Komunitas-Super

All WordPress site owners have their own list of "must have" plugins. Is one or more of these administration and security add-ons among yours? Each adds valuable functions to WordPress, and is simple to configure and use.

As the name suggests, reveal-ids-for-wp-admin-25 is designed for WordPress 2.5. It adds a column to all Manage screens that shows the numeric ID assigned by WordPress whenever an item, such as a post, page, category, link, or user, is created. Previous versions of WordPress showed this information by default in the Manage screens, which made items easier to find and use if you wanted to, for example, design a custom template based specifically on your categories and posts, or manage users by ID. You can look in the MySQL database for the IDs you need, but that's awkward and time-consuming. The reveal-ids-for-wp-admin-25 plugin makes the task of finding IDs convenient and easy. Once you've activated the plugin, select which sections you want the IDs displayed for, and the minimum user role allowed to view the IDs, and save. This plugin does a small but important task that makes it easier for site owners, especially those with multiple hundreds of pages of information, to do their jobs.

StatPress gives you instant access to real-time site statistics, so you don't have to pull up the logs and fiddle with interpreting the data. Install and activate StatPress, and the plugin puts a tab on the main administration window. Click on that and you'll see that most of the work of configuration is already done for you. With the Overview, you can quickly see the latest traffic compared to the current and previous months. Color-coded bars delineate between feed traffic, actual visitors, and spiders. Scroll down and see that the Overview page also shows you realtime information about the latest hits, search terms, referrers, agents, pages, and spiders. The Details tab breaks the stats out by top days, OSes, browsers, feed type, top search terms, countries, pages, unique visitors, and IP addresses. The Spy tab tells you where your latest visitors came from and what pages they visited.

StatPress's search function comes in handy when you have months of stats but need to find specific information about things like referrals or operating systems. The plugin also gives you the ability to export your stats to a .csv text file so you can manipulate or format the data in a spreadsheet. The Options tab lets you instruct StatPress whether to collect data about registered users or spider visits, how long to save stats and view them in the graphical data display, and what administrator level gets to see the stats.

StatPress is simple, quick, free, and does its job efficiently, making life easier for site owners who need access to on-the-fly statistics.

WP Super Cache makes your WordPress site load more quickly and with much less strain on the server by caching all pages as static HTML, and delivering static pages to any user who is not logged in and who has never left a comment on the site. According to plugin author Donncha, this means the vast majority of your visitors will view the cached pages. Super Cache can help a site make it through a Slashdotting or Digg because it lessens the load on the server -- but Donncha warns that it is not a panacea. "Don't expect a cheap hosting plan to survive a major traffic spike, even if it is cached!" Even so, Super Cache is worth installing because it is always working, which means that if you get an unexpected surge in traffic, your site is already prepared.

Super Cache configuration options show up under the Settings tab in WordPress. Make sure you turn the cache on here after you've installed and activated the plugin. The plugin lets you set the expiry time after which cached files can be deleted via the "garbage collection" mechanism, which searches for and deletes expired files once an hour, once every six hours, or once every 24 hours. Super Cache also gives you the option to exclude certain pages from caching by entering strings. For example, if your post URLs all include the year the post was written, you could exclude all posts written in 2007 from the cache by entering 2007 and clicking "Save strings." If there are certain posts written in 2007 that you wanted to cache anyway, the next option allows you to set exception to the rule just created. You can also set cache options for spider or bot-requested pages, check the size of the cache, and delete expired pages or all cached pages. A special Lock Down setting lets you prepare for a known traffic spike by preventing new comments from refreshing the cached files. Finally, if you've run into trouble with any configuration settings, the final option allows you to restore all the defaults and start over.

WP Super Cache is a simple plugin that can make up for less than optimal server bandwidth in a shared hosting scenario, or when you're faced with limited traffic capability.

Finally, WP Security Scan makes it easy to find and fix potential security vulnerabilities. Install and activate the plugin and click the Security tab in the main window. The first thing you'll see is a table showing the results of an initial scan, with "good" elements in green, and issues that need attention in red. Click on Scanner, and Security Scan takes a look at all your directories and files to check set permissions and recommend changes. The Password Tool tests the strength of any input string, and also generates strong passwords you can use to protect your WordPress installation. The Database Security tab helps you change the default database table prefix to lessen the possibility of SQL-injection attacks. You choose a new table prefix and Security Scan automatically updates your wp-config file. Finally, the Support tab has quick links to documentation and changelogs at the Security Scan homepage. WP Security Scan is easy to install and is preconfigured, so all you have to do is run it and make the recommended changes.

These four WordPress plugins don't have a lot of bells and whistles, just the ability to get the job done quickly and efficiently. If you install them, I think you'll find, as I did, that they really are "must-have" plugins for busy site owners.
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As a regular browser of the Firefox Add-ons site, I'm troubled by the apparent proliferation of proprietary extensions in the last year. Maybe I've simply exhausted the free-licensed extensions that interest me, but recently every interesting-looking extension seems to be a proprietary one -- especially in the recommended list. Nothing, of course, in the Mozilla privacy or legal notice prohibits proprietary extensions simply because they are proprietary, but I find them not only contrary to the spirit of free and open source software (FOSS), but, often, annoying attempts to entangle me in some impossible startup.

I took a while to notice the proprietary extensions. Because Mozilla is FOSS and the first extensions I added were as well, I got careless about reading the license notices. At first, I only glanced to see that the references were to the GNU General Public License or Lesser General Public License, and so many were that I became careless.

When I first noticed that proprietary extensions had become commonplace, I was peeved, even outraged. I use Firefox, as I do GNU/Linux, out of a wish to have a free system, so how dare the writers of these extensions try to slip proprietary software on me unaware?

Captive audiences

What annoys me about many of the proprietary extensions is that they are not just extra pieces of functionality for me to pick and choose, but efforts to enlist me as a customer for a new startup. Take, for example, Interclue. In theory, Interclue is a useful add-on that allows you to view a link in a popup window before you actually move to it. However, its developers want to monetize it, so the extension includes several features asking for donations. I have rarely seen a clearer case of a good idea being ruined by nagware, and what Interclue will be like if the developers make good their threat to add special offers from their business partners to the functionality, I shudder to imagine. My only comfort is that, while Interclue might temporarily become attractive to businesses as a way around Adblocker, the basic idea seems far too slender to build a lasting business upon.

A still more annoying extension is Sxipper. While described on Firefox Add-ons as a password manager, Sxipper is actually an identity manager that also controls the information given to forms and allows you to create different profiles or collections of personal information that you can give out as you choose.

Left to your local hard drive, this functionality might be useful, if in advance of most users' needs. However, Sxipper also includes options to send usage statistics and profiles of forms to the company behind the extension. Because the form profiles enhance the extension, users might be tempted to share this personal information. While I have no reason to mistrust Sxipper (in fact, I know several people who work there, or have done so), the concept of trusting some of your security to someone else is simply irreconcilable with basic security principles.

Sxipper is not so much an extension as a hostile takeover of your copy of Firefox, intruding into almost all your Web activities. By displaying the Sxipper logo on every form on every Web page, the extension's default settings transform Firefox into an extended ad for the company.

I could give other examples, such as Jeteye and Wot, where the story is much the same. Such things are not what I sign up for when I install an extension. I don't wear corporate T-shirts, I don't want to be press-ganged into somebody else's entrepreneurial dream, and I definitely don't want a corporately branded Web browser.

In contrast to these underhanded efforts, I have more respect for Sun Microsystems, which, after a period of releasing OpenOffice.org extensions under proprietary licenses, finally had the sense to release them under free licenses -- and with only "Sun" in the name and the occasional logo to remind you of their origins.

Let the downloader beware

Mozilla does warn that it has a policy of taking no responsibility for what you download. Its Legal Notice page clearly warns that:

"Mozilla has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, available on or by means of Mozilla's websites, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material's content, use or effects. By operating its websites, Mozilla does not represent or imply that it endorses the material there available, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful or non harmful. "

It also tries to bind the developers of extensions by suggesting that, by uploading to the Firefox Add-on site, they are promising that their work is not malicious.

But I can't help wondering how many people read such pages, or remember them for very long. And, while the examples here are annoying rather than harmful, you don't need to extend them very far to see why Firefox extensions are such a concern to security experts.

Admittedly, all I need to do to avoid proprietary extensions is to exercise a little caution and read the licenses, but I became careless because I thought I was in a safe place. In my calmer moments, I tell myself that Mozilla has every right to open the possibility of extensions to any possible license -- and it does warn me, even if I have to hunt for the warning.

I can even rationalize Mozilla's policy as catering to as wide a variety of personal preferences as possible, just as the Debian distribution does by including both free and non-free software. But where Debian makes the difference in licenses clear by putting free and non-free software in different repositories, Mozilla lumps them altogether. So, deep down, it still feels like I'm been misled, my trust betrayed, and my time wasted.
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Managing buddies on a few online social networks isn't too much of a hassle, but throw in your contact list from instant messaging platforms and online apps and services like Flickr, Digg, and Twitter, and you have a contact list that'd rival that of Kevin Bacon. Managing so many people can be a headache, but here are three browser plugins that can help you manage your online presence more efficiently.

One of the reasons for the popularity of social networks and apps is their ability to allow users to create content. But all online services have different interfaces and different limitations. If you've been longing for an FTP-like solution to uploading content on various services, you'll love the Firefox FireUploader plugin.

FireUploader provides a universal interface to many popular online apps. It currently lets you upload files to YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Google Docs, Box.net, Slideshare, Webshots, Omnidrive, Snaphappi, and others. When you visit a site that it supports, a pop-up appears at the bottom right corner of the page informing you that the plugin works on this Web service. Once installed, it's available under the Tools menu in Firefox. It opens in a separate tab and splits the screen into two panes, à la FTP -- the left side houses files on your desktop, and the right has files on your Web service. Drag files from the left pane to the right to upload them, or vice versa to download files. You'll have to individually enter your account information for each Web service you want to use FireUploader with.

When uploading photos, the plugin lets you add titles, descriptions, and tags for pics on several sites, including Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube. You can arrange content into folders and albums or mark content as private, all from within the FireUploader's interface.

The only downside I found with this plugin is that it might randomly not work because of changes to a Web service back end. But even with the occasional blip, you'll want to keep FireUploader around if you upload lots of files to lots of different services.

Sharing

If you're not uploading content, you're probably sharing it. Shareaholic is a Firefox plugin that lets you bookmark, share, and email Web pages via lots of bookmark-sharing Web sites. By default it handles nine popular Web site where you'd save links and share bookmarks, including del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook, Stumble Upon, and Twitter. If you want more, you can further activate 12 more sites, such as MySpace, Y! Combinator, Reddit, HealthRanker, Tumblr, and Google Bookmarks.

When installed, the plugin adds a button next to the address bar, which when clicked displays a pull-down that lists sites it supports. If a page has been Dugg, the pull-down menu displays the number of diggs and comments. If it has been bookmarked at del.icio.us, it shows how many times it has been saved at that site.

The downside of this plugin is that Shareaholic lacks features you'd find in a plugin dedicated to a particular service. For example, del.icio.us's own plugin lets you view saved links without visiting the Web site -- something you can't do with Shareaholic. But if you can live without some features that vary from service to service, there's no faster way than Shareaholic to share bookmarks, and gauge the popularity of a page across different sites.

Sidebar on steroids

The last plugin that'll go a long way in managing your online presence is Yoono, a widget-driven sidebar. It's a hefty 3.4MB in size, and it works not only in Firefox, but also in Internet Explorer. You can display and hide it with View -> Sidebar -> Yoono under Firefox. Using Yonoo you can add friends and contacts from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, GTalk, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, and other networks. When you set your presence status (online, offline, hidden, do not disturb, and so forth) using the plugin, it updates the status automatically on all the networks and services you're logged into.

What I really like about the plugin is that it lets you do network- and service-specific tasks from within the sidebar itself. For example, when you click on a Facebook friend in the toolbar, you can open his wall page or events page or poke him from the toolbar. You can also add any friend or contact from any network or IM service to a special "Stars" group. This further saves you time by allowing you quick access to friends you interact with often, irrespective of the platform or service they are subscribed to.

You can configure the plugin to alert you of changes and updates to your friends' profiles. It lets you customize what sorts of changes are important to you and how you want to be alerted.

I also like Yoono's IM capabilities. When exchanging IMs with a contact, you can attach a text snippet, image, or a video from the Web page you have open in the main browser window.

And that's just Yoono's Friends widget; the plugin includes a bunch of others. The Shopping widget, introduced for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping frenzy, displays a list of latest offers, bids, and lowest prices on online stores such as Amazon.com, Ebay, Shopping.com, and Buy.com. The Discover widget recommends sites similar to the one you're browsing, while the Video and Picture widgets display content similar to the Web site you're currently at. There are widgets for listening to online radio, reading news, and checking email via Yahoo! Mail and Gmail.

There's nothing not to like about Yoono. Despite its size, its not a drain on your system's resources. I have all three plugins installed and find no noticeable performance hit.

Some Firefox plugins don't work well together, but FireUploader, Shareaholic, and Yoono all work together in perfect harmony. Depending on what social networks and services you use and how you use them, you'll find one or all of these plugins make both your online life a lot easier.
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It never ceases to amaze me how many people connect to the Internet with no protection on the PC at all! This is a very dangerous activity and has led to financial ruin for some people.

I have had family members and friends who ask me to check out their PC's because they are 'slow' or they can't stop these damn popup windows from coming up. These are the first signs of infection or security breaches on your PC.

It takes 4 simple steps and it costs you nothing at all except a bit of time and effort.

Step 1 - Get a firewall installed.

Firewalls help to protect you from Internet attacks and intrusion from hackers on the Internet who go 'sniffing' for unprotected computers.

What do they do when they hack your computer? Well they look for password files, security breaches that allow them to use YOUR computer for malicious attacks on other computers on the Internet.

There was a story not long ago about the Russian Mafia hacking into a household computer and using it to transfer funds from unsuspecting bank accounts for their own illegal purposes. When the Feds tracked down the responsible computer, it belonged to some unsuspecting person who had no idea of what was happening. So be warned!!

Microsoft Windows XP has a built in firewall so you could enable that and it gives you some basic protection.

If you don't want to use that firewall then try a free firewall called zone alarm from http://www.zonelabs.com

Zone alarm is a great firewall and even better for the price - they have a free version for home and non-commercial use.

Step 2 - Get an anti virus product installed

Anti virus software scans your computer for malicious code that can cause all sorts of problems on your computer and even delete files and make your computer inoperable.

You can get a very good free virus scanning software called AVG virus scanner from http://www.grisoft.com/

Step 3 - Get a reliable anti-spyware software

Spyware tends to sit on your computer and 'spy' on what you are doing. It can do things like look at web sites you have visited, record your key strokes (looking for account numbers and passwords) and it can then sends this information back to its originator.

A great and well know spyware scanner is called Spybot-S&D from http://www.safer-networking.org/
The other great spyware utilities are adaware from lavasoft, and Microsoft have one as well.

My advice would be to run two or three spyware utilities, particularly if you do a lot of online transactions with your computer.

Step 4 - Keep your Microsoft (MS) Windows Operating System (OS) updated

Microsoft come out with security patches on a regular bases to close up security 'holes' that have been identified. These patches can be applied manually by you or you can have MS Windows download and install them automatically.

To check out what updates you require -

1. Go to the Microsoft Windows Update page here - http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

2. Scan your computer to find out what critical updates and security patches are not installed.

3. Select the updates to install paying particular attention to CRITICAL Updates.

You may need to restart your computer after the patches have been applied

As a final word on the 4 steps, it is critical that you keep all of the programs up to date. So check back with the vendors on a regular basis (at least weekly) to see if updates are available. The better programs (like Spybot) will have options in them to check for updates.

The above list of programs is not the ultimate list. Like any programs there are dozens of choices. The ones above are those that I have had first hand experience of.

I personally use commercial programs because I spend so much time connected to the Internet, my family surfs quite regularly and I am a big fan of online transactions. Even the commercial programs only cost pennies compared to what can happen if you do get an infection.
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Free PDF converter for both personal and commercial use. Using doPDF you can create searchable PDF files by selecting the "Print" command from virtually any application. With one click you can convert your Microsoft Excel, Word or PowerPoint documents or your emails and favourite web sites to PDF files.

doPDF installs itself as a virtual printer driver so after a successful installation will appear in your Printers and Faxes list. To create PDF files, you just have to print your documents to the doPDF pdf converter. Open a document (with Microsoft Word, WordPad, NotePad or any other software), choose Print and select doPDF. It will ask you where to save the PDF file and when finished, the PDF file will be automatically opened in your default PDF viewer.

Note that this free PDF tool does not use Ghostscript. The license will also enable you to produce PDFs for both personal and commercial use.

Verdict

Simple but rather effective PDF creation tool that will enable you to publish a basic PDF from just about any Windows application.

You can download it here.
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How can I change the volume licensing product key on a Windows XP SP1-Based Computer?

Because of changes in Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows XP-based computers that use a leaked product key that is known to be available to the general public may not be able to install SP1 or automatically obtain updates from the Windows Update Web site. For an easy and quick method of obtaining your own CD Key please read Quickly Retrieve Windows CD Key.

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For example, you may experience the symptoms that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article when you install SP1:

326904 Error Message: The Product Key Used to Install Windows Is Invalid

There are two (legal) methods that you can use to change the product key with volume licensing media after installation. You can use either the Windows Activation Wizard graphical user interface (GUI) or a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) script.

The easier method to use is the Use the Activation Wizard method. Use this method when you only have a few computers on which to change the product key. The Use a Script method is best when you have a number of computers on which you have to change the product key.

Legal Note: Make sure you understand that this method is indeed legal. This is NO crack, NO hack, there is nothing illegal with this article. I will not, however, encourage any reader to use an illegally obtained CD Key. What you do in your own house/office is your own business, and I cannot and will not be held responsible for your actions.

Method #1: Use the Activation Wizard

If you have only a few volume licensing product keys to change, you can use the Activation Wizard.

Warning!

This document contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error while editing the registry, you can potentially cause Windows to fail or be unable to boot, requiring you to reinstall Windows. Edit the registry at your own risk. Always back up the registry before making any changes. If you do not feel comfortable editing the registry, do not attempt these instructions. Instead, seek the help of a trained computer specialist.

Note: Microsoft recommends that you run System Restore to create a new restore point before you complete the following steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type Regedit, and then click OK.
3. In the left pane, locate and then click the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents

4. In the right pane, right-click OOBETimer, and then click Modify.
5. Change at least one digit of this value to deactivate Windows.
6. Click Start, and then click Run.
7. In the Open box, type the following command, and then click OK.

   %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

8. Click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows, and then click Next.
9. Click Change Product key.
10. Type the new product key in the New key boxes, and then click Update. If you are returned to the previous window, click Remind me later, and then restart the computer.
11. Repeat steps 6 and 7 to verify that Windows is activated. You receive the following message:Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit.
12. Click OK.
13. Install SP1 for Windows XP.

If you cannot restart Windows after you install SP1, press F8 when you restart the computer, select Last Known Good Configuration, and then repeat this procedure.

Method #2: Use a Script

You can create a WMI script that changes the volume licensing product key, and then deploy this script in a startup script. The sample ChangeVLKey2600.vbs script and the sample ChangeVLKeySP1 script that are described in this section use the new volume licensing key that you want to enter, in its five-part alphanumeric form, as a single argument. Microsoft recommends that you use the ChangeVLKey2600.vbs script on Windows XP-based computers that are not running SP1 and that you use the ChangeVLKeySP1.vbs script on Windows XP-based computers that are running SP1. These scripts perform the following functions:

1. They remove the hyphen characters (-) from the five-part alphanumeric product key.
2. They create an instance of the win32_WindowsProductActivation class. They call the SetProductKey method with the new volume licensing product key.

You can create a batch file or a CMD file that uses either of the following sample scripts, together with the new product key as an argument, and either deploy it as part of a startup script or run it from the command line to change the product key on a single computer.

ChangeVLKeySP1.vbs

'
' WMI Script - ChangeVLKey.vbs
'
' This script changes the product key on the computer
'
'***************************************************************************

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT

if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then
Wscript.echo "Script can't run without VolumeProductKey argument"
Wscript.echo "Correct usage: Cscript ChangeVLKey.vbs ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PRSTU-WYQZX"
Wscript.quit
end if

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY
VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0)
VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any

for each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf ("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

if err <> 0 then
WScript.Echo Err.Description, "0x" & Hex(Err.Number)
Err.Clear
end if

Next

ChangeVLKey2600.vbs

'
' WMI Script - ChangeVLKey.vbs
'
' This script changes the product key on the computer
'
'***************************************************************************

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT

if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then
Wscript.echo "Script can't run without VolumeProductKey argument"
Wscript.echo "Correct usage: Cscript ChangeVLKey.vbs ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PRSTU-WYQZX"
Wscript.quit
end if

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY
VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0)
VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any
Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.RegDelete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents\OOBETimer" 'delete OOBETimer registry value
for each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf ("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

if err <> 0 then
WScript.Echo Err.Description, "0x" & Hex(Err.Number)
Err.Clear
end if

Next

Example

The following example describes how to use the ChangeVLKeySP1.vbs script from a command line:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type the following command,
   where AB123-123AB-AB123-123AB-AB123 is the new product key that you want to
   use, and then click OK:

c:\changevlkeysp1.vbs ab123-123ab-ab123-123ab-ab123