Rock Solid Linux Distributions

A lot of I.T gurus agree that Linux is the most powerful Operating System out there. Linux is used by lots of big companies for its reliability, security and almost limitless power.

My favorite distro for browsing, simplicity and basic learning would be Linux Mint. You can really achieve almost anything on it. I recommend reading an article that will guide you with the Linux basics or terminal commands.

Gparted - Used to partition hard drives

CloneZilla

Kali Linux (Penetration Testing, requires some practice and reading)

EasyRE (Great tool to fix boot issues with Windows, had great success with it)

Parted Magic (Awesome all in one Linux distro that includes Partitioning, Cloning, Rescue, and Erasing)

VMWare vSphere Hypervisor (Best Virtualization solution for servers/workstations out there. Offers free license!)

I'll be adding more useful distributions soon!

 

 
linuxazbts
 

Improve Performance by Cloning the Hard Drive to a Solid State Drive

Follow the steps below on how to use CloneZilla to clone your old hard drive to a new Solid State Drive for a significant performance boost.

You will need a USB flash drive (1 GB is more than enough) and a way to connect your SSD. Basically you need to have both drives connected to the same computer. Another necessity if you are using a laptop for this process would be an adapter like this one here. It enables you to connect the SSD to your PC. If you have a desktop computer, you don't need this adapter. You can use the SATA cable that's being used to connect your CD Drive to the motherboard. Don't forget the power source connector from the power supply.

Software and downloads required:
CloneZilla (From CloneZilla pick the file type to be ISO.)

Universal USB Installer

1. Start Universal USB Installer

2. Select the Linux Distribution to be CloneZilla, then select the downloaded ISO file.

3. Select your USB drive (Everything on it will be erased, backup your USB if you need to)

4. Connect the USB to the desired computer after shutting it down. Now we need to access the Boot Menu or BIOS on the device. To do so, you need to Google lookup your laptop model/make with the keyword "Boot Menu boot key" or if you are using a custom build PC, you need to look up the motherboards model/manufacturer. You should be able to find it, let us know if you don't!

5. Once at the Boot Menu select the only USB flash drive connected. Usually has the name of the USB drive manufacturer.

6. Follow the steps in this official CloneZilla step by step guide.

7. Now you have a cloned SSD, all you have to do is replace it and start up the computer. 

You can lookup the model with the keyword "replace hard drive" using Google or YouTube. I'm sure you will find plenty of videos and how-to's specific to your system.

 

Everything will be exactly the same except your PC will run FIVE times faster! Windows is constantly reading from the hard drive to run the operating system, everything you see on the monitor is being accessed from the hard drive. SSD average read speeds are about 550 MB per second opposed to the old HDD which runs about 100 MB/s.

We all run into difficulties we face in the I.T world, let us know if you have any questions. I'll be more than happy to troubleshoot.

 

Keep your Windows Clean and Secure

Windows 7 has been the most popular Operating System world wide among computers. It was also the most targeted one. Now we see most devices upgrading to Windows 10, while some business prefer to stick with Windows 7.

An advantage is security, consumers don't realize how better Windows 10 performs. Deep protection at its core, it is now the most secure Windows ever. The minute Windows 7 is infected with malware or a virus, the core system files and registry are affected. That required us I.T administrators to be safe and wipe the whole drive, then reinstall a fresh copy of Windows.

Gladly with Windows 10, it functions in a better way preventing malware/virus from modifying the core of the operating system. That keeps the system running safely even after clean ups, opposed to previous Windows versions that would leave us with corrupted system files.

I advice all of you Windows users out there to grab you a license of BitDefender Total Security and save yourself from any hacks, viruses, malware and many other dangerous links on the Internet. I've been using it for years and not a single time I had to wipe/format my PC.

If you prefer not to spend money, Windows 10 still offers built in security. I recommend downloading Anti-MalwareBytes (Free) and CCleaner (also Free). Anti-Malwarebytes has a better chance on finding lots of malware. Usually on most PC's I've worked on it find a lot and cleans them up. CCleaner is essentials for cleaning up unnecessary cache from your Internet Browsers; lots of websites garbage. It also fixes the registry if it finds any adjusted and modified entries. 

Choosing the free or the paid security route, you will be saving your PC from malicious attacks causing the system to run extremely slow and sluggish.

*Bitdefender has been ranked the top for four years now. Bitdefender Total Security 2017 is a rock solid Antivirus. Highly recommended protection for Windows users. It includes "One Click Optimization" which is like a PC/Browser cache cleaner. In addition, Bitdefender is designed to use low resources which makes it light on the operating system. 

Let us know if you need help cleaning and scanning your system today!

Solid State Drives

Most computers these days are still using the older technology, a very important PC component is the Hard Drive. About 70% of computers use the traditional Mechanical Hard Drive.

A few years ago the Solid State technology started becoming popular as the prices were dropping. When it first was marketed, 1 GB of storage would cost you a dollar.

Now prices go as low as $60 for a 240 GB SSD (Solid State Drive). Statistically standard SATA SSD's read and write performance is about 500 MB/S while old mechanical hard drives peak at only 100 MB/s.

If you want to revive an older computer/laptop or significantly speed up your PC, we highly recommend that you replace your current Hard Drive with a Solid State Drive.

What's nice about those SSDs are the compatible connectors, they remained the same as the older HDD's, which allows the transition/upgrade to be smooth. 

All you have to do is using a 3rd party software to clone your old HDD to the new SSD. I will be posting steps shortly.

Thanks,

Your I.T Expert

HDD VS SSD

HDD VS SSD