Backups and Upgrades: The Greatest Hits Collection

June 7, 2010 By

The smart and wonderful Cairene MacDonald from Third Hand Works has invited me to be a special guest teleclass leader for her excellent Bite the Candy series of workshops this Thursday, June 10, on the subject of Backups and Upgrades Without Tears.

Side note: “Without tears” is pretty much my preferred way to do everything, except maybe attend weddings — there’s no avoiding a meltdown of empathetic joy in that case, so I just bring tissues.

Anyway, I’ve written about upgrades in detail here on the blog, and I thought I’d collect all the related links into a handy-dandy reference in honor of biting the candy.

How to upgrade practically anything

This is a 6-part series on upgrading, inspired by my experiences upgrading WordPress from version 2.6 to 2.8. It’s written mostly about software, but the theory and practical steps apply to hardware, website stuff, and everything in between. More or less.

I also wrote posts (with step-by-step screenshots) on how to upgrade WordPress and how to upgrade a WordPress plugin. Since I wrote the latter post, WordPress has introduced the ability to bulk-upgrade plugins (meaning you can upgrade a bunch of them all at once, with a single click), which is an awesome time-saver and probably means I need to write another post illustrating that process.

The backup brigade

Did you happen to notice that I devoted a whole entry (Step 2) of the upgrade series to backing up? If you go read my post about upgrading WordPress, you’ll see that I mention backups there, too. And any sane upgrade guide will tell you the same thing: Back up before you upgrade.

This is why backups and upgrades are a package deal. You need your stuff backed up before you attempt an upgrade (honestly, you need your stuff backed up no matter what, but upgrading is a great excuse!).

Here are three posts about backups:

I’m looking forward to biting some candy with Cairene on Thursday, and I hope you’ll consider joining us!

Filed Under: Announcements, General How-To's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Teleclass Nuts & Bolts, part 1: Conference Lines

May 10, 2010 By

I’ve taught quite a number of teleclasses about various tech topics, but I only realized recently that the setting-up and managing of teleclasses themselves is a tech topic that you might need help with.

So, as I was going through my mental countdown for WordPress Swimming Lessons, and simultaneously starting the pre-launch preparations for my next class (my fabulous friend Shannon and I are co-teaching a class on AWeber called Love Your List), I came up with the idea for a series of blog posts describing the nuts and bolts of teleclasses.

I’ll describe the technological steps that I go through each time I set up and run a new class, from beginning to end. Each Monday I’ll publish a new installment.

I’ll start with the “tele” part: Signing up for a conference line.

That’s why they call it a teleclass

So you’ve decided to hold a class (or an interview, or a Q&A session, or a guided meditation, or whatever) on the phone. You now need a number that a group of callers can dial to get connected with you. I refer to this phone number as a conference line, but you may also hear it called a bridge line.

Fortunately, a whole bunch of companies are giving away these conference lines for free. Yes, there are paid services (and some of the free services have “pro” upgrades), but personally, I wouldn’t pay when I can get all the features I need for free.

“Free” in this case means you will probably get a number that is in some area code you’ve never heard of, that will be a long-distance call for you. In these days of flat-rate unlimited calling, you’re probably not paying by the minute for long-distance anymore…but if you are, be aware that calling your “free” conference line will result in long-distance charges.

Do a quick Google search for “free conference call provider” and you’ll be overwhelmed by the choices. Here are two that I’ve used before and can vouch for:

  • FreeConferencePro.com: This is the service I currently use for all my teleclasses. Despite the “pro” in the name, this service is completely free.
  • FreeConferenceCall.com: I used this service before I found FCP. The name says it all. One thing I like about this service is that you can get international dial-in numbers (also free), so if you have callers from outside the US, they won’t have to make an international call.

Features to look for

Here are some features I like, all of which FreeConferencePro offers:

  • Call recording
  • Online control panel so you can see who’s on the call
  • Ability to mute all callers (sometimes called presentation mode)
  • Ability to mute all callers but let them press a key to unmute themselves (sometimes called Q&A mode)
  • Ability to selectively mute individual callers via the online control panel (great when someone’s phone is staticky or has a lot of background noise)
  • Storage of multiple call recordings (you should still download them to your computer, though!)
  • Ability to schedule calls in advance, while also allowing “instant” or “reservationless” calls
  • Custom recorded greeting for your callers
  • Ability to change default settings (like turning off those annoying dings you hear on some calls whenever a new caller joins or hangs up — if you change the default, you don’t have to remember to turn these off every time you have a call)
  • Ability to change either the phone number or the access code (in effect giving you a brand-new number whenever you want it)

Some slight downsides: These services, being free, don’t tend to offer much in the way of live customer support — there’s usually a FAQ, and ideally the user instructions are sufficient and clear, but if your question isn’t answered or something weird happens, it may be hard to find a way to get help. Which leads me to…

Don’t forget to test drive

When you sign up for a conference line, get a friend to call in with you so you can spend some time practicing. You’ll want to make sure you know how to start and stop the call recording, how to mute and unmute your callers, and how to change settings during the call, for instance.

Another thing to do during the conference test-drive is to make sure your callers can hear you clearly. If your volume is too low, or your phone is too staticky, find out from a friend, well before your teleclass. I’d also recommend doing a short test recording of you and a friend, and listening to it yourself to hear whether both voices are similar in volume.

You may need to make adjustments to your phone (if you’ve got things like a volume control button), use a different phone, or buy a headset if you need one. In general, I don’t recommend using a cell phone or a VoIP service (such as Skype) to run a teleclass, as they tend to have more interference and drop more calls than landlines.

When you’re comfortable using your conference line, you’re ready to plan your teleclass.

Got a teleclass question? Leave me a comment!

Filed Under: General How-To's Tagged With: ,

Help! Someone hacked my Twitter account!

March 1, 2010 By

Here’s a timely question from the mailbag:

People on Twitter are reporting getting DMs from me with links that I didn’t send. I don’t know what to do. Sometimes, being on Twitter in the first place feels like a stretch — and now I feel like I need to wear some kind of sign saying Beware – I spread evil phishing crap. Help!

First of all: Big hugs for the worry and the shame. I’m so sorry the evil phishing crap slimed you. You don’t deserve that at all, and it’s completely not your fault. Not! Fair!

Next, here’s a 3-step plan to give you in-the-hard reassurance and info.

Three things to do immediately if you even slightly suspect that your Twitter account has been hacked

  1. Change your Twitter password (on the Twitter site itself, by really truly logging into your account). This will solve the vast majority of problems.
  2. Follow Twitter’s instructions to revoke connections to third-party services that may have obtained access to your password.
  3. Follow @spam and @safety, which are official Twitter accounts for phishing updates and info.

You can change your password again if you have any doubts at all about the timing or legitimacy of where you made the password change. There’s no downside to changing your password multiple times.

If you really want to (and it’s OK if not — if this is too much like wearing a scarlet letter) you can tweet a regular public tweet that says in a friendly way “hey everyone, please ignore any DMs that appear to be from me but contain a strange link. The phish-monster got me and I’ve fixed it now.”

And you can respond individually, if you want to and it feels right, to people who say they got such a message from you.

But don’t feel like you have to do that.

How did someone get into my Twitter account?

What happened to you is fairly common. I’m trying for reassurance-mode here, not meaning to diminish the reality or the pain of realizing someone is using your account for nefarious purposes.

It happens when someone or some outside service gets ahold of your Twitter password. Not through Twitter itself, but through some third-party service that asks you for it for what seems like a legitimate reason. There are certainly legitimate reasons to give your Twitter password to another service — for instance, if you use a Twitter client like Tweetdeck, or you have linked your Facebook and Twitter accounts. The evil hackers usually pose as a legitimate service or invent some reason you need to give out your Twitter password.

So if you change your password with Twitter and then don’t enter it anywhere else, their access to your account is cut off.

I get these DMs-with-weird-links from friends sometimes (I got one this morning, actually. Not from you!). And I usually DM them back to warn them that they should change their password — trying again for supportiveness and helpfulness and reassurance, which can be hard to get across in 140 characters!

But I never blame them or think they’re evil. I blame the evil phishers for being mean to my nice friends. And I think most experienced Twitter users feel the same way. We know it’s not your fault, and we know you’re not an evil phisher.

Filed Under: From the Mailbag, General How-To's Tagged With: , , ,

Sunday Dinner

January 25, 2010 By

This one is just for fun. Delicious, legume-y fun.

I saw a tweet from @amysnotdeadyet, asking for recipes for lentil stew that did not include tomatoes. I emailed her the following two recipes, and a couple of hours later, she tweeted “I have spent the past 3 hours cooking, and now my house is warm & smells awesome. Plus, food for the week!”

Warms my heart, that does. Plus she told me she “made a bastardized version of your dal recipe (I didn’t have all the spices, so I went w/ curry mostly) & it’s delicious.”

So, first things first. The dal recipe in question comes not from me, but through me, from Crescent Dragonwagon, who is also on Twitter as @cdragonwagon. I own and adore her cookbook The Passionate Vegetarian — damn right that book cover is an affiliate link — even though I eat meat). She is so much more than a cookbook writer. Go and subscribe to her blog immediately.

Crescent Dragonwagon’s dal recipe

Serves 4-6 people as an entree, with cooked rice

5 to 6 cups water
2 cups lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped (you can substitute 3-4 cloves of garlic or go half-and-half onions & garlic if you prefer)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds (not yellow)
1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
1.5 teaspoons ground turmeric
tiny pinch of ground cloves
cayenne pepper to taste

  1. Bring the water, lentils & bay leaf to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook (covered) for about an hour, until the lentils are soft.
  2. Near the end of the hour, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic if using, and all of the spices. Lower the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes. (If you’re subbing garlic for the onion, just add everything at once to the butter and cook on low for 2-3 minutes.)
  3. Scrape the spice mixture into the lentil pot, and cook until the lentils are very soft and melty. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot over cooked rice. This is even better reheated the next day.

Wendy’s lentil stew directions

And here’s how I’d make a tomato-less lentil stew with chicken or beef broth (depending on the heartiness level you want), not strictly based on a recipe, just on things I’ve cooked before, hence the less-than-precise measurings:

  1. Cook lentils in water, chicken broth or beef broth (1 cup lentils to 4 cups liquid) for about 20 minutes. While you’re doing that:
  2. Saute equal parts onion, celery, and carrot in a large saucepan in butter/olive oil for about 5 minutes.
  3. Optional: You can totally add other veggies to this saute. I like mushrooms, zucchini, red peppers, even potatoes. Just depends on what you like.
  4. Add generous sprinklings of herbs (my favorites are thyme, sage, oregano, basil) and a couple of cloves of minced garlic to the onion/celery/carrot pan, stir and cook for about 1 minute.
  5. Pour the lentils and liquid into the vegetable pan. Stir well. Add additional broth if it’s too thick, plus an optional 1/2 cup of red wine for a flavor boost.
  6. Optional: If you want super-hearty, you can add pieces of cooked chicken, the drippings from a roasted chicken, or even gravy — this is a great soup to make with Thanksgiving-type leftovers!!
  7. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Test the lentils to make sure they’re not hard in the middle. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve piping hot, as-is or with cooked rice (wild rice makes it gour-may) or some kind of hearty crusty bread to sop up the last few drops in your bowl.

Further notes on tomato-less foods: Crescent Dragonwagon also has a recipe for “macro-red” pasta sauce, which has beets & butternut squash but no tomatoes. Macrobiotic cookbooks also have lots of recipes that avoid tomatoes (and peppers and eggplants and potatoes, all members of the same botanical family of nightshades). So if you too have a tomato allergy, there’s hope.

Happy lentil-ing!

Filed Under: General How-To's
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