever is picked up by any attached microphones.

About Kazam

Kazam Screencaster is an easily available free screencasting tool that you can use on Linux to make such videos. There are a couple of other tools out in the wild that you can use, but Kazam seems to be one of the easiest to work with. It seems that Kazam is only officially available for Ubuntu as there are PPAs for it, which is a shame, but I’m sure that someone can take the source code and compile it themselves on other distributions.

Installation

To install it, you’ll need to run this command in the terminal if you use Ubuntu 11.10:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bigwhale/kazam-oneric && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install kazam

If you use a previous version of Ubuntu, run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:and471-kazam-daily-builds && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install kazam

If it asks you if you want to continue at certain steps, make sure to hit “y” or enter for each request, depending on which button it asks you to hit. Wait for that to complete, and then you can launch Kazam by searching for it in Unity, Gnome Shell, or menus, depending on what desktop environment you’re using.

Usage

From here on, Kazam should be easy to use.

You can immediately start recording a video, with or without sound.

After pressing start, Kazam will do a countdown until the recording starts, and you can stop recording by clicking on its icon in the tray at the top right of your screen.

Once you finish, you can save or edit with the Kazam software for quality and where to export to, including YouTube. That’s all there really is!

Conclusion

Kazam is ridiculously easy for such a fine screencasting tool. For those who don’t need a whole lot of settings and let the dedicated video editor do the editing, Kazam is a great way to make those screencasts.

What’s your favorite screencasting tool? For Windows and Linux? Let us know in the comments!

Initial Advice

If you haven’t noticed yet, there are only three distributions that are mentioned in the title, while there are thousands of Linux distributions in existence. Instead of sifting through all of them, we’re only going to look at the top 3 players on the Debian side of Linux (the other side being Fedora/Red Hat/openSUSE). Those, of course, being Debian itself, followed by Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

Debian

As the name would suggest, Debian is the big mother of the entire Debian family. Anything and everything that is considered to be in the Debian family is based off of Debian itself or some other distribution that is based off of Debian. In this article, we have both situations.

Debian is created by the open source community, and has two key focuses – stability and security. How do they achieve those goals? It’s actually quite simple. They let new packages come in whether they’re ready or not, and at some point they’ll freeze all packages so that no new versions come in. Then they take at least a couple months to scrutinize every package for stability and security flaws.

Once they finally feel confident that they’ve met their goals for the whole release, they let it out into the wild. It also has a large repository of packages to choose from. So while it’s very stable and secure, the packages can be a little old, especially later on in the release cycle.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu, on the other hand, is made to include a good combination of new and stable. Ubuntu is based off of Debian, and tries to make the distribution more user-friendly through ease of use and convenient features. Some of those features include the Ubuntu Software Center, which has been ported back to Debian without the Ubuntu branding. Ubuntu and Debian are not 100% binary compatible even though they share the same .deb format for packages. Therefore, people have to be careful. Some packages can be used on both distributions, while others are specifically for one or the other.

Ubuntu gets most of its packages from Debian’s unstable branch, so Ubuntu also has a ridiculously large repository. Additionally, there are plenty of other third party sources that make packages for Ubuntu as well that don’t go into the repository. Far more third party packages are made for Ubuntu than they are for Debian.

Linux Mint

Last but not least is Linux Mint, which has quickly climbed the ladder to one of the top spots on the “Most Popular Distributions” list. Linux Mint is based off of Ubuntu (although they also have another version that is based off of Debian, cutting out the middle man), and is binary compatible with Ubuntu, making all packages meant for Ubuntu usable in Linux Mint. While I may be oversimplifying my view of Linux Mint, it doesn’t add a whole lot to the original Ubuntu release aside from a very customized desktop.

Sometimes the Linux Mint team also decides which desktop environment to use (a previous release used GNOME 2 while Ubuntu was on Unity and other were on GNOME 3, and the current release uses GNOME 3 while Ubuntu still uses Unity). Linux Mint simply does what it was meant to do back when it was first created – to take Ubuntu and fix any usability problems that were perceived by users. A more customized desktop and codecs out of the box are a major part of that difference.

Conclusion

So why these long descriptions of what each Linux distribution is like? Picking a distribution isn’t about what’s termed to the the best (although there will be plenty of people who may tell you otherwise), but what works best for you. People can be nice and make recommendations instead of telling you that you have to use the most popular distribution, but at the end of the day it’s still your choice. If the descriptions I provided weren’t very helpful, you can always burn a couple of Live CDs for Ubuntu and Linux Mint, and try out Debian in a virtual machine if you don’t want to try it right away via an actual installation.

Which one out of the three Linux distributions do you prefer? Which do you prefer in general, including the RPM family and beyond? Let us know in the comments!

Are you a new Ubuntu user? You might soon notice that a lot of things don’t work out of the box. You cannot listen to MP3 files or watch most movies; even DVDs. Browsing the web means doing so without Flash and Java, and certain websites don’t look right because the fonts are different. That’s where Ubuntu Restricted Extras comes in. A collection of software Ubuntu can’t legally bundle with Ubuntu, this package is easy to install and makes your computer capable of a staggering number of things. You’ll get Java, Flash, a staggering number of codecs, all the familiar default fonts from Windows and the ability to open RAR files.

Windows users need special tools, such as Ninite, to install this amount of software at once. Ubuntu users need only install one package from their repositories: Ubuntu Restricted Extras. This is probably the first thing you should do with any new installation of Ubuntu, so keep reading if you’re not familiar with it.

Installation

Installing software in Ubuntu couldn’t be easier. Just head to the Ubuntu Software Center, then search for the package you want to install.

The Software Center is a collection of programs you can install in Ubuntu. There are thousands of programs here for free, and an ever-growing collection of games and programs you can purchase. Like the App Store on mobile devices, this is the one-stop-shop for all Ubuntu software. It’s also where you find Ubuntu Restricted Extras. And you won’t need to look long: it’s one click away from the main page:

You’ll find it under “Top rated software.” Open it, then click the “Install” button. You’ll have to type your password and then you’ll be done.

Are you too lazy to open the program and find Restricted Extras? Fine; click here to install Ubuntu Restricted Extras. Done. Are you using Kubuntu or Xubuntu? Search for “Kubuntu Restricted Extras” or “Xubuntu Restricted Extras” instead.

Included Packages

There’s nothing magic about Ubuntu Restricted Extras: it’s just a “meta-package”, which is a fancy way of saying it installs a number of other packages you could find separately in the Software Center if you wanted to. These packages, by name, are:

• flashplugin-installer
• gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
• gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
• gstreamer0.10-pitfdll
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse
• gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
• icedtea6-plugin
• libavcodec-extra-52
• libmp4v2-0
• ttf-mscorefonts-installer
• unrar

Not sure what these mean? The top one, “flashplugin-installer”, gets Adobe’s Flash installed on your system. The various “gstreamer” packages add codecs to Gstreamer, which the Ubuntu video and music player both use to open files. “IcedTea” is a browser plugin for Java, and is followed in the list by a couple more codecs. The mscorefonts package gives you Times New Roman, Arial and other Windows-standard fonts. Unrar does what it says: open RAR files.

On Playing DVDs

None of these packages, however, give you the ability to play DVDs. To do that, you’re going to need to do some extra work. You can find the instructions here.

Prefer not to do all that work? Head to the Ubuntu Software Center and install Fluendo DVD Player. It will set you back $25, but it works.

Why is either process necessary? Well, like it or not, DVDs are protected. When you buy Windows or a Mac, the people who created the DVD standard get paid. Ubuntu is free, meaning they aren’t paying anyone for the right to play DVDs. Hence the need to jump through hoops or buy a compatible player.

Why Not By Default?

All of these other programs aren’t included for similar reasons. Simply put, Ubuntu doesn’t have the right to distribute codecs, Flash, Java and other technology on the Ubuntu disk. Doing so would make Ubuntu illegal to distribute in some countries, including the United States of America. This means that Ubuntu could become illegal in America should they decide to include these packages.

Why can they offer Ubuntu Restricted Extras at all, then? Well, basically because it’s up to individuals to either install these packages or not. The theory is it’s up to you to determine whether or not these packages are legal in your country and to act accordingly.

I’d like to hear from you guys. Do you install Ubuntu Restricted Extras, or not? Why? I’ll be around in the comments below, so let’s chat.

At this point you freak out because your life information is on that machine, including banking data, emails, and anything else that could be considered sensitive data. Now your wonderful day has turned into a nightmare. Of course you can do things to minimize the damage that results from a stolen laptop, or you can be proactive and encrypt your information for exactly these kinds of situations.

Encrypt During Installation If Possible

If you were smart enough, you could’ve encrypted your home folder (which basically contains all of your personal data, as literally every other main system folder contains system data, not personal data) when you first installed Ubuntu onto your system. But I guess you simply chose not to (or in my case, I somehow had some issues with it). However, it’s never too late to do it now before something happens to it.

Before You Begin

Encrypting your home folder is actually a lot easier than it may sound. It only requires a few steps and a little amount of your time. Before we begin, make sure that you have a backup available of your entire home folder at another location, just in case the encryption process goes haywire for whatever reason.

Steps

The first thing you’ll want to do is open your terminal and issue this command:

sudo apt-get install ecryptfs-utils

which will install the necessary files needed to carry out the encryption process.

In order to avoid any problems with encrypting a user’s home folder while you’re still logged into that user, it’s best to create a new user with administrative rights temporarily, or if you already have a second user account with administrative rights, you can use that instead. You can then log into that new account.

Next, in order to actually encrypt the home folder, you’ll need to run

sudo ecryptfs-migrate-home –u “username”

where “username” is the username of the user’s home folder that you want to encrypt.

Once that is done, you’ll need to log back into the original user’s account and complete the encryption process by following the instructions presented to you to add a password to the newly encrypted folder. If that doesn’t appear, you can type into your terminal

ecryptfs-add-passphrase

to add one yourself. Once that completes, you can delete the temporary account you created, and reboot your system. Your home folder should now be encrypted and safe from anyone who doesn’t know your password!

If you really want to test it out, you can always grab a Live CD and see if you can surf around inside the home folder. Usually you can’t because of file permissions, but it’s always still possible to change the permissions with a Live CD as long as it’s not encrypted. If it’s not possible to do even that, then I’d say that the successful encryption has been confirmed.

Conclusion

Encryption is actually much more important than a lot of people believe. It’s great that such tools exist for Linux, as well as other operating systems with tools such as TrueCrypt. Hopefully they can be adopted by more people as they don’t bring any noticeable performance issues.

What do you think of encryption? Is it necessary or not? How do you do it? Let us know in the comments!