Rid yourself of Unity in Ubuntu 12.04

While setting up an Ubuntu installation recently I wanted to get rid of Unity. I stumbled accross this great guide! Thanks to Linux Tech Crunch for the tutorial (original found here: http://linux-software-news-tutorials.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/totally-remove-unity-from-ubuntu-1204.html), I have reproduced it here. I have not confirmed if this works on any other version of ubuntu but I know it works on 12.04:

1) First we need to install gnome-shell, synaptic package manager, and a tool that will allow us to clean up unity. During installation you will be asked to set the default logon manager, select "gdm". When finished reboot.

sudo apt-get install gdm gnome-shell synaptic deborphan

2) Next we need to remove all of the packages associated with Unity:

sudo apt-get remove unity unity-2d unity-2d-common unity-2d-panel unity-2d-shell unity-2d-spread unity-asset-pool unity-common unity-lens-applications unity-lens-files unity-lens-music unity-lens-video unity-scope-musicstores unity-scope-video-remote unity-services indicator-messages indicator-status-provider-mc5 appmenu-qt appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 lightdm unity-greeter overlay-scrollbar zeitgeist zeitgeist-core zeitgeist-datahub activity-log-manager-common activity-log-manager-control-center

Then type

sudo apt-get autoremove

Now we need to remove all of the "orphan" packaages:

sudo apt-get purge `deborphan`

Repeat the last command several times to ensure that all packages are remove. Just go until it doesn't find anything else to remove. You might need to run sudo apt-get autoremove again just for good measure.

Finally, we elminate the config files:

sudo dpkg --purge `dpkg -l | egrep "^rc" | cut -d' ' -f3`

Reboot and you now have a Unity free Ubuntu 12.04!

My favorite browser plugins

Many of you are simple people, and you don't like to be bogged down by a lot of clutter when using your web browser. Well, I am exactly the same way. I would like to share with you my favorite web browser add-ons and why I use them.

Adblock Plus:  https://adblockplus.org/

Adblock Plus is definitely the first add-on I install when I start using a clean browser. Adblock Plus blocks all of those annoying ads on websites. In my experience it has also blocked the ads that YouTube has started to put on their videos, you don't even have to wait for a "black screen" it just skips the ad altogether. They have strict rules about what Ads can be white listed and they claim that a company can never buy their way onto the white list. Pretty cool. I personally hate seeing ads on websites and many of them now include noise and that can get very annoying when you have many tabs open and you don't know which one is producing sound. Adblock Plus is a must install for anyone wanting to streamline their browsing experience. Adblock Plus is available for Firefox, Chrome, Android, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Safari.

Lastpass Premium: https://lastpass.com/

My next favorite add-on is really just a convenience one. I am a huge supporter of long unique hard to remember (and guess) passwords. But since all of my passwords are hard to remember, how do I remember them all without writing them down for anyone to find? That's where LastPass comes in. LastPass is a browser add-on that conveniently remembers all of your passwords for you and will automatically enter them whenever you go to a site which you have a saved password for. LastPass also has a password generator where you can securely generate a password that meets all the complexity requirements that you want and/or the website allows. All passwords are store in the "cloud" but they are encrypted with a master password (which you must remember on your own). Whenever you want to access your database of passwords, LastPass will download an encrypted copy and then decrypt your passwords locally on your machine. This means that your master password is NEVER transmitted over the internet and nobody, not even LastPass can recover a lost or forgotten master password. LastPass is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows phone. In order to use Lastpass on your phone you must pay a small subscription fee of $12/year, which in my opinion is well worth it.

NoScript: https://noscript.net

For the serious security conscious computer use NoScript is highly recommended. It does take a bit of getting used to as it will inadvertently block content on websites that makes the website useless, thanks to web developers relying way to much on javascript to create their website. NoScript block all JavaScript, Java, Flash, and other plugins and lets you build your own white list of websites that you want to allow to run scripts. This plugin is essential for preventing common web based exploit techniques such as XSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting). The new version appears to come with a default whitelist of well known good sites and it seems to make initial install of the add-on much more useable and friendly. Currently NoScript is only available for Mozzila based browsers such as Firefox but there are other add-ons, like ScriptSafe that are available for Chrome.

Disconnect: https://disconnect.me

Unlike all the add-ons listed above disconnect is the only completely passive add-on that I use. I only use the free version which blocks all trackers. Any website that attempts to collect personal information from your web browser, like advertising, analytics, or social information will be blocked by Disconnect. This is one more step in making your online browsing private. I personally don't like big companies collecting and storing all of that data about how I use the internet so I use disconnect to keep that information private. Disconnect is available on all major browsers and OSX, Windows, Androis, and iOS.

These five browsers do not bog down your browser but in my opinion make my web browsing experience safer and private.