I am rapidly becoming disillusioned by all the hype about SEO.
Everyone is offering you Page 1 on Google. Hey guys, unless that page contains millions of entries we can't all be on there. Or maybe we could get on page one with a single very obscure keyword that no one is ever likely to use but if they did you would be there!
On offer are instant results that take a year to be effective. Overnight success stories that take 2 years to come to fruition.
On offer is an SEO expert who wants £ 500 a month to do SEO work for us. In our business that would mean selling an extra 10 units a month just to pay for the SEO advice. I don't think so!
Others offer you placement on 10 Directory listings a month. Oh come on! Some of those will be so obscure that they are not worth it for the traffic they will generate.
We will soon be placing on one of our websites a fuller story.
In the meantime if you would like to have a go at me for writing such scandalous, sacrilegious, scurrilous content then click here Email Me.
Is it worth it? It is probably worth doing something but lets not get over excited by it all.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
Spamming attack resolved
It would appear that recently an email account on our web server had been compromised and was being used to send out spam mail despite the security measures we have in place.
We believe we have now solved the problem and have put further security measures in place to revent this from happening in the future.
We apologise to any user who has received spam email emanating from our server and to those webmasters who may had had an increase in traffic resulting from the use of false email accounts purporting to reside on their servers.
We believe we have now solved the problem and have put further security measures in place to revent this from happening in the future.
We apologise to any user who has received spam email emanating from our server and to those webmasters who may had had an increase in traffic resulting from the use of false email accounts purporting to reside on their servers.
Friday, 22 July 2011
First week without Windows
It has now been just over a week since I set up my Windowless system.
What are the issues? Well none really.
I have copied over all my data from my old system. A mixture of putting the old Hard Disks (one for Win XP and one for my old Ubuntu setup) and copying the data across. No problem. Other than that I brought across other data on a USB memory stick. Again no problem.
Ok I still have to import my old emails from Outlook. Just a 3.5 GB file to port across first. Evolution seems to do the job OK. I have imported calendar entries that have been sent to me. email set up was easy.
I have used Banshee to import some music. I am not mad with this, I still prefer to play from CD on my separates system but I have brought some files across. Can I sync with my Creative Xen, Well no. It doesn't like ogg files and I haven't found a way of converting them to mp3 to port across. Is it a big issue? Not really for me.
I have tried to connect my Blackberry. At the moment it is not having it. Is that a real problem for me? Well it should be but I have been very lazy about syncing my Windows and my Blackberry so why should it now be a problem. On the other hand maybe I shall see if I can swap the blackberry for an Android phone.
I have put my personal Accountz program on. Only problem were of my own making in making a mess of copying the old data from backup.
What is really good?
I have set up a number of users on this machine. It is nice to be able to log on to one account whilst remaining logged to the first account. For example, I was logged on to my personal account and playing some music through Banshee. I logged on to my work account without logging off the personal account and the music kept on playing. When I logged off the business account I simply logged back on to my personal account and carried on working from where I have left off.
After one week my impression? Great. Should have done it sooner.
What are the issues? Well none really.
I have copied over all my data from my old system. A mixture of putting the old Hard Disks (one for Win XP and one for my old Ubuntu setup) and copying the data across. No problem. Other than that I brought across other data on a USB memory stick. Again no problem.
Ok I still have to import my old emails from Outlook. Just a 3.5 GB file to port across first. Evolution seems to do the job OK. I have imported calendar entries that have been sent to me. email set up was easy.
I have used Banshee to import some music. I am not mad with this, I still prefer to play from CD on my separates system but I have brought some files across. Can I sync with my Creative Xen, Well no. It doesn't like ogg files and I haven't found a way of converting them to mp3 to port across. Is it a big issue? Not really for me.
I have tried to connect my Blackberry. At the moment it is not having it. Is that a real problem for me? Well it should be but I have been very lazy about syncing my Windows and my Blackberry so why should it now be a problem. On the other hand maybe I shall see if I can swap the blackberry for an Android phone.
I have put my personal Accountz program on. Only problem were of my own making in making a mess of copying the old data from backup.
What is really good?
I have set up a number of users on this machine. It is nice to be able to log on to one account whilst remaining logged to the first account. For example, I was logged on to my personal account and playing some music through Banshee. I logged on to my work account without logging off the personal account and the music kept on playing. When I logged off the business account I simply logged back on to my personal account and carried on working from where I have left off.
After one week my impression? Great. Should have done it sooner.
Friday, 15 July 2011
I have gone Windows free at home
Ubuntu wins! Having to rebuild my home computer I have decided to go entirely Windows free.
I have used a Phenom II 555 processor, ASUS motherboard, on board dual head graphics, Genius 5.1 Audio card. I am using a previously used 500GB hard disk.
From start to finish the install took 20-30 minutes, including updates. I am using Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).
Every device was configured to work, including the add on audio card. (I thought I was in trouble with this until I realised that the sound output was being directed to the on board audio device).
I configured Evolution mail client to my mail account - no problem. I set up a couple of extra users so I can keep work separate - no problem. I set two users to be in the same user group so they can share data - no problem. I popped an audio CD in the drive and Banshee picked it up and played it - no problem. Also able to rip this to disk - no problem.
I popped my old XP hard disk in and copied all relevant data from it - no problem. I popped in my old Linux hard disk (from dual boot machine) and copied off all relevant data - no problem.
What issues are there. Well I would like a 64 bit version of Flash player - come on Adobe. I would like to sync my Blackberry with Evolution. I want to see if my Creative Zen can sync.
This tale should convince some of you that you do not need to use Windows operating systems. There is a perfectly good alternative.
To find out more visit Linux Computing UK where we can help you. For the more adventurous who want to go it alone try Ubuntu themselves.
I have used a Phenom II 555 processor, ASUS motherboard, on board dual head graphics, Genius 5.1 Audio card. I am using a previously used 500GB hard disk.
From start to finish the install took 20-30 minutes, including updates. I am using Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal).
Every device was configured to work, including the add on audio card. (I thought I was in trouble with this until I realised that the sound output was being directed to the on board audio device).
I configured Evolution mail client to my mail account - no problem. I set up a couple of extra users so I can keep work separate - no problem. I set two users to be in the same user group so they can share data - no problem. I popped an audio CD in the drive and Banshee picked it up and played it - no problem. Also able to rip this to disk - no problem.
I popped my old XP hard disk in and copied all relevant data from it - no problem. I popped in my old Linux hard disk (from dual boot machine) and copied off all relevant data - no problem.
What issues are there. Well I would like a 64 bit version of Flash player - come on Adobe. I would like to sync my Blackberry with Evolution. I want to see if my Creative Zen can sync.
This tale should convince some of you that you do not need to use Windows operating systems. There is a perfectly good alternative.
To find out more visit Linux Computing UK where we can help you. For the more adventurous who want to go it alone try Ubuntu themselves.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Openfiler upsets me
Those of you who have followed this blog over time will know I am not averse to being critical. Today it is the turn of the OpenFiler team.
We have recently launched a new site called Linuxcomputinguk.co.uk where we are specifically trying to promote Linux products so I thought I really should try and find a Linux NAS server rather than the FreeNAS base we have used before. I came across OpenFiler.
So today I got an install going.
Using 2.99.1, after doing all the network setup, password etc the system spends 3 minutes (well 2.42 actually) to do the install and then goes away for 10-15 minutes seemingly doing nothing before eventually saying it is ready for a reboot.
After the reboot I get the web GUI and type in root and my password and get presented with a user account quota page.
I tried the UK support desk. They were all out at lunch, oh and by the way they do not take phone calls unless you have paid for a support contract. I spoke with sales who said they would put me in touch with the Partner support team. 6 hours later I am still waiting for a response.
Thinking I had a bum install I reinstalled. No change. I have now tried 4 installs of 2.99.1 and 2 installs of 2.3. And where am I now, nowhere forward from lunchtime. I even put in a call to the States but still have had no response (except to ask for my contact details which had been at the foot of every email I have sent them).
In the end I had a look at the install guide on their webpage. I do not expect that after more Linux installs than I care to remember that I should need to look at the install guide. What is it they say, manuals are for those who just can't hack it themselves. Something like that anyway. But right at the bottom of the guide is the gem. Log on as user openfiler, password password. Boy, why can't that be displayed on one of the install screens?
So I got in to the web gui to set up the system. Can I set up a volume? Can I, hell as like! No volume, no share, no usable system.
For me it is back to FreeNAS.
We have recently launched a new site called Linuxcomputinguk.co.uk where we are specifically trying to promote Linux products so I thought I really should try and find a Linux NAS server rather than the FreeNAS base we have used before. I came across OpenFiler.
So today I got an install going.
Using 2.99.1, after doing all the network setup, password etc the system spends 3 minutes (well 2.42 actually) to do the install and then goes away for 10-15 minutes seemingly doing nothing before eventually saying it is ready for a reboot.
After the reboot I get the web GUI and type in root and my password and get presented with a user account quota page.
I tried the UK support desk. They were all out at lunch, oh and by the way they do not take phone calls unless you have paid for a support contract. I spoke with sales who said they would put me in touch with the Partner support team. 6 hours later I am still waiting for a response.
Thinking I had a bum install I reinstalled. No change. I have now tried 4 installs of 2.99.1 and 2 installs of 2.3. And where am I now, nowhere forward from lunchtime. I even put in a call to the States but still have had no response (except to ask for my contact details which had been at the foot of every email I have sent them).
In the end I had a look at the install guide on their webpage. I do not expect that after more Linux installs than I care to remember that I should need to look at the install guide. What is it they say, manuals are for those who just can't hack it themselves. Something like that anyway. But right at the bottom of the guide is the gem. Log on as user openfiler, password password. Boy, why can't that be displayed on one of the install screens?
So I got in to the web gui to set up the system. Can I set up a volume? Can I, hell as like! No volume, no share, no usable system.
For me it is back to FreeNAS.
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