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Install the Indicator-Forceclose Applet in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (Apps Hang-up"Killer")

I honestly don't know if it's my old Laptop having 512MB of RAM, it's actually 480MB because the VGA card has taken 32MB (thanks Ati), but whenever I used both Firefox and Ubuntu software center, geeeeez, it just sucks.

They both work together extremely well by (especially that "Ubuntu Software Center") eating my RAM and most of the time, I have to kill Ubuntu software center. Although I don't use Unity that much yet even while on that Gnome classic desktop on Natty (condolences accepted) I make sure to use the excellent Gnome "Forcequit" applet.

Anyhow, for all you Unity fans, if you're looking for a similar, simple applet that can be used to forcefully "kill" all those notorious applications in Ubuntu, well then you'll be glad there is a very new utility called "Indicator-Forceclose" (which is actually a GUI for the old "xkill" command) for that exact purpose.

Just like with Gnome's Forcequit, whenever you're confronted by an application hang-up, "eh, them buggers >:(" ... just drag the Indicator-Forceclose and get rid of it!.

"Well come on then, let's kill some apps!" :)...

Installing instructions...

1. You can easily install it in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal by first downloading the package from here and extract its content.

2. Then go to that folder in your Terminal and enter the below command.
sudo python setup.py install
This should install it. If however you got an error message such as below one (as in my Laptop)...
To build indicator-forceclose you need https://launchpad.net/python-distutils-extra

3. In that case, enter the below command in your Terminal and let's install that "python distutils" package first.
sudo apt-get install python-distutils-extra

Now run the first command again, which should work and the Indicator-Forceclose should be installed. If it doesn't load automatically, then press "Alt" + "F2" keys and enter the below command int the box.
indicator-forceclose
Now you should see its icon as shown in the above screenshot. Enjoy!. 

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 17, 2011 at 8:35 PM

    it works, well done ;)
    a very handy thing to have - why they didnt include it in natty beats me....

    ReplyDelete
  2. GayanJune 18, 2011 at 7:38 AM

    @Anonymous,

    Thank you... we might see it in their future releases perhaps :D.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 26, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    Thanks man.... it works...

    ReplyDelete
  4. GayanJune 26, 2011 at 7:46 PM

    @Anonymous,

    lol... glad it helped you dude :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 10, 2011 at 12:56 AM

    great app, except that there is no obvious escape button or way to get out of it once you hit it, so you are forced to kill something no matter what.

    ReplyDelete
  6. GayanJuly 10, 2011 at 11:59 AM

    @Anonymous,

    Yeah... the "esc" key doesn't work but you can still cancel it by right-clicking (wored for me anyway)...

    ReplyDelete