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Blog article index
Articles, How-To's, and opinion essays on a variety of topics. Title links
below are permalinks. Articles are updated whenever new or revised
information will improve them. Posts are made as
time permits, no schedule. Reader comments, questions, and discussion are invited in the
Forum or by
email.
Recent articles by date
- #04/19/2008 How to block tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.
- Block tracking cookies from being put on your computer in the first place so they can't collect data between anti-spyware scans.
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- #03/29/2008 How to convert a FrontPage Table of Contents webbot
to plain HTML.
- Step by step walkthrough for converting a FrontPage Outline webbot to a
plain HTML list of hyperlinks, to give you control over what is included in
the list and how it is formatted.
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- #03/15/2008 Passwords best practices:
Use a different strong password for every purpose.
- Always use completely random character passwords. Never use the same
password in more than one place.
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- #03/11/2008 What is a website hack?
- Describes what is the most important danger, who the perpetrators are,
what they want from your site, what methods they use to accomplish it, and
what an RFI attack looks like in your access log.
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- #02/28/2008 How to
know if your website has been hacked. How to monitor it.
- The symptoms, some inescapably obvious, others subtle, of a hacked site.
Where to look to monitor your site's status.
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Archive by topic
Website security and management
- What to do
if Google says "This site may harm your computer" and it's YOUR
site.
- Step by step walkthrough how to discover why your site got flagged in
Google search results. How to find "badware" (malicious code, remotely
served scripts, invisible iframes) on your pages. How to determine if you
are flagged because you link to a site that has been hacked and
flagged.
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- What to do after your website is hacked. How to prevent it.
- Step by step procedures for site repair, investigation, hack prevention.
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- How to
Close your website temporarily with Apache
.htaccess
- Taking your website offline temporarily for maintenance.
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- How to
Configure php.ini and .htaccess before using
PHP
- Security-related settings for your php.ini and .htaccess files.
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- How to use a
CIDR netmask to
ban an
IP range in .htaccess
- How to calculate and use CIDR/netmask notation.
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FrontPage 2003
- How to Replace Shared Borders with
include pages
- Step by step walkthrough for replacing Shared Borders with included
content.
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- How to Replace webbot includes with
PHP includes
- Step by step conversion from FrontPage included content webbots to PHP,
plus a walkthrough of a complex Find and Replace with regular expressions in
both the Find and Replace strings.
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- How to Replace webbot link bars with
HTML link bars
- Step by step for replacing webbot navbars with plain HTML navigation link bars.
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- How to Replace FrontPage theme with
CSS theme
- Step by step for copying a FrontPage theme to CSS files under your control.
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- How to use
.htaccess, mod_rewrite with the FrontPage Extensions
- How to use Apache .htaccess on your website without corrupting your
FrontPage Extensions.
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- How to add
title property to images using Find/Replace and regular expressions
- Step by step how to add a title property to existing images using a
FrontPage 2003 "HTML Tags" Find and Replace operation with regular
expressions.
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Web design
- HTML table
template code for creating a simple website photo gallery
- Using HTML can be easier than using an "automated" gallery. Provides
code and instructions.
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- How to create a
custom Apache 404 Not Found error document
- Step by step how to create your ErrorDocument and modify .htaccess so
Apache uses it.
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- How to
convert Amazon.com affiliate
ads to valid HTML 4.01 Transitional.
- Why the ads don't validate and a walkthrough of how to fix them
efficiently with Find and Replace, with or without using regular
expressions.
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IRC Chat
- How to use IRC chat for a
website chat room
- Why the cPanel chat scripts are insecure. Using IRC chat as an alternative.
How to create a chat room.
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- Introduction to IRC Chat
- How IRC chat works, safety tips, obtaining ChatZilla, chat networks to connect to.
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- Configuring default
ChatZilla preferences
- Preference (option) settings for someone starting out with ChatZilla. Screenshots.
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Stock options
- Plain-language overview of
Black-Scholes stock option valuation
- A non-technical description of the Black-Scholes option valuation
equation.
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- How to NOT make money: trading stock options
- Why option traders lose money, and why it is impossible to "become good" at it.
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Computer use
- How to
Repair flickering Gateway FPD 1830 LCD monitor
- Step by step instructions for repairing flickering display in Gateway
FPD1830 LCD monitors.
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- Avoid Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) while typing.
- Description of non-medical techniques I've found helpful for keeping RSI under control.
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- How to make any
public domain book an audio book.
- Download books from Project Gutenberg and set up your computer so it reads them aloud to you.
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Using the Internet
- What is a URL (web address)? What really happens when I "go to" a website?
- Explains in simple terms the parts of a URL string (Uniform Resource
Locator), the nature of your "connection" to a website, and how cookies
allow you to stay "logged in".
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- How to
use online language translators so people understand you.
- How to use "round-trip" translation to improve results. Tips for writing
in a style that is easy to translate. How to read and write forum posts in
languages other than your own.
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Humor
- The Spider That Almost Got Me!
- Battles with spiders.
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Philosophy, religion
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The art of everything is the art of life.
- An essay on finding meaning in life. Your life is a work of art created
by you, and the characteristics that make an artistic creation satisfying
also apply to life.
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How did a
belief in god begin and why is it so universal and enduring?
- A speculative essay about the origins of religion.
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