Jason Parlour

Jason of many trades : Maker & Fabricator, Engineer, Massage Therapist, Presenter, Photographer, Web Developer, …

Category: tech blog

  • Merging websites and emails

    Merging websites and emails

    Due to the ongoing pandemics I still need to protect myself from, I’ve been going through the slow process of merging many parts of my former-work websites together. I can’t see how and when I’m likely to be able to do so many things I used to do in person, and I’m not managing teams of people, colleagues, sub-contractors, etc. in the same way either.

    That’s why jasonparlour.com now has the sub-folder websites of:

    • Parlour-IT website development (formerly Parlour Design)
    • Photography by Jason Parlour
    • Massage by Jason (Dial a Massage)
    • Therapy Agency [now closed]
    • Therapy Academy
    • Minutes a Day

    As part of merging the main content of those wesites into this one site, along with some other merging of business interests with sites like parlour.nz, I’m also working through the tens of thousands of emails over the last 25 years (unfortunately, due to a technical issue from the ISP tech-support at the time, all my emails prior to then were lost entirely, including all of those from my time at University).

    But seeing so many sub-folders and sub-catagories of work, carefully organised and maintained, and all the people I’d got to know through so many channels, networking events, voluntary work, socialising : in so many ways I’d forgotten how much of a social butterfly I’d been for so long.

    My facebook connections are still spread far and wide, but Fb being the terrible site it is, does mean I’ve been self-limiting my access and involvement with that media channel.

    So these days, due to physically isolating, and the frustration of seing so many people still attending super-spreader events, even my virtual socialising and connections are nothing like they used to be.

    But seeing all my former connections via email, so many of which I’d worked with through my various business interests, or had been friends with in person. It’s pretty overwhelming how my life is so different now.

  • Fixing WiFi Calling on your phone

    Steps to Fix WiFi Calling:

    1. Check WiFi Calling is Enabled:
      1. Android: Go to Settings > Connections > WiFi Calling
      2. iPhone: Settings > Phone > WiFi Calling.
    2. Ensure that WiFi Calling is turned on.
    3. Restart Your Device:
    4. Restart your phone to refresh the connection and settings.
    5. Check Your WiFi Connection:
    6. Ensure your satellite WiFi connection is stable and has sufficient bandwidth for calls.
    7. Try disconnecting and reconnecting to your WiFi network.

    Update Your Phone Software:

    1. Ensure your phone is running the latest software version:
      1. Android: Go to Settings > Software Update > Download and Install.
      2. iPhone: Go to Settings > General > Software Update.

    Reset Network Settings:

    1. If the issue persists, reset your network settings:
      1. Android: Go to Settings > General Management > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
      2. iPhone: Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

    Note: This will reset your saved WiFi networks and passwords, so you’ll need to enter them again.

  • How to completely remove Dropbox from MacBook IOS

    If you installed Dropbox manually from their website (rather than from the AppStore), you’ll probably have traces left on your computer (ie Ventura operating system). There are a few guides online as to where to find the other traces, but they didn’t remove everything. So thanks to David, a senior support advisor at Apple, here’s some additional steps you could try looking for other traces:

    • System Settings / General / Login items

    Go / Computer / Macintosh HD / Library

    • LaunchAgents
    • LaunchDaemons

    Library (with Option key depressed via the ‘Go’ menu)

    • Cache
    • Launch Agents
    • Saved Application State

    Look for any traces of dropbox folders or named files, and then delete them!

  • Latest updates to email settings

    Further to the previous post, now that we’re moving host servers, there are now a few updates (where ‘yourdomain.com’ is your own domain name hosted with us):

    • Username: email@yourdomain.com
    • Password: Use the email account’s password.
    • Incoming Server: imap.yourdomain.com
    • IMAP Port: 993 (143 for non-SSL)
    • Outgoing Server: smtp.yourdomain.com
    • SMTP Port: 465 (25 or 587 for non-SSL)

    Authentication is required for IMAP and SMTP. Typically ‘password’ as the method.

    Please note the change with the outgoing server, from mta.extendcp.co.uk to smtp.yourdomain.com, and the updated port number to 465.

    There will be a small changeover period of up to a few days, where nameservers are being updated. However during this time, all new emails will either go to your new email server, or your old server (that you’ll still be logged into via the extendcp.co.uk login).

    Once the nameservers are updated, we can apply as SSL (https certificate) to your domain, and the above login will then work accordingly. At that time you will then need to update your email account software, and you may get some new emails. If you want to check it sooner, use the non-SSL port numbers as indicated above.

    Let us know when that’s done from your side, we can do a final synchronisation with your old server, and then let that close fully.

    Each new account on the new servers has up to 10Gb of storage as standard, rather than the tiny 1Gb on the previous server.

  • Updates to your email server settings

    What you need to do now

    Make sure your settings are up to date by checking them against the details below.

    The main difference (based on historical data) is that the incomming and outgoing mail settings now need to be authenticated with a password, rather than ‘challenge response’. You may also need to change the default outgoing SMTP port to 587 (rather than it’s default).

    Your details should match up with either the IMAP or POP3 settings, depending on which connection you use. We always recommend the IMAP rather than POP3, so your emails are backed up to the cloud as well as your device.

    If your details do not match after the legacy authentication method is disabled, you might not be able to authenticate and access your mailbox.

    If this happens, please check that your settings match those listed in this support article. And of course, let me know if you need help.

    Our standard and premium mailboxes can be loaded onto your device or through your mail client either with a POP3 connection or an IMAP connection.

    By using an IMAP connection, you can have multiple clients simultaneously connected to the same mailbox. For example, you can have email on your phone, your tablet, and your computer, and when you delete a message from your phone, it will also be deleted on your other devices, for this reason we recommend using IMAP over POP3.

    The way your device or mail client is designed may be different than how other programs or devices work, with different names for the same steps.

    Your device or program should have detailed information on how to add and set up mailboxes onto the system, but there are general pieces of information you need to complete the process.

    When selecting the account type, select IMAP.
    Your User Name is your full email address.
    Your Password is your mailbox password.

    Notice: In August 2021, they announced that we are disabling legacy authentication on our mail servers and you should check your settings. This change does not mean you need to change your IMAP/SMTP server, only that you review the authentication method used.

    As of Sept 2021, if you’re using an Apple laptop/desktop device (rather than iPhones which seem unaffected), due to some sort of glitch in the way the system has been updated, if your emails suddenly stopped to sync despite all the settings being correct as below, it’s likely you’ll need to:

    1. Backup your emails locally (just in case with IMAP. You MUST do this if using POP3).
    2. Remove/delete your email account from your email program.
    3. Restart your email program.
    4. Add a new account (using the latest email settings for the same account you had before). You’re likely to need to click through a few ‘Advanced’ options to change the port number and address, etc.
    5. Wait for your local account to sync with the cloud imap version, which may take a couple of hours depending on how many emails you have stored.
    6. If this looks to have worked, but all your email sub-directories are still empty after the syncing progress bar seems to have finished, you may need to start from Step 2 again.

    If you use IMAP:

    User Name: bob@thisismydomain.com
    Password: password123

    Outgoing Mail Server: mta.extendcp.co.uk
    Outgoing Mail Server Port: 587
    Outgoing Mail Server SSL: STARTTLS
    Outgoing Authentication Type: Password

    Note:     Your mail server can be set to mail.yourdomain.com or mailXX.extendcp.co.uk (mailXXbeing the server your package is assigned too (this can be found in your control panel).

    Incoming IMAP Server: imap.extendcp.co.uk
    Incoming IMAP Server Port: 993
    Incoming IMAP SSL: SSL/TLS
    Incoming IMAP Authentication Type: Password

    If you use POP3:

    User Name: bob@thisismydomain.com
    Password: password123

    Outgoing Mail Server: mta.extendcp.co.uk
    Outgoing Mail Server Port: 587
    Outgoing Mail Server SSL: STARTTLS
    Outgoing Authentication Type: Password

    Note:     Your mail server can be set to mail.yourdomain.com or mailXX.extendcp.co.uk (mailXXbeing the server your package is assigned too (this can be found in your control panel).

    Incoming POP3 Server: pop3.extendcp.co.uk
    Incoming POP3 Server Port: 995
    Incoming POP3 SSL: SSL/TLS
    Incoming POP3 Authentication Type: Password

    If using an iPhone

    If you are using an iPhone, you will need to click through a couple of the ‘Advanced Settings’ options, to be able to view and make these changes.

  • .htaccess housekeeping

    As some general protection for WordPress sites hosted with me, or with HeartInternet, adding the following code to the top of your .htaccess file should help reduce the chances of your wordpress site being hacked.

    # Update PHP to version 7.3
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php73 .php

# Block WordPress xmlrpc.php requests
<Files xmlrpc.php>
order deny,allow
deny from all
</Files>

  • Regular Backups

    One of my clients had their website hacked yesterday, this was through their WordPress login, and seems to have occurred as a result of some vulnerabilities on their own computer, likely releasing their username and password. No other sites on that server so far seem affected.

    The client hadn’t made any recent backups of their WordPress database, but had years of content on their website.

    The hackers had put some sort of automated program to add three sections of JavaScript on every page, post, and image description. This accounted for nearly 750 instances of spam content that had to be carefully removed.

    They’d also added themselves as a new user under the email wordpressadmin@test.com

    Hackers had then changed the site URL within WordPress to automatically bounce users through a bunch of affiliate pages on alternative websites, also meaning that you can no longer log in to the WordPress console.

    Fortunately though, they left the main content of the website intact (just with the extra spam content). I also still had full access to the server data itself, as do all my clients.

    After editing the .sql database directly to remove the redirect, I was then able to log back in again to the WordPress console, generate new passwords for all users, and remove the extra spam user that had been added.

    After realising how many instances there were throughout the website of the spam content, I felt it was going to be easier to again modifying the SQL database file as plain text, to remove all instances of the JavaScript addition, and restore the site to its previous state (using the ‘find and replace feature in plain text notepad editors).

    This could’ve also been done via the WordPress console using the ‘tools/export site’, and then importing the site back again after are removing all existing content. But that would’ve meant removing all existing content temporarily, and I’d rather do the comparatively quicker change of just updating the database file directly.

    I have subsequently also made a collection of backups in different forms for the client.

    This problem the first appeared as just the site taking an age to load, so it seems as though we caught it early.

    But please, make regular backups in multiple locations of all of your key data, whatever that is.

    If you don’t want to lose it because of a hardware or software glitch, or a hack like this one, having a recent backup really is the best option.

  • Changes to your email

    If you’re using your domain name to host your emails with us (rather than using Gmail, or similar, for example), as of September 2019, any mail client sending via SMTP through the mail server associated with your domain name, should use port 587 instead of ports 25 or 465.

    Details on how to change this will vary on your mail client, but we’ve detailed some of these further down this article.

    It is also advisable to use STARTTLS for your encryption method.

    Outlook

    1. Select File
    2. Select Account Settings
    3. Select Account Settings from the dropdown
    4. Select your email account from the lists in the Email tab and select Change
    5. Select More Settings
    6. Select Advanced
    7. Change the Outgoing server (SMTP) option to 587
    8. Change the encryption types on both IMAP and SMTP to STARTTLS
    9. Select Ok
    10. Select Next
    11. Once tests have completed select Close and then Finish

    Windows Mail

    1. Start Windows Mail, click the Tools menu at the top of the window and then click Accounts.
    2. Select your account under Mail, and then click on the Properties button.
    3. Go to the Advanced tab, under Outgoing server (SMTP), change port 25 to 587.
    4. Click the OK button to save the changes.

    Outlook Express

    1. Start Outlook Express, and then select Accounts from the Tools menu at the top of the window.
    2. Double click on your email account.
    3. Under the Advanced tab, change the Outgoing server (SMTP) port 25 to 587.

    Thunderbird

    1. Select Tools
    2. Select Outgoing Server (SMTP)
    3. Select the server for this account then Edit
    4. Change the port to 587
    5. Change the Connection Security option to STARTTLS
    6. Change the Authentication Method option to Normal Password
    7. Enter your full email address as the User Name
    8. Select OK
    9. Select OK

    Mac Mail

    1. Select Preferences
    2. Select Accounts
    3. Select the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) drop down menu, then Edit SMTP Server List
    4. Select the SMTP server for this account
    5. Change the Port to 587
    6. Select OK

    iPhone

    1. Go to Settings
    2. Select Passwords & Accounts
    3. Select your email account
    4. Select the Account
    5. Under OUTGOING MAIL SERVER select SMTP
    6. Select the server
    7. Update the Server Port to use 587
    8. Select Done
    9. Select < Account then Done

    Android Mail

    1. Open the Email App
    2. Select Settings
    3. Select Account Settings
    4. Select the account you wish to change
    5. Scroll down to More Settings
    6. Select Outgoing Settings
    7. Change the port to 587 and the Security Settings to STARTTLS
    8. Select Done

  • Designing for Accessibility

    accessibility-posters-set.pdf

    Some really great information, developed by a friend, and now with Home Office recommendations.

    These posters cover the following access needs:

    • Autism
    • Deafness and hard of hearing
    • Dyslexia
    • Physical or motor disabilities
    • Visually impaired – low vision users
    • Visually impaired – screenreader users
    • Anxiety

    You can access the full suite of documents in a number of languages, through the following link:  https://github.com/UKHomeOffice/posters/tree/master/accessibility/dos-donts

  • Wix.com Review

    I’ve been hearing a number of people talking about the easy build system called wix.com over the last few years.

    wix-com

    With around 62 million users at present, they’re clearly making great progression in offering websites that are comparatively easy to build for the novice

    What surprised me however, in some recent technical support for a client, was the cost of the various ‘optional add-ons’ available through their system, and also their comparative ineffectiveness.

    What Wix currently offers:

    • For around $45, you get to display the ‘built by wix’ advertising on every one of your webpages (at the top right, and the base)
      • You can upgrade to their next package at around twice the price, to remove that advertising (but it still seems to appear on mobile phone and tablet browsers)
    • You can have your own domain name for around $15 a year, but to have email addresses hosted by Gmail at your domain (ie info@mydomain.com, sales@mydomain.com, etc.), are $5 per email address per month!  (this kind of email forwarding from your domain to Google should not incur such high prices, particularly when the set-up is a simple one-off automated digital process, and there’s no actual hosting of email bandwidth by Wix.com).
    • They offer a ‘Shout Out’ option to send newsletters to your subscribers.  This is limited to 5,000 emails per month (which is reasonable).  However, as part of the email tracking, the email appears in the recipients inbox as a remotely hosting image of your email text (effectively a screen grab of an html email).  Thus your email is not accessible to people with various visual impairments (the actual text cannot be easily extracted by character screen readers), the text itself is not scalable for different browsers (for your small mobile phone screen, your tablet, or your desktop, etc.).
    • You can of course ‘design your own website’ (although if you’re not a skilled designer, experienced with usability and accessibility, etc. this is fraught with likely errors).
    • Worst of all, is the way your website is displayed within your browser source code.  They claim Search Engine Optimisation using an AJAX method.  However, if you click on ‘view source’ of any page of a wix.com website, you’ll see a mass of code loading remote areas of content, but effectively no real text content within your browser.  This does make it more difficult for search engines to naturally ‘crawl’ your website pages.  In fact, the only ‘real’ content of your website kept in plain text (hidden deep in all the superfluous code) links purely to the hosting of wix.com.
      • In essence, if you have regular text on your website, for easier accessibility by all, you want to display this in as little superfluous code as possible.  The more code you hide your content behind, the longer the page will take to load (bad for limited bandwidth on mobile phones), the harder it will be for search engines to index (thus lower search rankings), and the harder it will be for people with some disabilities to use your website (which can be a breach of the Disability Discrimination Act amongst others).

    So what can be done instead?

    • With very limited experience, you can build a free website in WordPress instead, using a free OpenSource ‘theme’ design which can also be modified easily to your preferred colours and layout.  Or you can buy more customised themes ‘off the shelf’ from various developers, or even have your own unique design commissioned.
    • You can have your own domain hosted with a reputable reseller, with as many email accounts as you want, for a fraction of the Wix.com prices (often free with many standard hosting packages)
    • You can send newsletters via MailChimp more effectively (which is also free for up to 12,000 emails with up to 2,000 subscribers)
    • And your website content will be more accessible, across multiple device options, with cleaner code, which should also appear higher on Google natural search results, with faster load times, and fewer errors.

    Please do get in contact if you have any queries.