What is CloudFlare?

CloudFlare is a CDN-like technology that runs multiple datacenters and stores a cache of your website at those locations for faster display to site visitors.  Over the past few years, we have promoted and used MaxCDN as the Content Delivery Network that we used the most, however CloudFlare operates very similarly and best of all, thanks to our partnership with CloudFlare you can install and use it FOR FREE.

Additional Security Features

• Aids in stopping direct website attacks
• Has it’s own set of analytics you can review
• Automatically update your website at the remote server locations
• CloudFlare works seemless with WordPress sites, and provides additional security

In recent weeks, we’ve seen a increase in WordPress Hacks and attempted hacks around the internet community.  While we were not affected as badly as others, the risk still exists.  CloudFlare, along with our existing server monitoring and management, helps offset the risk even more!

Some Examples of what CloudFlare can do

One of our clients (Weber Construction – www.weberci.com) allowed us to use their site in our demo to other clients and run some screen grabs of performance.  They use WordPress for their site and use a theme from StuioPress.  Their home page is about 1MB in size and we saw dramatic speed improvements.

Before Cloudflare installation:

Website before CloudFlare

Here’s the same website AFTER the installation of CloudFlare:

CloudFlare Activated

That’s quite an improvement, especially for a small website.  Their website now literally snaps to attention when you load the page.

Installation of CloudFlare on Hands-on Web Hosting Servers

We’ve made the installation of CloudFlare as easy as possible.  All you really need to do is log into cPanel and click the CloudFlare icon under the Software/Services section:

On the following screen you’ll be asked to enter your Email Address.  CloudFlare will send you a confirmation email with a link for a password reset.  This will allow you to log in and view extended stats or if you want to use the same email address for other domains that you wish to setup.

On the next screen, click EDIT beside the domain name you want to edit

Next, all you need to do is click on the Grey Cloud to activate the CloudFlare Hosting and the cloud will turn Orange. If at any time you want to disable it, you just click the cloud again and it would be disabled.

Once everything is setup, you can go back into this area and click the Settings on the domain you want to edit and adjust the cache of the pages, change the security agressiveness etc.

Our partnership with CloudFlare allows FREE installation of their product on your webhosting account.  If you require an SSL Certificate however, you would need to upgrade your CloudFlare account to be one of their paid solutions.

Should you have any questions or problems, please contact our support agents for further assistance at our Support Center

The post CloudFlare Activated on all cPanel Shared Hosting Accounts For Free appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

There is a network of compromised home computers and servers that are being used to attack WordPress sites around the world. This network is attempting to access the admin areas of WordPress sites with brute-force attacks (repeatedly attempting logins with commonly used passwords and other common words). If your admin password is compromised, your WordPress installation is then hacked and becomes a part of this global network, using your account resources to attack other WordPress sites.

If you’re a customer of Hands-On Web Hosting, our shared hosting servers are protected as we use 1H monitoring software which limits excessive resource usage to individual accounts, protecting the server as a whole. However, these attacks can still cause your website to go offline from the excessive login attempts even if your password isn’t compromised. If you are on dedicated, VPS or cloud hosting then the excessive usage can cause your entire server to crash. If you don’t host with us, you will want to contact your hosting company to determine what security measures they have in place for these kind of attacks, or better yet, let us move you to Hands-On!

There are a number of things you can do as a WordPress site owner to protect yourself and limit the impact these attacks have on your website:

1. Make sure your WordPress installation and all plugins are up to date

2. Install a third-party WordPress security plugin designed to limit login attempts, such as Better WP Security.

3. Ensure that your admin password is secure (use random upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special symbols–NEVER use common words, phrases, names, birthdates, etc.)

4. Use a different admin login name other than “admin”, as most attacks will use this login name

5. Use .htaccess rules to restrict access to your login page

If you have questions regarding the security of your WordPress site, even if you aren’t yet a customer of Hands-On, please don’t hesitate to contact our helpdesk.

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UK Virtual Private Server Hosting Plans

New orders will be set up and ready to use within one business day. Existing UK VPS customers can upgrade to the new version of their current plan free of charge, without migrating to another server and without downtime.

Please note that these VPS plans are on servers geographically located in the United Kingdom. We also offer VPS plans based in the United States.

If you have any questions regarding our UK-based VPS plans, please visit our support desk.

The post NEW UK-based VPS Plans Launched appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

For a limited time, Hands-on Web Hosting, a leader in ecommerce and blog Website Hosting is offering a promotion for free hosting through the remainder of the month (March 2013).

The offer is extended to any new hosting account signup that is made prior to March 15th, 2013.

How to get free hosting:

• Go to http://www.handsonwebhosting.com/uk/web-hosting/
• Pick any of the 3 hosting packages listed
• Click the Order Button
• Select 1 month hosting
• On the checkout, use the coupon code: UK1MPROMO

When you sign up, the remainder of March 2013 will be paid for by Hands-on. It’s a perfect opportunity to test things out with Hands-on Web Hosting. We still continue to offer our 30 day money back guarantee also, so there’s no risk even if you were to select prepayment for 3 months or a year.

Keep in mind, this promotion is for Shared Web Hosting on servers located in England, with IPs from England also.

Transferring a website? Not a problem! Our staff will move your website for free to our servers!

Got a question? Please contact any of our Live Chat staff at the top of this page!

Click Here to Order UK cPanel Hosting and start saving today!!

The post No Charges until April 1st 2013 appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

Fullerton, CA, February 4, 2013 – Hands-on Web Hosting, a leading provider of cPanel shared, VPS, dedicated, e-commerce and cloud based hosting solutions, today launched a special promotion at the request of numerous users of GoDaddy in response to their distasteful Super Bowl 2013 commercial.

Within minutes of GoDaddy’s Super Bowl commercial airing, social media sites Twitter, Google+ and Facebook were flooded with comments, most of them negative. While their latest commercial went viral, generating more than 6.5 million views on YouTube within the first 24 hours, the reaction from the general public has been less than positive. Consequently, Hands-on Web Hosting has received several requests from users to transfer their domain name and web hosting away from GoDaddy.

“The saying goes, ‘There’s no such thing as bad publicity’, but when your clients start to terminate services due to a publicity stunt, that’s probably not a good thing,” said Conor Treacy, CEO of Hands-on Web Hosting. “Super Bowl commercials have had a long tradition of being funny or smart, but this one was neither,” he said.

Due to the outcry, Hands-on Web Hosting has released a special promotion for users of
GoDaddy that want to escape – buy 3 months web hosting, get a free 1-year domain transfer! To take advantage of this promotion, use the coupon code “GROSS” (GoDaddy’s Really Offensive Superbowl Sale) at checkout.

The staff at Hands-on Web Hosting will also transfer (migrate) user’s website files to the new location at no additional cost.

About Hands-on Web Hosting:
Hands-on Web Hosting was founded over ten years ago to meet the needs of businesses seeking a web hosting partner capable of providing state-of-the-art cost effective hosting solutions. Today, Hands-on Web Hosting is a leading web hosting provider of PCI compliant shared, VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting solutions, providing service to thousands of websites with a strong focus on X-Cart eCommerce software and similar online merchant store software. Hands-on Web Hosting is dedicated to ensuring that members receive affordable and reliable services with excellent customer support.

—–

On Checkout, be sure to select to Transfer your domain name, and be sure to select at least 3 months of web hosting.  Then enter the coupon code “GROSS” at checkout, and you’ll get a free domain name transfer.  Start your order here:  http://www.handsonwebhosting.com

As always, if you have any questions, please contact our support team at http://support.handsonwebhosting.com for further assistance.

The post Offensive Superbowl Ad Sends Users Scrambling appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

This handy little site allows you to enter ANY website and have it refresh at an interval of your choosing. For me, it was every 300 seconds (5 minutes) as I didn’t need the page refreshing every 30 seconds, but still needed it refreshed regularly.

This was the perfect tool at the right time. I’m not sure how much use it might be to others, but it was a big time saver for me. There’s a few others out there that are paid programs or websites, but Page Reboot is a free website that did exactly what I needed it to do.

On the website, they talk about utilizing the website to refresh an ebay listing or monitor an ebay auction. I’d never thought of using it that way before but it looks like it would work there too. Check it out and let me know how it goes for you! I’m interested to hear how you used the tool to help your day!

The post Automatically Refresh Any Website appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

The Standard Google Apps was available for free for businesses with under 50 users, and it provided calendars, emails, shared documents, spam and virus filtering and up to 7 GB of space per user.  Many of our own clients here at Hands-on Web Hosting utilize Google Apps for Business to handle their mail rather than using the built in services that we offer.  Google states that this will continue to function as it had in the past.

From the posting:

Starting today for all new customers:

• Individuals wishing to use Google’s web apps like Gmail and Google Drive should create a free personal Google Account, which provides a seamless experience across all of our web services on any device.
• For Businesses, instead of two versions, there will be one. Companies of all sizes will sign up for our premium version, Google Apps for Business, which includes 24/7 phone support for any issue, a 25GB inbox, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee with no scheduled downtime. Pricing is still $50 per user, per year.

The news comes with mixed feelings for the general community.  Businesses that are utilizing the Google Apps, and were serious about it, needed more space than was available in the free version, so many of them upgraded to the paid plans.  New businesses just starting out however, or those that were just testing the platform, will surely miss the free applications provided.

Google’s move to pull the free version and make it a paid only application will help ensure the longevity of the program, after-all, you can only go so far without financial support.  Again, the recent change will only affect NEW customers, so there’s no impact for users that were already using the system.  Google still offers a “Free Trial” for those that want to test the service, but continued use will result in a fee.

To experiment with Google Apps for Business, please check out their website at http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/

The post Google Apps for Business – No longer Free appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

This year’s Black Friday Event was just like all previous ones – breaking records all over the place.  Over $1 Billion was spent ONLINE on Friday alone, and according to comScore, Americans have spent $13.7 billion during the 2012 holiday season (November 1-23rd).  We see it everywhere, Black Friday sales for this and that.  It was previously associated that Black Friday was mainly at brick and mortar stores, and then we had Cyber Monday for the online crowd, but this year has been different.  $1 Billion spent Online, and then another $633 Million spent online on Thanksgiving Day.

For the online world, Amazon has come out on top again as being the most trafficked online store.  Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple rounded out the top 5.  The big drive this year is focused on digital content and subscriptions   More users are downloading movies, TV shows, books, music and games and it’s not just for the smartphones and tablets – PC’s and gaming consoles are also getting involved.

Ready for another staggering figure – $59.1 Billion – that’s how much US shoppers have spent in just the 4 day weekend, and it’s estimated that Cyber Monday will bring in as much as $1.5 Billion alone.

In this day and age of online shopping, it’s imperative that web sites are online and available for visitors.  Hands-on Web Hosting has taken a number of precautions this year when it comes to traffic and usage, and so far, it’s paying off.  We’ve beefed up our machines, introduced new monitoring on the servers and removed some of the limitations of bandwidth usage.  There’s a slew of Virtual Servers (VPS) available and an even wider range of dedicated servers for those demanding websites.  We introduced new Cloud Hosting packages earlier this year and this too has been a huge success.

All in all, it’s been a successful weekend for most buyers and sellers.  The Black Friday Events have turned into Black Friday Weekend Events, and looking into the future, I’m guessing that we’ll see Black Friday Week Events.

The post Black Friday Records Broken – Again appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

I’m going to list two directions for you.  The first is geared toward clients hosting with Hands-on Web Hosting.  We have streamlined the ability to modify the php.ini files directly through the users control panel rather than having to play with code and using FTP etc.  The second method is if you are hosting with another hosting company – which then brings up the question of why you would do that anyway?

Hands-on Web Hosting Customers

We took the time to write a knowledgebase article for you in the past.  This helps when users are entering tickets for support as the answers will automatically pop up.  You can see the full KB article at this link - https://billing.handsonwebhosting.com/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=377

Basically, you’ll log into cPanel, and follow these steps:

• Click the PHP Variables Manager icon
• Click the wp-admin folder
• In the variable section, type “post_max_size” and click ADD
• In the space beside “post_max_size” enter 20M
• In the variable section, type “upload_max_filesize” and click ADD
• Now type 10M beside the “upload_max_filesize“

You’ve just increased the upload filesize to 10MB.  Be aware that in the variables manager you must use “10M” and not “10MB”.  A good rule of thumb is to always make the post_max_size twice as large as the upload_max_filesize.

For people that are not Hands-on Web Hosting Customers

The method is going to be different depending on your host.  Places like HostGator and GoDaddy usually have different sets of directives than that of BlueHost or 1&1.  What I’ve outlined is the basic steps that you would perform.  If it does not work, you will need to contact your host – or better yet, just change your hosting to Hands-on Web Hosting as we know it works here, and all our staff are very friendly and helpful too!

• FTP to your website and move to the /wp-admin folder
• If there’s a php.ini file on there, download it so you can edit it.  If not, we’ll create one from scratch
• Open NotePad and type the following:
  post_max_size=20M
  upload_max_filesize=10M 
• It’s entirely possible that you’ll need to insert IonCube Loaders or Zend Optimizer commands if your website is using those features.  This will be provided to you by your webhost – every host is different.

Upload the file back to your website in the /wp-admin/ folder and check in the Media Area of WordPress to see if the file size for uploads has changed.  It should have, but if it didn’t there’s a few possible explanations.  The most basic is that you didn’t upload the file to the /wp-admin folder – doublecheck!  The second is that your host doesn’t allow you to override the php.ini commands on the server.  If that’s the case, your only option will be to contact your hosting company.  These days, there’s no reason to restrict the php.ini file like that, but when you deal with larger web hosts, you’ll find they use antiquated security measures to keep things secure, or they’ll lock a portion of things so they don’t have to make systemwide changes.

That’s all you should need to update the file upload size in WordPress to be bigger than the default of 2MB.  Don’t get crazy and set the upload size to 100MB as that’ll just crash your browser in most cases.  Most web hosts have time limits for uploads.  If you have a slower connection, your browser could crash or timeout.  Then again, what were you thinking uploading a 100MB file to your website?!

For more helpful guides, check out our extensive Knowledgebase Articles at http://support.handsonwebhosting.com.  If you have a little extra time, browse around our website at http://www.handsonwebhosting.com and see how we match up with your existing hosting.  Chances are, we’re providing more services for less money than you currently pay for.  Keep in mind that webhosting choices are not only about price, many times it comes down to resource availability.  Since we have less clients on a single server, websites generally load much faster than with the competition!

The post 7 Quick Steps To Change WordPress Upload Filesize appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.

Qualiteam, the makers of X-Cart, announced a new update for our favorite shopping cart system.  On September 25th, 2012, X-Cart 4.5.3 was released to the public bringing with it a slew of questions from existing users.  Not only was a new version released, but the company website was overhauled and the product has been broken up into four distributions; X-Cart Gold, X-Cart Gold Plus, X-Cart Platinum and X-Cart Enterprise.

In this blog posting, we’ll be covering only the changes that have happened in the new 4.5.3 release.  We will be posting a different article with regards to the new distributions that were released shortly.

The top features on the list are as follows:

Featured Products Catalog on Facebook

Ever wanted your X-Cart store to post pictures of your products on Facebook?  Well now you have it!  X-Cart has streamlined the ability to upload new products directly to Facebook with just a few clicks of the mouse.  This feature is available in the base level shopping carts of X-Cart Gold, X-Cart Gold Plus and X-Cart Platinum.  As an added bonus, if you integrate the f-Commerce GO plugin developed by Qualiteam, you can get a lot of expanded functionality too.

Instant Search with Suggestions

We’re used to this feature in Google.  When you type in a word and based upon previous searches it suggests popular search terms.  This new feature enables dynamic product searches in real-time with instant suggestions and “search-as-you-type” functionality.  The service is being released as CloudSearch, and requires a subscription to the service.

Create Orders in the Back-End

This is something that has been present in older versions but has received a major overhaul.  This product feature allows a store manager/administrator to create orders directly from the back-end of X-Cart.  This has been included in the X-Cart Gold, X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions through the Advanced Order Management section.

 Integration with 1-800-Courier

1-800Courier is the leading provider of same day delivery service.  Unlike FedEx and UPS, these guys deliver the product on the same day as long as the shipping address is within 30 miles of the distribution center.  Obviously you’re not going to get Ice Cream from New York delivered to California in the same day, but if you’re running a local service this is a great integration step.  We’re sure to see some new businesses popup that offer delivery of foods, movies, ice cream or office supplies.  Personally, I’m looking forward to Ice Cream!  We already have Pizza delivery, so this is a great avenue of expansion.  The integration likely will not be used by 99% of all store owners, but it’s nice to know it’s there!

Feature Comparison

This module is no longer available in the X-Cart Gold software.  If you have already purchased the module, it will continue to work, however if you have never purchased it, it’s now only available in the X-Cart Platinum version.

Product Configurator

Another module that will be missed by X-Cart Gold users, and is available only to the X-Cart Platinum users.  This module allows you to sell composite products with various optional components effectively allowing the buyer to build their own product configurations.

 Multiple Currency Support

This is a much loved feature over the past few years that has now been removed from the X-Cart Gold Version is only available on the X-Cart Gold Plus and X-Cart Platinum versions.  This feature allows you to display your product in multiple currencies.  The currency is updated automatically as it’s integrated with Google Finance Currency Converter, so you only need to define your product in Dollars, and it will automatically update the products as the currency changes each day around the world.

Social Login

You’ve seen this on a thousand different websites.  Even our own website here at Hands-on Web Hosting has this feature.  You can log into the store using your favorite social media login such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, OpenID, AOL, Yahoo or LinkedIn.  Forget about having separate logins for the store, now your clients can log in directly and quickly.  This feature is only available on the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

Email Account Activation

This is a great spam prevention tool.  When a visitor registered in X-Cart, the user is sent an activation email with a link.  The account is temporarily disabled until the person clicks the link to verify the registration.  This is used constantly on various websites from Forums, Blogs, and places such as Google or Facebook.  Unfortunately, much like some of the features above, this feature is only available in the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

Advanced Customer Reviews

This feature allows your customers to post detailed information and feedback about your products in your store.  It expands the capability of what was previously included in the X-Cart Gold software.  Standard Customer Reviews are available in the new X-Cart Gold version, however in order to receive the Advanced Customer Reviews, you will need to be using the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

Product Notifications

Ever wished that your shopping cart would send out a notice to clients if they signed up for notifications?  Well now you can!  This module will send out notices when there’s a Price Drop, Low Stock or Back In Stock for a product that a client is watching or wanted notices on.  This feature is only available in the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

New Arrivals

Much like the Product Notifications, this is a feature only for the X-Cart GoldPlus an X-Cart Platinum.  This feature allows you to feature or showcase the latest additions of products to your cart in your catalog.  It is not a notification system, it is strictly for product display.

On Sale

Similar to the above, this is a product display feature which provides a method for promoting specific products in your store by putting them on sale.  A little graphic shows on the individual product when it is a Sale Item.  People love Sale Stickers!  This is a feature that is only available in the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

Previously Ordered Products

A handy feature for repeat customers.  This feature was a highlight in the old X-Cart Pro version  but is now only available in the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum version.  It allows your customer to review previous purchases, add it to the cart quickly and re-order the products that they had previously ordered at your store.

Banner System

Want to schedule a specific banner to show on a certain date or certain products?  Now you can!  The Banner System allows an administrator to place both images and HTML Code banners anywhere in X-Cart by using a special interface in the admin area.  This is handy for marketing promotions and scheduling into the future.  People love things that change, so a rotating banner, or a banner that displays on select days is a perfect addition to the store.  This feature is only available on the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

MailChimp Integration

We’ve all been waiting on this one, the ability to integrate the store directly with MailChip and send out email marketing or newsletters to customers.  There is a basic integration in the X-Cart Gold version, but there’s an extended version available for X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum versions.

So that’s everything included in the new release.  There’s no major security or bug updates in this version release, this appears to be more of a separation of the products into multiple versions.  You’ll notice that the majority of the features listed above are for the X-Cart GoldPlus and X-Cart Platinum version, and you’re probably thinking “What happened to X-Cart Gold?”  Well the good news is that nothing has happened to it.  It’s still there!  The Plus and Platinum versions are including a lot of things that were previously paid modules developed by Qualiteam.

Think of it like this:
X-Cart Gold has remained the same and will continue to do so
X-Cart GoldPlus has a few extra options, and is a stepping stone to the next level
X-Cart Platinum has all the things that were previously included in X-Cart Pro.
X-Cart Enterprise is something we didn’t even discuss here, but if you have the $12,950 per year that they’re asking, we’ll be happy to discuss it with you!  Yes, you read that right, that’s a PER YEAR price tag!  All other versions of X-Cart are still a one time price, but the Enterprise version, designed for huge shops at an Enterprise Level, comes with a hefty price tag.

Hands-on Web Hosting is your one stop shop for X-Cart Web Hosting.  We’ve been hosting X-Carts since the development of X-Cart in 2001, and we’ll be continuing to host the carts long into the future.  If you are in need of Shared Web Hosting, VPS Servers, Dedicated Servers or wish to operate on a Cloud System, our support staff will be happy to answer any questions you might have!

The post X-Cart 4.5.3 released with some new features appeared first on Hands-On Web Hosting.