Tweak Your Ubuntu The Easy Way

If you are constantly confused over the command line, and wanted to look for an easy way to tweak your Ubuntu, then Ubuntu Tweak is definitely the application for you.

Ubuntu Tweak allows you to tweak many desktop and system settings without going to the terminal. It provides a single access point for you to change some of the hidden Ubuntu settings that are not available during your default desktop installation.

UT is currently designed for Ubuntu GNOME desktop only.

Install Ubuntu Tweak

Download the deb file from http://ubuntu-tweak.com/downloads. (As of this post, the latest version is ubuntu-tweak_0.3.5-1~ppa1_all.deb).

Double click on the deb file to install the package.

Once installed, go to Applications->System Tools -> Ubuntu Tweak to load Ubuntu Tweak

Tweak options

System Information

You can view your system information.

Install apps

Under the ‘Computer’ section, you can add/remove Ubuntu apps and install the widely used applications such as AWN, Opera, Skype and Compiz Fuzion.

Manage your session

Some of the session control that you can tweak include save changes to session, show logout prompt and show splash screen. In Ubuntu hardy, the splash screen is disabled by default. If you enjoy seeing splash screen, you can enable it by checking the box beside ‘Show Splash Screen‘ and click on the big image icon to insert your own image.

You can also decide which applications to autostart when you login to your Ubuntu.  Unless you know what you are doing, it is not a good idea to disable some of the services.

Desktop settings

While there are many tutorials out there teaching you how to set your home folder as the desktop, or to show the ‘My Computer‘ on the desktop, what you really need to know is how to check the option box in this desktop tweaking section.

Personal setting

If you don’t like the way Ubuntu organize your folder, you can change the setting here.

Or you can enable some of the commonly used scripts on the context menu for easy retrieval. Some useful scripts include

Open with gedit (root) – Great when you want to edit system files as root

Move to – Move files easily

Copy to – Copy files to destination faster

Configuring your own keyboard shortcut

If you want to define your own set of keyboard shortcut, rather than using the default shortcut set by Ubuntu, you can do it here:

Power Management

Configure how Ubuntu manage your hibernation and power management when you are idle

Although Ubuntu Tweak does not allow you to tweak all the settings in Ubuntu, it does gives you an easy way to play around with some of the commonly used settings, without breaking the system. I am sure many users will appreciate this application, and hopefully, it can be included as part of the default package in Ubuntu.

What’s your say?