oh, whilst were adding scripts that do our job for us...

apt-get update <- put that in your cron.daily directory ... The amount of times ive forgotten to run that file installed a program only to realise there is an update ....

lsof is also good for listing open files (this includes devices etc very useful for programs hogging a device)

lsof | grep /dev/dsp

I have to close some programs via that method because they lock my DSP