We all hear about how often people’s sites get hacked. This tool won’t stop that from happening, but here’s what it *will* do.

Let’s say a hacker places some malicious code in either some existing files on your site, or in new files on your site. Regardless of which method he used, he got in and accomplished his goal. Now, unbeknownst to you, your site is either:

1) serving hidden links to unsavory places
2) or redirecting just search users to unsavory sites that is then infecting those users’ computers with malware
3) or some other equally nefarious thing.

Either way, you’re site is toast, even if it looks perfectly normal to the naked eye. You may have no idea anything has happened until one day (maybe weeks later) you realize that you’ve been kicked out of Google’s SERPs (search listings).

Now you frantically start trying to find out why, and maybe, if you’re lucky, you realize you’ve been hacked. Then you have to begin the process of finding the files with the malicious code. Good luck with that!

That’s the basic problem. My new tool will help with that problem to some extent.

What it won’t do…it won’t prevent the attack. There are other things you should be doing/using to help win that battle. But if you lose that battle, and the attack happens, my tool kicks into gear.

My tool, called MonitorHackdFiles, is like a sentry for your site. It watches your site, and when it detects a file has changed (or been added), it notifies you via email and tells you which file(s) was changed. Now you know very quickly that you’ve been attacked, and you can react just as quickly. Now you can take whatever measures are needed to lock the site down, and with luck, you’ll avoid ever having that malicious code show its ugly face to Google, other search engines, or users.

It’s entire goal is to watch and notify. What you do with the information is entirely up to you. But what you don’t know, CAN hurt you.

Download the MonitorHackdFiles script for free, run the 5 minute install, and let it guard your site for you automatically.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Google, search engines, search listings, Web Site Hackers Today

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I used to be like most people who would answer those questions with the following answers: “Huh?”, “No”, “No”, “Yes!”

I also burned through several computers and even more hard drives in the last few years. Each time, I wished I’d had a backup, but I didn’t.

I am fairly certain all that is behind me now. I’m a stickler for backing up, but I don’t have to even think about it anymore. That’s a good thing, because my memory is terrible, so I would never remember it on my own.

What’s the very best way to backup your computer? Automatically and off-site. You don’t want to rely on your memory (because then it won’t happen), and you don’t want it in the same location as your computer. These days, that is now extremely simple to accomplish with Online Backup services.

There are a few million online backup services these days. Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit there, but really, there are tons of companies that are vying for your business in the online backup field.

I had planned to present a long list of online backup companies, with comparison data on each, to help you decide which to use. But I changed my mind. Why?

Any service designed for someone like me – someone who likes things easy and at the right price – needs to pass 3 tests. (Four actually, if you want to include the requirement of backing up off-site, but since all online services would automatically pass that test, I’ve skipped that).

The 3 tests are:

1. Unlimited (backup as much data as needed)
2. Automatic (no need to remember to do it)
3. Less than $5/month

Amazingly enough, I was only able to find 2 services that passed all 3 tests.

• Most passed the second requirement of being automated (although not all did).
• Very few passed the “I’m cheap” test, but there were a few more than 2.
• But only two provided unlimited backup at such a cheap price (that I could find).

Most services charge x dollars per x gigs backed up, and depending upon how much data you have, that could mean nickel and diming you to death. It’s certainly possible that I missed a company that fits the requirements when I did my researching, but that’s ok. The two that meet the requirements are really great and there’s no reason not to pick one of them for your online backup service.

Ok, enough blah blah blah. Which two online backup services are the winners?

Mozy has unlimited backup for $4.95/month (or you can even limit yourself to 2 GB for free, if you want). If you want to save a little more money, you can choose the 1 year payment plan, which gets you one month free, or the 2 year payment plan, which gets you three months free.

The first backup will take a while, but after the first full backup, only files that have been added or changed are backed up, making it lightning fast. Backups occur at scheduled times.

There are 4 ways to restore files with Mozy. The first restore option is to simply right-click on the file or folder in Windows Explorer that you want to restore and select “Restore Previous Version.” You can then select the version to restore, from the most recent version up to 30 days back. You can also restore from the web (mostly useful if you either don’t have Mozy installed or you need to restore less than 20 GB), or you can restore from a virtual drive on your computer. Finally, you can choose a DVD Restore for large restores (order a copy of all data on dvd. This costs extra, but the DVDs are shipped overnight via fedx).

Carbonite offers nonstop unlimited backup for 49.95/year, which is $4.16/month, so it’s a tad bit cheaper than Mozy. Unlike Mozy, it doesn’t schedule backups. Instead, the moment you add or modify files, Carbonite swings into action to back up your new or updated data.

As far as I can tell, there are 2 ways to restore files with Carbonite. You can either click on the Carbonite Backup Drive found in your “My Computer” directory, or you can restore from the web.

Both Mozy and Carbonite are simple to use. If I had to pick, I’d say Carbonite was slightly easier to use, but both are straightforward and easy. Both come pre-configured with “suggested” files to download such as your documents, music, and photos. Both allow you to manually adjust those suggestions, of course. Both are set and forget. Once you spend the few minutes it takes to configure the software, you pretty much never have to think about it again – unless, of course you need to restore files. Again, the process is fairly simple to restore for both Mozy and Carbonite.

I can easily recommend either service. Which do I use – and why? Well, because I live in a rural area and therefore am limited to using satellite service for “high-speed” Internet access, my access is actually limited on a daily basis due to some regulation that imposes usage thresholds (FAP – Fair Access Policy). My satellite service does not place restrictions on usage during a two hour period in the middle of the night, so they encourage all automated usage processes (such as remote backup of files) be scheduled during this time. If I schedule my remote backup during that 2-hour time frame, I don’t have to worry about the transfer counting towards my FAP usage, so I won’t be penalized for using too much bandwidth. For that reason, I cannot use Carbonite, since it isn’t a “scheduled” service. I can’t tell it to only backup to the remote server during that 2-hour time frame. For most of you, that limitation won’t apply, so Carbonite will work fine for you (and may even be preferable to have it upload as files change throughout the day). But for me, it’s just not a workable solution, so Mozy is my remote backup service of choice.

[slightly off-topic] BTW, satellite internet service is the worst choice you can make, so unless it’s your only choice, don’t even consider it. If you have no other choice, be sure to read up thoroughly on the subject of FAP. Oh, and if you want my advice on whether you should pick Wildblue or Hughesnet … Hughesnet is by far the better satellite service in my experience, and I’ve used both. [/slightly off-topic]

Mozy
Carbonite

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Carbonite, Internet access, Microsoft Windows, Mozy, off-site, online backup, online backup field, online backup service, Online Backup services, remote backup, remote server, satellite internet service, satellite service, workable solution, Yes!

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The very worst thing that can happen to a site is to lose it – I’m talking about having all of its files and data deleted. This might be because of your web host’s server problems. Servers have hard drives crash all the time. If you have a great host, they’ve got a recent backup of your site and all its data, and they will restore it pronto. But for some reason, no one I know, ever seems to have that great host.

You need to assume that no matter how much you love your web host, something will go wrong, and they will NOT be able to restore your site. What’s the plan for that? Back it up yourself. Every day. Without fail. Automate the process if you can, but if not, do it manually. There is a HUGE chance you will be glad you did one day.

For one of my sites, I have a host that runs a backup of both files and databases and stores them all in one convenient folder (outside of public view). I use an automated service called BQBackup to grab those files and databases every night and store them for me. I have another site on a different host that doesn’t do this, so I have to log into CPanel every night and download its backup file manually. I wish I could automate that as well, but the manual process will have to suffice for now. But it’s worth it! I urge you to implement some sort of site backup plan for both your files and database. You might also want to have a second host picked out in case you ever need to quickly switch to a new host. I’ve needed to do that before as well.

Ok, that covers site backup disasters. What happens if you personally cannot get online? Do you have a backup plan for when your Internet connection will be down for an extended period of time? Or what about your own computer? What if YOUR hard drive fails or something else causes your computer to crash and burn? Is your data backed up? (I use Mozy for this). Do you have a second machine you can use temporarily? Do you have a backup Internet connection you can use?

I urge you to consider all of these scenarios. Each of these disasters has happened to me on more than one occasion. It has taken years for each subsequent disaster to sink into my stubborn brain, but I’m finally prepared for almost any disaster I can think of – whether it’s in real life (like a hurricane) or a business or site disaster. I’m ready. Are you?

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: backup Internet connection, bqbackup, databases, files, Internet connection, Mozy, online backups, site backup, web host

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What are RSS feeds? A feed is a special file that lists summaries or full posts from sites or blogs, with a link to the original post. This feed might contain the last X posts from one blog, or it might be a mashup of posts from several sources, all related to one topic. As an example, this blog publishes a feed of the last 10 posts. If I wanted to, I could also put together a feed that lists the last 10 posts of several news sites. There are infinite ways that RSS feeds can be put together in a mix-and-match fashion, but for learning purposes today, we’ll just concentrate on the simplest model – One Blog – One Feed – Last 10 Posts. That is the most common application of the RSS feed that the average person deals with. If you look to the right, you’ll see a large purple button. This button points to this blog’s RSS feed, which lists the last 10 posts I’ve written. (Note that RSS feed buttons are usually orange – I’m different that way).

Of what use is an RSS feed? The ability to subscribe to feeds simply makes it easy for you to keep up with all the blogs or sites you might be interested in. If a blog or site publishes a feed, you can subscribe to that feed, and you’ll be notified any time a new post is made. This keeps you up to date at all times, and you don’t have to remember to visit the site. Many people subscribe to lots of feeds (I subscribe to 80 or so), and I certainly wouldn’t want to have to remember to visit all of those sites every day. Instead, new posts get delivered to me via my feed subscriptions. I can see all the new posts in one place anytime I choose. Where is that “one place”? These feeds all reside in my feed reader.

What is a feed reader? A feed reader is simply an aggregator of feed content. It checks for updated feeds and stores them all together for our browsing pleasure. There are many feed readers available and choosing one is really a personal preference. Most are free, but some are paid. Frankly, I won’t even consider the paid options, because the free options are simply too good to pass up. There’s no way I could possibly list or test all of the feed readers, but I’m happy to pass along a couple of good examples of each type of reader. I suggest you look at or try the ones that seem most compatible with your style and choose whichever fits you best. (All the ones I list here are free).

Browser-Based Feed Readers

Browser-based feed readers are already installed and available right in your browser, so you really don’t have to do anything to use them. Both IE7 and Firefox let you know if a feed is available on the address bar by showing you a little orange feed button. You can click it to subscribe to the built-in browser’s feed reader. While this is the simplest, already installed method, it’s definitely not the most robust, but it may be all you need.

Desktop Feed Readers

Desktop feed readers are conventional programs that you install on your computer. This is my favorite type of reader because I don’t have to take the extra step of going anywhere online to see new feeds. Here are a couple of choices of desktop feed readers you might want to consider.

GreatNews – This is the one I use, and I haven’t yet been able to find anything I like better.
Snarfer – Very nice reader with a really cute logo mascot.

Web-Based Feed Readers

This category focuses on feed readers that are online only, and their primary focus is that of a feed reader.

Bloglines
Google Reader

Web-Based Start Pages with Feed Capabilities

This category is also online only, but the primary focus is that of a start page with aggregated content from various sources, including RSS feeds. The look and feel is different than the normal feed reader design.

Netvibes
Pageflakes

Test the various types of feed readers and see which one suits you best. You can use my feed as a test by subscribing to it in each of the readers and seeing which works best for you. Then, any time you come across a site and see that it has a feed (the orange RSS button – or purple in my case), you can click that button to subscribe to it in your feed reader. From then on, you’ll be able to easily keep up with any new information from that site.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Browser, Web-Based Feed Readers This category focuses, Web-Based Start Pages

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A good friend of mine just finished creating a WordPress plugin called Login LockDown that aims to make that task much, much more difficult for a hacker. The plugin records makes a record of the IP address every time someone attempts to login to the WordPress admin. After 3 unsuccessful tries (number is configurable), the IP address is locked out from any further attempts for an hour (also configurable). You, the admin, can unblock an IP if needed.

I installed the plugin and it installed without a hitch. I then tested it, and it worked flawlessly.

I HIGHLY recommend that everyone install this WordPress security plugin to prevent any problems with hackers taking over your blog.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: admin, hackers, login lockdown, plugin, protection, security, vulnerability, WordPress

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Music and lyrics published before 1922 are in the public domain, but sound recordings of any music never go into public domain. You can record those old public domain songs yourself if you want. That can be used legally. Or you can record your own original music and use it however you want, of course. Anything else requires that you shell out some money to license something.

Unless you plan on using a lot of recorded clips, the pricing isn’t too bad, so it’s not a big issue. A one-time fee of around $20 is certainly doable, but of course, paying that kind of money many times would be prohibitively expensive for many of us. But if, like me, you only need one clip, then ponying up $20 isn’t too big of an issue.

So where do you get these clips? I bought mine at PD Info, and I also checked out Music2Hues, which I think may be affiliated with PD Info. I spent several hours on PDInfo’s downloads page, listening to clips from each of their categories.

So, now you know how to get your own cool music clips for your next project. Good luck!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: licensing, music clips, public domain, Youtube

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© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: colors, gray on black, legibility, Site Design, unreadable

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Oh well, I’ll just use my brand new Lexar USB Flash Drive as a backup drive. For now, I’ll just copy my Documents folder over to the flash drive once in a while, and I’m also backing everything up nightly to Mozy Online Backup, so that should suffice.

I wish the Portable Apps idea had panned out, but I think my workarounds will work fine.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: backups, drawbacks, Mozy, online backup, portable apps, slow, usb flash drive

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First head on over to PortableApps.com. You’ll be able to get just about any type of software, ALL FOR FREE, and all available as a small portable application that you can take along with you wherever you go. There are lots of choices. You can either just grab their suite, which comes with the most popular apps ready to go, or you can pick and choose.

I’m starting with their Base edition, which gives me just the essentials with the PortableApps menu, backup system, and utilities. Then I downloaded the following apps that I either use on a regular basis (the full editions), or will use just because they offer a portable edition.

7-Zip (open .zip files)
FileZilla (FTP)
Firefox (browser)
Thunderbird (email client)
Gimp (image editor)
KeePass (password manager)
Miranda (Instant Messenging for MSN and Yahoo)
OpenOffice (Open source alternative to MS Office)

There are TONS more apps to choose from, and you can get all the information you need about it all on the PortableApps site. If you need even more portable apps than that site offers, you can see a larger list here, and a list of portable games here.

I’m looking forward to trying this out. I’d love to be less dependent upon my computer’s whims. I’d also love to be able to take all my important apps, settings, and data with me when I travel. We’ll see if this will work for me or not.

Have you tried this? If so, please let me know what you think. If not, and you decide to try it along with me, come back and let me know how it goes.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: First head, image editor, Miranda, password manager, portable apps, PortableApps, thumb drive, usb flash drive, Yahoo

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Social Networking sites are all different in some respects, but they all have some things in common.

1. As the name implies, they are “social”, and revolve around a community of users who are all actively participating in some way (rather than just passively reading).
2. The users are usually “sharing” something with each other.
3. The users are often giving their opinions of something, either through ratings or approval/disapproval systems.
4. The “shared items” are generally displayed more prominently based upon their ratings and/or popularity, which is based upon how the users rated them.

What gets shared is usually the biggest differentiator amongst the sites. Here are some examples of Things That Get Shared.

1. Bookmarks. Users share bookmarks (most often tagged) with other users. Bookmarking a site implies the user likes the site. Tagging the site gives meaning and context to the bookmark. For example, a discount shoe site might be bookmarked and tagged with the following tags: “shoes, shoe, sale, discount, cheap, footwear, bargain”. When a user wants to find shoes at a bargain price, he or she could search the social bookmark site for pages that other users have liked and have tagged with some of those words. Like any good social site, the more people who bookmark a particular page and the more similar tags that page gets, the more likely it will be presented to a user when that user is searching for that tag. (Please note that the term “bookmark” here does not mean the actual bookmarks you have in your browser, but the concept is the same. When you bookmark a page on a social bookmarking site, the bookmark does NOT get saved in your browser).
2. News/Articles/Stories/Posts. Users share news items they find interesting with other users. You can swap out the word news with almost anything (articles, stories, posts) and it will still function the same way. We’ll stick to news for the moment in the example. Let’s say you read a breaking news item on CNN.com that Willie Nelson got drunk, got mad, and shot a politician’s favorite magnolia tree. (I’ve obviously just made that up out of thin air, so please don’t go around reporting that as truth, when it clearly is not). If that happened, that would be big news, and you’d jump on your favorite social news site and tell everyone about it. You’d usually do so by giving an interesting Title to your piece (so people will want to see more), a short description, and a link to the CNN news article. After users read the story, they would then give your submission a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down. If you wasted their time by sending them to some lame, stupid story, you’d probably get a lot of Thumbs Downs. If you helped them find informative, interesting things, you’d probably get a lot of Thumbs Ups. If you were the owner of a web page that got a lot of Thumbs Ups, your page would get a whole heck of a lot of traffic.
3. Reviews. Users share their reviews of things…local restaurants, etc. Enough said.
4. Themselves. Users share themselves, and their likes and dislikes, as well as the minutia of their usually insanely boring lives via places like MySpace.

I’m sure there are lots of other examples of things being shared via social sites, but that should be enough to help you understand what social networking is all about. If not, maybe as a child, you never grasped the concept of sharing or you weren’t socialized at an early enough age.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: approval/disapproval systems, CNN, discount shoe site, favorite social news site, good social site, politician, SMO, social bookmark site, social bookmarking site, social bookmarks, social networking, social networks, social news, the CNN news, Willie Nelson

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