Thursday 22 May 2014

How to Create a Blog Site

Contrary to what you might be thinking right now, starting and managing your own blog is quite easy. You don't need any development or design skills. Here is what we suggest as the easiest path to create a blog site:

Step 1: Choose which software you want to use to manage your blog

There are 3 popular FREE blogging tools we recommend: Wordpress, TextPattern, and Nucleus. Wordpress is the most popular blog tool,usually preferred for both being easy to work with and very powerful in terms of functionality. That is why if you don't really have any preferences or expectations, we recommend you to go with WordPress.
Need to consult someone? Talk to our customer service to help you choose your software.

Step 2: Find a host that supports your chosen software

By all means, you will need hosting to go live with your blog. The key to finding the right host is to get one specialized in supporting the software you like. There are three questions you can ask the hosts you are checking in order to determine if they are good to host your software:
  • Do you install Wordpress/Nucleus/TextPattern?
  • Most hosts will say yes to this one. In their control panels, most hosting providers have included Fantastico or Softaculous or another script auto-installer, which allows you to install more than 100 scripts ready to go, one of which would be the script you chose. Some good hosts will also offer professional installation by their support, which might be free or paid. We at SiteGround both offer 1-click installation with Softaculous and free professional installation of any of the scripts you have chosen.
  • Do you install themes for Wordpress/Nucleus/TextPattern?
  • Not many hosts will say yes to this one, but good ones will. SiteGround will install Wordpress themes for free and Nucleus and Textpattern templates for an affordable fee.
  • Do you support Wordpress/Nucleus/TextPattern if there is a problem with the blog that is not hosting-related?
  • Most hosts will say no to this one. Only specialized hosts, like the one you should be looking for, are willing to go the extra mile and assist you with answers and fixes to problems you encounter when managing your blog. SiteGround has specialized in hosting various blog tools and our tech support will gladly assist you with any blog issue that might pop up.

Step 3: Choose a theme for your blog

Your basic blog software installation always comes with a default theme, which means you have your design ready. If you don't like it or you are looking for something unique, there are plenty of free (and of course paid) themes for your blog that you may choose from.
  • WordPress Themes
  • TextPattern Templates
  • In case you are not going to use the services of your host, here are tutorials on how to install a theme on your own from the backend of your software.
  • Wordpress theme installation tutorial
  • TextPattern template installation tutorial

Step 4: Start blogging!

Well, you have it all set and you are ready to go blogging. To add content using your newly installed software, you might need help once in a while. Here are the best step-by-step tutorials to consult:
  • WordPressTutorial
  • TextPatternTutorial

How to remove write protection on USB


You should remove it as below:
1 Pull the USB flash drive out of your computer's USB port. Check the bottom end and sides of the drive to see if it has a write protection switch. Push the plastic switch into the "Unlock" position.
2 Insert the USB flash drive back into the USB port. Close the pop-up window that appears and navigate to the Start menu. Select "My Computer."
3 Locate the drive letter that corresponds to your USB flash drive in the "My Computer" window, such as "F:\" or "D:\." Double-click the drive letter. Attempt to use one of the files on the drive. Right-click one of the files if you still receive a write protection error and select "Properties."
4 Navigate to the "General" tab and remove the check mark from the box labeled "Read-Only." Click "Apply" and then attempt to use the file.
5 Return to the Start menu and click "Run." Type "Regedit" and press "Enter." Navigate to the registry folder "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies."
6 Check if there is an entry at the right side of the window labeled "Write Protect". If the entry is not there Right-click inside the window and choose "New D Word." Type "Write Protect" and press "Enter."
7 Double-click the "Write Protect" entry. Check that the value listed in the text box is "0." If it is not, delete the value and replace it with "0."
8 Close the registry editor and attempt to use any of the files on the USB drive. Return to the "My Computer" window if you continue to receive a write protection error message.
9 Right-click the drive letter for the USB flash drive and choose "Format." Click the drop-down menu named "File System" and select "Fat32."
10 Click "Start" to format the USB flash drive and remove the write-protection feature.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Make mp3 music files smaller without loosing their quality

If you don't already have a copy of MusicMatch Jukebox, download one from musicmatch.com. The "Plus" version has more features and burns CDs faster, but the free version works just fine for converting files



1. Install music match box and then restart your computer if it asks
2. open music matchbox and click file convert files
3. in the bottom right hand corner called 'destination type' change it to mp3 pro.
4.you can edit the bitrate but the higher the bitrate the bigger the size
5. choose the songs you want to convert and click start


***if you want to try something different repeat step one and 2 and instead of making the destintion type mp3 pro make it 'mp3pro vbr'

again the lower the setting the smaller the size.

Secret Back Door to Many Websites

Ever experienced this? You ask Google to look something up; the engine returns with a number of finds, but if you try to open the ones with the most promising content, you are confronted with a registration page instead, and the stuff you were looking for will not be revealed to you unless you agree to a credit card transaction first....
The lesson you should have learned here is: Obviously Google can go where you can't.

Can we solve this problem? Yes, we can. We merely have to convince the site we want to enter, that WE ARE GOOGLE.
In fact, many sites that force users to register or even pay in order to search and use their content, leave a backdoor open for the Googlebot, because a prominent presence in Google searches is known to generate sales leads, site hits and exposure.
Examples of such sites are Windows Magazine, .Net Magazine, Nature, and many, many newspapers around the globe.
How then, can you disguise yourself as a Googlebot? Quite simple: by changing your browser's User Agent. Copy the following code segment and paste it into a fresh notepad file. Save it as Useragent.reg and merge it into your registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]
@="Googlebot/2.1"
"Compatible"="+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html"

Voila! You're done!

You may always change it back again.... I know only one site that uses you User Agent to establish your eligability to use its services, and that's the Windows Update site...
To restore the IE6 User Agent, save the following code to NormalAgent.reg and merge with your registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]
@="Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)"

Ps:
Opera allows for on-the-fly switching of User Agents through its "Browser Identification" function, while for Mozilla/FireFox browsers a switching utility is available as an installable extension from this url:
help://chrispederick.myacen.com/work/firefox/useragentswitcher/download/

JPG,JPEG,JPE File associations fixes



This reg file will restore the default file associations.



1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepdad.


QUOTE
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpe]
"PerceivedType"="image"
@="jpegfile"
"Content Type"="image/jpeg"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpe\OpenWithProgids]
"jpegfile"=hex(0):

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpe\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpeg]
"PerceivedType"="image"
@="jpegfile"
"Content Type"="image/jpeg"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpeg\jpegfile]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpeg\jpegfile\ShellNew]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpeg\OpenWithProgids]
"jpegfile"=hex(0):

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpeg\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg]
"PerceivedType"="image"
@="jpegfile"
"Content Type"="image/jpeg"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\jpegfile]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\jpegfile\ShellNew]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithProgids]
"jpegfile"=hex(0):




2. Save the file as xp_jpg_jpe_jpeg_file_assoc_fix.reg
3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

How to Stop A Restart Process In 3steps



Some times we need to stop some restart process quickly. In windows XP some times it gives auto restart warning and here is good solution for it.

1. Go to Start menu
2. Click on RUN
3. Enter the following command excluding hashcodes "shutdown -a"

its Done.

Mozilla Firefox, Speed it up!



Speed up Mozilla FireFox

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Type "about :config" in the adress field.
2. Set the value of network.http.pipelining to "true".
3. Set the value of network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to "100".
4. Set the value of network.http.proxy.pipelining to "true"
5. Set the value of nglayout.initialpaint.delay to "0" (not availible in newer versions)