WordPress Migration Weirdness

About 3 weeks ago, SE moved to a new server.  The WordPress installations were transferred (migrated) from the old server to the new server.  This caused some weird behavior.  I thought I’d document it for myself for the future migrations and also for others who run into the same problems.

Note: I’ve linked to the plugins and such that I refer to here.  No links are affiliate links or anything like that.  They’re just for your information. Continue reading WordPress Migration Weirdness

Asus N56VZ-DS71 – WLAN replacement

In September, I bought a new laptop.  I was tired of my Asus G51J ROG overheating and needing to be constantly on a notebook cooler.

And frankly, I find it a little embarrassing to be a computer professional with a terrible running machine.  I did some research, and landed on the Asus N56VZ-DS71.

Yes, Asus again. 🙂  I think they make an excellent laptop, especially for the dollar, and the graphics card Asus used in the old machine did have trouble in a lot of laptops, not just Asus machines.  The main complaint I heard about this model was the wireless card.  Because I know that Asus doesn’t tend to lock their hardware in the bios, it seemed like it might not be a big deal to change it.  Then I saw where it was.  Continue reading Asus N56VZ-DS71 – WLAN replacement

WordPress – How to “change” the admin user

Lots of people are talking about the latest attack on WordPress hosted sites.

One recommendation from Matt Mullenweg, WordPress founder, is

If you still use “admin” as a username on your blog, change it, use a strong password, if you’re on WP.com turn on two-factor authentication, and of course make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest version of WordPress.

That first comment is the one that seems to be confusing a lot of people.  Change it?  Change it!?!?  I can’t change a username! Continue reading WordPress – How to “change” the admin user

The easy way to move your iTunes library to another computer

Mp3s, Movies, podcasts, Apps, Books – all of it.

Last week, I had to replace my laptop.

In moving to the new one, one of the tasks I wasn’t looking forward to at all was iTunes. In fact, despite the fact that it meant that I couldn’t sync my iPod and Blackberry, I actually left both the iTunes and Blackberry Desktop software until the very last. Continue reading The easy way to move your iTunes library to another computer

Email and website documents – what types should I provide

Certain file types have always been vulnerable to virus infection.

In the broadest sense, there are basically 2 types of files on a computer.

  1. Files that are executable.  – These files are usually referred to as programs.  iTunes, Microsoft Word, virii, malware, even Windows itself is basically a (gigantic) program or group of programs. We sometimes say that these programs “execute code”, because all programs are coded instructions that tell the computer what to do.  Hence the term “Computer Programmer”, and one of the slang terms for the same person:  a “coder”.
  2. Files that require a program to run them.  For the most part, we can refer to these as documents.  Word  processor files (.doc or .docx), Audio files (.mp3, .aac, etc), pdf files, picture files (.jpg, .png, .tif, .cr2, etc), movie files (mp4, flv, etc) and the like.

Almost any executable file can be infected with a virus.  This doesn’t meant though that non-executable files are always safe. Continue reading Email and website documents – what types should I provide

Protect your identity online – A letter from Microsoft

I get these emails because I’m subscribed to things like this.  It does have good information in it. The email was titled “Help Protect Yourself From Phone Scams”, but the same goes for your online experience.

He mentions that if someone walked up to you on the street and asked for personal information (this includes credit card information), you wouldn’t give it to them.  Yet I’ve caught even family members considering paying for the “protection” that a piece of software – that they didn’t choose to install on their computers – put its virtual hand out and “asked” for.

80 years or so ago, we called it what it was.  Protection Money. Extortion. Continue reading Protect your identity online – A letter from Microsoft

Storm’s Eye launches a new site

Welcome everyone!  We’re pleased to launch our brand new site.  It’s been a lot of years since we did a refresh, and thought it was time!

Old posts from the forums were kept.  In reality, they really were more like blog posts, so they’ve been converted to blog posts.

Any of the posts that are basically archival in nature (i.e. how-tos on software most people don’t use anymore) have been given a date of Dec 2011.  They’ve been kept mainly because a lot of software doesn’t change that much, and these posts may still lead you to a resolution, in a pinch.

Posts that still somewhat relevant, but not “breaking news” have been given a date of May 2012.  These are still useful, but mostly for educational purposes.

Of course with blogging software as the driving force behind our new site, we have intentions of updating more frequently, and providing timely news about Storm’s Eye, and also of issues that you may face today, or tomorrow, with your computer experiences.

As always, we’re just a phone call or email away if you need help.

WordPress 3.3.2 updating plugins and uploading pictures not working

So today I was trying to set up a wordpress site for a client on my server. I noticed that uploading of images and updating plugins didn’t work.

The images part was similar to several posts I saw on the web, but none of the solutions worked for me.

For reference, the suggestions for fixing the image uploading issue were: Continue reading WordPress 3.3.2 updating plugins and uploading pictures not working

Basic HTML – Pt. 4 – Web Colors Revisited

One thing to always remember is that the main goal of your website should be for it to be readable. Otherwise, what’s the point of anyone going there?

Have you ever been to a webpage that was so garrish, using tons of colors that it actually hurt your eyes? Or a page where the print was very close to the same color as the background, so you could barely read it?

These are pitfalls to avoid.

Some of the general rules of thumb are: Continue reading Basic HTML – Pt. 4 – Web Colors Revisited

Basic HTML – Pt. 3 – Web Colors

You may have noticed, when you read other parts of this tutorial, that colors are represented by a series of 6 numbers and letters.

For instance: <bgcolor=#334466>This is also applicable for fonts, links, and other items on a webpage.

When we specify color values this way, this 6 digit value is seperated into 3 seperate values. 33 represents the amount of Red in the color, 44 represents the amount of green available, and the final 66 represents the amount of blue in the color. Continue reading Basic HTML – Pt. 3 – Web Colors