Websites

Over the last 6 months or so, I’ve been getting a few new user registrations on my WordPress blog every day or so. When I got a few on the same day, I got suspicious. So, I checked them out and found they were all suspicious. The username caught my attention as I thought, “Why would anyone add numbers to their name when they don’t need to”. It’s not like I have a lot of users and all names have gone. I figured that they must have been automated. I

This short article goes through the simple steps to move your WordPress website from HTTP to HTTPS yourself without using plug-ins or other tools. With the increased pressure from internet browser manufacturers to move content to a secure web, the switch is important for those wanting a higher search ranking or performing any action other than basic information. There’s no magic involved in this move and I don’t go into details of all the things that you can do, I just show you how to get your website up and

Google have started emailing webmasters to let them know about their plan for all web traffic to be delivered through an encrypted channel. This means delivering all web pages via HTTPS rather than HTTP. They are modifying their Google Chrome browser and have already made some changes earlier in the year. If a form delivered by standard text (HTTP) has a credit card or password field then Chrome already flags up in the address bar that it is ‘NOT SECURE’. The next step comes in October 2017 with the release

When I added a websites section to my blog I always intended to showcase sites that I found interesting or useful. Today, I would like to walk through a website called Duolingo that helps language students keep their skills fresh. The site can be found at https://www.duolingo.com/ or on a mobile device using the respective application store. Four months ago, I thought I would see if I could learn a language from scratch just by using the Duolingo website and mobile app. In the past, I have learned a little

Today, I was contacted by a friend who was worried about gathering data on her blog and the effects that the future European data protect act (DPA) would have on this. As I was writing my response I thought that would be good to share on my blog so here it is. I take it you are referring to the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will come into force in 2018 over-riding the UK’s own Data Protection Act. If the UK has not quit the EU

Welcome to WordPress! After 3 years of developing and operating my own content management system (CMS), I have finally switched over to WordPress for my Pat Howe Technology Blog. Part of the reason for this was to make it easier to maintain but the main reason was to take advantage of all the great plug-ins available. I’m still in the process of converting three years’ worth of posts but I’m over 90% of the way through and couldn’t wait any longer to launch it. I didn’t go with a front

When if first started this site I had intended to write some updates about the work going on at Pat Howe Web Solutions which now trades as My Web Minder. However, after two years I still haven’t provided any news in that respect but I’m not going to list out all the work completed in the last two years as I want to make this short. Apart from registering domain names for people/businesses or setting up email/web hosting accounts, we’ve been adding bits and pieces or making changes to a