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Archives for June 2007

Overuse of CPU on my web host – Help!

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I got a note yesterday evening from my webhost stating that my sites were using too much of their resources. Most of our sites are fairly well visited but I don’t believe they are so well visited that they would begin causing CPU problems on my web host just yet.


So, I’ve been going over all our sites for the last few hours turning off any plugins that aren’t vital and ones that I think might use CPU. For example I had viewcounter and postrater activated on two of our sites and since they store info in the database I thought that they might be using the hosts CPU so it was worth turning them off.

I’ve also downloaded a copy of WP-Cache that I’m going to be installing in a few minutes. This caches a page when it’s first viewed and then presents the cached copy the next time it’s viewed and doesn’t create a new cache copy of the page until data on the page changes or I think until a certain amount of time has passed. If this works properly it should cut down on the amount of resources that my sites are using.

I’m also going to update my Google Sitemaps plugin as the latest Beta version has been optimized to use fewer CPU resources.

I’m crossing my fingers that this works.

In the meantime my host has moved my sites to a different server on their network. I’m not sure the move went well because once I got to this blog I noticed that when I tried to click on the titles of the posts I got an error message. I hope they didn’t mess up my database!

That’s one reason why I’m writing a post now. I’m hoping the new post will update my database and fix whatever’s going on with the rest of the posts. I sure hope it does, and I also hope that this posts when I publish it!

If anyone has been put on notice by their webhost that their site is overusing CPU resources how did you resolve the problem? Any suggestions?




Get a deal on electronics and gadgets at Coupon Chief

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Do you love electronics, gadgets and all things computer related? If so, you might also like saving money on these products.

I’ll bet you’ve heard of couponchief.com? This is an online site listing over 1000 merchants promo codes. Visit the Coupon Chief before you purchase anything online in order to see if there’s a coupon or promo code for the item you’re interested in so that you can save some money or perhaps get free shipping.

Coupon Chief has listings for stores such as Dell, Office Depot, Staples, Comp USA, Circuit City and Best Buy just to name a few of the popular types of stores that sell computers, accessories and tech gadgets. I actually just found a great deal that might interest you. It’s for a Comp USA coupon code that will save you up to $400 on a notebook! Great deal eh? Be sure to check that out if you are in the market for a new laptop.

Now, if you visit the Coupon Chief and find that you’re a little bit confused as how to use the coupon codes or promos for the online stores that are listed there you can always take a look at their “how To” section for some of their top merchants such as Amazon, Best Buy and Overstock.com just to name a few.

What to do with old computers?

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Do you have some old computers sitting around your home or office that you’re not sure what to do with? Have you thought of recycling them or using them in a creative way?


They say that the average lifespan of a computer is 3 to 5 years. So that means that on average every four years those of us with computers are going to be looking for a way to get rid of ours.

I’ll bet that one of the ways you’ve gotten rid of old computers in the past was to give the computer to someone that didn’t have one or to a kid. Am I right? Don’t be ashamed. I’ve done it too. Of course all we’re doing is getting the next generation hooked on technology aren’t we?

Here in Canada almost two million computers end up in landfills each year. Isn’t that a shame?

I don’t know if other countries have really good recycling programs but we do recycle here in Canada which makes it so much sadder to hear that some many computers don’t end up getting recycled and are placed in landfills instead.

As I already mentioned computers can be donated. This is a great way to make room for your new computer yet do something good for someone else at the same time.

Here in Toronto Little Geeks, a non-profit organization that refurbishes unwanted computers and gives them to underprivileged children. Look for a company such as this in your area.

There’s also a program called Computers for Schools. They accept donations of computers at drop off centers throughout Canada. They then refurbish the machines and distribute them to needy schools. They’ll also accept old computer accessories. Check for a school computer donation program in your country.

Then there’s Reboot Canada. There are eight drop off locations in Canada. They’ll accept computers of any age or condition.

Charitable organizations such as The Salvation Army and Good will are always great places to donate computers and peripherals. Just be sure that these products actually work when you drop them off as they are usually sold in their stores as is.

Computer manufacturers such as Dell, HP and IBM have launched donation campaigns. Donate your old computer through the companies website. Your old computer is then donated to those in need.

HP apparently began it’s recycling program way back in 1987, long before household computers were as common as house phones. They’ve estimated that they have collected and recycled more than 600 million pounds of used computer products.

If you choose to go the recycling route because your computer is hopelessly old or damaged you can drop your computer and or monitor off at a recycling plant. The computer and monitor will be stripped of any hazardous materials, and reusable parts will also be removed. The computers and monitors or what’s left of them will then be shredded and sorted into base materials such as metal, plastic and glass.

Recycling trucks won’t pick up computers or monitors that are left by the side of the road. As I said they have hazardous, or potentially hazardous materials in them so they must be disposed of properly. So be sure to check on the hours of your local recycling plant so that you can drop off your old computers and peripherals.

Earlier I mentioned that you could also use your old computers for things they weren’t intended to be used for … I’ve seen photos of computer arches, computer planters in outdoor gardens and creative sculptures made of computers and or computer monitors. If you’re feeling creative and you have enough old machines on hand you can see what you can come up with.

YouTube available on AppleTV

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I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to check out the AppleTV boxes but they’re kind of cool. You can watch everything that’s on iTunes through AppleTV on your own television set.

Now there’s news that YouTube will soon becoming to AppleTV. If you have an Apple TV box you will be able to watch all your favorite YouTube videos via AppleTV. This news came out on May 31st and sent a buzz through the tech world.

Create a second WP blog in a directory or Subdomain

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Want to create another blog on the same domain? Here’s how:

It’s actually very easy to create a new blog as a directory, or as a sub-domain.

My advice to you would be to actually create your new blog as a sub domain if you think there’s any chance that you might use it for pa1d blogging services, or that you might want to monetize it in some other way.

Some affiliate sites only accept new sites that are on their own domain which means blog.mydomain.com and mydomain.com are acceptable, but mydomain.com/blog is not. So, prior to setting up a new blog on a domain that already has a website or blog on it – think about how you will use the site in the future.

So it’s up to you, but if I was doing it all over again I’d create sub-domains. I have a number of blogs on my Feverishthoughts.com domain. I’ve actually purchased new domains that I plan to move the current /blog blogs over to once the new domains have aged and gained some page rank.

So I’ll tell you how to make a blog as a directory, as in mydomain.com/blog first:

Let’s assume that your webhost has c-panel and that you’ll be using C-panel to work with your domain and installations.

So … assuming you have C-panel

1. Log into your web host and get to your C-panel

2. In C-panel you’ll see an icon for Fantatico

3. Click on Fantastico and on the right hand side you’ll see a list of different types of programs that you can automatically install onto your domain.

4. Look for blogs and select WordPress

5. If you have a current installation that you installed through Fantastico that will be listed on the right hand side, just above that you’ll see a link that says new Installation and it will look something like this:

New Installation (2.1.3)
Disk space required: 3.73 MB
Disk space available: 248167.5 MB

6. Click on the new installation link and you’ll be taken to the first of three WP installation pages

7. If you have more than one domain on your account you might see a drop down list – if you have this select which domain you’d like to install a new WordPress blog on. (** if you’ve made a sub-domain for your new blog it will be in this list **)

8. Install in directory

– Leave empty to install in the root directory of the domain (access example: http://domain/).

– Enter only the directory name to install in a directory (for http://domain/name/ enter name only). This directory SHOULD NOT exist, it will be automatically created!

9. Once you’ve selected the domain or sub-domain that you want to install your new blog on you’ll see an empty box beside the words Install Directory – if you want your blog to be in the root of the domain (like your current blog- but you can’t do that with this new one because you have a blog there already!) you’d leave it blank.

Start thinking about the search engines and how the spiders will see your site NOW. Don’t name your new blog’s directory – blog or blog2. Please think of a name for the directory that describes what your site is about. For example for my directory blogs I’ve named the directories Garden for my gardening blog, Celebrity for my celeb blog and so on. Now the search engines know immediately what the posts on the blog will be able because the main keyword for the site will be in every single url.

10. Follow the rest of the directions adding an email address, admin name and password to complete the installation. within minutes you’ll be finished.

Earlier I was suggesting that it might be better to put your new blog on a sub-domain instead of a /directory.

For this you would go into C-panel – assuming that you have C-panel and click on the icon that says Subdomain.

Once you get into the subdomain area you’ll see

_________________ your domain or drop down list of domains ADD

Fill in the blank box with the name of you want to use for your subdomain.

Then select your domain. If you only have one domain you’ll only see mydomain.com in the next box

After that all you have to do is click on the word ADD and you’ll create a subdomain that might be called:

myblog.mydomain.com

Once you’ve created your subdomain go back to the main C-panel page, click on Fantastico and follow the directions that I gave you above but in step 8 you would select your subdomain from the drop-down list and leave the directory name box blank if you want to install into the root directory of your new subdomain so that your blog will work simply as myblog.mydomain.com

Once you get started with this I’m sure you’ll find that it’s all very easy. Especially now that you have some instructions to use.

Google Gears allows internet users to take web based aps offline

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I’m looking forward to Google Gears. It’s a new product that will be coming out shortly that’s been developed by Google that will allow internet users to take there normally web only applications offline.

This will be wonderful for those who are still using dial up connections to connect to the internet and perhaps their blogging platform.

Personally, I’ve been quite frustrated at times when I’ve been trying to work on one of my blogs and my server has gone down or my internet connection (cable) is out or acting up. It’s very hard to write posts or write draft articles on WordPress when you can’t connect to your WP dashboard!

Hopefully Google Gears will work with WP and other blogging platforms too.

Microsoft Touch Screen

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Bill Gates demonstrates Microsoft’s Touch Screen

I know I’m a few days late with this news but I absolutely love the idea of Microsoft’s new touch screen product. You’ve seen the technology to some extent in restaurants where waiters and waitresses can simply touch a screen to select a menu item and place the customers order.

Now this type of technology, greatly enhanced, will be coming to our homes in the near future. I’m sure the touch screen will be out of many peoples budges in the beginning but as it grows more popular I’m certain that many people will want to have and use this new tech product.

Music and Tech search terms result in more spyware filled sites

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I wrote a post the other day about a new spyware program called Spy Sweeper. Now I’ve found a news story that says that when we are searching the web we should be careful of what search terms we use while searching as some terms – particularly those used for music and technology related searches can cause us to encounter more sites filled with spyware.

Have a look at this short video to see which terms you should be careful of using when using search engines:

Htaccess to add www to all pages of a site

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I’ve been trying to work on my htaccess file for one of my other domains feverishthoughts.com for a few weeks. What I’d like is for the main website on feverishthoughts to have www in the url but ever new htaccess code that I’ve tried seems to fail and worse often ends up messing up how my site works.

I’m so frustrated I could start throwing folding chairs, and other things around!

I mentioned my problem in a forum and wrote a post about it on my main blog and some people have been very nice and offered up codes to try but nothing is working.

If anyone reading this post has an htaccess code for me to try that will put www in all the urls for my main blog even if they came to the site using a link without the www I’d appreciate it.

I wonder if part of the problem is that this domain thewebfiles.com is the main domain on my server?

What a difference in mortgage rates!

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I’ve been talking with some of my friends who also happen to be home owners and we were comparing our mortgage rates. What I found out was that california mortgage rate are a bit higher than they are here in Ontario.

I’m wondering now if the mortgage rates are a little higher because the US economy isn’t doing quite as well as Canada’s? I haven’t heard any recent rates but the last time I did I think our unemployment rate was lower and well … our dollar is certainly climbing. If our dollar gets much higher it will hurt our economy.

What do you think?

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