A long and opinionated semi-rant. (You expected anything different?! :-)

I like GNU/Linux and Unix systems in part because they allow me to configure things so the OS gets out of my way. I'm not an idiot. I understand how a hard drive's directory -- err, I mean "folder" -- system is organized. I also know how to type. Not hen-peck or the type of "typing" that I see many users do; I mean I know how to type -- with all 10 fingers! And on a DVORAK keyboard layout, no less.

But I see Firefox/Iceweasel as being "Windows-ized". It's being dumbed down for idiots.

This document describes how to set up TrueCrypt 5.1a on Debian Etch (GNOME). Taken from the TrueCrypt page: "TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted volume (data storage device). On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys. Entire file system is encrypted (e.g., file names, folder names, contents of every file, free space, meta data, etc)."

SSHMenu is a panel applet for GNOME that allows users to connect to remote computers over SSH with a single click.

Adobe Acrobat is a commercial tool for manipulating PDF files. Earlier I was using CUPs - printing system, to export PDF files. I’ve also tried out gv for the same purpose. However, I needed complete editing of pdf documents. My search ended with PDFedit software, which is free and open source editor for manipulating PDF documents. The software available in both GUI and CLI (commandline) interface.

Linux PDF editor - PDFEdit Software

You probably know this: you power on your machine, and immediately after you've logged in you manually start your two or three favourite applications. Why not have the system start these applications for you automatically? This short guide shows how to accomplish this under GNOME.

http://www.howtoforge.com/make-desktop-applications-start-automatically-gnome