Sponsored by:
I’m here to help anyone with PC issues in general (for FREE; just because I like to help people), or hopefully for those who might be interested in installing
and using a Linux OS on a PC (or simply inside a Virtual PC using the now FREE VWware Pro under Windows) or:
Learning how to use the Terminal commands under
a Linux OS (which have always been inside “Mac” computers) and how you can even install linux directly inside a Windows 10 or 11 PC; using the
WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux); which is now easier than ever before.
Everything is the name of a Windows file and folder search program that can not only find everything on your PC, but also allows you to take actions on those files or folders directly from the program’s display screen! You can rename, delete, open files, open the containing folder, and more. If you double-click on a file or folder name, it will open the file or folder contents in a new window. Everything only indexes file and folder names and generally takes only a few seconds to build its database. Unlike Windows Search, Everything displays literally everything on your PC until you begin typing a filename or some other filter (like specifying folder names only or "match case"). It monitors your file systems for all changes and updates them in real-time! You can download an install version from the "Download" TAB on its main page. Here's an example of its display with no added filters (so everything will be displayed) except for what you see in the search box:
As you can see above, Everything doesn't care about 'spaces' in your entry; only the character content. And you can have whatever you enter be in any kind of order! If you know part of the path, you can enter that with a backslash (\) after it:
To find a name or part of one in the exact order, place quote marks around it; like: "BashrcAA.png".
Notepad ++ is something I use for almost all of my Text and HTML pages! It might be the only free Text Editor that can copy and paste by columns as well as rows, and it will store in TABs whatever you've worked on until you tell it to forget that file. So you can have many TABs (nice for copying data between files); that remain, no matter how many times you close the program. Then explore a host of other features; like the Character Code Insertion Panel, End of Line conversions, there are more available functions than anyone could ever use:
 |  |
7-Zip. The best (and free) archive program! I don’t know of any common compression or archiving scheme that this program cannot open (including Microsoft's .Wim, along with .ISO files, .msi; if you want to see the contents of any file using some type of compression, chances are that 7-Zip will allow you to do so). And it will easily compress/archive your files into .Zip, .Rar, .7z and other common formats. Apart from that, this program also has some forensic features which I’ve discussed elsewhere.
I just wanted to add here: There are loads of Keyboard Commands and Functions that can make your life much easier when using a PC. Various applications, if programmed
correctly, should all use a set of keyboard commands in the same manner; such as, CTRL + A (where CTRL = Control Key) to highlight ALL the text in an open window, and
CTRL + C to copy any highlighted text, CTRL + V to paste any copied text and CTRL + X to cut any highlighted text. And CTRL + Z will
almost always undo any of those chages! And with a Windows Keyboard (one that has the special Windows Logo Key), you can press that key plus V to open the Windows Clipboard.
CTRL + H usually brings up a Replacement Dialog box where you can enter text you want to replace with other text. I use that in Notepad++ a lot. A complete list of
all keyboard commands would be more than anyone could ever remember, but there are lists available on many websites; both general and specific, such as:
Clever Keyboard Shortcuts or a free PDF sheet of Keyboard Shortcuts. Here's another PDF sheet from VS Code. And there are, of course, keyboard shortcuts that are only
useful in a specific application!
Today, I learned about a function you can use to get a QR code from inside a Windows Command Prompt![1]
HxD is a Disk and Hex File Editor which you can use to view any binary file (like an executable) you might be wondering if there's any text inside! I wrote a whole page on how to use this program to copy critical sectors of your PC drives.
What Web Browser Do You Use? Firefox is my goto browser!
Do you use your PC for a specific task or field of study? Let me know! I may have something you'd enjoy using for that. Ever studied Fractals? What about Astronomy? Would you like to know how to create webpages using special math symbols? (I did that here; using MathJaX.)
The following links are qued to some specific locations in a YT video I believe is one of the best for not only learning various Linux Terminal Commands, but also for giving you a bit of the history of various operating systems and how to install an Ubuntu Linux Terminal under Windows 10 or 11 (WSL does not run in a VM; but rather allows you to actually use linux commands inside a Windows OS; even using them with your Windows files!).
Colt Steele, the developer of this YT video, already has "timestamps" for all the intros and commands in the video, but here are the important ones with my own comments:
1. Introduction to: The 50 Most Popular Linux & Terminal Commands; a full course for beginners and help for those already familiar with many of them.
2. Why even bother using a Terminal Command?
3. A Bit of Operating Systems History (mostly on Unix, BSD, Linux and its Distros)
4. What is Linux? (A "Kernel"; not an OS Distribution)
5. Shells in general & the Bourne Again Shell (BASH)
6. How to Install WSL under Windows
Note: If you have any issues with this, or if you simply want me to remote into your PC and set it up while you watch but also interact when asked to enter a username
and password (both can be changed later — they have nothing to do with your Windows user name!) just contact me for a time we can do
that.
7. Using the Terminal
8. Commands Everyone Should Know:
whoami, man (manual pages on most commmands), clear (clears the screen; note: see the section .bashrc below),
Intro to Command Options, pwd (print working
directory), ls (list files and subdirectories; with the -l option you can see permissions, file sizes and modificiation dates. Ubuntu and some other distros also have the alias
command ll for this), cd (change directory; see .bashrc below), mkdir (make
a new directory).
You should also get used to using cat (concatenate) for displaying all the contents of a file, head for showing
just the beginning of a file and tail for showing the end of a file. But, in order to page through a long text file using cat, you need to pipe its
output to another command (Colt covers this under piping) like this: cat filename | less which will only show a page at a time, similar to the DOS "more" command, but less actually does far more (than 'more'), such as, allowing you to use the Page Up, Page Down and Arrow keys to scroll all the way back
to the top or center a particular line for reading! It even includes a built-in search: If you’re inside a file under less, simply press the forward slash
"/" key, then ENTER a case-sensitive term to search for. It will reverse highlight all occurrences of
that string, and you can use the n key to bring the next occurrence to the top of the screen. See its man page for many more functions! Use the q key
to quit using less. For example: On my PC, inside a WSL Terminal, after entering the following command at the $ prompt:
cat /mnt/c/Users/username/Documents/TSR/Tutoring/index.html | less, if I enter /Bash at the colon prompt
(:) at the bottom of the screen, the top of the screen will look like this:
But if I enter BASH instead, it will highlight only that exact term like this:
And using the n key would find and highlight its occurrence
in these lines. If you use SHIFT + n (or N), it will search backwards.
If you’re already familiar with those and some of the other commmands, then use Colt’s timestamps to learn about the ones you’ve never used before!
FIRST NOTE THIS: There are commands, such as those for creating or deleting partitions, that your Windows OS will not allow you to run under WSL. BUT if you install a full Linux Distro in a VM; or boot up a Live Linux OS from a USB drive, you will be able to use those as well. For example, I cover some Terminal commands for viewing and copying the contents of disk drives on this page (the Ubuntu OS version is rather old here, but the Terminal commands are still the same): Using an Ubuntu Live CD (or USB Drive).
There are many more commands and options that would be specific for various tasks, say, those a Server Admin might use every day! Some of those; which I’m happy
to discuss with you, might be systemctl status or usermod.
To see how fast someone can run through a
set of commands an admin or networking tech might use, see: Top 60 Linux Commands (for Admins!) (by
Network Chuck).
Each user under an Ubuntu (and some other linux distros), under their specific /home/ user subdirectory, has a special file called .bashrc (you must use the command and option ls -a or ls -la or the alias command ll to see "." files). This file is a shell script that is executed every time you begin a new Bash session. It’s used to configure the Bash environment by defining functions, environment variables, aliases and running some necessary commands. If you ever used the DOS/Windows commands cls or cd.. (go to a higher directory level), you can actually create aliases for these or some other favorite keyboard command inside this file. Colt explains how to use the file editor nano here. (Note: Colt actually explains some of this under his alias command in the video.) When you open your .bashrc file in nano, it should look something like this at the top:
Using the Arrow or Page keys in nano, scroll down (cursor will likely be a thin white line) until you see these lines:
Place the cursor at the first blank line under the last alias line above, create some new blank lines with ENTER key, then add the ones you see here (note: for the root user or some user on a public or company owned server, I’d recommend following some instructions for creating and using a separate alias file, but if you’re the only user on your own PC, this is easier for just a few extra aliases.
After making the changes, use the Control plus O keys to write the changes to the file, then exit using the Control plus x keys.
1[Return to
Text] Here's an example command for that, and the QR Code that popped up on my screen: curl qrenco.de/https://daniel.sedory.com/Tutoring/
Updated: 30 January 2025 (2025.01.30); added links to other sites and helps. Moved page location, made some clarifications.
Last Update: February 3, 2025 (2025.02.03); more clarifications and added some examples; added names of some useful free Windows
programs.
You can contact me here.