It is a good idea to keep your system as lean as possible by installing only the software you really need and do in fact use regurarly. This is all good in theory, but what can you do with the crap that comes preinstalled with your operating system?
How to upgrade to Windows 10 version 2004 if the option is not available in Windows Update on your machine?
As of the writing of this post, Windows 10 version 2004 is the latest release of Windows 10 dubbed as the 2020 May update. While it was available to some through Windows Update since May, many still only see a notification that it will be available soon.
Unofficial FAQ for the Philips SHB3075 Bluetooth Headphones
I hate cables on my desk. I despise them and the only thing I hate about a desktop computer is all the cables sticking out of it. Unfortunately, those cables are required for electricity, the webcam, fast internet, and the huge monitor I'm looking at right now. Getting rid of just one them by using Bluetooth headphones might make the hassle of setting pairing, turning on and off, and charging every day worth the trouble. Especially because I might just be able to use the same headphones on my home desktop, phone, and work laptop.
Additional tools for the project manager in 2020 for maximum productivity
Even if you are stuck in the home office during the pandemic, you need to be super organized if you want to be a successful project manager. Not only it is a must to know everything about your projects, but you also have to be accurate and fast when retrieving and processing data to earn the trust of your boss, coworkers and clients.
Prettify Ubuntu 20.04
The Unity desktop was quite a big step forward in usability and design back when it came out (at least in my opinion), but by the end of the decade, the reskinned Gnome 3 environment became quite dated compared to the competitors. There are things in both macOS (window decorations) and Windows 10 that I like way more, but I also want to keep Ubuntu for the speed and stability.
Using your Android phone as a webcam for Ubuntu 20.04 with DroidCam
During the current pandemic, the home office suddenly became the preferred mode of work. This, of course, caused a huge increase in webcam prices and shortages in supply. I ran into the same problem and my laptop camera was no viable alternative either with its subpar quality. Luckily, there is a way to use my better-than-average phone camera for conference calls with the desktop computer running Ubuntu.
Chrome extensions for Q2 2020
I always used a lot of extensions with Google Chrome to tailor it to my liking and to streamline my workflow. This was especially true when I was working as a web developer as I needed a lot of tools that are otherwise completely unnecessary for everyday use. Let's see what I still use in May 2020.
Creating an installer for Windows from your JAR file to easily distribute your Java project
Your first Java project finally runs from the command line and you want to share it with your friends to show the spectacular progress you made. All you need to do is to create a compressed jar file and send it to them, right? Not quite as in case they have no Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed or have a different version from the one you used, all they will get is a criptic error message.
Setting up your AMD video card in Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 20.04 just arrived with fractional scaling of the desktop available from the settings. Yes, you have to turn it on first to be able to choose fractional scaling of 125% or 150%, but finally you don't have to edit gnome settings to do this. Also, this time it might work as intended too...
Exporting to WebP image format from GIMP in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
WebP is an image format employing both lossy and lossless compression currently developed by Google. It is great if you want that slight advantage when you look at your SEO scores, but not so great (yet) for Facebook share images. The problem is, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS comes with GIMP 2.8 by default and this version cannot export to the WebP format.