Create USB boot flash for win 7

Here are the steps:

1. Run a command prompt with admin privileges
2. Run diskpart
3. Use "list" to list detected disks and select the proper one by using "select disk #". It should be easy to know the exact disk number you are going to use by checking the size of the disk.
   • "clean" - remove partitions
   • "create partition primary"
   • "select partition 1"
   • "active"
   • "fornat fs=ntfs quick" - in case you would not like quick format, just remove it.
   • "assign" - give it a drive letter
   • "exit"
4. Insert your Windows 7 installation disc into the DVD-ROM. Suppose the DVD-ROM is located at drive D: and the USB disc is located at drive E:, run the below commands in the command prompt:
   • "d:"
   • "cd d:\boot"
   • bootsect /nt60 e:
   If everything is find, you should see something like "Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode."
5. Copy all content on the Windows DVD disc to the USB drive. The autorun.inf can be ignored if your antivirus software does not like it.

That's all. Try to boot your computer with the USB drive and enjoy.

Make an "Unidentified Network" in Windows 7 as a private network

The place of an unidentified network in Windows 7 is by default set to public. To make unidentified network as a private network, follow the following steps:

1. Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy
2. Network List Manager Policies -> Unidentified Network
3. Set Location Type to Private
4. Optionally, set User permissions to a preferred one

Ubuntu: Disable GDM

Here is an elegant way to disable GDM in Ubuntu

(as root) update-rc.d -f gdm remove

If you want it back:

(as root) update-rc.d -f gdm defaults