What is CDN?

Mar 052013
 

server added to networkCDN is a “Content Delivery Network.” These networks allow for much faster response times by co-locating website content in multiple places, usually around the country they offer services in or in some cases even globally.

What does CDN do for you?

CDN allows content management systems like WordPress to display websites very quickly, far more efficiently than if only serving requests from a single server. Essentially it takes far less time for the pages to load, and thus improving upon the user experience on websites.

Many consumers will not know what CDN is because it used to be something only used on incredibly high volume sites, and pricing didn’t make the service easily accessible. Recently however, a large number of companies have begun building inexpensive and efficient CDN’s that are available and effective for the average website.

That said, THC is finishing up testing via CloudFlare CDN for most of its current clientele and so far the testing has been incredibly promising. Website security and performance are far better than before and to date no problems have come up on tests.

I would say that most of the THC clientele can look forward to benefiting from CDN within the month.

If you’re interested in website hosting through THC, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 469-287-6860.

-Tony Hunt

Google Analytics Update

Jan 102012
 

Just a heads up.

Apparently the revamp of Google Analytics does not feature automatically scheduled reports via email for clients yet. Currently the system is still letting me schedule reports through the old version so I will continue using that until this gets disabled as well.

If you haven’t received your report email recently and would like an update, shoot me an email and I will check on it. Per Google the eta for resolving this is “weeks” away.

Thanks again!

-Tony

Don’t be scared, it’s just Google

Aug 262011
 

Do monkeys put their info on the net. No They Dont.This is why some people should just go back in their cave.

So I read a couple articles (these are links):
The one from ZDNet
…And then the one from NetworkedWorld.

You see class, the rule is:
No information you present or submit on the internet is private. Ever.

You might be able to hide it, but putting anything on the internet and expecting it to be secure is like sticking your hand on a hot iron and saying you wont get burnt.

This amounts to lame media scare tactics from ZDNet & Microsoft (who later used the linked article to make Office 365 look a little better on the 20th.) Bottom line. Here’s what actually happened.

It’s like putting a cookie in a 6-year-old’s mouth and telling him not to eat it.

A person from the media tries to use a false alias on Google and gets banned from Google+ for it. She complains that Google’s methods of finding her out were shady.

It’s like getting pulled over and offering a donut to get out of a ticket.

This would all be so much easier if people actually read their ULA’s. Free email entitles the provider access to said data as long as no personal information is ever distributed in a manner that would identify that person. In the same manner all the big companies like checking on employee email, Google, while not in the habit of sifting through your dirty laundry, uses the content of the emails to gauge advertizements, they’ve been doing this for YEARS. It’s part of your ULA, which , since the Buzz disaster, and gone edgy and it cuts on both sides, you have to opt out, AND they are starting to keep an eye on user registration information, that you actually gave them the right to do by applying for an account with Google.

It’s like painting a big “L” on your forehead just before a job interview and expecting to get the job.

The bottom line is this. If you don’t want Big Everything to use your personal information in identifying you on the net, stop putting yourself out there. Being involved with the media on the net isn’t exactly the best way to stay anonymous, or guard your identity. Using Google as anyone but yourself is actually a violation of their ULA so in all that complaining, what it comes down to is a large online temper tantrum that Microsoft was able to use in jabbing Google in their war for online Apps dominance.

It’s like telling the neighborhood gossip you’re boinking the next-door neighbor and expecting that the little secret will never get out.

In summation:
Don’t stick your damn hand on a hot iron.
Don’t give 6-year-olds a cookie unless you expect them to eat it.
Don’t offer the police a donut when you get pulled over.
Don’t paint an “L” on your forehead just before a job interview.
Stop boinking the next door neighbor, or at least stop telling people about it.

…and most importantly, never provide ANYONE with information about yourself online and expect it to stay hidden.

Thanks for reading!

-Tony

A little tech-ness from Tony

Dec 182010
 
thc_virus

Originally posted on Hold No Virtue by Tony Hunt

How paranoid are ya?

I know a lot of us are at the very least a little wary of getting hit by a computer virus/malware/generally nasty code.

Before you get incredibly paranoid, or worse, you write it all off as fiction, let me give a little insight:

It exists, it’s incredibly easy to find, and most importantly, it’s incredibly easy to avoid and defend against.

1. Keep your virus scanner up to date.
If you find that some virus scanners are outside your budget, use a free one. AVG & Kapersky are great examples of free scanners. If you want concrete details on which scanners actually pull their weight, I highly suggest you check out av-test.org. They really put scanners to the test and make sure the scanners do what they are meant.

AV-Test.org’s Current Reviews

Know the name of the virus scanner you have installed. Some harmful links and sites will attempt to trick you into scanning your system by creating a popup saying you need to scan your computer immediately. You run the scan, buy their software to remove the incredible number of harmful files on your machine (without realizing that you just downloaded them from the same source), and that’s it…you just paid them $50 for cleaning up all the bad stuff they gave to you in the first place. This is very BIG business for many country’s overseas, so knowing what you scanners name is will keep you from giving these scams a chance to rip you off.

2. Don’t run it unless you know what it is.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve watched turbo-trigger-happy people decimate their machine because of their uncontrollable need to double-click everything they see. I don’t need to give examples, we all have done it at some time or another. The bottom line is as a practice, running programs you aren’t familiar with on your machine is asking for fun.

Some of these creepy business applications deliberately create icons and links designed specifically to make you think they are something else. I found one last year that looked like the windows update icon…but it wasn’t, it was a little program that set up a download point on your machine and checked an IRC channel for instructions from people as to what to download to the infected machine.

If you ever have a question about what a program is, Google it. Here are some sites that are really good about telling whats what about a program:
FileInspect.com
ProcessLibrary.com

If you want to scan a file, check out Jotti’s Virus Scan, it will let you scan a file on your machine with a gazillion scanners.

3. Questionable sources.*cough* Torrents *cough*
Some friend or buddy gives you a “freebie” copy of some software hookup they got. You have to be incredibly careful here. In addition to risking your computer, you’re probably breaking a handful of laws by using cracked software. Even worse, it’s estimated that 90% of the intrusions and malware/virus infections come from cracked or illegitimately licensed software. The difference is that you shouldn’t be downloading software that is from a questionable source. Any software you acquire that is deliberately cracked to enable the full use of the product without purchase/registration is asking for trouble, the decision is yours, but an incredible percentage of cracked software out there is wired to to make computer do a lot more than what you’re expecting.

So thats it, simple advice. You can probably get away with the stuff in bold, but I thought it might be good to explain a little bit. Also keep in mind, this is the basics. There are tons more things you can do to tighten things up on your machine and I am sure I will write about those at some point.

Regardless, the guidelines really are this simple folks. If you’re using the above, the odds are distinctly in your favor. Most of the time.

Unless you’re me and happen to actually find malware in a legitimate application and have to alert the vendor that they made me cry when their software came up as toxic on 5 different scanners’ :)

-T

A couple quick lessons for new bloggers…

Oct 012008
 
Wordpress Logo

Originally Posted on Hold No Virtue by Tony Hunt.

At first I was going to render this as some sort of fairy tale is teach a lesson about spending so much time on irrelevant things that the main character ended up missing opportunity.

But then I realized some things…

First, I am not all the great at fairy tales.
Second, I don’t think my point would come across quite clear enough…

If you start a blog to express your Love for Dolphins. Where does learning SEO come into play? Bottom line…it doesn’t. Blogging is about writing…not about WordPress…and SEO shouldn’t be your #1 concern.

As much as I love WordPress and promote it, the important part of blogging is doing just that. Bloggers by definition express themselves online – writing is all. People pushing SEO and content management and CRM down your throat are just trying to make a buck. Don’t get me wrong…once your writing is developed and you have a good 30-100 posts done and you’ve found your Mojo, maybe looking into self-promotion is opportune, but if you aren’t technically savvy, all you’re doing is wasting valuable writing time trying to do it yourself and to be honest, on the web…everything you get free is worth just that…nothing.

Even more importantly, get yourself stable on the blog you are using. I don’t mean to imply learn it from a developers standpoint, I mean learn how to use it properly. I’ll be using WordPress as an example (mainly because almost every other platform is either under-developed or over-priced).

Lesson #1 – Know where you’re going before you go there!
There are a lot of different places to land some free blog space. Blogger.com/Blogspot.com are both very popular blog areas, but they are almost secular with regard to the rest of the net, and can really be a minefield if your intent for the blog is professional in nature. Tumbler.com is sooo not a blog…its more like Twitter on crack than it is a blogging venue, although many many bloggers use it to advertise their posts.
WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two incredibly different animals. WordPress.com is a service that offers free WordPress blogs to people on the net. This version of WordPress this service uses is incredibly crippled and offers the user virtually no control or room to modify. Then there is WordPress.org, this is the actual WordPress website that offers the platform the big players use. Whats the difference? Simply put, if you become serious about your writing and/or blogging, there is a huge likelihood you will end up having to move away from WordPress.com at some point as they can get incredibly pricy for modifications to their service. That’s right, the blog only stays free as long as you don’t need any additional functionality, past that it’s a fee based service.

Lesson #2 – Find Your Red Dress! (quoting Jenny!)
Some time ago this awesome person did an incredibly inspiring article on..well…a red dress. In finding and digging on that red dress, she just gave everyone the impression she’d just finished living happily ever after in some Disney flick. It was that kind of happy! Now it’s not like I’m implying that’s my goal…as much as everyone would enjoy seeing it…busting out in a red dress isn’t my gig…but the symbolism in this was all too clear. Find your own groove. Do what makes you happy, and for Jesus-on-a-pogo stick write like you’re finding that voice every second. I have some reading suggestions I’ll put at the bottom of the article as well.

Lesson #3 – Mingle!
Check out some other people’s sites and start to reading, start looking at their site, are they a good read? Make sure and comment where you feel the urge, many bloggers consider comment activity a measure of how successful they are at reaching larger groups of people. Also by commenting on their blog, others might be drawn to read your blog (which is usually linked in said comment). Now you’re doing more than just checking out other sites…you’ve become social, and inso doing…you’ve started networking (even if it’s only a few people).

Important books you can read that will make you a WordPress Power User:
WordPress All-in-One For Dummies
This is pretty much everything you need to know. If you need something that this book doesn’t cover, chances are you need a professional to help you.

Using WordPress
This is a good starter book as well. Highly recommended.

ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
This book is a must have for anyone looking to write blogs professionally. If you want to make money from your blog…read this book.

Now…there you have it. Enough quick advice and a few books to make sure you don’t completely drop the ball in creating your first blog or website.

Now for my last bit…some all-encompassing advice. There are a lot of people out there that own businesses and are real do-it-yourself types. A business website should be handled professionally, anyone can learn how to put together a rudimentary website with a few Google searches and a few more brain cells. Putting together websites that are designed to promote a business or product are a whole new animal, and while there is literature out there to help you, nothing beats experience and professional development when it comes to websites and making them successful. Advertisement and promotion can often break a bank, but only if you don’t shop around.

Happy Blogging!

-Tony