3 Ways to Access Your Linux Partitions From Windows

If you’re dual-booting Windows and Linux, you’ll probably want to access files on your Linux system from Windows at some point. Linux has built-in support for Windows NTFS partitions, but Windows can’t read Linux partitions without third-party software.

This list is focused on applications that support the Ext4 file system, which most new Linux distributions use by default. These applications all support Ext2 and Ext3, too – and one of them even supports ReiserFS.

Ext2Fsd

Ext2Fsd is a Windows file system driver for the Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems. It allows Windows to read Linux file systems natively, providing access to the file system via a drive letter that any program can access.
You can have Ext2Fsd launch at every boot or only open it when you need it. While you can theoretically enable support for writing to Linux partitions, I haven’t tested this. I’d be worried about this option, myself – a lot can go wrong. Read-only support is fine, though, and doesn’t have a risk of messing
anything up.

The Ext2 Volume Manager application allows you to define mount points for your Linux partitions and change Ext2Fsd’s settings.

If you didn’t set Ext2Fsd to autostart at boot, you’ll have to go into Tools –> Service Management and start the Ext2Fsd service before you can access your Linux files. By default, the driver automatically mounts and assigns drive letters to your Linux partitions, so you don’t have to do anything extra.

You’ll find your Linux partitions mounted at their own drive letters in Windows Explorer. You can access the files on them from any application, without the hassle of copying files to your Windows partition before accessing them.

This partition’s file system as actually EXT4, but Ext2Fsd can read it fine, anyway. If you’re looking for your personal files, you’ll find them in your /home/NAME directory.

 

 

DiskInternals Linux Reader

Linux Reader is a freeware application from DiskInternals, developers of data recovery software. In addition to the Ext file systems, Linux Reader also supports ReiserFS and Apple’s HFS and HFS+ file systems. It’s read-only, so it can’t damage your Linux file system.

Linux Reader doesn’t provide access via a drive letter – it’s a separate application you launch to browse your Linux partitions.

Linux Reader shows previews of your files, making it easy to find the right one.

If you want to work with a file in Windows, you’ll have to save the file from your Linux partition to your Windows file system with the Save option. You can also save entire directories of files.

 

Ext2explore

It’s an open-source application that works similarly to DiskInternals Linux Reader — but only for Ext4, Ext3, and Ext2 partitions. It also lacks file previews, but it has one advantage: it doesn’t have to be installed; you can just download the .exe and run it.

The Ext2explore.exe program must be run as administrator or you’ll get an error – you can do this from the right-click menu.

To save some time in the future, go into the file’s properties window and enable the “Run this program as an administrator” option on the Compatibility tab.

As with Linux Reader, you’ll have to save a file or directory to your Windows system before you can open it in other programs.

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3 Easy Ways to Connect to Windows Shared Folders from Linux

Connecting to file servers is something most people do on a daily basis even without thinking about it. In Linux, it may not be intuitive how to quickly connect to a samba or ftp server without a separate program. Here are a few different ways to connect to a remote file server without needing to touch a terminal.

Using Keyboard Shortcut

You can connect to a server by opening the run application window with the Alt+F2 keyboard shortcut. You will just need to specify the server type by adding the protocol at the beginning of the command. For example smb:// will connect to a samba share; other supported protocols are ssh, ftp, sftp, http, and https.

Note: In the example below my server name is playground and the shared folder is called music.

If your server requires a password to connect, fill out the next window that pops up and select how long you would like it to store your password.

A Nautilus window will automatically open with the server you just connected to, and you should have a shortcut under places on the left side and a shortcut on your desktop.

From GNOME Menu

If you are using Ubuntu, and many other GNOME based distributions, you will have a places menu on your top menu bar. Open that menu and click connect to server.

A new window will open up with a drop down so you can select what type of server you are connecting to.

For a samba/cifs server select Windows share and fill out the required information.

Note: Unlike the run application window, you do not need the slashes to connect here.

Alternatively, you can also get to the connect to server window from Nautilus’ file menu.

With a Shortcut

If you would like instant access to the connect to server window from your GNOME menu bar right click on the menu you would like to add the shortcut to and click add to panel.

In the window that pops up, search for “connect” and connect to server should be one of the results. Highlight the shortcut and click add at the bottom of the window.

Now you will have an additional shortcut on your GNOME bar for easy access.

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Connect Your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android Phone to a Wi-Fi Network

Have you ever wanted to connect your phone or mobile device to a Wi-Fi network at home or your favorite coffee shop but aren’t sure how? Today we’ll take a look at how to connect to Wi-Fi on an iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android devices.

iPhone / iPod Touch

Note: We are using version 4.0 of the iPhone OS

Find and select the Settings icon on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Select Wi-Fi from the Settings menu.

If your Wi-Fi setting currently set to Off, tap it to toggle On the Wi-Fi access.

Once your Wi-Fi is enabled you should see available networks appear below. Encrypted networks will show a padlock to the right of the name while “open” networks will not. Tap to select the network to join.

If you choose a network that requires a password, you’ll be prompted to enter it. Type in your password and select Join.

When connected, your network SSID will be indicated in blue with a check mark beside it.

To connect to a network with a hidden SSID, select Other.

You’ll need to know the SSID, Security type, and password. Enter that information and select Join.

  

Now you can browse to all your favorite websites and connect to other devices on your Wi-Fi network.

Android

Note: We are using Android 2.1 for our examples.

On your Android device, select the Settings icon.

 

Under Settings, choose Wireless & networks.

Next, select Wi-Fi settings.

If Wi-Fi is not already turned on, tap the check mark by Wi-Fi to turn it on. When Wi-Fi is enabled, available SSID’s will appear below. Encrypted networks will by indicated with a padlock icon. Select the network to which you’d like to connect.

If password protected, type in your password and select Connect.

You should now see that you are connected to the network.

To connect to a Wi-Fi network with a hidden SSID, select Add Wi-Fi network from the settings.

Then manually type in your SSID and password, and select your network security type. Select Save when finished.

 

Now you can browse the web through your Wi-Fi router or connect to other network devices.

 

Conclusion

Whether you want to connect to Wi-Fi to communicate to other devices or just save on your phone’s data usage, it’s pretty easy to do on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android phone.

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iPhone Backup Takes Forever

You might have encountered these tedious backups, which take ages and this is caused due to error that occurs while you update the apps from App store directly on the iPhone rather than installing it on iTunes.  This backup time usually depends on the number of apps you have installed. Moreover, you would not even be aware of the fact that your iPhone is struggling hard during the backup.

So, what do you do when you come across such issues?  Here is a quick fix that can end your backup issues forever.  This will remove the complete data and make your iPhone, a clean slate. So, you will start afresh. Nevertheless, this process could consume much time depending on the number of applications installed.

Procedure

Let us now check the process of putting your iPhone backup right on track:

• First go to iTunes and select the Edit option. Here chose the preferences. Now choose the Syncing option and select “remove all the previous backups”.  You also need to select “Disable automatic syncing for all iPhones”.
  • Now if you are a Mac user, locate the following path: Users/YOURACCOUNT/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
  • And if you are a Windows user, locate the following path: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
• Now that you can see a Folder by name, “Backup”, delete all the files in it.
• Now plug in your iPhone, and in the applications tab, deselect “Sync Apps”.
• Now you can see a message asking that “whether you want to remove the Apps in your iPhone”. Just select Yes and this will remove all the apps on your iPhone.  This procedure will also take the backup and recreate all the files that you have removed earlier.
• This completes your sync process so, now remove any leftover apps, by holding and touching the icon until it wiggles.
• Now, in order to delete the apps, select X. This will delete any remaining apps on the iPhone. Now, sync once again.
• Now disconnect the iPhone and restart it and let it boot up.
• Now connect your iPhone back and start adding the apps one after the other.
• Now select the option “Selected applications” and “Sync applications”. Uncheck all the apps at this stage.
• Now you have to do the backup process one after the other. For this select one App and click on Sync. Make sure your sync is complete and after this, click on “Back up”. This will complete your backup.
• Now repeat the above step for every app you need and make sure keep the earlier apps checked. Do not forget to take backup for every sync. Initial backup can take long time but successive backups don’t consume much time.
• Upon finishing the backups, go to Edit and then select preference and there, select Syncing.  Here you will have to enable the option “Automatic syncing for iPhones”.

So, you are done with the backup and now you have found a solution to fix long backups.

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How To Make Microsoft Word The Default Program

It seems every time I install a new software program, it insists on becoming the default program for opening up files of a certain type. If you’re like me and suddenly have Google Earth opening up Powerpoint presentations or are trying to update your resume through Windows Media Player, take these few steps to change the default program.

The main conflict I had was when I installed OpenOffice so that I could read the proposed changes to our Fantasy Football rules that my friend who didn’t have Word sent over. I literally do 99% of my typing in Microsoft Word and for two years Open Office would automatically start when I clicked a .doc. I couldn’t take it anymore and found out the answer to my problems was actually a pretty easy fix.

Make Microsoft Word The Default Program

1. Go to the start menu in the left-hand corner and when the menu appears, click on Control Panel.

2.  Click on classic view in the left menu. This will show you the icons as shown below.

3.  Double-click on the default programs icon.

4.  There will be four choices, click on the second choice that says associate file type or protocol with a program. See the screen shot below.

5.  Now another window will open with a list of file extensions to choose from.

6.  Scroll down the list until you find the .Doc extension and the .Docx extension for the newest Microsoft word file types.

7.  In the screen shot below I have found that .Doc extension and have made it blue by selecting it.

8.  Once you have selected your file type, press on the change program button at the top right.

9.  Now you can choose which program you want to open that particular file type. If you cannot see the program you want you can click on the are browse button below stop

10.  Browse for your programs .exe file and then press ok.

Here is another way to make Microsoft word the default program when opening a .Doc file:

You can make Microsoft word the default program by manually going and finding the executable file for Microsoft Word. This is the file that starts the program. It will be contained in your C drive, program files, then a Microsoft office folder, then another office folder depending on what version you have.

1.  The first thing you need to do to make Microsoft Word the default program is find any .doc file or .docx for 2007+ on your hard drive.

2.  Right click once on the file and select open with from the menu that drops down. See the screen shot below.

3.  You can choose a program to open that file. If it is not there press on browse to find your program.

2.  Browse through your C: Program files directory until you find the program winword.exe.

3.  I had to go to C drive, program files, Microsoft office, office 12, then I found winword.exe.

4.  Make sure you check the “make this the default program for opening files of this type’ box and your troubles are over…until the next time you install new programs in your hood.

Notes on how to make Microsoft word the default program:

• This is an easy way to stop programs from clashing.
• If you do not solve this problem you will be continually slowed down with your work.

I have shown two ways to make Microsoft word the default program so it should not matter what operating system you have, this should work for you.

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How to Control a Remote Computer Using Only Your Chrome Web Browser

Going remote with friends and family is helpful when you need to show them how to do something or fix a problem. Here’s how you can offer cross platform remote assistance using only Google Chrome and an extension.

In most cases you need to install software or have a special service running in the background. With Chrome Remote Desktop, all you need is your Chrome browser running to be able to take control and share your screen. Here’s how to install and use it.

First you need to install Google Chrome if you don’t already have it. Download and install it from the link below.

Then install the Chrome Remote Desktop Beta extension by going to the link below.

During the installation you will be asked to authorize the app to have access to view your email address, view your remote desktop computers, and view and send chat messages.

After it’s installed, open a new tab in Chrome and click the Chrome Remote Desktop BETA app.

Click share this computer and a 12 digit code will be generated for you.

This is a one time code that someone can use to access your computer.

From the other computer, click access a shared computer and type in the first code (spaces are not necessary).

Give it a little bit and the tab will change to the other computers desktop. While in this mode, the computer being shared can either push the disconnect button, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, or close the Google Chrome tab to end the session.

If you have trouble connecting to the remote computer or it hangs when saying verifying access code, try allowing ports 443 and 5222 to have inbound and outbound rules in your windows firewall using both UDP and TCP.

If you need further help check out Google’s help page on the extension below.

Google Chrome Download

Chrome Remote Desktop Beta

Chrome Remote Desktop Beta help page

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