tech | FLATHEADenterprises

4 More Free Software Picks

by reeljerc

Categories: software, tech

Tags: antimalware, foobar, free software, httrack, malware, malwarebytes, malwarebytes.org, media player, notepad++

Comments: 2 Comments

Published on: October 23, 2009

Anti-Malware, Web Development Tools and Entertainment

My aversion to paying for anything software related results in countless hours scouring the internet for useful FREE software. Each of the programs listed below not only rock but are absolutely free, however, it would be nice if you threw a couple bucks at them if you appreciate their efforts.

Came across a great anti-malware program, not by mistake. Just so you know, my internet surfing behavior could be described as daring, controlled recklessness or idiotic. The fact is, I’m convinced I can fix anything computer related, real or imagined, and I’ll die believing that, regardless of the veracity of the sentiment.

Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes.org

My admitted unsafe internet surfing practices led to infection by a nasty little trojan. After 2 minutes of googling, I found Malwarebytes.org which erradicated the infection. I had to run it 3 or 4 times, but it did the job.

HTTrack Website Copier

HHtrack.com

As a Web Designer, Web Developer, it can be advantageous to gain an understanding as to how Pros put their sites together. HTTrack downloads the entire html translated site. Protected or encrypted directories won’t download, but most of the files and directories will. Great tool. Or,what if you like the content of a particular site? Whatever content that is?

Or, what if you want to use elements of a particular site? Need I go on?

Notepad++ Source Code Editor

Notepad++

Taken from their site:

Notepad++ is a free (as in “free speech” and also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.

Based on a powerful editing component Scintilla, Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size. By optimizing as many routines as possible without losing user friendliness, Notepad++ is trying to reduce the world carbon dioxide emissions. When using less CPU power, the PC can throttle down and reduce power consumption, resulting in a greener environment.

Foobar2000

foobar2000.org

So many of the media players available have more bells and whistles than one could want or use. Foobar2000 is a Windows based media player with cool features, but it keeps it simple. I use it for it’s simplicity and that it adopts all the codecs on my machine. No ups, no extras just music how you want to hear it.

No big deal this post, just some cool stuff.

Have fun.

10 Must-Have WordPress Plugins

by reeljerc

Categories: software, tech, wordpress

Tags: 10 best wordpress plugins, akismet, all-in-one-seo-pack, bad behavior, bad behaviour, clean options, contact form 7, google analyticator, my page order, reveal ids for wp admins, tinymce, wordpress blog, wordpress plugins

Comments: 3 Comments

Published on: September 14, 2009

Keep your WordPress blog running smooth and optimized with 10 of the most useful plugins available.

As of WP version 2.8.4 these plugins are used for every WordPress website/blog I set up. My goal is to work as efficiently and expediently as possible. Each of these plugins help achieve that goal and will increase your productivity in a meaningful way.

1. Akismet

Akismet is included with the default install of wordpress. It catches spam comments so they don’t clog up your bandwidth, compromise your server or infect your viewers computers. All that’s required is to visit WordPress.com and register for an API Key. I use the same API Key for every WordPress application I create.

2. All in One SEO Pack

All in One is a simple Search Engine Optimization plugin that works. Headspace is also an effective plugin, and I’ve used both, but my preference is All in One primarily because I find that I personally don’t use all the bells and whistles that come with Headspace and I haven’t noticed any measurable difference between the two.

3. Bad Behavior

Bad Behavior is a gatekeeper that compliments Akismet and other spam solutions by utilizing a PHP based solution for blocking link spam and the robots that deliver it.

4. Clean Options

As WordPress progresses, updates are necessary to stay current and remain secure and functional. There are times when you will experiment with different plugins, but as time and WP versions march on, some plugins will be rendered incompatible with updated version. Most likely an alternate solution will become available, but you’ll still have deprecated plugin remnants in your database that could conflict with your current application or new plugins. Clean options finds the orphaned database entries and gives you the opportunity to remove them, thus keeping your database free of unnecessary clutter.

5. Contact Form 7

Contact forms are a necessity, not an option, for any serious blog. Contact Form 7 is a simple, yet highly customizable contact form that is easy to configure and easy to place on it’s own separate page, included in a post or in the sidebar.

6. Google Analyticator

This plugin adds the necessary JavaScript code to enable Google Analytics on your blog. Google Analytics is the most comprehensive FREE web traffic analyzer available.

7. Maintenance Mode

Whether you’re in the initial development stages or you need to perform a major overhaul of your blog, Maintenance Mode is a great way to let your visitors know that your blog is down temporarily. Maintenance mode is customizable in that it accepts html code and gives you the ability to tell your visitors when to check back.

8. My Page Order

Blogs are dynamic and living documents by design and as the pages come and go you’ll want control over the order in which they are presented in your menu bar or navigation bar. You can change the order by digging into the PHP code, but why bother when someone else has designed this great time-saving plugin for you. My Page Order adds a link in the Pages section of your WordPress back-end, all you have to do is click and drag to rearrange the order.

9. Reveal IDs for WP Admins

Referencing posts, pages or other components of your blog are made simpler by Reveal ID’s. While this plugin is designed for the more advanced user, there are a few plugins (notably: Featured Content Gallery) that require this plugin to work.

10. TinyMCE

TinyMCE is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that adds an enormous amount of flexibility for the writer/blogger. The ability to create and format tables, enhanced font control and multitude of useful formatting elements not available in the standard WP editor. Each of these functions can be accomplished using the html interface, but for time saving and ease of use, TinyMCE is one my favorites.

There are literally thousands of WordPress plugins to substantially increase the usability, flexibility and ease of use for the developer, blogger and visitor. This small sample represents the basics for any initial setup. Suggestions, comments or questions are welcome.

peace.

Quick Filezilla Primer – Go In, Get Out, Nobody Gets Hurt

by reeljerc

Categories: software, tech, tutorial

Tags: file transfer protocol, filezilla, free software, ftp, ftp programs, web server, website, wordpress

Comments: 1 Comment

Published on: September 2, 2009

Filezilla is one of the best FTP programs available, and totally free. It doesn’t get much better than that.

There’s no better compliment to a WordPress (or any, for that matter) blog than FileZilla. This primer will show how easy it is to transfer files from your computer to your website quickly and easily.

1. Download and Install FileZilla – (download)

FileZilla is available for Windows (2k – Windows 7), Linux and Mac (Requires OS X 10.5 or newer)

2. FileZilla Interface

The image below describes the functions of each window of the interface. Transferring files is as easy as right-mouse clicking on the file and selecting “upload”. Take a minute to review the image.

3. Configure FileZilla for your website

Click on File>Site Manager
Click on the “New Site” Button just below the “Select Entry” window. A new entry will appear and be highlighted under “My Sites” in the “Select Entry” window.
Rename the new entry to whatever you want (something close to the site name could work, but it’s up to you)
In the top right of the Site Manager window are four tabs; General, Advanced, Transfer Settings and Charset. General is the only tab you need, the default settings suffice 99.99% of the time. (I’ve never had to adjust any of the other settings in the 9 years I’ve been using FileZilla)
In the Host: textfield (see below) type in the domain name of your site without the http://www (make sure to include the .com|.net|etc)
Servertype: should be set at FTP – File Transfer Protocol
Set Logontype: to Normal
User: is your FTP user name
Password: is, well your FTP password

important – User names and passwords ARE case-sensitive and there can be NO spaces between letters or words.

That should be all you have to do. Once those fields are filled in, you click on the “Connect” button and you should be in and ready to start transferring files.

FileZilla Site Manager

4. Transferring Files

Basically, you’re moving files/folders (directories) from your computer (window 4 above) to your web server (window 5 above). The left side of the FileZilla interface is your computer, and the right side is the web server or remote site. You can do that by right-mouse clicking the files/folders(directories) and selecting “upload”. You can control-click or shift-click a group of files/folders(directories) and right-mouse click or you can even click and drag files/f0lders(directories) from anywhere else into the remote site file window (window 5 above). Window 6 will show you the status of your transfers.

5. A little more about how it works

When you first connect via FileZilla, you could get confused by all the folders/directories on your remote site/web server. If a number of folders/directories appear, the only ones you’re concerned with is “www” or “public_html”. Double click on that folder/directory and upload your files to there. Very often, both directories exist, if that’s the case upload to the “www” folder/directory.

If the “www” or “public_html” folders don’t exist, than you are in the root directory, upload your site there.

EVERY HOME PAGE IS ACTUALLY A FILE NAMED “INDEX” OR “DEFAULT” (example: index. htm, index.html, index.php, index.asp, default.asp, default.html, default.htm). If that file does not exist in your root directory, than users can not visit your website.

You’ll notice I always used folders/directories in the descriptions above. We’re used seeing folders on our computers, but they are always directories. On a web server, directories is more accurate terminology.

In the FileZilla interface image above, you see a number of directories. Those are the directories in my flathead site. The first directory is 4sale. If you were to open a browser and type http://www.flatheadenterprises.com/4sale in the address pane, it will take you to the contents of that directory. I have an index.html file in that directory, so you’re browser can read it, otherwise, it’s likely you’d get an error message.

FileZilla does not recognize changes you’ve made while the FileZilla application is open. For example, if you add an image to a folder that you’re working on while FileZilla is open, it will not automatically recognize it. You’ll need to either close and reopen the application, or as I do, click on some other folder than go back to the folder the image (or whatever) you added is in. There’s no automatic refresh nor is there a refresh button.

6. Backing up your site is a breeze

To me, this the best part. You’ve been working for days/weeks/months to get your site to a place where it’s really cool. But nothing is forever, and if you’re talking electronics, anything can happen at any moment. Create a folder on your computer called something crazy like “site-backup-(date)”. Open FileZilla, select all files and folders and download it to that folder. It’s gonna take a while, but you don’t have to wait for it, so go see what you have saved on DVR and check back later cause it’s all getting done. Afterward, burn it to a CD/DVD and you’re completely backed up. If you are using wordpress or some other database driven website application, than exporting the .sql file and saving that completes the backup, but if you know what that stuff is already, you probably already know this stuff anyway.

Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, love to help.

peace.

Internet Surfing Basics – Rules

by reeljerc

Categories: tech, tutorial

Tags: anti-spy, anti-virus, free software, hacker exploits, internet security, internet surfing, microsoft windows, virus

Comments: No Comments

Published on: January 22, 2009

Grown children are buying computers for their parents to improve communication. Many of the “long-in-tooth” crowd pick it right up. Others, not so much. This series is intended for the absolute beginner, but you might get something out of it too.

Overview

The internet continues to grow in importance in our daily lives. It offers us an opportunity to retrieve a seemingly infinite amount of information. Every dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, news source and educational institution in the world is at your fingertips (literally). It has enabled immediacy in social communication and business applications. But it can also lead to hours of hair-pulling, expletive-bellowing frustration. This guide can serve as a quick resource for those times when your hair and your dignity are threatened. So, let’s get started:

RULE #1

SECURITY

Internet Security Safe surfing means having a basic understanding of what dangers exist and how they affect you. Viruses, spyware, malware and adware affect Microsoft Windows computers primarily. Hackers are indiscriminate, but the vast majority of hackers typically attempt to compromise Windows machines. Due to the architecture of Microsoft software and operating system, more opportunities exist for the hacker to exploit Windows, than in Linux machines or Macs.

The specific definitions of spyware, malware, et al; are unimportant. The idea is to know what to look for, avoid them when possible and/or remove them once they’ve landed on your computer. Avoiding them means knowing what not to click on, removing them is the practice of cleaning out your machine from time to time.

Some adware and spyware are unavoidable annoyances, but not much of a threat. Viruses, malware, key-loggers and rootkits on the other hand can pose a serious security risk. The repercussions of an infection from these little programs, which is what they are, can range from annoying and/or embarrassing pop-ups to the compromise of your bank accounts and all of your personal information. Notice I didn’t say “some” or “a little bit of.”

If that last sentence scared you, GOOD. The hackers still have the upper hand, but, that doesn’t mean you have to be afraid of surfing the internet. There are tools you can use and techniques you can employ to protect your privacy.

First Line of Defense:

Put a router in between your computer and your modem. Even if there’s only one computer in the house, a router is a hardware firewall which effectively anonymizes the ip address of your computer. Software firewalls, like the Windows Security Center, are easily compromised and highly ineffective.

To other computers, your computer is a series of numbers called an ip address. Each computer has a unique ip address, sort of like a fingerprint. The internet is really just a bunch of computers all connected together in a network. The network is made up of Servers and Clients. Servers direct all the traffic, track and log activity and store information. Clients are users, like you.

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When you open a browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, etc) you make a call or a request to a Server, which is typically your Internet Service Provider or ISP. The Server sends your request to it’s intended destination which is usually a website that resides on a Server somewhere else. Your identifier, in the form of your ip address is stored on every server you visit and are directed to, and through.

Hacker Exploits

When one of these bad programs or a hacker obtains the ip address of your actual computer it/they begin a series of searches for what’s called open ports. Your computer has over 10,000 ports that are used by different programs on your computer for a variety of functions, but most often they are used as a portal for a specific program to communicate with other components via the internet or network.

Hackers, both white-hat (good guys, right) and black-hat, have found vulnerabilities in the code used to actuate these processes and have developed what are called exploits to attempt to break in or compromise a computer system.

That’s one reason Microsoft regularly sends out updates. Updates many times are patches or fixes to their own code which repair the vulnerabilities. That’s why anyone in IT recommends updating your system regularly.

Your Router is the Gatekeeper

The benefit of putting a router between your computer and your modem, is that a router adopts the ip address and basically becomes the gatekeeper between you and the internet. A router is a small computer that only runs one program, typically utilizing the Linux OS, which is extremely difficult to hack if not impossible.

Therefore, hacker exploits are stopped at the gate as it were, unless you inadvertently let them in by clicking on the wrong link.

Just Say No To Pop-ups

If you see a pop-up that you weren’t expecting, close it. On my F REE Guide to Internet Security, I show several examples of fake system messages. Unfortunately, the bad guys have gotten good at replicating actual websites and system messages. If you are unsure, Google can be your best friend. Look at the message and either write down the contents of the message or open up a separate browser tab or window and do a Google search based on the message. Please read my FREE Guide for more info.

Impostor Links/Sites

Another point of entry is through email and Impostor Links. Impostor links lead to Impostor sites which look exactly like Bank, Credit Card, etc sites, but are clones whose sole intent is to get your information.

One way to check whether or not a link is an imposter is to place your mouse pointer over the link, without clicking on it and look at the web address in the bottom left-hand corner of your browser window as illustrated below.

click on pic to enlarge

By looking at the link you can find clues as to whether or not the link is real. For instance, most websites in the US end in .com, .net, .org, .biz or .info. Below are some examples:

http://www.bankofamerica.com – (real link to real site)
http://de.bankofamerica.com – (fake)
http://www.bankofamerica.de.com – (fake)
http://www.bankofamerica.com.ru – (fake)
http://www.bankofamerica.info.ru.com – (fake)

ISP spam, virus and phishing filters have improved, but every now and then something will slip through and it pays, literally to be on the safe side.

I hope this first installment has been helpful. Please don’t hesitate to comment, critique or contact me with any questions.

peace, out.

When USB is Not Working

by reeljerc

Categories: tech, tutorial

Tags: device drivers, microsoft windows, usb, usb hub, usb not working, yellow exclamation mark, yellow question mark

Comments: 8 Comments

Published on: January 6, 2009

How To Get Your USB Hub Working

USB - How to fix

(This How To is primarily for Microsoft Windows users.)

The multitude of devices that utilize the USB connection and the even greater number of device drivers and versions of device drivers can and will cause problems from time to time. Devices are digital cameras, card readers, printers, flash drives or any piece of hardware that plugs into your computer via the USB connection. Changes and updates in the Operating System environment are constant and as such can corrupt device drivers. Device drivers are software applications (.dll files) that enable your device to communicate with your computer. Here are a few tips on how to fix your USB connection:

Symptom:

Computer does not recognize USB connection. Or, computer recognizes when USB is plugged in but doesn’t see your device or doesn’t work properly.

Possible Causes:

Corrupted device driver
Corrupted USB Controller drivers
Outdated device firmware
Faulty USB cable
Faulty device
Faulty Motherboard

How to Check:

Troubleshooting a computer issue is most often a pr0cess of elimination. We start with the least complicated measures to correct the problem, test and if unsuccessful move on to the next.

Faulty USB cable

unplug the usb cable and if possible, try it out with another device or on another computer.

Corrupted USB Controller drivers

*(This is the most common problem with USB connections)

Right Mouse-Click on My Computer and Select Properties

Start Menu - Right Click My Computer - Properties

Click on Device Manager

System Properties

Click on the (-) minus sign next to Universal Serial Bus Controllers

Device Manager - USB

>Look for a yellow question mark or exclamation mark over any of the USB device drivers.

If that is the case, right mouse-click on the driver with the question mark or exclamation mark and hit your Delete key, then restart your computer. Deleting the driver and restarting will force your computer to re-install that particular driver. Updating the driver is an option, if you have an updated version that you’ve downloaded, but most often Windows will recognize that the driver is already installed but not that it’s corrupted so it won’t automatically re-install. Deleting and re-starting forces the issue.

>If there are no yellow question marks or exclamation marks, or the above procedure did not resolve the issue:

Remove the battery in your computer for at least 30 seconds, replace and restart.

Turn off your computer
Unplug the power cable from the back
Remove the side panel and look for the battery

Computer Battery

When digging into your computer always unplug the power source. You may have to check online to see how to remove the side panel from your particular model. Once inside, look for something resembling the image above. The battery is held in place by a small clip enclosure which can be released by pressing the little tab with a small flathead screwdriver or even a pen. Leave the battery out for at least 30-45 seconds, this will reset the motherboard so you may have to readjust the time or internal clock once you computer fires back up.

>If the above did not resolve the issue

Faulty Device Driver/Faulty Device

If your particular device is not working, make sure that the USB controller is working by testing it with other USB connected devices. If they are, read on:

Check for updated software or firmware on your device

Most devices are powered by software called Firmware. Firmware is updated periodically as issues arise with the device in question. Go to the device manufacturers website, look for the support or downloads section and search for updated software or firmware versions associated with your device.

If reinstalling the software or firmware still does not resolve the issue, you may need to contact the manufacturer for either more detailed instructions or replacement.

Faulty Motherboard

As mentioned above, the last possible problem could be a faulty motherboard, but test out the USB connections extensively with other devices before you make that determination. As with the devices, the firmware on the motherboard may need to be updated. Check with the computer or motherboard manufacturers website for updates. If that finally does not resolve the issue, feel free to contact me with the specifics of your particular issue.

Good Luck

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