Working with other OS part 2: clean up and optimization

Hello again. Now that you've installed your second OS there are a few things you're going to need to take care of, namely setting the windows settings back to normal if you haven't already. I will briefly describe this process. I'll also give a few tips on how to make usage of the storage drive more intuitive and then I'll briefly introduce Ubuntu.

Note that you click pictures to enlarge them.

Step 1: Set windows back to normal

Now that you've happily installed Ubuntu its time to go back to Windows and put it back to normal.

Go to Control panel - Systems and Security - Systems - Advanced settings - advanced tab - performance - settings - change - set to System Managed Size.

Then go from the advanced tab to startup and recovery setting, then change none to 'kernal memory dump'. Restart later.
Go to the start menu - search 'cmd', right click cmd and choose run as administrator, type in this command 'poweroff crg.exe -h on This will re-enable hibernation, so the computer saves data when it is shut.

*This picture is for reference, simply type the same thing except with 'on.'

Go to computer - right click 'properties' - system protection - configure - only restore previous versions of files - then set the max usage to 4%

Alright, windows will be back to normal now. So now that we've gotten that out the way we can move on to a few other suggestions.

Step 2: Optimizing system use

Now the windows have been squeezed into a smaller amount of space it can no longer place files and processes wherever it feels on the hardrive, sadly that doesn't stop file fragmentation. You could run Glary once a week or you can set it to defrag on boot.

On Glary Utilities, click the 'Advanced tools' on the top bar then click boot defragment. I chose this since I don't shut down my computer often. This defragment only takes a few seconds and can help keep files defragmented. It should be noted that Glary also has a version for Linux, so you can defrag from there as well.

Boot defragment looks like the above photo. It's extremely fast, so it won't make boot time any slower. You will still have to defrag the normal way from time to time, but this should help keep files in line for the most part.

Next You'll want to change the destination of the local files to storage

In your storage drive, make a Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos folder. It is here you will place all of your personal files. Go to your old documents files, click 'includes' and change the location to the one in storage, do this for each file.

Intuitively, when you save files online you save them to your local library folders, not to a separate drive. By making the location of your local library files the files in your drive it removes the hassle of navigating from them.

Step 3: Basic Ubuntu

Ubuntu 12.04 functions similarly to windows 7. In reality it is much different.

1. Comes with bundled software, namely like Libre office 3.

2. When a screen print is taken, Ubuntu takes a snapshot then asks you where you want to save.

3. Programs can be downloaded from websites via the terminal (windows equivalent = command prompt)

EX. sudo apt-get install gparted (This downloads gparted, which may not be included in your install of Ubuntu - it wasn't on mine, you may want gparted for future reference, you never know.)

Heres an example of this, here I downloaded the vlc free media player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ubuntu.html

4. Like Windows, Linux has a software center where updates/ games and various other software can be accessed.

5. When pressing the windows button the whole screen is covered. This menu (which can also be accessed by clicking the icon the top left corner of the screen) shows recent files and allows users to search for files.

Usage wise, its pretty similar to windows, except I've found it runs a bit faster (personal experience?) It you want to get into the deep nitty gritty aspects of ubuntu, you'll have to join a forum. Like this one: http://ubuntuforums.org/index.php?s=ca3b6a8a2d05416e4aeff54b957f75c5

Also, in the case you ever start up your computer and get a 'error, this partition does not exist grub rescue>' You may want to boot up Ubuntu using your live drive to check to see if it is still in its original location.  A little while I back accidentally clicked 'windows recovery mode' at boot. Next thing I knew it asked me to do a 'grub rescue' I had no idea what to do and when I checked my partitions, the Ubuntu partition was gone. I consulted this page:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052

I checked gparted with my live USB to find ubuntu gone and the partition where it was, was just empty space. Since a dual booted computer no longer uses BIOS, in favor of grub2. The system could not start...at all. However, I resolved the problem within a hour or so. 

So that's about it for this post. I hope this information proves helpful to any of you.