Ubuntu 8.10: Using kalarm in gnome

I like kalarm because it is a simple way to set reminders for things that in other way you could forget :-)

I usually use it in gnome just installing it with:
apt-get install kalarm
this brings all the additional dependencies automatically and then I add it manually to system -> preferences -> sessions -> start programs.

It always worked fine but in Ubuntu 8.10 I discovered that it was using a wrong time zone. When I tried to change it in the settings part I saw that the only option available was UTC. To get the rest of the time zones in the list I had to install korganizer, open it, close kalarm and open kalarm again. After that I could select the right time zone.

VMWare 6.5.1 Linux: Keyboard problems

I have installed the new version of VMWare (6.5.1) in Ubuntu 8.10.

The first thing I needed when starting my existing virtual machines was to upgrade the vmware tools.

Then I realized that the keyboard was not working properly in my WinXP virtual machine, when I pressed the cursor keys, altgr or page up/down there was a strange behavior. It seems that the solution to this issue is just to add the following lines at the end of the /etc/vmware/config file:

xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock

After that the keyboard is working fine in the WinXP virtual machine.

Best Firewall + Antivirus solution for Windows XP

Yesterday, after discovering that Kaspersky Internet Security 6 updates are not supported anymore I decided to review what would be the best antivirus+firewall solution available.

After some research I found these two pages, the first one shows a comparison of different antivirus solutions and the second one of firewall solutions:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2008_11.php
http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php

So the final solution will be Comodo Internet Security for the firewall and Nod32 for the antivirus. The first is completely free.

In the past I have already tried both and I like Nod32. About Comodo I tried it after Sygate Personal Firewall was discontinued (what a shame!) as well as Outpost and at that time I would say Outpost was a better solution.

Let's see how the Comodo+Nod32 solutions performs.

Registry Cleaners

After reading the langa letter about the Registry Cleaners I have decided to try one in my Windows XP installation at home. I downloaded jv16 Power Tools 2005 and run it in my computer and know what ... It found 854 errors! Of them 271 high, 112 medium, 2 low and 469 lowest. I removed them and I will let you know in a few days if this improves my Windows experience.

Firefox extensions

This is a listing of my prefered firefox extensions:
- NoScript
- Tab Clicking Options (allows to associate actions to events related with tabs)
- Add Bookmark Here
- Gmail Notifier
- FasterFox
- Forecastfox
- StumbleUpon
- Sage
- Adblock Plus
- Adblock Filterset.G Updater
- SessionSaver
- Suppress Homepage
- FlashGot
- Linkification
- DictionarySearch
- Diggler (adds a button to clear the location bar)