Top Drupal Modules That You Must Have!

The cyber world has changed tremendously and will keep on changing as the needs and demands of the people keep changing. The rise in social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc. is phenomenal. Nowadays these websites are not just for fun; they have been converted into one of the biggest virtual market places in the web arena. Thus, you may come across a number of new players that are trying to shape community building websites for marketable purposes. These websites are looking for the best web technologies and Drupal happens to be amongst the top players in this field.

How to Move From WordPress.com to WordPress.org

Follow @ryderskull88

There could be several reasons as to why you want to shift from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. The latter offers many advantages over the former. Some of them are - including advertisements on your blog, installing themes that you like, the ability to use advanced tracking software etc. Whatever the reason, moving your blog is not as difficult as you think. Simply follow the steps below and you’ll soon be on your way.

1. Get a domain name: This is the first and most important thing you should do. Renting server space is another requirement. You have the option of buying a web domain from sites such as Network Solutions or Google Apps. Alternatively, you can use web hosting services (such as KnowHost, Rackspace, Blue Host etc). It does not matter which hosting provider you choose, but do ensure that the hosting account includes details such as PHP compatibility, domain registration and MySOL databases.

2. Transfer posts: Once you have your domain name and server space sorted out, you will need to transfer your posts. Most web hosting companies offer a pre-written installation for WordPress, so this should be easy. Note that the WordPress software should be installed in a sub directory. Once this is done, you will need to click Tools- Exports on your old WordPress.com administration dashboard. Save the XML file on your desktop. Then on your new website’s administration dashboard, you need to click on Tools – Import and select WordPress. Choose the file you have downloaded previously. Then check the box which reads Import Attachments. By doing the above, all information from your old blog will be imported into your new blog at WordPress.org.

3. Direct traffic to the new site: You will need to ensure that followers of your blog and search engines will still be able to find your site. In order to do this, you will need to login to the company you registered your domain with (your domain registrar). Go to your domain’s DNS settings to make the change. Click on Configure DNS Servers and change the name to ns1, wordpress.com . Be sure you write down your existing server addresses before you make the change. Now select Upgrades – Domains from the new website’s dashboard. Enter the new address and select Add domain to blog. Click on Map Domain when you are asked to confirm this. Once this is done, go back to the dashboard and click on Upgrades – Domains. Check Update Primary Domain on the box where you have the domain name.

4. Save the changes: The last step in this process is to save the above mentioned changes. Now both your old and new domains will take visitors and search engines to your new site. Do keep in mind that Domain mapping is a paid service and you will have to renew this from Wordpress.com on a yearly basis.

These are the steps that must be followed carefully to export your blog to the new site. As you can see, that’s all it takes to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. Once you have done this, sit back and enjoy all the features you can use to enhance your blog.

-->

Randy Collins likes writing articles related to Technology News, Gadget Reviews and How To. He also does guest posting for buycharter.com - a site that offers savings and current information on charter internet, as well as charter.com services

Top 3 Web App Development Vulnerabilities

Follow @ryderskull88
 

All web applications are vulnerable to attack.  Attacks tend to occur more frequently when the developer maintains a poor programming standard and also when the web application is PHP based.  When it comes to building a web app designed to meet business specific requirements that rightly meets all development targets, it is imperative that a developer take caution to avoid common attacks.  It often takes an experienced web developer to negate threats of attack, which often include remote code execution, SQL injection and format string vulnerabilities.

Remote Code Execution

An improper coding structure makes it easy for attackers to retrieve information stored in the server.  It is often hard to track remote code execution vulnerabilities.  Remote code execution can only be revealed after a review of the source code.  It is imperative to ensure that your web app is free from this issue and to fix it immediately.  Failure to address this type of error can seriously compromise mission critical information and data.

SQL Injection

SQL injection is one of the most popular vulnerabilities despite its consideration as an age old technique among attackers.  Security codes are especially important in preventing SQL injection as these determine the amount of information that is accessible on the server.  Essentially, this vulnerability allows attackers to gain all the required information from the web server database.  Always ascertain whether data will be contained within just the basic information or to go beyond it to compromise the core structures.

Format String Vulnerabilities

Unfiltered inputs from the users create format string vulnerabilities.  Errors in format strings generally occur in one of three broad categories – denial of reading, writing and service.  

The best way to avoid these web app development vulnerabilities is to avoid small time freelance web developers or companies and work instead with an in-house team of expert web developers.  Renowned web and application development companies offer the best of services as these companies maintain a reputation of following a holistic development methodology.  Customers can depend on reputable companies to design an app that fits the initial requirements completely.  Best of all, in-house teams of expert developers go the extra mile to deliver a hassle-free web app development experience.

Web app development is an industry that is growing at a tremendous rate.  Businesses large and small and from all sectors are now turning to web app development companies to build custom applications.  The tips in this article should help you avoid running into any unwanted web app vulnerabilities.  

Akesh Gupta is President of Light Speed Solutions, a web app development company specializing in a plethora of web design and development services.

The Demand for Website Maintenance in Commercial Businesses

Follow @ryderskull88

Businesses compete hard against one another all over the world. One of the activities that companies perform is to put up a website that allows their customers to get to know their firm better. Websites play a major role in online businesses and their activities which is why there is a growing demand for information technology or IT personnel.

If you are looking for an opportunity to properly establish your own business and get great prospects from an IT program, then doing website maintenance might be one of the many roles in Internet related jobs that you might want to look into. Right now, the increasing need for webmasters and web developers continue to rise due to the popularity of online tasks, and this doesn’t stop with building the website, sometimes a more important role like maintaining or administrating the website arises.

MacGyvers of The Web

Webmasters are considered as the jack of all trades in the internet world. It is no surprise that they are expected to be skillful and have extensive knowledge when it comes to traditional IT jobs and services. And specifically, web administrators or maintenance head are the total MacGyvers of the web. They can find flaws and efficiently and effectively solve them.

Web-mastering and development entail educating customers and authors, the generation of log reports, content management and publishing, website and server security, client interaction, server performance maintenance and monitoring, client side scripting, creating templates for authors and providing user and technical report among others. These tools can be used in problems and issues prevention, diagnostics and solution.

What to Look For in Finding a Reliable Web Administrator

 

With the above-mentioned responsibilities, commercial businesses can really benefit from having a reliable web administrator. Companies are provided help when it comes to online applications including ongoing site tuning, e-commerce offers and even the management and creation of pictures and logos and many other things. Advancements like script upgrades and CMS changes will also be handled smoothly with the help of a web admin.

This is an important aspect of maintaining a website because out of the hundreds of millions accessing the Internet and potentially your website, there will always be a small number of them who might be out there to exploit security vulnerabilities of your website. This can lose you money, customers and ultimately destroy your website and your business’s reputation. And a business websites gets hacked or exploited with viruses or malwares, customers tend to remember it for a long time.

Today, job opportunities have flooded in this profession perhaps because of the recognition given to outsourcing. Before you hire a webmaster, it is significant that you check that he is indeed a webmaster. These people are supposed to be equipped with technical knowledge and educational attainment particularly in IT courses including ASP, PHP and JavaScript. Apart from technical jobs, they can also handle marketing, advertising and e-commerce project completion which are there of the most essential business aspects right now.

Paul has been a web administrator for more than 3 years. He makes sure that the websites he handles are hosted by a reliable cPanel dedicated server or cPanel VPS hosting company. 

Internet Bots, Computer Bots, They can be a Help or Not

Internet bots, also known as web robots, WWW robots or simply bots, are software applications that run automated tasks over the Internet. Typically, bots perform tasks that are both simple and structurally repetitive, at a much higher rate than would be possible for a human alone. The largest use of bots is in web spidering, in which an automated script fetches, analyzes and files information from web servers at many times the speed of a human. Each server can have a file called robots.txt, containing rules for the spidering of that server that the bot is supposed to obey.

A bot is an important thing that a computer uses when on the Internet. A bot is an application that works to run automated activities for maintenance and protection when the user is on the Internet. There are some instances of where bots can be dangerous. So, how can you tell if your computer is bot infected? You can find out when you follow the tips mentioned here.

Image via Wikipedia

How can you tell if your computer is bot infected? You can find out by seeing if your Internet activities have been involuntarily restricted. There are various different types of bots that can be dangerous to a computer. Some bots will cause denial of service attacks to take place. This is where the user who is trying to get it to work cannot access a resource that is on a computer. It will be impossible for you to access certain websites on the Internet. This is one of the main ways of how can you tell if you computer is bot infected.

You can tell if there is a good amount of computer viruses that are found on your computer during a virus scan. Even though a typical antivirus program will update itself often and do automatic scanning and protection, there can be instances where new viruses can sneak onto your computer that are not listed in the definitions that your computer program has. Many malicious bots will have these new viruses on them, so you should especially watch out for these when you are online.

One of the best things to do to find out how can you tell if your computer is bot infected is by checking to see how much spam you are getting in your email account. Bots will be especially effective in creating spam that can be sent to infected computers. This can even affect email servers that have strong spam filters. The reason why these filters will be avoided when bots send spam is that in some cases multiple bots on multiple systems can work together to send different pieces of spam. This takes place through a botnet that can build up when one bot infects a computer and it spreads to other computers.

Image via Wikipedia

Another thing to do is if you live in an area that is near a bot control server. Bots have become a global problem in many countries that have control servers that send bots to other innocent computers. The United States has most of these servers, particularly in the Washington D.C. and Chicago areas. Atlantic Canada, Stockholm and Seoul also have large servers. These are areas that have the highest concern levels.

Are there any products that can help you with understanding about bot infections and that tell you how can you tell if your computer is bot infected? Of course there are. You can check to make sure that your firewall and antivirus programs are fully updated and contain the latest patches. After you update the program, you can run a scan to see if your computer is bot infected.

Prevention is an even more important thing to use though. Having a firewall program is helpful. Protecting personal information that you may be sending online should be used too, as you should only give it to legitimate sites that are trusted. Do not forget to avoid spam emails that may sound like a good deal. This is one of the main ways of how bots can spread onto a computer, and it can indeed be prevented.

SMTP Servers are excellent communicative platforms.

SMTP server also known as simple mail transfer protocol is an internet platform for transmission of emails. Today SMTP servers are widely used across the globe. Email servers and different other mail transferring mediums make use of SMTP for sending and receiving of messages. However, client-mail applications primarily rely on SMTP server. These are smart servers designed with features send mail messages at lightening fast speed and believe me they don’t make the slightest error while sending a mail. The mails go hit the right destination at the right time. These servers are specially designed and are best for emailing applications. Advancement of technology has given birth to a host of new ideas and technical solutions, and the simple mail transfer protocol system is no exception to this fact. This is a super-fast technology grabbing control over the internet media. 

We have now entered a world where technological developments to facilitate better and faster communication have become a widespread concept. Imagine even a few decades ago we had to depend on the manual ways to reach a message or a letter. Now situations have bettered ever since the arrival of the internet. Now sending a mail to desired destination takes place in a matter of seconds. The SMTP server allows you to carry on with your business level communication in a butter-smooth manner. These advanced servers enable faster and smarter sending and receiving email facilities for the user.

 

Image via Wikipedia

However, the process of installing this special server involves a lot of activities which need to be handled with care. At first you need to take note of the features to be installed. Yes you have to abide by the fundamentals to install the simple transfer protocol system. First of all you need to determine if the host is properly rendering its services or not and then connect the port with a specific domain. Remember the date and time settings would be shown. Once you see the correct time and date in your monitor you are assured of the fact that the SMTP Server has been rightly fitted. You can even fit one to your personal computer. All email programs can be conducted with the SMTP system.

3 Best Programs to Help with Your Web Design

Designing a website is a very difficult thing to do. Once you sit down and have a real idea of what you actually want to accomplish, you need to have a handle on the programs you’re using as well. If you aren’t tech-savvy enough to really go in-depth with your tool-set, you’ll be behind with your design before you even started. The most important thing to do is pick the most appropriate programs so you’re not wasting your time. If you’re interested in programs that will appeal to just about anyone, whether you’re an expert designer or just a beginner, this list will help you out big time. 

Adobe Dreamweaver

This program is considered, and has been considered for a long time, as the benchmark by which all web design programs are measured. With an array of tools that appeal to beginners and master designers alike, Dreamweaver is just about the perfect program for anyone looking to design a website themselves. The only downside is that there is a steep learning curve with this program due to all of the tools you need to get a hang of. But once you get comfortable with the interface, you’ll be creating beautiful and dynamic sites like a pro. 

Image via Wikipedia

Microsoft Expression Web 4

Expression Web is the other major web design program on the market. While not quite as popular as Dreamweaver, it’s still a major component of the web design field. While Dreamweaver is great for just about everything besides certain programming languages, Expression Web picks up the slack in its support of the other major programming languages. Expression Web also has a much cleaner interface when compared to Dreamweaver, which may entice beginners. Even though it has less of a learning curve, it is still a very powerful design tool for designing NY Volkswagen websites, for example. 

Image via Wikipedia

 
Adobe Photoshop

1    You’ll need this program to get professional images and layouts on your site. If you’ve ever done CSS (cascading style sheets), Photoshop will definitely help you design great looking designs. If you’re unfamiliar with how this program works, it’ll take a little while to get acclimated with it, but once you do, it’ll be your best friend. Since you’re developing a great site with some of the best tools out there, you might as well finish the look with professional styling and imaging.

Image via Wikipedia

With these programs, you’ll be able to create some unbelievable websites in only a matter of time. All it takes is dedication and a bit of time to learn them. You can check out online classifieds if you need help learning about them.

About the author:

Joe Petchonka has been a writer for over five years, and has written for newspapers, websites and automotive dealerships. In addition to having an extensive writing background and bachelor’s degree in English, he has helped companies develop professional material to help them achieve their goals.