This tutorial doesn't include any figures about the process. I expect, that you can survive without.

This tutorial requires that you have permissions for using gksu and sudo (admin or root).

Getting updates using Update Manager

1. Find the ”System” menu. It's next to orange-blue Firefox icon at the upper left corner.
2. Click the ”System” menu.

Menu appears and you will see it.

1. Find the ”Administration” menu and move your cursor on it
2. Find the ”Update Manager” icon. Click it.

You wait a little while, depending the performance of your computer.

• Click ”Check” button in the window you got

You wait a while, when the ”Update Manager” downloads the update list for you. This time depends on the speed of your Internet connection. You have to be connected to the Internet to get updates.

• Click ”Install Updates” to install updates

You wait a while, when the ”Update Manager” downloads all the updates. After that it installs them. It might ask you questions depending the packages your updating. You can watch the indicator and see, how the update process goes. After the update, it will close the installation process window and show the same ”Update Manager” window again. Click ”Close” to close the ”Update Manager”.

Getting updates using APT

This way is not the easiest, but can be fastest when you learn it.

• Find the ”Applications” menu. This menu is the first menu in the upper left corner. Click the menu.

Menu will appear.

• Move your cursor on the ”Accessories” menu

A new menu will appear.

• Click the ”Terminal” icon

Terminal window will be opened. This window can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're using. I'm not responsible if something happens.

• Write ”sudo apt-get update” string to the Terminal and hit enter

Let's analyze this command. The first word called ”sudo” means that you're wanting to run this command as the root (=the admin). It's an acronym from ”superuser do”.

The next word called ”apt-get” means the program that provides an easy command line interface for managing packages.

The last word, ”update” means that you are updating your package list for downloading updates for your system.

• Insert your password and hit enter

Password is required to do different kind of operations as root.

It will start downloading updates. You may see the percentage of the part of the download process done. It might vary during the download process. After it ends and you will see the $ mark at the last row you can continue.

Be sure, you're connected to the Internet. This and the next step requires the Internet connection.

• Write ”sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” and hit enter

This command will download you all these updates. It might ask you to confirm that you want to download these update. Confirmation can be done by hitting the Y-button. After download process it will install these updates. The time it takes depends on the amount of updates, the speed of your Internet connection and the performance of your computer.

It might ask you question and you can navigate in the settings forms using TAB button (next to Caps Lock and Q buttons).

When you see the $ mark at the end of the last line, you may close the Terminal. Update process has been completed.

In Order of Importance:

1. Mozilla Firefox - Regarded by most to be the best web browser, fast with lots of available add-ons
2. 7-Zip - Free file compressor/decompressor, supports most formats out there
3. Sun Java - Better alternative to Microsoft Java (you will need this)
4. Adobe Acrobat Reader - Necessary to read PDF files (you will need this)
5. CCleaner - Small, fast app that helps you remove all the accumulated clutter on your system, also has a registry fixer
6. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack - Installs all the codecs you need to view any video file. NOTE: you need to remove all previous codec packs (if you have any) before using this or they will conflict
7. Trillian Instant Messenger - Combines AIM, MSN, Yahoo IM, and many other chat programs into one program
8. Winamp -  Simple music player compatible with most formats
9. Metapad - Replacement for notepad with no filesize limit. After you download it, unzip it using 7-Zip and rename it as "notepad.exe" and place it in your windows folder to replace notepad.

Erase the Program Completely

It is easy to use "Add/ Remove Programs" to delete some installed programs in the computer. However, it does not help you to remove the registry and fix missing files and entries of the programs, which may also affect the speed of your computer. This is because your computer needs time to look for them. This will definitely cause your computer to become slow. You can use a trust computer booster/ optimizer program to clear out these files in order to stop the computer from wasting time looking for them. "Nortonuninstall", a product developed by Symantec, is good to get this job done. However, this product has been banned from use as it was claimed to destruct some copyrighted software. Due to this issue, Symantec has come out with a new product, Cleansweep, which has a similar function. If you are unable to get this software, you may use some other trusted software with a similar function. Make sure you clean the registry and other unwanted files once a week to keep your computer running smoothly. The more you run this, the more it will fix the errors and problems which will secure good performance of your computer. From this explanation, you will understand that you do not always have to spend money buying RAM because it will not have the function of cleaning these unwanted files.

Check Your Application Software

Some installed programs can make your computer run very slow. In order to check whether these are the reasons that your computer is becoming slow, run Windows in "Safe Mode". Of course, "Safe Mode" should operate slower than when you run in "Normal Mode". Nevertheless, if you realize that your computer runs in "Safe Mode " faster than when you run in "Normal Mode", then the start-up procedures are possible likely reasons for your computer running slow.

Reduce Icons on Your Desktop

If there are too many icons on your desktop, the speed of your computer can also become very slow. This is because the system needs to launch these icons individually while loading them onto the desktop. Similarly, if there is an anti-virus software icon, it will always start by scanning these, which will further reduce the speed of your computer. Try placing as few icons as possible on your desktop. It is recommended to place any other icons in another folder or to simply delete them altogether from your desktop.

Reduce the Storage of Fonts

Though Microsoft Window Operating System enables you to install from between 1000 to 1500 fonts, you will probably face problems once you install more than 500 fonts. Some of the common problems include installed fonts disappearing suddenly and at the same time causing the Windows start-up performance to drop sharply. It is always better to only keep the fonts you want while deleting all unnecessary fonts that may reduce the speed of your computer. To delete the unwanted fonts, you should take note to perform it with care so that you will not delete certain fonts that are required by Windows. Those fonts include Verdana, Arial, Trebuchet, Tahoma, Times New Roman, MS Sans Serif, and Courier New and they should not be touched on your system. To delete any other fonts, go to My Computer and then to your local disk C, double clicking on a window folder, and then double clicking on the font's folder. Highlight the fonts you want to remove, then right click your mouse to select Delete.

Eliminate Background Setting

Are you aware that the beautiful background that you chose for your desktop is indeed a waste of resources? Not only that, but also it reduces the speed of your computer considerably. Therefore, you should disable this setting by right-clicking the cursor on the desktop. You will see a dialog box of the "background"; choose "no" when its window appears. In the "appearance" box, change the dark green color to black or any plain color.

To Accelerate the Operating System

Windows XP

1. Perform a disk clean up from time to time. Click Start which appears in the bottom left corner of your computer. Next, click Run. In the dialog box of Run, type in "cleaning.exe" and then press OK. This will take you between a few minutes to a few hours depending on how frequent you do a disk cleanup task, but it is definitely recommended.
   
   
   
   
2. To load Windows faster, click Start, and then Run. Next, you should type "msconfig" in the text field and press Enter. Click on the BOOT.INI tab at the top. You will see a box labeled Timeout with 30 over to the right. Change the 30 to 3.
   
   
3. To speed up the processing time, simply go to Start, Control Panel and System. Next, click on the Advanced tab and click the setting button under the performance. Now, select the "Adjust for best performance" button, then click Apply and lastly the OK button.
   
   
4. Go to Start, then click Control Panel. Next, click Add/ Remove programs. Browse through the software and highlight the unwanted software to perform a task by clicking "remove".
   
   
5. Download a free copy of AVG's Anti-Virus and Windows Defender to perform the task of removing spyware and viruses. Always update and run your spyware and virus software weekly.
   
   
6. Remember to disable any unwanted programs which will prevent Windows from loading faster. To do this, click on Control Panel, then open Administrative Tools, and select Services. If you are not sure which to disable, consult your dealer for further information.
   
   
   
   
7. Always perform the defragment task to improve load speeds. To do this, go to Start, and then click Run. In the Run dialog box, type in "dfrg.msc" carefully in its text field. Lastly, click Defragment to start performing the task.
   
   
   
   
8. Convert the hard drive from FAT16 or FAT32 into NTFS to enable faster access time. To perform this operation, go to Start, and then Run. In the Run dialog box, type in "cmd" and then press OK. When the command prompt window opens, type "CONVERT C:/FS:NTFS"(do not include quotes). Then, you follow the instructions to get your drive to convert into NTFS. NTFS drives are only compatible with Windows 2000/NT/XP and Vista.
   
   
9. To speed up the loading of the menus, simply go to Start and click on Run. Next, type in "regedit" (without quotes) and hit enter. Search for "HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop", choose MenuShowDelay and right-click on it. Next, select Modify to reduce the number to 100 but not too less than that.
   

Windows Vista

1. Perform disk clean up and defragment your hard drive routinely.
   
   
2. Do not open too many programs at the same time as this will decrease the loading speed.
   
   
3. Use built-in tools such as Task Manager and the Reliability and Performance Monitor to examine which processes utilize more RAM and CPU.
   
   
4. Delete any programs you never want to use in order to free up space on your hard disk. To do this, go to Start button, and then click on Control Panel. Next, click on Programs and then click on Programs and Features. Select the program you wish to remove by clicking Uninstall.
   
   
5. Make sure you always choose as few as possible programs to load at start-up as possible.
   
   
   
   
6. Some programs may be loaded automatically at start-up. You should find them and disable them using the Windows Defender. To do this, go to the Start button, click on Control Panel and then click on Windows Defender. Next, click on Tools, and then click Software Explorer. Click Startup Programs that appears in the Category box. Highlight the program you wish to stop from running by clicking Disable. Last, click Yes to confirm this task.
   
   
   
   
7. Boost your computer by upgrading its RAM to 2GB or more.
   
   
8. Restart your PC regularly at least once a week to clear out its memory for a better performance. The longer you keep your PC running, the lower its memory will be. So, try to restart your PC after opening many programs, e-mail messages or websites.
   
   
9. Cut down on the visual effects which may cause your PC to run extremely slow. To adjust the visual effects, go to the Start button, click on Control Panel, and then System and Maintenance. Next, click on Performance Information and Tools. This is followed by clicking Adjust Visual Effects. You should type in your password if you are prompted to do so. In the tab of Visual effects, check the box of "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.
   
   
   

With Mondrian, all you have to do is describe what do you want to see and how and it will make the hard work for you.

Mondrian is an open source OLAP server which was developed by Pentaho and is free to use. All you need to do is download and install, learn how to use it and start rocking. The only problem is that installing Mondrian is a very, very unintuitive, frustrating task that is not well documented. You need to be very stubborn to succeed. The installation guide that Pentao provides does not reveal the whole picture and I had to hunt for information all over the web until I slowly managed to install it, hence I wrote this guide to shed some light on the task.

Two things before we start:

• I assume that you have already installed and are using mysql (otherwise why would you need OLAP for?) but in case you haven't, download and install Mysql
• I use Linux so i will write my examples for Linux.

OK, Lets start:

1. Mondrian was written in Java. If you don't have Java, download JDK and install it.

   I have downloaded the RPM file. The command is : rpm -ivh rpm-file-name

2. Download Tomcat and Install tomcat.

   I have downloaded the tar.gz file. the command is: tar -xzvf tar.gz-file

3. Move Tomcat under /usr/local/tomcat
4. Go to /usr/local/tomcat/bin. There you can find the files for activating and deactivating tomcat:
   • ./startup.sh - activates
   • ./shutdown.sh - dactivates

   Run the ./startup.sh to activate tomcat.

5. Download Mysql JDBC driver and unzip it.
6. Verify that so far all installations were successful
   • Test java : java - version
   • Test mysql : mysql -V
   • Test tomcat : If the ./startup.sh command went well you can go to the browser and type http://localhost:8080 and you will be able to see the tomcat welcome page which look like this :

7. Download the last version of Mondrian and unzip it to /usr/local/mondrian. The result will be a new directory containing all Mondrian files. the name of directory will be mondrian-x.y.z.

8. Create mondrian directory under /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/ and move mondrian.war to there.

   The result will look like this : /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/mondrian.war

9. Explode mondrian.war

   command : jar -xvf mondrian.war

10. Move the JDBC connector jar file mysql-connector-java-[ver]-bin.jar under /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib

11. The next step will be to create the FoodMart mysql database for the example application.

    use this commands:

    • shell> mysql
    • mysql> create database foodmart;
    • mysql> create user "foodmart"@'yourhost' identified by "foodmart";
    • mysql> grant all privileges on *.* to "foodmart"@'yourhost' identified by "foodmart";

12. Now, run the FoodMartLoader application to load the Foodmart database with data. It is important to pass the full path to all jar files and remove all spaces from the class path. Otherwise it fails for ClassNotFound or all kind of other errors.

    command should look like this:

    java -cp "/usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/mondrian.jar: /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/log4j-1.2.9.jar: /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/eigenbase-xom.jar: /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/eigenbase-resgen.jar: /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/eigenbase-properties.jar: /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.5-bin.jar" mondrian.test.loader.MondrianFoodMartLoader -verbose -tables -data -indexes -jdbcDrivers=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver -inputFile=/usr/local/mondrian/demo/FoodMartCreateData.sql -outputJdbcURL="jdbc:mysql://localhost/foodmart?user=foodmart&password=foodmart"

13. Copy xalan.jar to tomcat/common/endorsed.

    command : cp /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/lib/xalan.jar /usr/local/tomcat/common/endorsed

14. Go to /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF and modify web.xml and datasources.xml files as appropriate. The driver value should be : JdbcDrivers=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
15. Go to /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/mondrian/WEB-INF/queries and modify all query files connect strings as appropriate.
16. export CATALINA_OPTS='-Djava.awt.headless=true' or add to your shell profile, this stops tomcat dying when X-windows is not found.

Congratulations. Now you are ready to run mondrian. Point your browser to : http://localhost:8080/mondrian and you will get this screen:

I hope that this guide will make life easier for you. I also want to give credit to this blog which helped me a lot.

Here are some useful links which can help you start learning this world:

• MDX
• Writing a schema

Good luck and enjoy the Mondrian magic.

If you installed a new hardware, for example a webcam, the system will recognized that there is a new device attached to it. The system will looked to its own driver database to check whether it can use the hardware that you put in straight away. This process is called plug and play. If the system has no driver for your new hardware it will ask you to provide it. That is why when you buy a new hardware there is always a CD enclosed in the box where your driver is contained.

There are loads of frequently questions about the driver. Here are the top 5 famous and quite important that managed to get to my list.

Why do I need to update a driver?

We need to check if there is an update for our existing driver every not and then and not only if it is causing problem.

The reasons are:

• The updated driver might solve the known problems (bugs) of your old driver.
• The update could increase the stability, performance or in some cases security of the hardware and the effect is improvement of your system.
• To make it compatible to your new operating system. If you upgrade your system to Windows Vista from Windows XP, you also need to update your drivers so that it will be compatible to your new system; otherwise it might not work or cause problems.

What shall I do if I installed a wrong driver?

• It could happen and quite easily done, but don't panic. You can always roll back to your old and working driver.

Go to device manager, find your hardware, double click and go to the driver's tab. There you can check the drivers details, update your driver, roll back to previous driver or uninstall the driver.

What if I have lost my driver CD?

• If you have lost your driver CD it could be a blessing in disguise, why? Because now you will have the opportunity to get the latest driver for your hardware.

Go to the manufacturer's website and find the support/drivers/download page. It depends how the manufacturers they call it. There you need to find your device and the model. You just need to be careful that you pick the right model and version of the driver.

On the same page where you downloaded the driver or sometimes included on the download itself is an instruction or a help file how you install the driver. If not, just finish the download, put your hardware, if it is not yet connected, let the system detect your hardware and if it is asking for the driver direct the system to your newly downloaded file (note that some of them need to be extracted first because it is in a compressed file.) and let the system install your downloaded file. If you have a wrong version, normally it will prompt you and not continue the installation and then you may repeat the whole process again.

How can I find the right driver for my hardware?

• I am not going to say that it's dead easy because sometimes it is not. This is where the internet is very useful. You need to find out who is the manufacturer of your device and the model. For example you looking for a driver for your video card. You need to know the Manufacturers name (e.g. ATI, Nvidia, etc) and then the model of the card (e. g.ATI 9550, Nvidia FX 5500), then go to their website and download the driver compatible to your operating system (Windows 9x, XP, Vista, etc.)

Why do I need to use the manufacturer's driver even if the windows recognized the hardware?

• The reason is to maximize the full potential of your device and to have more control. If you installed a new soundcard and Windows provided its generic drivers it may or may not work. If it works, your device is more likely working as a generic device.

What is on your CD Driver enclosed is the best compatible driver when the device was made. Also in most cases the manufacturers also provide additional software to test and tweak your device.

So remember, Driver is a program so that your hardware can be recognized by your computer.

You need an Apache web server for this installation since Bweb runs in a web interface. Any web server should do, but this how to is targeted towards apache.

1. First, we need to install the necessary perl modules. In Gentoo you emerge:
   
   emerge dev-perl/GD-Graph3d dev-perl/DBI dev-perl/DBD-mysql
   dev-perl/HTML-Template dev-perl/Expect dev-perl/Time-modules.
   


2. Then, download and unpack the bacula-gui source:
   
   wget http://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/bacula/bacula-gui-2.0.3.tar.gz tar xzvf bacula-gui-2.0.3.tar.gz
   


3. Now install Bweb from the source code:
   
   cd bacula-gui-2.0.3/bweb/
   perl Makefile.PL
   make install
   mkdir -m 755 /path/to/cgi-bin/bweb
   install -m 755 -o root -g root bweb/cgi/*.pl /path/to/cgi-bin/bweb
   mkdir -m 755 /etc/bacula
   chown root:bacula /etc/bacula
   echo '$VAR1 = { template_dir => "/usr/share/bweb/tpl" };'
   > /etc/bacula/bweb.conf
   chown www-data /etc/bacula/bweb.conf
   mkdir -p /usr/share/bweb/tpl
   install -m 644 -o root -g root bweb/tpl/*.tpl /usr/share/bweb/tpl
   mkdir /path/to/htdocs/bweb
   install -m 644 -o root -g root bweb/html/*.{js,png,css,gif,ico,html} /path/to/htdocs/bweb
   
   Note: the best way to test if we have all the dependencies fullfilled for Perl is to: cd /path/to/cgi-bin/bweb ./bweb.pl Should produce output similar to HTML code.)
   
   
4. Add a catalog line to our bacula-dir.conf, which will redirect messages to bweb for interpretation. Under the messages directive, type:
   catalog = all, !skipped, !saved.
   


5. Restart bacula:
   /etc/init.d/bacula restart
   


6. Ensure that the binary bconsole file can be executed by our web server :
   which bconsole | xargs chmod 755
   


7. Ensure the configuration files in /etc/bacula/ can are writable by our webserver (apache):
   chown :apache /etc/bacula/*.conf
   chmod 664 /etc/bacula/*.conf
   


8. Finally, we need to set up the initial configuration: Visit our new bweb URL - http://server/bweb. Browse to 'Configuration' and enter the following details:
   
   DBI DBI:mysql:database=bacula
   User username
   Password password
   Email email@address.com
   Graph_font /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera/Vera.ttf
   Template /usr/share/bweb/tpl
   fv_write_path
   Stat_Job Job
   Bconsole /usr/sbin/bconsole -n -c /etc/bacula/bconsole.conf
   
   
9. click "Save"

Done. You should now have a detailed and interactive GUI to your bacula installation. Email the bacula user mailing list for any help .