My Computer Back in Service

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I have been using Windows Vista on my Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop for a little over a year now and have found out how unreliable Vista can be for simple additions. The ScreenSaver died at some point way back when and I have yet to find out why or how to fix the problem. If I ever find out how to make it work again short of reinstalling Vista, you will be the second to know (after me).

Another problem I have had is when adding an HID (Human Interface Device), an external keyboard to be specific. It doesn’t really matter what brand, I’ve tried a couple different brands and always ran into the same problem; the internal keyboard renders different characters than those I type into any field once I unplug the external keyboard.

To make a long story (months) short, I found out that the problem is not the keyboard, or the HID drivers themselves. The problem seems to be the internal cache where the device information is stored. And it only seems to occur if you use “Num Lock” and unplug the keyboard while it is still activated.

You might think that looking for the Cache file and clearing that would be the way to fix such a problem and it would probably work with no additional problems, but I found the simplest way was to just Deactivate the “Num Lock” before Unplugging the Keyboard.

If you just take that simple step, you will avoid a major headache using an External Keyboard with Vista.

This post is originally posted on my Working at Home on the Internet Blog. I wanted to include it here to help people who may not Work at Home, but still want to Check for Bad links on their Web Pages or Blogs. 

No, that’s not a picture of my Space Alien, that is a picture of Xenu. He’ll crawl around your Website or Blog to find all the Bad Ole Broken links.

I was reading a review on Smiley Cat of Inspyder, InSite which is a paid (around $49) program to catch broken links and misspellings on individual websites. He seems to like the program quite a bit and recommends it pretty highly.

Towards the end of the post he mentions a Free program with similar but more limited features. I have been looking for an easier way to check for broken links, doing it manually takes way too much time. So, me being me I had to check it out. I downloaded Xenu’s Link Sleuth unzipped the file and opened the program.

This is a no frills program that functions quite well for it’s intended purpose, Finding Broken Links. The first thing it does when started is to list ALL of your links, internal and external showing the status (Ok, Forbidden, precondition etc) and whether it is text/html or image/jpeg to make it easier to find the location of the broken link.

Once the list is complete you can generate a report on everything found. This is a list of the Table of Contents.

Each table is broken down to show you the broken link, the error code and each post/page on which it appears. From there you simply click the page, find the link and deal with it (make sure you are already signed into your Blog/Webpage account).

I haven’t gotten any further in the table than dealing with broken links yet, with 6000 links that could take some time. So, I will do another Full Review once I have finished clearing out the broken links.

One thing to remember for those to whom you are linking… If they change their URL format, it will show as a broken link. ie. site/date/p=111 to site/date/post title will not work, it will be a broken link.

FYI… This is NOT a paid review.

I almost forgot, this is only for Microsoft Windows users. The author has no plans to adapt for MAC, Linux or any other OS. Sorry.

I received an e-mail the other day fom a client asking this question… 

How do I look up a DNS(Domain Name System/server) name or IP(Internet Protocol) address from my desktop?
(You must be connected to the Internet to look up a DNS name or IP address even though you are using Windows.)

• In the Start Menu, Open the Command Prompt.
• At the Command Prompt, type nslookup, a space, and the IP address or name (eg. nslookup microsoft.com)
• Then press ENTER.
• You get Your Result
• When finished type exit, then press enter

Pretty simple, but…

What to do if you are scraped?

• Try contacting the author through their about or contact page (if they even have one)
• Leave a comment on your post (that’s on the offending blog)
• Look up their IP address on http://allwhois.com/ and report them to the host
• Send a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint
• If they are running Google Ads (and the probably are) click the Google Ads link and report them as scraping your content

Other than that, you might consider doing what I did on my Working at Home on the Internet blog (click the link for my alternate solution). It worked for me!

Installation of any WordPress Plugin is quite similar to any other in the steps that need to be followed in order to function properly. For the most part the only differences will be What you have to Upload to your Host Server.

Every WordPress Plugin I have ever installed always starts with downloading a .zip file. This should include ALL the information, folders, files and particular steps you will need to take in order to complete the installation.

Step by Step

• Download the .zip file…
  • to Your Computer in it’s entirety. Save it to any Folder you feel comfortable using ie. “downloads” or “zip files”. Confirm you received all the files. You can use your default expansion program if you are using an Operating System that has that function or something like Winzip for the next step.
• Unzip the .zip file…
  • to a folder on Your Computer where you can access everything in all the Folders and Files that have been expanded. [Keep the Expanded Folder separate from the Zip Folder, this will help avoid some confusion.] Normally these will default to the “Plugin Name Folder” and include the necessary files and folders you need to use the plugin, and a “readme” file which should have all the Special Instructions to ensure proper functionality of the Plugin (be sure to read it!).
• Log in…
  • to your Host Server and access your WordPress files for the Blog to which you are Uploading the Plugin for installation. This is ALWAYS in the public_html file. Make sure you keep track of where your expanded folders and files are stored on your computer for the next step.
• Navigate to wp_content/plugins…
  • If you need a Folder for the Plugin, Create the Folder with the Suggested Name in the “read me” text. Upload all the Files and Folders necessary (being sure to Create any Sub-folders ie. “image” or “features” and Upload any required files within those folders).
  • If No Separate Folder is needed, just Upload the File(s) making sure to create any Required Folders such as “cache” for storage of temporary information. (Folders like “cache” require the ability for the plugin to write to the folder for storage, be sure to open the folder so writing information is enabled).
• Save everything (as necessary) and Log Out of your Host Server
• Go to the WP-Admin of your Blog and sign in as Administrator
• Navigate to the Administration-Dashboard-Plugins Page of the Blog and ACTIVATE the Plugin
• If needed, ADD any code to the .php files as appropriate (you did read the “read me” right?) and SAVE any Changes

Your WordPress Plugin should function as promised as long as you followed ALL the necessary steps.

If you have been thinking about using a New Theme for your WordPress blog and thought the installation was a little beyond your expertise, maybe this will help.

I realize that it’s not the best quality, but bear with me, it is my first time.

Let me know if you found it helpful and if you would like more Screencasts (they’ll get better, I promise) on other subjects.