Things/Tweaks To Do After Install Of Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic/14.04 Trusty

Things/Tweaks to do after fresh install of Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn/Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

Most awaiting release Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr LTS is arrived, Ubuntu team is heading towards great way and has done really great work, unlike previous releases this release got many new features and improvements. Unity 7 is much faster, responsive and a lot of things further you can see the release post of Ubuntu 14.04. After digging in this version I was wondering what tweaks/things a normal user should do with this release and make it much better than any other OS available out there. All tweaks are tested by NoobsLab, so hopefully you won't get any problem with them and if you encounter any problem feel free to ask. Lets start .....

Ubuntu 14.10 is released today, I was wondering what to tweak in this release and this time there aren't different tweaks for this release 14.10 than previous 14.04 Trusty. So you guys can continue following these tweaks for Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn. For some tweaks it is written "Only for 14.04 Trusty" these won't work in 14.10 Utopic as I tested.

1: Tweak Tools:

Gnome Tweak Tool is well-known powerful tweak tool, With this tool you can manage your Ubuntu environment like: Change theme, icons, fonts, cursor and so on options.
Unity Tweak Tool is a configuration tool for the Unity Desktop, providing users access to features and configuration options, and brings them all together in a polished & easy-to-use interface.
Install Tweak Tools with following command:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool gnome-tweak-tool

2: Enable one-click to minimize feature:

Minimize on click has landed in Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic/14.04 Trusty and it is disabled by default. You can enable it from Compiz settings manager.
To install CCSM enter following command in Terminal:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Go to Dash and Search "CCSM" > Then go to Unity plugin > Tick 'Minimize Single Window Applications' feature

3: LightDM Tweaks

Remove White dots: If you want to remove white dots from login screen of Ubuntu 14.10/14.04.
Guest account is enable by default in Ubuntu, it means anybody can login with guest account in your Ubuntu PC.

To remove white dots, enter following commands in Terminal:

Terminal Commands:
sudo xhost +SI:localuser:lightdm
sudo su lightdm -s /bin/bash
gsettings set com.canonical.unity-greeter draw-grid false;exit

To remove guest account open Terminal and enter following command:

Terminal Command:
echo allow-guest=false | sudo tee -a /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu.conf

Save and close file, Restart to see effect.

4: Disable online searches from dash:

Fixubuntu offers a simple script to disable all online searches from Dash, with just single command you can do it easily.

Enter this command to disable online searches for Dash:

Terminal Command:
wget -q -O - https://fixubuntu.com/fixubuntu.sh | bash

5: Disable overlay Scrollbars:

You can disable overlay scroll-bars, if you don't like them.

Enter following command in terminal to disable overlay scrollbar:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal

If you want to get back overlay bars, enter following command:

Terminal Command:
gsettings reset com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode

6: Enable recursive search for Nautilus:

This time recursive search is replaced with type-ahead search in Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic/14.04 Trusty. If you like that feature simply one command to enable/disable it.

Recursive search

To enable recursive search for Nautilus, enter following command in Terminal:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences enable-interactive-search false

Type-ahead Search

To disable recursive search (Enable Type-ahead search) for Nautilus, enter following command in Terminal:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences enable-interactive-search true

7: Show username on panel:

By default current logged-in username doesn't show on panel, so you can enable it easily.

Enter following command in terminal:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set com.canonical.indicator.session show-real-name-on-panel true

To remove name from panel, Enter following command:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set com.canonical.indicator.session show-real-name-on-panel false

8: Enable Locally Integrated Menus & Scale Title + Menus:

LIM (Locally Integrated Menus)
Local Integrated Menus display on the Title bar of any un-maximized Window. By default it is disabled, if you like it you can enable it easily. Go to System Settings > Appearance > Behavior > under 'Show the menus for a window' > select "In the window's title bar"

Scale Title bars & Menu
A new feature added to Unity, now you can increase/decrease size of Menus & Title bars easily. Go to System Settings > Displays > under 'Scale for menu and title bars' > adjust as per your needs

9: Shutdown, Restart, options from Dash (Only for 14.04 Trusty):

This stuff is developed by atareao and you can use their PPA to install it.
From Dash you can: Shut Down, Suspend, Hibernate, Log Out, Reboot, and Lock Screen.

Enter these commands in terminal to install power commands:

Terminal Command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install power-commands

10: Firewall for Ubuntu:

Linux don't need Anti-virus but Firewall is important for any kind of Operating System. UFW is installed by default in Ubuntu but it is command line and disabled by default. You can install best firewall GUFW enable and manage it graphically.

Enter following command in terminal to install firewall:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install gufw

After installation open Dash and Search "GUFW" to configure it.

11: Install Adobe Flash Plugin:

Flash player isn't available by default , So you can install flash player easily from Ubuntu repositories.

Open Terminal and enter following commands:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

Alternatively: install Adobe flash from canonical partner repository, open Software-Sources > Tab 'Other Software' and tick 'Canonical Partners'

Now enter these to commands to update and install adobe flash:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install adobe-flashplugin

Also install Silverlight alternative Pipelight for Web browsers.

12: Integrate online accounts in Ubuntu

Ubuntu has Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Hotmail and other accounts support. It offers you different features of your online account within Ubuntu desktop. Go to Settings > Online Accounts and configure accounts.

13: Install Restricted Extras:

There are some Restricted extras available in Ubuntu repositories which can't be install while installation but you can install these Restricted extras by yourself. Restricted extras contains: mp3 playback and decoding, support for various formats, fonts, java, flash plugin, lame, dvd playback.

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

14: Codecs and Enable DVD Playback:

If you are multimedia user and use Ubuntu for multimedia then these codecs are very useful for you. You can install them by single command.

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gxine libdvdread4 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321 libavcodec-extra

Following command for Enable DVD Playback:

Terminal Command:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

For Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty install more codecs:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg mencoder

15: Enable H.264 support for Firefox (Only for 14.04 Trusty):

FFmpeg plugin for GSreamer is dropped from official Ubuntu 14.04 official repositories, Firefox doesn't support the H.264 codec. So you can install it from third-party repository.

Enter following commands to install codec:

Terminal Command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg

16: Compression/Decompression tools:

You can compress and decompress 7z, zip, gzip, rar, xz, tar, bz2, xar, tar.gz, tar.bz, and many others.
Enter following command in terminal to install:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install p7zip-rar p7zip-full unace unrar zip unzip sharutils rar uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller

17: Tools/Tweaks For Laptop Power Management

If you are using laptop then TLP and laptop mode tools are really important for your laptop battery and power consumption. These tools have ability to save battery life and offer some other features.
Enable laptop mode and other tweaks for laptops
or
Improve laptop power management with TLP

18: Disable System Crash Reports:

If you are experiencing something crashes in your Ubuntu, and you don't like to be notify with reports. You can disable them easily.
Enter following commands to disable crash reports:

Terminal Command:
sudo gedit /etc/default/apport

Now text file will open, In the last line you will see "enabled=1" change it to "enabled=0". Save and close file.
Now enter following command in terminal to stop apport service:

Terminal Command:
sudo service apport stop

19: To Reset Unity:

If something went wrong you can reset Unity desktop with following commands.

Terminal Commands:
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools
dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
setsid unity
unity --reset-icons

20: Some must have utilities for Ubuntu 14.04:

Run Windows Programs: Winehq, Playonlinux
Gimp Image Editor
Grub Customizer
Share Data between Windows/Linux/Mac: Create Safe Easy Shares Using Samba, Configure Samba for Windows & Ubuntu, Nitroshare (Cross-Platform)
Intel Graphics Installer
Latest Nvidia Drivers (Only for those who own Nvidia Card)
Ati Amd catalyst Drivers (Only for those who own ATI Card)
Media Players: VLC, Smplayer, Clementine, Minitube
File Managers: SunFlower Twin-Panel, Nemo
Download Manager: XtremeDM
Ebook Reader: Calibre, Adobe Reader
Checkout Conky Collection
Checkout Themes Collection
Checkout Icons Collection

That's it.