Keyboard Shortcuts for Google Search Results

I've always wonder why can't I navigate through the Google search result using my keyboard. There are plugins and Firefox extensions that add keyboard shortcuts to web pages but wouldn't it be nice if the webpage itself just equips this feature? Finally Google is running an experiment on this idea.

To enable Keyboard Shortcuts in Google search results, go here and be part of their experiment.

Initial Setup for CentOS

Set up users and groups

Create staff group with gid 123

$ /usr/sbin/groupadd -g 123 staff

Create users (with uid 1234, with user gid 123)

$ /usr/sbin/useradd -c "John Doe" -d /home/jdoe -u 1234 -s /bin/bash -g 123 jdoe

To see useradd default: $ useradd -D

Force user to change password upon login

$ passwd -e jdoe

# If not available, just expire the account by
$ chage -d0 jdoe

Add user to wheel group

# Enabled sudo for wheel group
$ visudo

# uncomment this line:
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Add user to wheel group
$ usermod -G10 jdoe

Set hosts.allow to allow ssh (port 22) for specific network (e.g. 123.456.789.* with subnet 255.255.255.0) and hosts.deny to deny everywhere else.

$ cat /etc/hosts.allow
#
# hosts.allow   This file contains access rules which are used to
#               allow or deny connections to network services that
#               either use the tcp_wrappers library or that have been
#               started through a tcp_wrappers-enabled xinetd.
#
#               See 'man 5 hosts_options' and 'man 5 hosts_access'
#               for information on rule syntax.
#               See 'man tcpd' for information on tcp_wrappers
#
sshd: 123.456.789.0/255.255.255.0

$ cat /etc/hosts.deny
#
# hosts.deny    This file contains access rules which are used to
#               deny connections to network services that either use
#               the tcp_wrappers library or that have been
#               started through a tcp_wrappers-enabled xinetd.
#
#               The rules in this file can also be set up in
#               /etc/hosts.allow with a 'deny' option instead.
#
#               See 'man 5 hosts_options' and 'man 5 hosts_access'
#               for information on rule syntax.
#               See 'man tcpd' for information on tcp_wrappers
#
All:All

Disallow root login in via ssh by uncomment the following line.

$ vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

#PermitRootLogin no

$ /etc/init.d/sshd restart

How to Improve Windows 7 Performance

The performance on Windows 7 has improved from Vista. In most of the time I am pretty happy with it on all my machines. But when it comes to my netbook, it seems a little short. Here are a few things I did to improve its speed, which seems to help.

1. Turn off transparency
2. Use ReadyBoot from a fast USB flash drive
3. Convert from FAT32 to NTFS
4. Reduce Startup Programs
5. Disable indexing services
• Application Management
• Clipbook
• Computer Browser
• Error Reporting Service
• HID Input Service
• Indexing Service
• Net Logon
• NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
• Network Location Awareness (NLA)
• Network Provisioning Service
• Portable Media Serial Number Service
• QoS RSVP
• Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
• Remote Registry
• Secondary Logon (If you only have one user on your computer)
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service
• Telnet
• Uninterruptable Power Supply
• WebClient
• Windows Time
• WMI Performance Adapter
6. Disable Performance Counters
7. Turn off Automatic Updates