Author: IanHarcourtSmith

Making Space on Windows

Task

Creating space on a storage device.

Description

NVME, SSD, HDD, USB, Disk, Cloud – with time, our storage fills up with unnecessary data, this can take up a lot of space and with storage devices, they can slow down the more data they have, even if they are not full.

Quick guide

Use tools, remove temp files.
Find old programs and data.
Making priorities.

Part 0 – Info

Identify the problems

Lack of space (20% or more free)
Show loading PC

Install the required tools

Windows Disk Cleanup (pre-installed)
CCleaner
TreeSize

Part 1 – Finding files

Making priorities

Finding the files you want to keep and the files you can remove, priority for the biggest size.
Make a list of games and tools you use and which ones you need and don’t need, including programs that overlap and games that are large or unplayed.

Places to look

Apps & features (programs)
Desktop (personal data)
User folder – Documents, Downloads, etc. (projects and personal data)
Steam (installed games)
C drive

System files to keep

Windows, Program Files, Installed programs and directories
33 GB – System Volume Information (System restore)
12 GB – hiberfil.sys
1 GB – pagefile.sys
25 GB – Users/ianea/.nuget – windows programs

Can be removed but are also useful

Browsers
Browser temp files
Development (Unity, Visual Studio, Emulators)
Windows common and system files
Games and game saves

Currently used games and tools

Rocket League – in use
Fifa – unused
Visual Studio – in use
Visual Studio (older version) – unused
Projects from GitHub – some in use

Biggest files – A list of my largest folders

User data, Programs, windows and program data/temp files
215 GB – Users/ianea
Program data
64 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Local
13 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Local/Google
8 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Local/Microsoft
6.9 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Local/Unity
Emulators
48 GB – Users/ianea/.android
18 GB – Users/ianea/.android/avd/pixel5.avd
17 GB – Users/ianea/.android/avd/pixel2.avd
10 GB – Users/ianea/.android/avd/pixel2-k.avd
Windows programs
25 GB – Users/ianea/.nuget
21 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Roaming
4 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Roaming/Opera
2.5 GB – Users/ianea/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft
GitHub Repos, Games saves, Projects
13 GB – Users/ianea/source
12 GB – Users/ianea/Documents
11 GB – Users/ianea/Downloads

58 GB – Program Files
17 GB – Program Files/WindowsApps
8 GB – Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio // 2022
6 GB – Program Files/dotnet
58 GB – Program Files (x86)
14 GB – Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio // 2019
7 GB – Program Files/Android
57 GB – Windows
18 GB – Windows/Installer
11 GB – Windows/WinSxS
53 GB – ProgramData
22 GB – ProgramData/Microsoft // visual studio

Part 2 – Removing files

Empty recycling bin
Uninstall unused programs
Uninstall unused games
Remove old projects
Remove unused data and files – Downloads, Documents, Desktop
Temp files – CCleaner
Windows update cache – Disk Cleanup
Windows update cache – Manual
Go to Services – Windows Update – Stop
Delete C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
Go to Services – Windows Update – Start
Remove files with command line – force remove rm ".\some folder" -r -force
Empty recycling bin (again)

Task

Fix an issue causing Windows Search to malfunction – e.g. SearchApp.exe crashing

Description

When typing into the Windows Search – e.g. press Windows Key then start typing, a window would open then close or it would search for one result but close on the next search.

Quick guide

Remove cortana, uninstall, remove with powershell and delete from Registry.
Create website, create/enable config, enable port
regedit – “search” backup, delete

Part 0 – Info

Error identified in Event Viewer

Alternative: Use PowerToys Run instead of Windows Search – Shortcut = Alt+Space

Part 1 – Registry Edit

Run “Registry Editor” – Windows Key + R, type “regedit”
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
Make a backup of the whole registry and another of this specific folder.
Delete the “Search” folder entry.
Restart your PC and see if Windows Search is still crashing.

Part 2 – (Optional) Remove Cortana

Settings

Go to Settings > Privacy > Background apps
Task Manager > Startup > Cortana > Disable

PowerShell Command

Run “Windows PowerShell (Admin)” – Windows key + X, A

# Command 1
WinGet uninstall "cortana"

# Command 2
Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage

Registry

Registry Editor – Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
Delete “BingSearchEnabled” then restart

Task

Hosting multiple websites on a Linux server with apache using different ports for each

Description

Before – buy Linux hosting package… IONOS
Listen for ports 80, 8080 and direct to specific website folders.
Find IP address
Find ports
Setup website folders

Quick guide

Create website, create/enable config, enable port

nano cd /var/www/domain1.com/public_html/index.html
Hello World from domain1

nano etc/apache2/sites-enabled/site1.conf
DocumentRoot /var/www/domain1.com/public_html/

a2dissite 000-default.conf
a2ensite site1.conf
systemctl reload apache2

Part 0 – Info

ports 1-1024 = reserved
ports 1025-65535 = free

port 80 = website1
port 8080 = website2

Сommands used:

cd // change directory + cd .. to go back
nano // edit file
ip addr show // show private and public IP address
cat * // show all files contents
a2dissite // apache disable site config
a2ensite // apache enable site config
systemctl reload apache2 // reload apache web server

Directories:

etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ // Virtual Hosts directory
etc/apache2/ports.conf // Public ports
var/www/domain1.com/public_html // Website folders

Part 1 – Diagnostics

Find address for domain to connect to

ip addr show

![[Pasted image 20231205173824.png]]

This shows the IP address you will need for the browser to connect to your website.

Find open ports

ss -nat

![[Pasted image 20231205175025.png]]

“:80” = This shows port 80 is Listening for requests from the browser

Part 2 – Website folders

Make sure files are in directories (using FileZilla or commands)
![[Pasted image 20231205174355.png]]

cd /var/www/domain1.com/public_html
nano cd /var/www/domain1.com/public_html/index.html
Hello World from domain1

cd /var/www/domain2.com/public_html
nano cd /var/www/domain2.com/public_html/index.html
Hello World from domain2

Use browser to connect to IP address
http://85.215.59.9:80/

Part 3

(Hint – shortcut)

Add to top of Virtual Hosts configurations files:
Listen 80
Listen 8080

Show and edit Virtual Hosts configuration files

cd etc/apache2/sites-enabled/
cat *

![[Pasted image 20231205180200.png]]

nano etc/apache2/sites-enabled/site1.conf
nano etc/apache2/sites-enabled/site2.conf

Change “DocumentRoot” to your website folder
Change VirtualHost port of site2 to 8080

Disable default VirtualHosts config and enable new configs

a2dissite 000-default.conf
a2ensite site1.conf
a2ensite site2.conf

Edit ports (don’t need if used shortcut)

nano etc/apache2/ports.conf

Add to file:
Listen 80
Listen 8080

Check ports are working

systemctl reload apache2
ss -nat

Enable ports on server
Ionos…
Go to website
http://85.215.59.9:80/
http://85.215.59.9:8080/

DONE

Uncategorized

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

Uncategorized

Chrome Extension Development

Post author By IanHarcourtSmith
Post date August 24, 2021

How I built and published my own Chrome Extensions using JSON and JavaScript.

Overview

Over the weekend I decided to solve a small problem I had when using the Google Chrome web browser.

Problem – Some pages don’t have clickable links to middle mouse button into a new tab when I want to do something else.

Reason – I like to open a new tab in the Chrome web browser whenever I research or have an idea, normally I do this with the middle mouse button to click a link on the page such as the “home” button/ image link.

Solution – Open up a new tab of the current page whenever you right click anywhere on a page and select it from the context menu.

My example

Google Chrome Web Store page – Open page in new tab

Github repo – https://github.com/IanEarnest/OpenPageInNewTab

Helpful links – https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/manifest/

Setup

Create a folder with 2 files and 4 pictures

File 1 – manifest.json

File 2 – background.js

Pictures – .png files – 16×16, 32×32, 48×48, 128×128

-Code

{
“manifest_version”: 3,
“name”: “Open page in new tab”,
“version”: “1.0”,

“description”: “Add a context menu item to load a new tab of the current page URL.”,
“icons”: {
“16”: “icon16.png”,
“32”: “icon32.png”,
“48”: “icon48.png”,
“128”: “icon128.png”
},
“background”: {
“service_worker”: “background.js”
},
“permissions”: [
“contextMenus”
]
}

//When installed, add context menu item “-Open page in new tab”
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(newMenuItem);

//Clicked “-Open page in new tab”
chrome.contextMenus.onClicked.addListener(newTab);

function newMenuItem() {
chrome.contextMenus.create({
id: “MY_CONTEXT_MENU”,
title: “-Open page in new tab”,
type: “normal”,
contexts:[“all”]
});
}

function newTab(info, tab) {
chrome.tabs.create({
index: tab.index + 1,
url: tab.url //requires “tabs”
});
}

if (chrome.extension.lastError) {
console.log(“Got expected error: ” + chrome.extension.lastError.message);
}