Whenever you need a MySQL connectivity test from a website or server, it's handy to have various test scripts nearby. Whether it is because you are setting up a new website or you have just installed a new server and are running your tests.
Published on Monday, 26 May 2014
Sometimes it's important to remove (or hide) the file extension of scripts you use. Security by obscurity might be that reason, if you don't want others to know what script language you are using for your website, or for static site hosts.
Published on Friday, 23 May 2014
Optimizing, minify and compressing JavaScript and CSS files, the easy and fast way? With YUI Compressor on the Windows-, Linux- and macOS command line of course! Compacting HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can speeds up your website because of smaller and faster downloads, parsing, and execution time.
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Published on Sunday, 18 May 2014
Investigate SMTP authentication issues like a boss! Particular over TLS encrypted SMTP connections, it's always handy if you are able to test the SMTP authentication and StartTLS connection. Preferably from your command-prompt.
Published on Saturday, 17 May 2014
Saotn.org used URL Rewrite Outbound Rules in IIS to offload content from a different server or host name. Doing so, IIS uses URL Rewrite and acts as a reverse proxy. Add gzip compression to the mix, and this will improve website performance. But just recently I noticed Outbound Rules conflicted with gzip compressed content. The following HTTP 500.52 URL Rewrite Module Error was thrown...
Published on Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Uh-oh, prettyPhoto DOM based XSS on Saotn.org...
Published on Sunday, 4 May 2014
Learn how to add an index and optimize WordPress' wp_options table for faster database results. This probably isn't a big issue, but today I noticed a slow MySQL query coming from a WordPress database (WordPress wp_options table). This made me investigate and to optimize the WordPress wp_options table "autoload" feature.
Published on Friday, 2 May 2014
Mysqlcheck is a command line table maintenance program for MySQL. It checks, repairs, optimizes, or analyzes MySQL tables. Very handy for _automated performance optimizations_ of MySQL databases and tables. In this post I'll show you how to use `mysqlcheck` to optimize all MySQL tables using a cronjob.
Published on Friday, 2 May 2014
The WordPress StatPress plugin (no longer available in the Plugin Directory) is still widely used and still is very slow. Here are some MySQL statements you can use to optimize its performance, as a WordPress optimization tip...
Published on Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Install WordPress plugins without admin access, and automate your WordPress customization and plugin installation. WordPress has a little drop-in plugin option available in the form of /wp-content/install.php. This install.php file is not present at default, but when created it can be used to install plugins without wp-admin access. This might come in handy for unattended WordPress installations, customization, and so on.
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Published on Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Contact Form 7 (CF7) is a WordPress plugin that provides a simple but flexible contact form. On IIS, Contact Form 7 captcha has one HUGE disadvantage: temporary captcha files placed in wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_captcha, are not automatically removed. The files are made read only. Here is how to remove Contact Form 7 temporary captcha files on IIS...
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Published on Monday, 28 April 2014
How to check the file type in PHP and secure file uploads: it is important to validate MIME types in PHP. Especially of files uploaded through an upload form to your website.
Published on Sunday, 27 April 2014
Chmod.php, change file attributes with PHP to make files read only or normally accessible on Windows IIS servers. Sometimes you need chmod to make files read only on your website, or make them normally accessible in case they already are read only. For instance Drupal's settings.php configuration file, or WordPress Contact Form 7 temporary captcha files, are examples of read-only files.
Published on Sunday, 27 April 2014
Learn how to do MD5 and SHA1 hash comparisons in MySQL
Published on Sunday, 27 April 2014
Here is how to fix PHP "Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed in ..." errors in PHP and WordPress.
Published on Wednesday, 23 April 2014