Entrepreneurialisms » A resource for the budding entrepreneur

A Journey To Becoming A Registered Nurse

04/12/2018 By Stanley Vargas

How It All Started

“My name is Stacey, and I’m going to be a nurse when I grow up.” This was how I introduced myself to my first ever classmates in kindergarten. My classmates wanted to be firefighters, ballerinas, and baseball players. But I knew even then what I know today – I was meant to be an RN.

In the twenty years that have elapsed I have worked tirelessly toward this goal. In high school I started volunteering at my local skilled nursing facility so that I could get used to interacting with patients. It was through this volunteer work that I fell in love with caring for the elderly patient population.

My grandmother had a major stroke shortly after I graduated high school and started my general education at community college. She’d had two smaller strokes before but had not been debilitated by them. Unfortunately, this third stroke left her completely unable to care for herself.

It became clear that my grandfather did not have the strength or energy to provide adequate care in their home, and so the family made the difficult decision to move Gran into long-term care instead of discharging her home.

The transition to long-term care was a difficult one for her and Grandpa both. After over 50 years of marriage, they were forced to sleep under separate roofs. I drove Gramps out to the home several times a week so that they could spend time together, and our visits as a family were always wonderful.

Toward the end of my grandfathers life, he reflected on our long evenings on the patio there as some of the nicest times in his last years.

During Gran’s two-year stay, she was looked after by the most wonderful nurses I have encountered. These women worked tirelessly to give one on one attention to all of their patients, no matter how many patients they had. None of them treated Gran like a helpless old lady, but rather they empowered her with knowledge about her conditions and made sure that she was the quarterback of her own care team.

By encouraging Gran to call the shots in this way, they gave her the gift of humanity right up to the very end. Their compassion, kindness and patience were unrivaled, and I was inspired by their dedication. When I finish nursing school, it is my goal to make my patients and their families feel the way that Gran’s nurses made us feel. They are to this day my shining example of who I am working to become when I graduate from nursing school.

When Gran was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Gramps lost all motivation to care for himself. When I got to the house to pick him up for visits, he had rarely eaten or showered. His doctor chalked it up to depression at the prospect of losing Gran so soon, and suggested that someone may want to keep an eye on him for a while. After a series of family discussions, it was decided that I would give up my apartment and move into the house to help look after Gramps.

Nursing and Life

I can’t sugarcoat it – the days were long in those six months. I would wake up at four thirty to fix breakfast and lunch for Gramps and myself, before showering and getting ready for work. After getting Gramps situated for the day I would leave for work. After clocking out at 3:30 I had exactly 30 minutes to make it to campus, park, and get to class where I would remain until 6:30pm. From there I would head home, fix supper for Gramps, and then do homework at the table while we talked about our days until it was time for bed.

Every other evening I would take Gramps out to visit with Gran, and I’d typically leave them alone in her room while I studied or worked on assignments for school. I look back on that time as being incredibly bittersweet. Bitter, because I was run so ragged and spread so thin, but sweet because those were the last months I had with them and I would not trade them for anything.

My grandmother died the day after Valentine’s Day. We had plenty of warning, and her hospice nurses made sure that she was absolutely comfortable when she passed. I expected Gramps to break down when we got the call, but it was I who broke down while he remained stoic. In the days and weeks that followed, he ate less and less.

Our exercise routine, which had consisted of arm work with resistance bands and walking halfway down the block and back, dwindled as he refused to participate. He no longer had anything to say during our evening chats, as he withdrew further into himself. One March morning I awoke to find blood in the bathroom and Gramps looking extremely unwell. Without knowing the details of what was happening but recognizing the seriousness of the situation, I called for an ambulance.

The paramedic who took my grandfather treated him with the utmost respect and kindness, calling him sir and offering him an arm to hold for stability while walking out to the rig. After noticing his World War II hat, another of the medics asked my grandfather his rank before saluting him and expressing great admiration. This would be the last time I saw my grandfather smile. A week into a hospital stay for diverticulitis, my grandfather had a massive stroke and died within hours. It was his birthday.

Inspiration

The devastation of losing my grandparents back to back was almost more than I could stand. I felt stronger than ever that I needed to work hard and continue on in school, but almost could not muster the energy to keep going. The next several months were one foot in front of the other while I grieved for what I had lost and while I dealt with the reality that my grandparents would never see me achieve my dreams.

Eventually, though, I pulled through. I completed my prerequisites for nursing school and then got accepted to an excellent program. While on the waitlist, which took about a year, I continued to volunteer with hospice patients and learn as much as possible from my job coordinating medical care for work comp patients.

It turns out that this experience was even more helpful than I could have anticipated; I am rarely surprised by what I see in the clinical setting, and thus far have not come across any topics or concepts that I’ve not already touched on in my work or volunteer life.

As I write this, I am on summer break following my first quarter of a two-year RN program. I am counting down the days to fall quarter, when I can get back to doing what I love and putting everything I have into nursing school.

All of the nurses that I know warned me that nursing school is exhausting, stressful and demanding. They said that I would be stressed about money and low on sleep. They warned me that I would be working harder than I ever have.

What nobody told me, though, was how much fun I would have. Nobody told me how gratifying it would be to have my first patients or to be able to answer questions and provide care. Nobody told me that every day would be a new and interesting experience, or that I could learn so much in such a short time.

I was prepared for nursing school to be hard – and it is- but I have never loved anything more or been more certain that I am in the right place.

As I continue in my journey to become the best RN I can be – to become the kind of nurse that I would want for myself or my loved ones, I think often about my grandparents. I am deeply saddened that they are not here to see me succeed. And still it is so comforting knowing how very proud they would have been of their granddaughter, Stacey, the nurse.

A Path Towards Nursing

04/11/2018 By Stanley Vargas

My Inspiration

My name is Maria and I am an ambitious, compassionate, leader who wants to change the world through healing and encouraging others. I have always been drawn towards people, even as a young child. My natural inclination towards helping others made me very compassionate towards healthy behaviors and positive well-being.

The health care field has been a calling on my life, rather than a choice. I grew up in a small town, nestled in the big blue mountains, right outside of Asheville, North Carolina. My home-town created an atmosphere of nurturing and caring for each other in the community.

My parents both had careers in fields dealing with human service, and my grandmother instilled values of faith, love, and doing good towards others, which I believe gave me my foundation for caring.

Planning My Pathway

I graduated high school and got a bachelor’s degree in Health and Wellness Promotion, which taught me the dimensions and ranges of health. My future goals are to work in health education as a nurse, teaching others how to reach autonomy with their health and finding confidence to be healthy.

I also plan on starting a beautiful family in a home filled with love and happiness, with my soon-to-be fiancé, as I complete nursing school and blend our families.

Once I earn my nursing degree I plan on making an impact on society by inspiring others to feel passionate about health while valuing care as a top priority. I believe that a personal ethical character comprised of compassionate care, education, and commitment is very important for professionals who enter into the health care field.

I plan on implementing policies and educational tools that help many people of different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs understand what health is, how to achieve well-being despite certain disparities within communities, and how to be independent in maintaining and increasing their health throughout the lifespan. I plan on designing and implementing wellness programs within corporations, communities, and schools.

I also plan on creating educational programs that increase awareness about the different dimensions of health focusing on environmental, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and social aspects of well-being. I believe that many people are unware, unmotivated, and somewhat submissive when it comes to taking care of their individual health.

I want to make sure that people are able to make informed decision about their health with confidence and knowledge gained through the supplemental programs I help provide. I also plan on teaching nursing education in hospital settings that keep nurses motivated, encouraged, and empowered to deliver care and procedures within their practice.

Attitude is everything in nursing, if people feel empowered, then they will have a more positive attitude toward health. I want to help be the catalyst in their journey towards positive health.

Hurdles To Overcome

I believe that nursing has lost the vigor and passion required to give patients exceptional and adequate care. Many nurses are over-worked, unappreciated, and face under-staffing issues that cause mental and physical strain. All of these factors are leading to quick burnouts within the nursing field, many nurses are losing their passion.

They aren’t being educated like they should be on new evidence based skills, and they are facing high turn-over rates. If I could change the nursing field I would want to help implement policies through political activism that will help establish a safe nurse-patient ratio in hospitals. This will help nurses feel like they are able to give proper care to the patient without safety becoming an issue.

I would also want to help create face-to-face in-services for nursing staff that will help them develop their skills in an environment where questions and skilled practice can occur. I would also create compassion and vigor classes for nurses that help remind them that they are super heroes with gifts to heal and create wellness.

I would want to put excitement and joy back into nursing, where nurses feel like they are soldiers on the front line-again. Creating programs, and actually teaching compassion and joy are goals that I think are attainable in the future for nursing.

When I was five years old my parents told me that I was adopted. I had very compassionate and kind parents, but they were humanbeings who dealt with their own personal issues which caused them to fall into times of depression, and absence. My father worked so much that I barely saw him, while my mother filled up on anti-depressants and nicotine in order to deal with her life.

This left me to learn how to be self-sufficient, self-compassionate, and helped me develop a very deep self-love which I found through my faith in God. I dealt personally with very deep feelings of loneliness, sadness, and hopelessness as a child and as I got older I got stronger and wiser.

My faith made me dedicated towards loving and helping others. I have always been inclined toward helping people who were sick either physically, mentally, or emotionally even as a child, but as I got older I realized that maybe helping and caring for others was my calling.

Goals For The Future

I became a certified nursing assistant, and this job opened my eyes to the healing power that nursing can bring. I have not turned back since. I currently work at a hospital on a neuroscience floor and my job is very rewarding. I enjoy making my patients laugh, smile, and reflect on good moments within their lives.

I love to hear stories of love that has lasted 70 years plus, and I make sure to care compassionately and openly with a smile. Nursing is a career that I believe called me, I feel passionately about health and wellness, and I definitely want to leave a healing hand on this Earth.

Choosing Email Clients Pop3 or Imap

05/26/2016 By Stanley Vargas

There is a variety of ways in which you can access you emails and manage what takes place with your email account. And while you may not be able to follow all the technical jargon involved, there is some simple and basic information you should know about the available options.

Right off the bat, we can tell you that IMAP is the way to go when accessing your email. It is much more suited to today’s world than the outdated alternative of POP3. Microsoft’s Exchange is also a viable option if you are in an organization that uses work related email accounts and has purchased the license from Microsoft or one of its resellers. It performs like IMAP, however, it is unlikely an ordinary home user would have it and it simply is not available everywhere.

Making the Choice

Your email client may be an app on your tablet or smartphone, or a desktop program on Windows, Mac or Linux. And using such an email client to access your mail requires you to choose between POP3 and IMAP. There are, however, cases in which you really don’t have to worry about making the choice at all. For example, using the Gmail app on Android or iOS to access Gmail, or outlook.com to access Microsoft’s Outlook mail poses no problems. They are made for each other, so they’ll work just fine.

Microsoft’s refusal to support POP3 with the included Mail app on Windows 8’s is a debatable step, but a step in the right direction nonetheless. The exclusion means persons wanting to access a POP3 email account will have to take a roundabout route to do so. It steers users away from POP3 and towards IMAP (or Microsoft’s own Exchange).

The Problem with POP3

POP3 is practically obsolete. At the time it was developed you were using a desktop email program on a single computer to access your email. Most likely your email address was through the internet service provider and a miniscule approximately 10MB of email storage was all that was offered. What this meant was that as you opened your email program, all emails would be downloaded from the provider to your computer and in turn they would be deleted from the online email account.

You can understand the necessity of this, given the small email storage space you had on the server. Without the delete you ran the risk of new mail returning to sender because your box was full.

POP3 was created in 1988 and was quite relevant in the decade that followed. Technology, however, has taken some giant leaps forward and POP3 has been left far behind. Today, opting to use POP3 may prove more trouble than it’s worth. Here are a few reasons why:

Nowadays, everyone probably has at least a smartphone and a computer, and you need to be able to access your email on both. With Pop3, after you access and download your email on one device, that’s it! You can’t access it on another device. Going into your account again on a different device may make it seem that your email are missing or have disappeared. Yeah, it’s that bad.

With POP3 you had better have time to spare. It requires that you download all your emails – a time consuming proposition if you have new mail with large attachments.

There is real danger that you could lose all your emails since they are stored on your computer and not on the web server. If your system crashes, then so do your stored emails! The only answer is constant manual backup of your email program’s archive.

To get around this last problem, some services mark the downloaded email as ‘read’ instead of deleting them. This prevents the email from being downloaded again, but does create a big problem. There is the possibility of your email client downloading a piece of mail and marking it as read even though you have not actually read it.

Related to this is the fact that POP3 does not facilitate synchronizing of email actions on various devices. This means only your computer’s email program will save actions taken with a particular piece of mail. The fact that you have changed its ‘read’ status, starred it, deleted it, or organized it into folders will not be synchronized online to any of your other devices.

IMAP – The Better Option

IMAP functions much more efficiently in today’s world. It treats the server, not your computer, as the primary storage of your email. This erases the stress of having to back up and import email archives. Additionally, IMAP is great at managing your email and synchronizing information about it.

Unlike POP3, IMAP is configured so that each piece of email doesn’t actually download until you open it – regardless of how many unread emails you have. The same is true for attachments. IMAP’s syncing means that any and all actions you take with the email are instantly saved not just on your system, but also on the server and all other IMAP clients you might use.

So what you have done on the computer before you stepped out the door is the same as what you find when you pull up your emails on the road with your laptop. Understand now why we say POP3 is so outmoded?

Using IMAP

While older desktop email programs may default to POP3, more recent ones most likely will default to IMAP instead. Just to be clear though, even the Mail app on iOS and the Email app on Android are designed to support POP3 email accounts. So to be sure, when you get to the end of this article, take a minute to check your email account settings. Ensure you are using IMAP and definitely not POP3!

IMAP not Supported

An upgrade is in order if your current email client doesn’t support IMAP. Mozilla Thunderbird from the makers of Firefox is an excellent upgrade choice if you are on a desktop. Similarly, there is no need to look further than Microsoft Outlook if you’re already paying for Microsoft Office: it’s a great alternative. Once on IMAP, you can get all your email in one place by having a service such as Gmail or Outlook transfer email from your old account over POP3.

Conclusion

The only advantage (kind of) in using POP3 comes in if you are concerned about anyone monitoring internet traffic. POP3 does delete the information from the server, but remember that emails are inherently insecure since they are transmitted in plaintext and anyone checking can just archive them.

When you are asked to select between the two, your natural choice should be IMAP over POP3. IMAP gives a solution for all the problems that surround using POP3. This is as it should be, since it is the more advanced protocol.

Case Study: Elliptical Machine Reviews Website

09/23/2015 By Stanley Vargas

Working as an internet marketing consultant, I’m required to spend a lot of time on the internet. A fact that is quite logical and unremarkable, seeing as it is my job to develop branding for small businesses. But, what caught my eye lately is the number of websites which focus on providing readers with reviews of various items. In fact, if you can find just about anything on the web, you can find a review of it as well.

Now, granted, some of these review-based websites differ in quality. While some of them offer hands-on, in-depth reviews conducted by experts in the field, some of them are downright useless and fake. But, that’s not the subject of this article today. I’m going to try and shed some light on the reason why review format websites are so popular among internet users.

Why Review Sites?

Reading online reviews can help users decide on certain product before they spend a large amount of money. A useful review can provide us with some key facts, as well as help us gain an insight into how it feels to actually use a product in everyday life.

One of the clients I’ve been working with has seen the potential of these websites and decided to start one himself called Elliptical Machine Advice.com – you can have a look here – check out the unique style of elliptical reviews he has created on the website. The site deals exclusively with elliptical machines for home exercise, nothing else, and provides a wide range of views and information. My job on this particular project was to improve the website’s visibility in the search engines, and change the layout and navigation of the site. Once all the work was done on the website, I proceed to expand the site’s activity. Setting up Facebook and Twitter profiles was done to provide users with immediate updates, and we’ve also started to make custom YouTube videos, since a visual component is much more effective than the written word, at least on the internet.

Also, publishing a blog on a daily or weekly basis that is connected to the website is also a welcome addition and helps attract readers. Nothing we did was beyond the resources of most simple websites and just takes a little time and effort. One interesting aspect of these review websites is that you don’t need to sell the actual product in order for the website to attract a large number of visitors – and make money. Money can be made by becoming an affiliate for the products you promote – either working directly with the manufacturer or with an online retailer such as Amazon.com.

The important thing about this style of website is shifted towards providing useful information to those who are considering buying the product. To be successful the site needs to provide a value of some tangible sort to prospective buyers. You can also take advantage of various online outlets, such as HubPages or Squidoo to promote your content by injecting links to your website into the articles published by those outlets.

There is a certain set of rules one needs to follow, and the articles need to be of high quality, but it pays off in the long run. So far, after a few months, things are looking good and my client’s website built around elliptical machine reviews has really taken off. It’s hard to tell how big the site will get, but with constant updates and keeping up with the trends, it should do well.

Like I’ve said, the internet is a big place, and you can find pretty much anything out there, including a review of it, if it’s physical product or service. Another interesting and accessible way to look at developing your own websites and a potential source of income.

Be Your Own Boss and Reach for Your Dreams

08/15/2015 By Stanley Vargas

Getting a business off the ground in todays climate is something which can be extremely challenging, and only those with enough courage and motivation are willing to take part in such a venture. In addition to having some money, you would also need a stroke of luck which is something we absolutely have no control over. Also, one of the things about luck is that it can change in a split second. Therefore, investing your own hard-earned money into a start-up company might seem like a bleak prospect but after attending Business 2012 exhibition in London, I feel encouraged and determined to give it a shot.

The exhibition, for the most part, served as fertile ground for displaying start-up success stories. Apart from the more obvious ones, I was especially impressed with one example in particular, which in theory seemed like a model that is destined to fail, because at first glance, no money could be made from it.

Niche Website Development Ideas

The example in question was actually a series of websites which revolved around sharing stories, experiences and advice from people who worked in professions that are dedicated to helping others, while at the same time being criminally undervalued and underappreciated.

One site looked at medical assistant salaries and job prospects – have a look here. Following on with the medical format Nursesalaryguide.net offers a broader look at various nurse specialties from Registered nurses to Nurse Practitioners. The business idea is not limited to medical careers but they can highlight how strange little sub niches can actually prove to have successful and well followed websites. Both these sites make money from advertizing revenue and appear to be quite lucrative.

While there is a general opinion that the possibility of making money online has died down significantly, there are still exceptions which prove that a great idea can also be one that is financially successful. The only thing that is different is that it is a bit more complex to achieve good results than it was before. But, what I have been able to take away from attending Business 2012 exhibition is that there are still numerous ways of making money online, with little or no money needed to get your business going.

Everything still functions the same way, but you have to be more creative if you want to turn your idea into a profitable business venture. Also, one of the burning questions is: Is it worth it? And the answer is: yes.

There is really no limit as to how much you earn, but it’s not solely about the money. There are other benefits which are a lot more important. For starters, you will be your own boss. No boss breathing down your neck, no deadlines. You can’t get fired. You can choose to work from home, join a co-working community or rent office space. The choice is yours.

On the flipside, your income and your success is closely connected to your motivation and the amount of work you put in. But, there is something else about it. Once you are working for yourself, you will be more invested in it.

If you are working for someone else, especially if it’s a large company, you are completely detached from the final product. In fact, most people nowadays don’t even know what the company they work for does. The part where you see something you made make profit is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world, and you can feel it again.

An Easy Guide on How You Can Lock Down Your WordPress

05/20/2015 By Stanley Vargas

Online security is a major concern for many people. No one wants their site hacked and removed, and certainly no one wants to have viruses on their site that can affect their visitors. While it’s impossible to have foolproof security, there are ways you can secure your site in order to give it the most protection possible. WordPress is a site filled with risks, and we’ll explore those now.

The Problem with WordPress

If you haven’t had any problems with your website when it comes to security, you may think that it’s unlikely you will ever be hacked. After all, you’re probably not a celebrity, you don’t own a powerful company, and hackers shouldn’t be interested in you. However, this is not the case. Even under-the-radar blogs can be hacked.

Hackers don’t need a motivation to attack. You don’t have to be their enemies, you don’t have to have a huge or controversial website, and you don’t have to be a famous person. The motivation for your site getting hacked can be a simple one, and that’s your site is easy to hack. Hackers enjoy ruining people who don’t have their site secured. So let’s look at the biggest ways that you can actually secure your site.

Create a backup of your site so you can restore it if it does get hacked.

Put extra security measures into your site that will make it harder for hackers to compromise it.

Let’s look at a WordPress site and what it consists of. First, it consists of the database. The database keeps all your content, settings, and files on the server, which has all your plugins, themes, images and more.

To back up your database, consider installing the WP-DBmanager plugin. This allows you to create backups of the database automatically at different intervals, and by emailing them to you, you can keep them around and restore them whenever.

Backing Up Your Files

Your hosting provider should give you the easiest ways to back up your files, but some of them don’t give you the features you want. One good host, if you can switch, is Hostgator, which gives you a weekly backup on all accounts, as long as you meet their maximum allowed storage.

By installing different WP websites on one account, you’ll probably go past the limit. If you see a message on the sidebar saying that the backup has failed, you’ve more than likely reached the backup.

Another hoster, StormOnDemand, has a backup that is fully customizable. It creates daily backups, which allow you to store them for about 90 days. While you have to pay for it, it’s not pricy.
If you just want to enhance you backup experience, look at the service known as SiteAutoBackup. If you have a cPanel account for hosting, you can backup your site daily and keep them for a month. At two dollars a month for starting, it gives you extra security without draining your wallet.

Now that you have a proper backup, all you have to do is click a few times when your site is compromised to restore it back to normal. Now we need to add more measures to make sure that you won’t even have to back up.

Updating your WordPress

On the Internet, there are forums for any topic you can think of. From commonplace activities to the most bizarre conspiracies out there, there’s something out there for everyone. So it’s no surprise that there are sites dedicated to exploiting security flaws in sites. If someone reads about these, they can try to use it on your site. This is all the reason a hacker needs to bring down your site, a motivation from curiosity. Thankfully, these flaws are fixed with updates, and WordPress allows you to click once in order to update.

It’s common sense to update your WordPress and your plugins. If you have a previous version, it’s prone to bugs, which are fixed in the new update. So while updating may be a chore, it’s something we should all do. It’s even more of a chore if you have multiple WP sites. With that said, there are plugins that can update them all at once. Look at manageWP or WP Mass Updater in order to update everything.

If you install new plugins, you need to make sure that they’re all up-to-date. You need to see if they have the latest version, and check to see if it’s been updated recently. A plugin that rarely gets updated is more prone to security risks.

Passwords

Of course, people don’t have to take the backdoor to compromise your site if the front door is easy to unlock. If someone has your password, all they have to do is log on and cause damage to your site. Therefore, it’s common sense not to use simple passwords. Don’t use your birthdate, your name, or anything else to make up your password.
To keep track of your password, check out LastPass, which is free. LastPass creates one secure master password, and it generates secure passwords for every account automatically. Of course, if someone gets a hold of your manager, they will be able to get everything you have. However, it’s less of a risk than using non-secure passwords.

You can also use secure passwords with random words, but it’s hard to remember this, and you’re going to need lots of memory in order to do this.

Also, your username shouldn’t be “admin” or your display name. In order to change your username, go to Users and then Your Profile. You can change your nickname to something that no one will guess.

Securing Your FTP

If you’re on a standard FTP (file transfer protocol) connection, it may be useful for organizing and managing your server files, but it’s un-encrypted, which means that people can see your username and password if they intercept it.

Instead, consider using a secured FTP connection, or SFTP. First, enable your SSH (secure shell) enabled on your account, and you need to set your FTP so it uses SFTP. Your username and password should connect. If you use Hostgator, log in to the client and click on View Hosting Package in the sidebar menu. Then, you should click on Enable Shell Access.

SSH is enabled by default if you use StormOnDemand, so if it’s not, ask for help and you should get the problem fixed.

Afterwards, you should install FileZilla, which is a free FTP client that’s available for all major OS. Open it and go to File and then Site Manager. Set your host to your domain that’s registered, and precede this by “ftp” or enter the IP address of your server. If you use Hostgator, enter “2222.” If you use, StormOnDemand, keep it blank. Select SFTP on the Protocol drop-down menu, and select your login type as Normal. Enter the cPanel login data, click connect, and there you go. That’s all you need to have in order to get a SFTP connection on all your files.

BulletProof Security Plugin

This is a WP plugin that will protect your files by creating htaccess files. This means that attacks via code injections will be protected, and it hides your version number as well as recommends you as to how you should change permissions in your files.

CloudFlare

CloudFlare is a free service, and all you have to do is sign up for it and make sure that you install the plugin as well. It’s a caching tool and it helps to increase the loading speed of your site. So what does it do for your security? Well, it blocks requests from sources that are known for maliciousness, including spambots and bots that look for info. It’s a great service to use, and best of all, as we said, it’s free!

Overall

No matter how unknown your site is, it can be hacked, and it can ruin your life. Thankfully, by securing it, you’re lessening your chances. If it’s hard to hack, then they’ll give up, since you don’t have much to offer, anyway. As we said before, though, securing it 100% is impossible. That’s why you need to back up your site as much as you can in order to make it secure. All you have to do is install the backup, and soon you won’t have to risk anything!

Common Ways That Hackers and Scammers Can Exploit Your Email Address

05/20/2015 By Stanley Vargas

Nowadays, having an email account is an absolute necessity for individuals who wish to effectively navigate the digital world. Whether you truly realize it or not, it is highly likely that your email address is directly linked to your: various social network accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), online shopping accounts, web hosting accounts, cloud storage, and the list goes on.

By linking so much of our digital identity to one location, we effectively create a central hub that connects to all of our personal information. While this can be extremely convenient, it is also exactly what hackers are looking for – for them this is a remarkable digital treasure trove. Here a few of the most common ways that your email address can be misused by devious hackers and greedy scammers.

They Can Purchase Products And Services Online

This is one of the most straightforward ways that a hacker can misuse your email account. There are countless online shopping websites that not only accept credit cards as a form of payment, they also give you the option to save your credit card information in your online store account. While this option is meant to help you, the shopper, by streamlining your experience on the website and save you valuable time – it can also be abused by hackers.

How? Your various online shopping accounts are connected to your email address, are they not? All a vindictive hacker has to do is reset your passwords for these websites and then have fun shopping with your bank account. Thankfully, some online shopping services (such as Amazon) request that you re-enter your credit card number when you select a new shipping address – however, many online shopping services do not do this.

They Can Compromise and/or Delete Your Accounts

In less than a day, your entire digital identity can be irreparably compromised and even irreversibly deleted. By taking control of your email account hackers have the ability to take a hold of your Twitter. Facebook, and other social network accounts.

Once they do this they can then utilize them in any way they see fit – the “kindest” among them might leave them be or simply delete them; however, more malicious hackers may first go a step further. A hacked social network account can be used to upload and post insensitive content and broadcast horrible messages (homophobic, racist, etc.). While you can try to pass along the word that you have been hacked, all of this can still potentially be detrimental to your social standing and it can cost you relationships and even your job.

They Can Wipe Your Personal Devices

If a hacker gets unbarred access to your email account then they could potentially also gain access to services and tools such as: Google Play, iCloud, and Blackberry Protect. The havoc that someone could potentially cause, if they get control of your account on these services, is unimaginable.

Virtually all devices that have been created in the past few years have some form of cloud based integration that is extremely advantageous and convenient for users; however, in the hands of a malicious individual, this same functionality can be terrifying. iOS devices, Blackberry phones, and Android devices can all be remotely wiped once you have access to their respective services – and all of these services are connected to your email account. That means all of your personal and valuable information can be deleted forever by a simple push of a button or click of a mouse. Frightening isn’t it?

They Can Tarnish Your Reputation

In this day and age smartphones exist as far more than devices that we use to call our friends and loved ones. Among other things, these devices can now be used to take pictures and share important moments with the important people in our lives. However, with the recent iCloud hacking fiasco that targeted not only celebrities but also ordinary people as well, many people have come to realize that information that they once thought was private is actually far from it.

Services like iCloud are connected to your email address, so hackers that get access to your email account have a much easier time gaining access to a lot of your private pictures and information that you may not want to have out in the open. Likewise, if you choose to send risqué photos via your email account then once a hacker gets into said account they have full access to those pictures. If you plan on sending risqué pictures to someone then an alternative, such as SnapChat, may be your best bet.

They Can Take Advantage Of Your Friends And Family

If your email account has been hacked then scammers potentially have access to not only your finances, they also have access to the finances of your friends and family. You might be wondering: How can they possibly attack my friends and family? While hackers may to have direct access to their accounts they have access to yours and they can draw upon your friends’ kindness and sympathy to get money from them.

All it takes is a tragic email to your mom or you best friend that says that you’ve been in an accident or you’ve been robbed while enjoying your vacation. Then all the scammer has to do is say that your wallet/credit cards are missing or stolen but you can still collect funds via Western Union or some other money transfer service. Your email account is literally your digital address book and once a scammer gets access to it, they can make use of each and every one of your contacts.

So What Can You Do?

There are a few simple things that you can do to safeguard your email account from hackers and scammers. Firstly, you should not only establish a complex password for your email account (no birthdays or kid’s names) and institute two-factor authentication. Secondly, you should try to use different email accounts for various purposes: shopping, social media, etc. Have you or a friend ever had an email account that was hacked? Do you know of any more ways that your email account can be exploited? Let us know about it in the comments!

How to Speed Your WordPress

05/18/2015 By Stanley Vargas

Gone are the days when it was excusable to have a slow site. Slow sites can hurt your ranking on Google. If your site is slow, they’ll lower your ranking and thus reduce your traffic. Besides that your visitors will back away if your site is slow. In an age when sites are supposed to load fast, there is no excuse.

Studies that have been done by KISSmetrics give this argument more weight. If your site hasn’t loaded in four seconds, you lost one in four potential visitors. After ten, it’s one in three. So having your site load under four seconds can help you to boost traffic by quite a bit.

In this guide, we’ll teach you all you need to know about how you should optimize your WordPress site so that it loads fast. And the first thing you need to do is test!

How to Test Your Page’s Loading Speeds

Before you optimize, you should make sure that your site’s loading speeds should even be tweaked. Consider testing it using GT Metrix. Now, this tester is used for pages and not entire websites, so you should choose what pages you want tested. Consider testing your homepage and a few of your larger pages. Also, look at your popular pages as well. Your lowest pages will give you the best data in order for you to proceed.

The Basics of Speed

When you test your pages using GT Metrix, you’ll get many results back and many are the basics of site optimization. Many of these basics are handled by WordPress itself. See, they will separate your stylesheets from your content, most plugins will add scripts to the bottom of the page’s code, and so on, granted that your theme is well-coded.

So what are the tips when it comes to optimizing WordPress’s load speed? First, let’s look at one of the most important ones.

Hosting

Whoever hosts your WordPress will play an important part on how fast your pages load. But note that it’s not the end-all. There are ways to boost your speed even with a bad host. But since switching hosts isn’t that quick of a fix, it won’t be covered that much. Remember not to be too cheap with your choice of website host – especially if your website is making money online! Now, let’s look at a few speed factors.

External Calls and Plugins

Many new WordPress users tend to install as many plugins as they can, and implement the themes that are filled with the most features. While this may be ideal for some, the more features in a plugin, the slower your page will load. This is why you should tread lightly when it comes to installing plugins, and here’s how you can do that.

Ask yourself if the plugin helps support your conversion goal. Will this be convenient for your traffic, or is it an unneeded bell and whistle?

Let’s look at your conversion goals first. Is your goal to have someone buy your product? Is your goal to have someone to read your content? Or is it something else altogether? If you have multiple goals, but there should be one every page. Let’s say that your goal is to get people to sign up to your mailing list to read your content. If so, having a plugin that has your Flickr image gallery can take them off the page, so scrap that.

What you should do right now is go through your plugins and remove the unneeded ones. If your plugin takes the viewer off your site, then not only is that a slow loader, but it means less traffic. Also, you should only have one plugin for analytics, not multiple.

How Your Site Caches and Distributes

The next couple of steps require you to do very little to your site, if nothing at all. Yet this will reduce your page’s loading time by quite a lot. First, you should install the W3 Total Cache Plugin. This plugin caches, which means that it stores parts of the site that are static. This means that it only has to load once and not load on every single page. This will be noticeable if your visitors return to the site and explore it long enough. So find that plugin and install.

Once you install, go to the general settings and enable page cache, database cache, and object cache. Also, select the disk caching method unless you are using something different besides your normal shared hosting.

Now then, deactivate the Minify option, as you can see better results if you use CloudFlare to do that.

In the Browser Cache settings, click on all the boxes and enable everything you see. In the Page Cache settings, activate the “don’t cache pages for logged-in users” setting. You won’t have to preview when you make changes. Instead, deactivating preview mode will activate W3 Total Cache for all your visitors.

Cache Caution

Despite the fact that caching is a great way to boost your WordPress, like anything, it has flaws. Caching can build up and cause your site not to go live for your visitors unless you clean the cache. Also, sometimes your caching and your plugins won’t be savvy together, so make sure both are compatible.

CloudFlare

We hinted at signing up for CloudFlare before, so let’s explain more about it. CloudFlare speeds and helps to protect your website. Best of all, it’s free. CloudFlare is easy to sign up, and it is extremely user friendly. Once you sign, your site will be on their distribution network. What this means is that your data will be posted locally to all your visitors using the closest server. This means that your page will be loaded as fast as possible.

CloudFlare also acts as a shield for your site, eliminating spambots and potentially hazardous scripts. This means that your site will have fewer spam comments, a decreased chance of being hacked, and more bandwidth.

When it comes to settings, you’re best off with the default. However, you need to start the minification of your coding. Do that to Javascript, HTML, and CSS. What do that do? It takes out the filler white space and breaks in the coding. This means that any browser will load up the code faster.

Now let’s talk about another CloudFlare feature, the Rocket Loader. While it’s still in beta as of this article, it should work well for your site. What it does is loads all your Javascript codes at different times. What this means is that your page doesn’t have to wait for all the Javascript to load, and your visitors can view the page while the rest loads in the background.

Also, in order to change your theme settings or edit the CSS, you should turn on Development Mode, or risk not seeing changes. After you have made these tweaks, click Purge Cache. This means that your visitors will see the new site instead of a cached version of the old one.

Compressing Images and Formats

Having images are important to any site. However, they tend to have bigger file sizes than most, which can lead to slow loading times. So what do you do about this? Delete all your images?No way. You can optimize your images and make them smaller, all without losing quality.

First, let’s look at Gravatar. Gravatar is the WordPress service that will put the avatar of your commenter next to your comments. If they don’t have one, they have a placeholder image. Avatars have their place, granted. They help to keep track on who is saying what, and they enhance your comment section’s appearance. What you should do, instead, is to go into Gravatar and change the default to blank. This eliminates the placeholder avatar images of those who do not have one. This should speed up your site quite a bit, as your site no longer has to grab all the placeholder images from Gravatar.
If you want to as well, you can have your own placeholder avatar. Doing this is simple. Go to your functions.php, and add this to the code.
add_filter( ‘avatar_defaults’, ‘newgravatar’ );
functionnewgravatar ($avatar_defaults) {
$myavatar = get_bloginfo(‘template_directory’) . ‘/images/YOURICON.png’;
$avatar_defaults[$myavatar] = “CUSTOMNAME”;
return $avatar_defaults;
}

Your new default should be uploaded to the theme’s folder, where there should be an image folder you can access. Go to /images/YOURICON.png and change the image to the file you uploaded. You can even use Gravatar’s placeholder images, and that will speed up your site since it’s loading it directly.

Now let’s look at formats.

You should know that PNG and JPEG are the best ones to use. JPEG is for photos and images that may contain different colors and complexities. PNG, meanwhile, is good for images with texts, lines, and sharp contrasts, and it gives the images transparency. Also, JPEG is lossy, which means that you can reduce the image’s size and it’ll be noticeable. PNG is lossless, but you can’t decrease its size.

So which should you use? If you’re wondering, you can save both and see which you like better. However, as JPEG is lossy, every time you save it, the quality will go down a tad, so keep originals handy.

Now to learn how to optimize images.If your image is a PNG, you can optimize it by reducing its size with TinyPNG. While TinyPNG reduces the size of your images by 70%, it keeps the quality virtually the same. Upload your PNGs through TinyPNG before you post.

If you want to optimize your JPEGs, install the WP smush.it plugin, which will automatically compress images that you upload it on smush.it, which is a lossless compression hub. It will keep the quality of your image while reducing its file size.

While it slows down your uploads and it may not be compatible with your hosting, it’s worth trying to see what it can do for you.

Another method you should try, if you have lots of images per post, is to Lazy-Load your images. It also works if you have thumbnails galleries of related posts. Install the jQuery Image Lazy Load plugin, and it can help browsers load your site so much easier. Only the pictures visible in the browser window will load, and when the visitor scrolls down, it will load the image immediately. It not only makes your page load faster, but it allows you to have more bandwidth because it loads less data if your users do not make it through the entire page.

Now we should talk about using image sprites and not using separate images. While this method is less user-friendly, and involves more messing around with the code, it will give you results. Many themes sprite their images already, but if you manually do it, you can see more improvements in your speed.

What is a sprite?

All the images in your site are mixed together to form a single sprite. Instead of loading all the images at the same time, it loads one that has all the elements. Afterwards, you see what portion of the image you want to use for each element. To break it down, let’s look at the social media buttons. Many sites and blogs have buttons that link to their social media accounts. Let’s say we have four of them, and you want each one to light up when you hover on it. You’d normally need ten images. Five of them normal, and five of them lit up.

It takes a lot of space, but there is a better way. Combine all ten of them into one single sprite, and they will load faster. The combined images load faster than the separate ones, as they are smaller in data size. Plus, they use less code. The less code there is to load, the faster your website will be. Check out a guide on how sprite images, or go to spriteme.org to do it automatically.

How to Optimize Your Database

The structure and size of the database you use can alter the performance of your site. In order to handle this, here are two ways you can do this.

The first is to install the plugin known as Revision Control. You see, if you leave WordPress to its own devices, they will store every single version of every post. If you revised a post to fix a spelling error, the version where the spelling error was present is still in the database. You can see how this will stack up.

Revision Control helps to fix this, as it limits how many revisions your page stores. While you should have a few revisions in case you need to backup your page, having every single revision definitely bloats the page.

Another way you can manage this is to install the plugin known as WP-DBmanager. This plugin optimizes, backs up, and can fix your database. This is great for keeping your database trim and is great for security reasons as well.

Go to DB Options and set is so that it optimizes the database automatically every two weeks. You can change this depending on how often you update. You should also make sure that it’s backing up the DB occasionally.

Test Time!

Once you’ve tried making these tweaks to your pages, use GTmetrix and retest your pages and see what the changes are. Make sure you load your pages in different browsers to see how fast it runs and if it has all the features. Javascript tends to have some trouble with plugins, so beware. If you don’t feel like downloading different browsers, you can try Browser Shots to see how it loads in different browsers. Just make sure to clean your cache in CloudFlare and Total Cache to get the most accurate results.

And there you have it! Your site should be faster now. A slow website, as we said before, is inexcusable. It may have been par for the course in the dial-up days, but in our modern world, you’re creating traffic suicide if your page doesn’t load in a few seconds.

Nine Computer Viruses That You Never Want To Meet

05/18/2015 By Stanley Vargas

I’ve heard some scary computer virus stories –as scary as the first time that I read Rumpelstiltskin as a child. I’m glad I’ve never had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting Rumpelstiltskin and there are a few computer viruses out there I never want to encounter. Identity theft, loss of important data, slow computer performance and frequent crashes are just a few problems that come with computer viruses.

It’s always good to be informed about things that you are afraid of – how they can harm you? Where they’re from? How can you avoid them? When it comes to computer viruses these are things I am curious about. Basic knowledge about computer viruses can help you avoid them or deal with them right way if you ever need to.

Boot Computer Sector Viruses

To understand how a boot sector virus works you’ll need a bit of information on what a boot sector is first. A boot sector is the part of a hard drive, floppy disk, DVD, CD and other storage media that carries a code to boot different programs. There are many different kinds but the volume boot record and the master boot record are the two main types.

Boot sector viruses like Stoned or Michelangelo infect your PC when it boots up or tries to boot up from a disk that has been infected. Any attempt to start up the computer from an infected disk whether successful or not, will load the virus into its memory. It does so by replacing the original boot sector code with a code on the infected disk. Once the virus reaches the memory it spreads to all disks on the system that have not been infected. It can also be transmitted over networks and by email attachments.

These viruses can be very destructive because they infect the boot sector which loads every time the computer boots up. Curing an infected computer of the virus is not easy and oftentimes impossible since some viruses encrypt the boot sector when it enters. You will need an effective anti-virus program

Browser Hijacker Virus

This kind of virus is highly contagious – it can be transmitted in a number of ways, such as;emails, voluntary downloads and file sharing. This virus modifies the search of a specific page on your browser and sends you to a page you did not intend to visit. They are created for a number of reasons but mainly for commercial marketing and advertisement. Browser hijacker viruses are very destructive and should be removed at all costs. Most people confuse them for malware programs because they may change the home page of your browser, alter the search page and provide links to a number of ads. They can be easily confused with adware threats because they tend to exhibit similar problems.

Some popular browser hijackers are SafeSearch and IBIS WebSearch. Getting an anti-spyware program can help you to cure an infected computer of a browser hijacker and defend your computer from other viruses.

Direct Action and Resident Virus

File infectors can be grouped as a direct action or resident virus. Resident viruses tend to find their home in the memory sectors of your computer and they look for other programs or files to infect when they are executed. Direct viruses on the other hand can only infect other files when the file containing the virus is executed.

Resident viruses can run offensively while direct action cannot,since it does not insert itself in your computer’s memory. For this reason most attackers tend to use the resident virus because it spreads easily. Nonetheless some direct viruses have caused a lot of trouble in the past. Win64.Rugrat and the Vienna virus are some of the first of its kind that gave computers a lot of trouble.

File Infector Virus

Your chances of meeting this virus is highly likely considering how common it is. It’s a kind of malware that links itself to executable files like PC games, spreadsheets, and word processors; to cause temporary or permanent damage by overwriting the file itself. Some viruses even have the power to reformat your entire hard drive.

Cascade, Jerusalem, and Win32.Sality.BK are popular file infector viruses. Not all viruses are classified as ‘file infectors” even though they infect files. Instead it generally refers to executable files with .com or .exe extensions and it can also be transmitted over a network

Macro Virus

Many popular applications today like Microsoft Excel and Word contain macros –a group of instructions that can automate a sequence of actions. Because they are so common among applications it makes it possible for the virus to be transmitted easily. Melissa is one of the most popular macro viruses present today. It infects Microsoft Word documents and it contains passwords to pornographic websites.

Multipartite Virus

This type of virus uses both boot infectors and file infectors to infect executable files as well as the boot sector. While some viruses will only program files, your boot sector, or your computer system, the Multipartite Virus can infect all three at the same time thus it can be more destructive. If the boot sector of your computer has been infected once you try to turn on your computer the virus will attach itself to your hard drive as well.

There are many more computer viruses out there that you’ll never want to meet. The list above excluded Trojans and Worms which are two common threats to computers today,although they vary from viruses in some ways. If you’ve experienced the wrath of any of these viruses or would like to add to this list, leave a comment below.

Have We Lost the Ability to Communicate?

09/17/2014 By Stanley Vargas

It’s ironic, isn’t it? In an era where we can pretty much reach each other no matter where we are, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, people communicate with each other less and less. Don’t believe me? OK, then indulge me.

Next time you are out with your friends having coffee, count how many times they will reach for their cell phone. For that matter, count how many times you will reach for your cell phone. Or, better yet, if you are trying to get a point across, or even just rambling, stop mid-sentence, and ask one of your friends to repeat what you have just said. You will be surprised by the results.

Why is that? Why do we type away on our cell phones instead of having meaningful, face-to-face conversations with people we care about? It’s like we would rather be somewhere else, with someone else, because that’s how it appears.

Now, modern technology has allowed us to communicate from people all over the globe, whom we’d never meet otherwise. Yet, we prioritize electronic communication over meeting people in real life. And you know what? Those people you are talking to via your cell phone, Skype, or Viber, and neglecting the people you are sitting down with, if you were to meet them in person, would have nothing to say to you, and vice versa.

I know, because I have been there. I’ve met some of my online pals, and while the meeting was pleasant enough, our communication just didn’t translate very well into real life.

What about people you do know in real life? Why do we still keep on chatting for hours on end with people we can easily meet in 15 minutes time? And why do we insist on taking pictures of everything we do, and all the places we are at, and putting it on Instagram, instead of being there and enjoying the moment. Who do we tweet everything that pops into our minds?

Perhaps the answer to that question is not that important. We can sit here for days and think of all the different reasons. But, instead of doing that, let’s do something else.

Next time you are out with someone, ignore your cell phone as much as you can. It’s OK to answer phone calls or text back if it’s something important, but you can do without checking out every tweet, update or image that gets posted every 3 seconds. You just might find that you can do without all of that.