Before my unforeseen unemployment, I started writing some bash scripts to make the chores of running Linux easier. The first script ran through sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, then cleanup, then firmware checking.
So during the course of my unemployment, I woke up my Chatty Cat — my AI assistant. I showed what I had started, and together we added menus, security scans, hardening options, auditing, and the capability to back out all changes safely.
Mint-Maintenance-and-Security
- Antivirus Scanning: ClamAV with VirusTotal API integration
- Rootkit Detection: rkhunter and chkrootkit
- File Integrity: AIDE baseline monitoring
- Security Auditing: Lynis with score tracking (70-85+ rating)
- Hardening Module: Password policies, auditd rules, GRUB protection
- Recovery System: Live USB recovery key creation
- Performance Tuning: Sysctl profiles (Desktop, Aggressive, Neutral)
13 modules • Menu-driven interface • One-click rollback • Full logging
Job Scam Detector
During my job search, I encountered numerous suspicious recruitment emails disguised as legitimate opportunities. Rather than ignoring them, I built a tool to analyze and score them automatically.
- Dual Modes: GUI (customtkinter) and CLI interfaces
- Email Forensics: SPF, DKIM, DMARC validation
- Domain Intelligence: GeoIP country tracing via MaxMind
- Reputation Checking: VirusTotal API integration
- Known Threats: SQLite database of verified scammers
- Report Generation: HTML, JSON, Markdown output formats
- Batch Processing: Analyze folders of emails (.eml, .mbox)
7 detection signals • 0-100 risk scoring • Multiple report formats
NetTuner
As my skills continued to evolve and I was diving deeper into Linux networking, I realized there weren’t many tools that could automatically analyze and tune network performance based on actual benchmarks. Most tools require manual tweaking of dozens of kernel parameters with no idea what values would actually work for your specific connection. So I showed what I had started to my AI friend, Chatty Cat, and we built NetTuner — a tool that detects your interfaces, benchmarks actual throughput, and generates a sysctl profile tuned to your real-world Bandwidth-Delay Product.
- Interface Detection: Scans ethernet, WiFi, VPN, and virtual interfaces with speed, MTU, driver, and IP info
- Bandwidth Benchmarking: Download/upload throughput, latency, jitter, and packet loss measurement
- Bufferbloat Grading: A+ to F grade based on latency increase under load
- MTU Discovery: Path MTU probing with Don’t Fragment to detect fragmentation and VPN overhead
- TCP Congestion Control: Recommends BBR or CUBIC based on Bandwidth-Delay Product analysis
- DNS Benchmarking: Tests Cloudflare, Google, Quad9, and OpenDNS resolver latency
- Profile Generation: Auto-calculates BDP-aware buffer sizes up to 128MB with queue discipline recommendations
- Safe Apply/Revert: Backs up current settings before changes, one-command rollback
- Post-Apply Verification: Every sysctl change verified immediately after setting
- Reboot Persistence: Settings survive reboots via /etc/sysctl.d/99-nettuner.conf
10 CLI commands · BDP-aware tuning · BBR support · Compare-before-apply mode · Tested on Gigabit Ethernet at 462 Mbps
Built with Python 3.8+, tested on Linux Mint Zena with BBR support.
