Updating my Linux Machine

This post is as much for my own reference as anyone else's use. Hopefully I can at least point people in the direction of what has helped me.

Network Card

I have a RealTek network card, which doesn't play nice with Linux by default. This site solved it: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=80757#p469071

In case that link dies, the relevant portion is: 

If you are using kernel 3.0 you'll notice that the /src/Makefile has a bug that causes it to install the r8168.o file instead of the r8168.ko file

The solution is simple:

After the autorun.sh finishes, just do the following:

sudo cp src/r8168.ko   /lib/modules/3.0.0-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/
sudo depmod
sudo modprobe r8168