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I followed the instructions that in Install gnome 3.8 in Ubuntu 13.04 and then after restarting many programmes stopped working and fails to start like Rhythombox / Cairo dock / Totem / Weather / Empathy

Is there any way to cancel what I did or remove installed packages? They're a lot of packages (about 90 MB) and I can't purge them because I can not remember them all.

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marked as duplicate by Mitch, Rinzwind, Thomas W., user68186, MestreLion May 9 '13 at 21:30


@Radu The OP is asking if there is a way to restore system to a previous state, and not how to backup/restore a system. –  Mitch May 9 '13 at 19:37
yes, we call it making a backup :=) –  Rinzwind May 9 '13 at 19:40
@Mitch Sorry, I rushed –  Radu Rădeanu May 9 '13 at 19:40

2 Answers 2

You can get the list of recently installed packages that were installed via apt-get or Software Center by following command:


you can see all the packages from it and then remove them.

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  1. Backup any data that you want.
  2. Shut down your PC.
  3. Insert installation disk/usb turn on PC.
  4. Bring up boot menu, set to boot from CD-ROM/USB.
  5. set to delete the other ubuntu/ delete partition.

this is the ubuntu equivalent of a system restore.

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This is poor, don't do it. –  RolandiXor May 9 '13 at 21:35
