Lyme Disease Awareness & Treatment
Written by Nate Covington
I was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, and have since been researching Lyme disease identification, treatment, diet, managing stress, and even treating canine Lyme disease with vitamins and supplements - humans, too!
Here is a link to the guide that I posted on our local community website:
Pennsylvania Lyme Disease Treatment Guide
Please share!
I recently had to come up with a way to track a client's Drupal site, using the Webform module, from within Google Analytics. Since the Webform module generates the "submit" button automatically, there is no easy way to include the "onClick" tracking code provided by Google into the form:
onClick="ga('send', 'event', { eventCategory: 'Legacy Event Signup', eventAction: 'Sign Up', eventLabel: 'Legacy Signups', eventValue: 1});"
My solution was to write a short "hook" script in the template. To incorporate into your site, you need to modify this file:
/sites/all/themes/YOURTHEME/template.php
Web host agrees to pay $1m after it’s hit by Linux-targeting ransomware
What would you do if YOUR computer were hit by this type of ransomware?
What if your computer were stolen?
What if your building burns down?
SSL on Every Site?
Written by Nate CovingtonThe advantage of using an SSL certificate with your website is the ‘green lock’ symbol that visitors get when browsing your site:
Rather than this:
For years now, Google has been encouraging all websites to switch from HTTP to secure HTTPS (SSL).
Editor's Note:
I'm posting this article because it goes into a fair amount of detail about how a web site's hosting account and how its various parts are configured play an important role in handling large spikes in traffic. Most of my clients never encounter this type of a problem. It's always good to be ready. If you're not sure if your hosting account is set up to handle large bursts in traffic, let me know, and I'll put together some recommendations. For most folks, enabling caching is going to be sufficient. Others might appreciate the extra protection provided by a service like CloudFlare.
Millions relied on Space City Weather—here’s the configuration that weathered Hurricane Harvey.
HOUSTON—I had enough to worry about as Hurricane Harvey plowed into the Texas Gulf Coast on the night of August 25 and delivered a category 4 punch to the nearby city of Rockport. But I simultaneously faced a different kind of storm: an unexpected surge of traffic hitting the Space City Weather Web server. This was the first of what would turn into several very long and restless nights.
I recently switched a client's site from HTTP to HTTPS (SSL encryption) and needed to come up with a solution to their "social sharing counts" resetting to zero. This is not a flaw or bug, it's working as it was intended.
Here is how it works. When you share a page via social media, it uses its URL:
http://www.yoursite.com/the-page-you-are-sharing
When you switch to SSL / HTTPS, your URL changes, similar to if your domain name changes altogether:
https://www.yoursite.com/the-page-you-are-sharing
With the new URL, you lose all of your social sharing counts, a source of major pride (and potential profits).
My wife and I have been avid iPhone users for a decade. We recently switched over to Android and I wanted to write up this post to share my thoughts and findings.
First, Why?
We recently learned about these new Huawei phones and did some research on our own. We wound up purchasing matching Huawei Honor 8's. First, the specs are great. They stand up spec-per-dollar wise when compared to iPhone 6s, which was going to be the iPhone that we went with if we stayed in Apple's ecosystem. The iPhone 7 doesn't have a headphone jack and that was a deal breaker for us. The Honor 8's have a 'full' 1080-resolution screen squeezed into 5.2 inches. This basically means that the screen is a little larger than our old phones, but the clarity is amazing. Huawei has openly stated that they intend to compete with Apple and Samsung, head on. I personally believe they will be successful.
Huawei doesn't have any carrier subsidies or fancy deals going on behind the scenes. They don't have a massive advertising / marketing budget and "brand tax" that leading players are associated with. If things go according to their plan, they'll simply have to wait for people like me to buy and talk about how nice their products are. The rest will be history.
Requirements
Our main requirement was that we wouldn't sacrifice any functionality when switching over to Android. By now, there are plenty of "Google Play" apps on Android's platform to choose from.
Which Apps?
| Apple | Android |
| iCloud Drive | Google Drive |
| Calendar | Google Calendar (the stock Huawei calendar app was lacking) |
| Contacts | Google Contacts |
| BlueMail (the stock Huawei mail app was lacking) | |
| Reminders / Notes | Google Keep (We might be switching to Evernote) |
| Find Friends | Google Hangouts (create a "location sharing" circle) |
| iMessage | MightyText (allows SMS from computer) |
The Actual Migration: iCloud -> Google
Migrating my actual data (contacts, calendars) was easy. With Apple's devices supporting MS Exchange, and Android's devices tied into Google, data portability is no problem: you can export your data into simple CSV files and into the new platform. For me, I used Calendar and Contacts (Mac OS Apps) to export my data. I saved the files right on my desktop, then opened up a web browser and went to google.com/calendar and google.com/contacts, respectively, and imported my CSV files.
Syncing Photos
For those worried about syncing photos - this part was probably the least painful. The Android operating system, when you plug in via USB, gives a few options: Charge Only, Camera Mode, File Mode... once we switched the USB connection to Camera mode, Photos (formerly iPhoto) was able to import pictures into our existing library just like we connected any other USB camera.
Other Benefits
Our phones now support micro-SD cards for added storage.
The Joomla 3.7 release added new features AND 8 (eight) low-level security patches.
What they should have done, was to release 3.6.6 with all of the security patches as a ‘security’ release. Then, after the dust settles, release v3.7.0 with the new functionality. They combined both “security” and “new functionality” into the 3.7 release. To me, it seems they should have pushed the security patches into 3.6.6 and then the new features into 3.7, rather than a combination.
The result is a scramble in the Joomla community where everyone rushes to install version 3.7 because it contains security patches. Then, another scramble to install 3.7.1 because 3.7.0 had a new security issue. It seems like a racket, no?
For me, I had just recently patched a few clients up to Joomla 3.6.5, and when the 3.7 update came out, we collectively waited waited. Luckily, too, because the 3.7 patch broke some 3rd party extensions:
https://www.ijoomla.com/blog/updates-for-guru-and-ad-agency-are-now-available/
https://www.artio.net/support-forums/joomsef/community-support/joomsef-4/joomla-update-3-7-broke-joomsef
https://yootheme.com/support/question/108983
https://www.akeebabackup.com/home/news/1676-joomla-3-7-0-and-cli-scripts.html
As you can see, the RISK of applying a “security patch” can be the NEXT security patch coming down the pike. Patching a site, particularly if the site is LIVE on the internet, can be a stressful experience.
This article was originally posted on SearchEngineLand.com
Google often provides useful information to the SEO community, but columnist Nate Dame argues that ultimately, the company's advice is in their best interest, not yours -- so make sure you understand the nuances.
Last month, Google released a video detailing best practices for hiring an SEO company, and it is positioned to become the go-to guide for hiring an SEO. After all, who better to tell companies what they should look for in an SEO than the operators of the world’s most popular search engine?
Possible Solutions: Nonsecure Collection of Passwords will trigger warnings in Chrome and Firefox
Written by Nate Covington
Starting in January 2017, any website with a "login" form visible (e.g. Client Logins, Shopping Carts, etc) will show an "insecure" message in the browser's address bar if the site does not have an SSL certificate properly installed and configured.
Particularly for my clients that are security-minded, it's important to consider how to proceed with this information. Some of my clients already have SSL certificates running on their sites, even ones that don't process credit cards. For clients who already process credit cards, their sites already have the necessary SSL encryption certificate (https), so this is a non-issue.
This "insecure" message will also pop up when you are trying to access your CMS login panel, like:
- /wp-login.php for your Wordpress,
- /administrator for Joomla, and
- /user for Drupal sites.
Possible Solutions:
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Covington Creations, LLC
PO Box 403
Mountainhome, PA 18342
570.595.3956 landline / fax
215.353.7786 mobile
