On a fresh install of mint linux your default web browser is firefox and your default search provider is google, but when you do searches you get a strangely formatted Google result page that is ad ridden, and all around ugly. Luckily this problem is very easy to fix. The default homepage uses this search so you should change your homepage to the regular google or to wherever else you like. To change your homepage click edit on your top bar, go to preferences, then type a new homepage url. To fix the Google search box on your navigation bar go to this page and click the green "add to firefox" button. A dialog box should pop up. Check the box that says "start using right away" and click add. Your searches will now be back to normal.

I've been all Ubuntu on you laptop for a long time and successfully found ways out of using almost all windows only programs for a while now. Sadly, at the end of things there are just a somethings you just can't use linux for, like tethering iPhones and iTunes. Smaller rarely used programs just don't have alternatives and some hardware like the iPhone will only work with windows and OSX. However, I'm in no way giving up on Ubuntu so I broke down and decided to dual boot. The first thing I would suggest when dual booting is installing windows first and Ubuntu second because windows doesn't always play nicely with others and I much prefer GRUB boot-loader to the windows one. When installing windows I completely deleted all pre-existing partitions (after backing up everything important of course), and created a new partition for windows around 30GB to leave room for the OS, some apps, and anything else I may have to add in the future. When I installed Ubuntu I formatted a EXT3 partition for it around the same size and used the Ubuntu disc utility to format the rest of the drive FAT32. The FAT drive can be shared by ...

I just updated to ubuntu 10.04 and noticed it was looking a little more mac-like than usual. It took me a minute to  put my finger on exactly what was different, but it was already causing me a lot of frustration. The close, minimize, and maximize button had been moved to the left side of the window, and for someone who has never used an OS that did not have those buttons on the right side, it was a big change. Every six months Ubuntu releases a new version and once a year they make a LTS upgrade which are the major ones. The move to the left side is supposedly in preparation for something new that will be added to the right side of the bar. What exactly will be added is not sure and open to debate. What I don't understand is why couldn't whatever is being added to the right side just of been added to the left side without the need for someone to relearn using their computer. After a while I'm sure you can get used to it but for someone who used a work computer with windows daily will have to think about what to do. The change ...