Three basic Linux questions

[gwt]

1.  How do you force quit and application or program that locks up on you?

2.  Are there any other desktop backgrounds available besides the ones that came with VL?  And if so, where do I save them once I download them to the desktop?

3.  How do you clean out temp files, prefetch files, cookies, etc.. that accumulate on your machine over a period of time, and free up some valuable hard drive space?

Thanks.

[lagagnon]

1. Ctrl-Alt-Esc will launch XKill, your cursor turns into a skull and crossbones and you click whatever windowed application needs to be killed. DO NOT click on a blank desktop or you will kill the window manager! To stop a command line application use Ctrl-C .

For questions 2 and 3 you do not provide us with enough information: 1) which version of VL and which window manager (xfce of KDE) and 2) which browser do you use (Firefox, SeaMonkey or Opera)?

[gwt]

1. Ctrl-Alt-Esc will launch XKill, your cursor turns into a skull and crossbones and you click whatever windowed application needs to be killed. DO NOT click on a blank desktop or you will kill the window manager! To stop a command line application use Ctrl-C .

For questions 2 and 3 you do not provide us with enough information: 1) which version of VL and which window manager (xfce of KDE) and 2) which browser do you use (Firefox, SeaMonkey or Opera)?

Ooops, sorry.  I'm using xfce 5.8 standard gold and Firefox 2.0.0.2

[DrGrov]

You can also kill an application by opening a terminal. If you let's say want to kill Firefox you can type:

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killall -9 firefox

[Triarius Fidelis]

You can also kill an application by opening a terminal. If you let's say want to kill Firefox you can type:

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killall -9 firefox

The -9 flag is best avoided. It causes an abrupt termination of the program (no handler can appeal the signal) and may lead to memory leaks. I use it only for processes which otherwise refuse to die.

[DrGrov]

You can also kill an application by opening a terminal. If you let's say want to kill Firefox you can type:

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killall -9 firefox

That's very true, hanumizzle. I forgot about mentioning that only in extreme cases it is recommended to use killall -9.
Thanks for correcting!

[mymarkers]

I'll answer #2:

In short, you find an image on the internet that you want to be your background, download it, and set it as your wallpaper. Beyond this, it's a least partially an issue of your personal preferences.

Find the image you want on the internet, right click on it, and select "Save image as" or something to that effect. A dialogue box should pop up prompting where you want to save it. By default, it's probably either your desktop or your home directory. I can't remember for sure. I personally recommend creating a separate directory for any backgrounds you want. To do that, click the "browse other folders" tab, and click "create." It will prompt you for a name. Then just click save, and the image will download to that directory. Just make sure you know where to find that directory.

From here, you just need to set this as your background. The simplest way is to right click, go to "Settings: Desktop Settings" and somewhere in there, you'll be able to select an image for your background. I'm not at my Vector computer right now, so I can't remember the details. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you are familiar with doing this with Windows or MacOS, the process is nearly identical.

I don't have time to address #3 now, but I should be able to answer at least some of it. Good luck.

[lagagnon]

3.  How do you clean out temp files, prefetch files, cookies, etc.. that accumulate on your machine over a period of time, and free up some valuable hard drive space?

Temp files created by the system are usually wiped on shutdown. For Firefox browser cache, cookies etc that's an easy one: Edit, Preferences, Privacy, Private Data, Clear Now/Settings.

[gwt]

I'll answer #2:

In short, you find an image on the internet that you want to be your background, download it, and set it as your wallpaper. Beyond this, it's a least partially an issue of your personal preferences.

Find the image you want on the internet, right click on it, and select "Save image as" or something to that effect. A dialogue box should pop up prompting where you want to save it. By default, it's probably either your desktop or your home directory. I can't remember for sure. I personally recommend creating a separate directory for any backgrounds you want. To do that, click the "browse other folders" tab, and click "create." It will prompt you for a name. Then just click save, and the image will download to that directory. Just make sure you know where to find that directory.

From here, you just need to set this as your background. The simplest way is to right click, go to "Settings: Desktop Settings" and somewhere in there, you'll be able to select an image for your background. I'm not at my Vector computer right now, so I can't remember the details. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you are familiar with doing this with Windows or MacOS, the process is nearly identical.

I don't have time to address #3 now, but I should be able to answer at least some of it. Good luck.

Thanks.  I was going to save them in the same place as where the currently installed Vector wallpapers are.  Do you know where that is?

Temp files created by the system are usually wiped on shutdown. For Firefox browser cache, cookies etc that's an easy one: Edit, Preferences, Privacy, Private Data, Clear Now/Settings.

Yes, I know how to clear them using the browser settings, but I was referring to the system-wide files.   

Is running "sudo apt-get clean" effective?  I tried it and it said command not found.

[wcs]

Thanks.  I was going to save them in the same place as where the currently installed Vector wallpapers are.  Do you know where that is?

The wallpapers are installed in /usr/share/wallpapers

(inside the /usr/share directory, you'll find amongst other things: (1) the files that make up the items in your Desktop Menu - /usr/share/applications; (2) the icons for your applications - /usr/share/pixmaps; (3) the themes for the window manager - inside /usr/share/themes - that you can modify in Settings > Window Manager Settings)

Is running "sudo apt-get clean" effective?  I tried it and it said command not found.

The package management in vector linux is done by slapt-get. If I'm not mistaken, doing

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slapt-get --cleanwill delete your cached downloaded packages, which are stored in /home/ftp/pub/veclinux/packages.
I guess nothing bad happens when you delete these... it's just that if you want to reinstall them, you will have to download them again. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.