We have come a long way since the days of floppy disks when it comes with external storage. These days you are more than likely to use a USB flash drive as your primary portable storage solution.

 

Also known as pen or thumb drives, USB flash devices are compact, easy-to-use, and seemingly universal storage devices. You can stick them into any computer to view their contents. However, if you store sensitive data on your flash drive, you should considering using password protection on the data or the device to prevent unauthorized access.

 

You can encrypt and protect your data on the flash drive with encryption software or you can get a special encrypted drive with the encryption tools embedded right into the drive.

 

If you only have a generic drive and do not want to buy a new flash drive right away, you can choose the first option. There are several encryption programs out there, and most flash drives sold in the last ten years come with their preferred solution already on them. You just have to install it. Though for this blog post, we will use the open source TrueCrypt disk encryption software.

 

Requirements

 

You will need the following items to install the encryption software and to protect your flash drive data.

 

  • A computer with the Windows® operating system

  • A working USB port

  • Administrative rights on the PC

  • A copy of TrueCrypt installer. (Download the recent version of TrueCrypt here.)

 

Getting Started

 

1. Locate the downloaded TrueCrypt executable file, and double click on it to begin the installation.

 

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2. Review the license agreement and click the ‘Next’ button.

 

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3. Select ‘Extract’and click the ‘Next’ button.

 

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4. Connect the USB flash drive and click the ‘Browse’ button. If you have data already on the drive, back it up before you continue.

 

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5. Select the USB flash drive from the list and click the 'OK' button.

 

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6. Type ‘TruCrypt’ after the USB flash drive letter, and click the ‘Extract’ button.

 

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7. TrueCrypt will extract all the necessary files to a destination path (i.e. USB flash drive under directory TrueCrypt). Click the ‘OK’ button.

 

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8. Click ‘Finish’.

 

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9. TrueCrypt will open the destination folder in Windows Explorer. Run the ‘TrueCrypt.exe’ file by double clicking on it.

 

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10. Click the ‘Create Volume’ button.

 

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11. Select the ‘Create an encrypted file container’ radio button and click ‘Next’.

 

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12. Select the ‘Standard TrueCrypt volume’ radio button and click ‘Next’.

 

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13. For Volume Location, type the drive letter followed by the TrueCrypt container file name. Remember to specify the file extension, i.e. ‘.tc’. Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

Example: G:\mydata.tc

 

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14. We recommend that you proceed to the next step using the default option. Click ‘Next’.

 

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15. Type in the volume size and select the appropriate radio button (KB/MB/GB). For example, if you want to create volume of 1GB, type ‘1’ and select ‘GB’. Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

 

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16. Type in a password for the encrypted volume. Make sure you select a password that is strong, easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess. Click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

 

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17. In this step, move your mouse within the below window. Moving the mouse randomly within the tool’s window significantly increases the cryptographic strength of the encryption
keys. When you are done, click the ‘Format’ button.

 

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18. Sit back and relax while TrueCrypt creates the encrypted volume. This may take several minutes depending on the volume size you specified in step number 15.

 

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19. Click the ‘OK’ button when you see the following message.

 

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20. Click ‘Exit’. Congratulations! You have successfully created an encrypted volume on your USB flash drive. Use encrypted volumes to store all your important files. Now we will show you how TrueCrypt provides protection when you connect your USB flash drive to a computer.

 

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How to Use your Password Protected/Encrypted USB Flash Drive

 

1. Connect the USB flash drive to an empty USB port. You will notice there are a folder and a .tc file (the encrypted volume). Double click on the folder.

 

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2. Double click the ‘TrueCrypt.exe’ file to launch TrueCrypt.

 

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3. Click the ‘Select File…’ button to select the encrypted volume (the .tc file).

 

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4. Select the file that you would like to open. In this example, we will select the ‘mydata.tc’ file. Click the ‘Open’ button.

 

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5. Select a drive letter from the list, and click the ‘Mount’ button.

 

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6. Type in the password for your encrypted volume and click the ‘OK’ button.

 

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7. Upon successful authentication, you will be able to access the encrypted drive! You can now use the encrypted volume to store all your important files. To store files, simply copy the files into the mounted volume. You can also perform other operations like deleting or renaming a file.

 

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8. This is the last and one of the most important steps. When you are done accessing your encrypted volume, make sure you dismount the encrypted volume using the TrueCrypt tool.

 

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If you need help or have questions on how to encrypt and use the data on your flash drive, give us a call and we will gladly assist you in protecting your data.

 

 

 

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You may not realize this, but most IT support services are done remotely. You call out technicians, and they walk you through a few simple maintenance tasks you can do on your own. For most IT problems, this all the help you need.

The following list of commands is just some of the things we will ask you to do during your IT support session. While this comprehensive list is strictly for Ubuntu, most of them are using in other forms of Linux as well. They are presented to you for your convenience.

 

Command privileges

 

  • sudo command – run command as root

  • sudo su – root shell open

  • sudo su user – open shell as a user

  • sudo -k – forget your password sudo

  • gksudo command – sudo visual dialog (GNOME)

  • kdesudo command – sudo visual dialog (KDE)

  • sudo visudo – edit / etc / sudoers

  • gksudo nautilus – root file manager (GNOME)

  • kdesudo konqueror – root file manager (KDE)

  • passwd – change your password

 

Command Network

 

  • ifconfig – displays information network

  • iwconfig – displays information from wireless

  • sudo iwlist scan – scan wireless networks

  • sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart – reset the network

  • (file) /etc/network/interfaces – manual configuration

  • ifup interface – bring online interface

  • ifdown interface – disable interface

 

Commands Display

 

  • sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart – reset X (Gnome)

  • sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart – reset X (KDE)

  • (file) /etc/X11/xorg.conf – show Configuration

  • sudo dpkg-reconfigure – reconfigure xserver-xorg-phigh – reset configuration X

  • Ctrl+Alt+Bksp – X display reset if frozen

  • Ctrl+Alt+FN – switch to tty N

  • Ctrl+Alt+F7 – switch back to X display

 

Commands Service System.

 

  • start service – service to start work (Upstart)

  • stop service – service to stop working (Upstart)

  • status service – check if service is running (Upstart)

  • /etc/init.d/service start – start service (SysV)

  • /etc/init.d/service stop – stop service (SysV)

  • /etc/init.d/service status – check service (SysV)

  • /etc/init.d/service restart – reset service (SysV)

  • runlevel – get current runlevel

 

Commands for Firewall

 

  • ufw enable – turn on the firewall

  • ufw disable – turn off the firewall

  • ufw default allow – allow all connections by default

  • ufw default deny – drop all connections by default

  • ufw status – current rules and

  • ufw allow port – to allow traffic on port

  • ufw deny port – port block

  • ufw deny from ip – ip block

 

Command System

 

  • lsb_release -a – get the version of Ubuntu

  • uname -r – get kernel version

  • uname -a – get all the information kernel

 

 Commands for Package Manager

 

  • apt-get update – refresh updates available

  • apt-get upgrade – update all packages

  • apt-get dist-upgrade – version update

  • apt-get install pkg – installing pkg

  • apt-get remove pkg – uninstall pkg

  • apt-get autoremove – removing packages obsotletos

  • apt-get -f install – try to fix packages

  • dpkg –configure -a – try to fix a broken package

  • dpkg -i pkg.deb – install file pkg.deb

  • (file) /etc/apt/sources.list – list of repositories APT

 

Special Packages For commands

 

  • ubuntu-desktop – Setting the standard Ubuntu

  • kubuntu-desktop – KDE Desktop

  • xubuntu-desktop – desktop XFCE

  • ubuntu-minimal – core earnings Ubuntu

  • ubuntu-standard – the standard utilities Ubuntu

  • ubuntu-restricted-extras – not free, but useful

  • kubuntu-restricted-extras – ditto KDE

  • xubuntu-restricted-extras – ditto XFCE

  • build-essential – packages used to compile

  • linux-image-generic – latest generic kernel image

  • linux-headers-generic – latest headlines

 

Applications commands.

 

  • nautilus – File Manager (GNOME)

  • dolphin – File Manager (KDE)

  • konqueror – Web browser (KDE)

  • kate – text editor (KDE)

  • gedit– text editor (GNOME)

 

I hope that this list will help you understand what we are asking you to do when you call in for IT support for your computer systems and infrastructure. These commands allow us to troubleshoot your systems without having to replace the hardware or software, and are much quicker and more cost effective means to fix a Linux based system.


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About EG Technologies

We are a collective of experienced Information Technology professionals with a wide range of technical expertise, who share in the ideal vision and standards of unparalled customer service.  Our practices are geared toward the modernization of current systems for established companies, as well as the creation of completely new systems for startups.  Our goal is to bridge the gap between each aspect of data and information management and production, allowing our clients to concentrate on their business without concern over the data management aspect.

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