Hackproof Your WordPress Blog NOW!

We woke up one morning and found out that one of our sites had been hacked. A red glaring warning sign appeared on Firefox and Google marked it as a dangerous site. This can happen to you. As much as I want to be intimidated by all the code talk I just cannot afford stop and moan about it. I guess it must be a boomer thing. I must keep asking questions and perserve.

 I have posted an insightful presentation on WordPress Security that was part of a presentation at a WordPress Conference.  Some of you, although you are long time bloggers, may still shy away from this critically needed stuff. DO NOT IGNORE IT!

I am also reviewing a four hour security seminar I took with Cathy Perkins. It must be done  in bit sized peices so it is good to stop, do then listen again.

I am not going to say it is easy and I would much rather be at Starbucks with a cup of Latte, at Barnes and Noble, or in the Virgin Islands. But I know what it feels like to have a blog hacked. So I am forcing myself to schedule this task and follow the steps so clearly explained in the Security Teleseminar. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to reward myself. If anyone else out there is doing the same thing and was in Cathy’s class please let me know.

Meanwhile, view the video below. You may not understand all of it, I am still learning also, but listen anyway. Write down your questions and post them after the video onthe WordPress TV site or here where someone smarter than me might answer.

But regardless if you do it your self or hire someone just secure that blog!

Check Your Blog Theme In Different Browsers

Be sure to check your blog theme in different browsers. I just started a new site called Baby Boomers Bustin Loose. Whereas, it works just fine in FireFox, and it was working well in Internet Explorer. But now Internet Explorer does not show my sidebars. Oh Boomer!

So, I will track back and see what changes I made to the sider , ie. widgets, etc and undo them. If I cannot get it to work then I will put up a new theme. Oh Boomer!

So the moral of this tale is to warn you to check your site in more than one browser often. How do you know which browser is sending the most visiters?

Check your host statistics. For example, my host, shows traffic from the major browsers using Webalizer and Awstats. I know for example, that I get more traffic from Internet Explorer than Safari or FireFox. So, having my site look strange in Internet Explorer is not a good thing.

So, I just wanted to pass this on to my readers. Do you have any FREE or low cost browser checking software you can share with everyone?

How We Upgraded 9 WordPress Sites But Crashed One

Baby Boomer hubby and I upgraded nine sites yesterday but crased one. How? We used two separate, but effective methods. One method was using two great plug-ins.

WordPress Database Backup Plugin

This is an excellent, uncomplicated,on-demand backup of your WordPress database. Navigate to Manage ? Backup to get started. By Austin Matzko.

WordPress Automatic Upgrade Plugin

This plugin allows a user to automatically upgrade the wordpress installation to the
latest one provided by wordpress.org using the 5 steps provided in the wordpress upgrade instructions.
Go to WordPress Automatic Upgrade to upgrade your installation Thanks to Ronald Huereca for making the plugin run in automatic mode. By Keith Dsouza.

Bluehost Support

We also used something called Simple Scripts on one of our hosts, Bluehost.   All of our site were installed using Fantastico but we converted to simple scripts because it was current with version 2.7.

It was really easy to convert and then upgrade to version 2.7. But how did we crash one of our sites?

Well it was easy. We neglected to deactivate one of the plugins. In this case, it was the Podpress plugin. One of my hubby’s site’s Crumbsnatcher.com just showed strange, I mean really strange error codes when we tried to go to the site.

Well, rather than panic, cry or take a pill we decided to call Bluehost.   The delivered support at it’s finest. They analyzed the situation and explained what happened. The also corrected it for us. How cool. Now it is true that most hosts don’t support WordPress but Bluehost gives a lot of handholding to help you find the solution.

Of course the other reason I like them is because I can call then if I am at this computer at strange hours.

So, We only have one additional site to upgrade. I saved it , just in case, I wanted to demonstrate how we used Simple Scripts on Bluehost.

Meanwhile, be sure to visit The Word Press Wizard because she did a simply outstanding teleseminar on how to upgrade your site. She reminded us of the things to do to insure our themes, widgets and plugins survive the process.

So happy upgrading!

Blogging Mistakes-Back up That Blog!

Blogging backup is critical. I lost one of my blogs last night because I did not back it up myself. Learn the following lessons from my mistake.

1. Even if your host does a back up -Use tools on the host to back it up yourself.

2. Do a periodic back up using a WordPress plug-in, ( If you are on WordPress)

3. Use other methods to do a backup.

4. Visit your blog often to check for hacking and other nasty dramas.

5. Ask for help and set up a blog back up schedule.

What am I missing? Any other suggestions?

Blogging Mistakes-3 Common Ones

Blogging mistakes are so very common. I make blogging mistakes much too often. So I decided to share 3 common mistakes I sometimes make.

Mistake #1

Creating posts without links to the sites mentioned.

Mistake #2

Neglecting to check posts for spelling errors

Mistake #3

Neglecting to check links made in a post to ensure that they work.

Now, of course I make other mistakes. I will post them later. Do you have any you want to share?

PS I made a category for this one so be on the look out for more postings.