Monday, November 13, 2017

suppress updates on Firefox

On Firefox 54, updates are loaded to

C:\Users\jws\AppData\Local\Mozilla\updates

Erasing any directory there will stop it from updating.

about:preferences#advanced

about:preferences -> advanced -> updates should be set "never check for updates" as well

This may be necessary for various updates, which are being added to Firefox which are screwing things up.  Not sure if and when it will stabilize, so freezing updates become necessary.

Here is a further bit of info on downgrading if the updates happen anyway.

Note that from Server  2003, which is similar to XP to later versions, which have a C:\user directory, and stores profiles there, the updates are not present in the profiles directory.  Where they are, is still not known.

https://www.wikihow.com/Downgrade-Firefox

1
Go to the Firefox install guide. This page has information on how you can download an old version of Firefox. Since the link to access the page with old versions of Firefox is constantly updated, you'll have to access it from this page.

2
Scroll down to the "I still want to downgrade" section. It's about halfway down the page. 
 
Click Directory of other versions and languages. This link is below the yellow Firefox warning box that's in the "I still want to downgrade" section. Clicking it will take you to a list of all Firefox versions.  

4
Select a version number. Click a number on this page to go to the download page for that version of Firefox.
  • For example: you would click 45.1.0esr/ to go to the download page for Firefox version 45.1.0.
 
5
Select your operating system's folder. Since the folders here aren't clearly labeled, here's how to identify your operating system's folder:
  • Windows - Look for "win32/" (32-bit Windows) or "win64/" (64-bit Windows) in the link text. If you don't know your computer's bit number, check it first.
  • Mac - Look for "mac/" in the link text.
 
6
Select the language folder. The list on this page is abbreviated regional languages. Select the one that matches your region. For example, if you speak English and are in the United States, you would click the "en-US/" folder. 
 
7
Click the download link. This will prompt your selected version of Firefox to begin downloading to your computer.
  • Depending on your browser settings, you may be prompted to confirm the download or select a location to save to before the download will begin.
 
8
Double-click the Firefox setup file. Once the download has finished, double-click the setup file to begin the installation process. On Windows, this will be an application (EXE) file, while Mac users will double-click the Firefox DMG file.
  • On a MacOS Sierra and later, you may have to manually allow the installation before continuing.
  • On Windows, you may be prompted to click Extract all first. If so, click Extract all, then open the extracted (non-ZIP) folder and double-click the Firefox application again.
 
9
Select your add-ons if prompted. Depending on the version of Firefox you're using, you may have the option of continuing to use some or all of your add-ons. 
 
10
Wait for Firefox to open. Once Firefox opens, you will be using the version that you selected. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Saturday, November 11, 2017

save and restore of putty session definitions from machine to machine

Putty sessions are saved in the registry entries for the Putty application.   That entry for the user must be backed up and restored to transfer the session information between machines.

Saving:
This incantation will back up the registry entries for a user to a file.

regedit /e "%userprofile%\desktop\putty-registry.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Simontatham

The "manufacturer is "Simontatham" and is the same on all machines.

This saves the session entries in a Desktop file putty-registry.reg

File names on machine on restore (Merge):
In each Session entry there will be a location for any sessions which have a key file set for SSH preshared key.  It is not a good idea to save and transfer the preshared keys between machines, unless they are ones you have generated, and know what you are doing.

"PublicKeyFile" will be the path to the preshared key, and will need to point at the location for the preshared private key file on the new machine.  This should be done before merging and restoring onto the machine.

Restore (Merge):
This incantation will allow one to restore them on another machine.

The saved file will need to be located on a drive with a drive letter.  Otherwise the restore will not work.  Copying the putty-registry.reg file back to the new machine Desktop would be a good way to ensure this (it will be on C:).

Double clicking on the reg file once transferred to the other machine will restore those registry keys, and they should appear on the next invocation of putty.

You can also run regedit (from the run feature of the start menu) and select to import the file.

https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/putty-session.html

stackoverflow article method here

Export

cmd.exe, require elevated prompt:

Only sessions:
regedit /e "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\putty-sessions.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions
All settings:
regedit /e "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\putty.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham

Powershell:

Only sessions:
reg export HKCU\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\Sessions ([Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop") + "\putty-sessions.reg")
All settings:
reg export HKCU\Software\SimonTatham ([Environment]::GetFolderPath("Desktop") + "\putty.reg")

Import

Double-click on the *.reg file and accept the import.

Alternative ways:

cmd.exe, require elevated command prompt:

regedit /i putty-sessions.reg
regedit /i putty.reg

PowerShell:

reg import putty-sessions.reg
reg import putty.reg

Note: do not replace SimonTatham with your username.
Note: It will create a reg file on the Desktop of the current user.
Note: It will not export related SSH keys.


https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13023920/how-to-export-putty-sessions-list

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Thursday, November 2, 2017

Storage usage analysis tools

ncdu  tool to show map of usages from current directory down.

included in ubuntu / debian base

apt-get update
apt-get -y install ncdu