Are you looking for ways to optimize your Linux system and make it run faster? There are many ways and tools to do this, and Stacer includes everything you need to monitor, clean, and optimize your Linux installation. Let’s see how.
Installation
On Ubuntu, you can install Stacer with:
Arch fans will need to look to AUR for its installation.
On Fedora and Red Hat, you can download the Stacer RPM file from its exit page, then install it with:
sudo rpm --install stacer*.rpm --nodeps --force
It’s probably easier, however, to use DNF:
Once it’s installed, you can find it among the rest of your installed software and launch it, or use the stacer command in a terminal.
Real time information
Stacer’s interface offers ten different pages, accessible via a list of icons to the left of its window. The first page, which welcomes you when you run Stacer for the first time, presents real-time information about your CPU, memory, disk, and bandwidth usage. These are accompanied by static information about your system, such as your hostname and kernel, in the lower left corner.
Are your processor, memory, and disk usage too high? You will probably need to visit the rest of the Stacer pages for maintenance.
Startup apps and services
The second page, with a rocket icon, lets you manage startup apps after you log into your desktop. You can also add new applications that you want to start automatically using the blue “Add Starter Application” button at the bottom right of the window.
In our case, this window didn’t show anything because we didn’t have any application starting automatically.
The Services page, accessed through the fifth icon with both speeds, is similar in that it allows you to enable or disable items that start automatically. Instead of apps, however, as the title suggests, it’s about services.
You can use the two drop-down menus at the top to make the list show only active or inactive services, and use the two switches to the right of each service to turn it on or off. The first switch controls whether the service starts automatically. The second allows you to start and stop services at will.
Please make sure you know what each service you disable does. Some are crucial for the operating system itself.
Disc cleaning
With Stacer, it’s easy to recover some of your precious storage occupied by unnecessary files. Visit Stacer’s third page, System Cleaner, with the brush icon.
Activate what you want the program to clean by clicking the check mark icon under each category. Otherwise, to enable all types of cleaning, click “Select All” at the bottom of this page.
Click the button with the magnifying glass to have Stacer locate these unnecessary files. After a while, Stacer will report. Check the results and select what you want to remove by clicking the check mark to the left of each entry.
As before, there is also a “Select All” option at the bottom left of the list, to mark everything for cleaning with one click. We suggest you go through the list though, as it may contain a log or package that you might want to keep. To remove everything in Stacer’s System Cleaner list, click on the big blue circular button with the brush at the bottom of the window.
Manage packages and repositories
The seventh icon will take you to the Stacer uninstall page, from where you can remove the installed packages. If you are also using instant packages, Stacer will list them in a secondary list, accessible from a button at the top left. It also offers a search feature, at the top right, to help you locate specific packages.
To uninstall a package, select it by clicking on the check mark to its left. Then click on the “Uninstall Selected” button at the bottom center of the window. Note that you can also select multiple packages.
Skip two icons, and if you click on the 10th icon, with a rough approximation of a workbook, you will come across Stacer’s APT Repository Manager. You can control all your software sources from here.
As in the previous pages, you can enable or disable a repository by clicking on the switch icon to the right of its entry. Two buttons at the bottom left allow you to edit or delete the selected entry. A button “Add a repository” at the bottom right allows you to extend it with more repositories.
When you try to quit Stacer, it will ask you if you want to minimize it to the system tray. Since it consumes more resources than it consumes in a terminal or desktop panel widget to monitor your system, we find no reason to keep Stacer in the background.
Stacer gives you control over more aspects of your system. Yet, these are the ones we consider most important for cleaning and keeping your distribution in good working order.
If you are using Ubuntu, here are some ways to keep a clean and lean Ubuntu machine.
Related:
OK’s real life began around 10 am, when he got his first computer – a Commodore 128. Since then, he’s been melting down keys typing 24/7, trying to get The Word Of Tech out to anyone enough. interested to listen. Or rather read.
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