How to get file seach working properly in Linux Mate Mint

Whoever decided to cripple the default search (mate-search-tool) should be shot out of a cannon. 
The default search searched through a database which was only update once a day via cron.  This can be evidenced by performing a seach and noticing that little in the way of HDD access is occuring (it not really searching).  Also there is not ovbious way to change the search preferences like in MS windows.
Why perform a search when it does not turn up 100% correct results.  The trade over speed and accuracy is idiotic and pathetic, even the MS file search provides better results.

Here's how to fix it.

open mateconf-editor and navigate to /apps/mate-search-tool/
check off; disable_quick_search, show_additional_options

now open mate-search-tool and take a look!  Looks nice and actually works, searches attached usb drives and the lot.

references:
man locate
man updatedb

WindyCityTech Blogger
WindyWindyCityTech Wordpress

How to stop avahi-daemon from advertising on a network

The problem exists when a box decides to tell everyone on the network "hey, I have a VNC / SSH / Remote Disk connection, come and try me out!"  This can be evidenced by running the command 'avahi-browse -a' on the host pc with the services being advertised.

Some people go to lengths to kill of the daemon all-together, but there are some things avahi-daemon does with can be beneficial, other than advertising services.  Also killing off the avahi-daemon during runtime is difficult as alot of other things like talk to it.

All you need to do is modify the /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf file.

uncomment and edit the line to read:
disable-publishing=yes

And then restart the service to make the changes stick
sudo service avahi-daemon restart

from the man page avahi-daemon.conf
disable-publishing= Takes a boolean value ("yes" or "no"). If set to "yes", no record will be  published  by Avahi, not even address records for the local host. Avahi will be started in a querying- only mode. Use this is a security measure. This option defaults to "no"

It's not all beer and skittles, clients looking for services on the host may throw up errors sometimes.

references:
man avahi-daemon
mon avahi-daemon.conf

WindyCityTech Blogger
WindyWindyCityTech Wordpress