Method 1: Using Activity Log Manager
Ubuntu Precise 12.04
In Ubuntu Precise Activity Log Manager 0.9 is included by default. It can be accessed from System Settings or just by looking for Privacy.
Or you can simply type Privacy in Dash
Now you can start blacklisting applications. Screenshots
Activity Log Manager in Oneiric and first release
You can install Activity Log Manager from the Stable PPA.
For more details about Activity Log Manager you should check out the article on OMG! Ubuntu! and article on Webupd8
A new version of Activity Log Manager is in development which looks better and is simpler to use. A screenshot of the unreleased Activity Log Manager
Method 2: Using Gnome Activity Journal
You can do it, provided that there is some pattern in the files. For example you have kept all your explicit content in folder /home/mrpig/erotica/
folder.
Then open Activity Journal which is a GUI frontend to Zeitgeist which acts as a Dashboard showing your recent activities. On top right Zeitgeist Icon, click it and Preferences. Check "Blacklist Manager" plugin
Then goto "BlackList Manager" tab.
Click on New button, and then edit the new entry which comes as file:///home/mrpig/erotica/*
Linked Question:
- Hidden files are shown in Dash
I found the unity-place-python sample code and used that to create a lens to search your filesystem. It's currently kinda unstable, but you can search for files and you usually get results.
You can access the lens in the Unity Launcher. You can see it here where I'm searching for "lecture".
The magnifying glass in the bottom left corner is the FileSearch Lens. (The icon changes based on your icon theme.) The lens shows files and folders in two separate sections.
You can add it to your main dash (Ubuntu button) by setting ShowGlobal=true
in /usr/share/unity/places/filesearch.place
. Unfortunately, Unity doesn't currently have a way to customize what lenses are in the Dash.
The files and folders sections are combined in the dash under the heading "File Search".
Config
When filesearch-lens first runs, it will create a config file ~/.filesearch.cfg
. You can customize the directories to search, how deep to search, and what folders to ignore.
For example, here's my config:
[search]
#dirs = a comma separated list of folders to search
dirs = ~/data
#depth = how deep from / to search
depth = 5
[ignore]
#pattern = python-style regex for directories to ignore
pattern = ^\.|^bin$|^lib$|^apps$|^settings$|^eclipse$
I want it to search ~/data and two directories below it and to ignore all dotfiles and some other specific folders. (Note: No, it's not smart enough to not search the same folders if you give it nested folders like ~/,~/code
, so don't do that.)
If you change the config file, you need to restart the daemon to reload it:
killall unity-filesearch-daemon
Install
I packaged it so you can download it from my ppa.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pydave/unity-lenses
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-place-filesearch
Then you need to reset unity before the lens will be noticed:
setsid unity
Experimental Features
If you give it a path, it usually shows the path as one of the results (so you can open folders like you could in gnome-do).
One of the features I'm still trying to get working properly is the ability to type a path, a space, and then a search word to search in the path. Most of the time it works, but sometimes it fails to find anything (probably because the search is taking forever).
Best Answer
OK, so; I formatted my HDD again, just to start from scratch again. Here's the whole story:
After successfully installing Ubuntu 11.10 i386 on my Lenovo T400 ThinkPad;
Install dependencies (needed for Google Chrome and Gnome Shell)
Install Gnome Shell
Install Gnome Tweak Tool
Once installed, it should show up as "Advanced Settings" in the menu.
Optional Install Gnome Contacts
Note: not included in Ubuntu, but somehow shows some contacts in DASH as search results; but won't open anything when clicked, unless you install this.
Optional Install Gnome Sushi (a MacOS X'-ish spacebar file previewer)
Here's the important part, as of now, if I dare search "hard"... I'll get a mixed bag from hardware apps to other kind of hard stuff I wouldn't want to be shown in there.
So, let's install Activity Log Manager:
Install Activity Log Manager
After this, I added "the folder" to the "pseudo-blacklist", and no luck. That's because this would only block it out of the Activity Log. Not Dash, and not search.
This one is nothing but the GUI for Zeitgeist.
At this point; nothing has happened. Dash still shows whatever I'd browsed before, and whatever I browse now, will show.
Remove the "recently used" file, and turn it into a folder (right?)
After this last step; Dash won't shoe your previously browsed files, and, won't show your new browes files, plus, activity log manager won't be tracking whatever you set it to. No more "Recently opened" section in Dash, and now the beautiful Activity Journal will actually be useful!
Done! This actually worked for me, at least has until now (just a couple of hours), hopefully, it'll stay that way. If it stops working, I suppose I'll let you know.
Apparently, Sean Houlihane was right, thanks man.