How to create a copy of wordpress site into xampp running on your local PC

Having your wordpress site in your local PC will serve as a backup for the site. It also enable you to test new features in it before implemented in the production site.

Following are some steps for performing this task.

1. Using phpMyAdmin, export the database of your site. Replace the URL of original site to new URL in the exported SQL file.

2. Copy the whole wordpress directory of your site to local directory. Normally it is at:
c:\xampp\htdocs\wordpress

3. In your local server, create a new database to be used by the site. If possible, use the same database name as in your production server. You may like to refer to wp-config.php for information of the user ID & password. Configure uers access to the database using "Privileges" function of phpMyAdmin.

Joomla error: Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded

One of the reason for Joomla to generate message of "Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded ..." is with the max_execution_time settings in php.ini of web server's root folder.

This setting can be confirmed using the following method:

Administration > Site > System Information > PHP Information > max_execution_time

If that is set to 30 seconds,then you may get the above error when installing extension via Joomla Installer.

How to remove friends from MSN profile but keep them as Messenger friend

Just search the Internet and found the following steps to hide your friends from your profile page in MSN

1. Sign in to profiles with your Windows Live ID.
2. Click on Privacy settings, then Advanced.
3. Under Profiles and search, click on Basic information.
4. Under Friends list, move the slider to Just me and click Save.

How to enable Telnet feature in Windows 7

Telnet client is a tool useful for network trouble shooting. However, Telnet client is not install in Windows 7 by default. To install Telnet client in Windows 7, follow the following procedures:

1. Select "Programs And Features" from Control Panel
2. Select "Turn Windows features on or off"
3. Check Telnet Client
4. Hit OK

With this setting, you should be able to use Telnet client on your command - Cmd.

phpMyAdmin: You probably tried to upload too large file

Sometimes when importing database into MySQL, you may face with the error message of "You probably tried to upload too large file. Please refer to documentation for ways to workaround this limit."

To resolved this issue in phpMyAdmin, you will need to increase the limit parameters in php.ini. For example, in my test site:

max_execution_time = 120 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds (def. 30)
max_input_time = 180 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data (def. 60)
memory_limit = 128M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (def. 128mb)
upload_max_filesize = 128M ; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files. (def. 2mb)
post_max_size = 16M ; (def. 8mb)

phpMyAdmin: #1153 got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet' bytes

Sometimes when importing database into MySQL, you may face with the error message of "#1153 got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet' bytes"

To resolved this issue in phpMyAdmin, simply increased max_allowed_packet to 16MB in MySQL configuration file: my.ini. For example:

#max_allowed_packet = 1M
max_allowed_packet = 2M

Where is database password set in Joomla! Configuration

If you happen to change the MySQL database password of Joomla, you will need to update this password information into the var $password in configuration.php in the root of your Joomla! website.

var $password = 'new password';

Bluehost Joomla: Could not instantiate mail function

User of Joomla site hosted in Bluehost may face the issue of "Could not instantiate mail function" if Joomla is not configured properly.

To overcome this problem, under Joomla Global Configuration, PHP Mail Settings, SMTP username and password information are required in order for email to function properly in Bluehost hosting environment.

To create SMTP account, simply login to Buehost Control Panel, select Email Account from Mail setting.

Joomla! Installation Problem -- Strict Standards: ... cache.php on line 420

After installing the Joomla! version 1.7 on xampp, the following messages was generated on my site:

Strict Standards: Accessing static property JCache::$_handler as non static in D:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\libraries\joomla\cache\cache.php on line 420

Following was solution posted on Joomla! Forum:

Open Joomla admin
go to global configuration and server
please change error reporting to SIMPLE (instead of none, as mentioned there).

It solved the issue so far. See more info on the discussion on this issue on Joomla Forum.

Google Chrome YouTube Video Downloader - FastestTube Extension

Many users access You Tube from Chrome and they want to download the video using the same Chrome browser.

Fastest Tube is a Google Chrome Extension for downloading You Tube videos. It is a very comfortable extension which has lot of customizing options in downloading videos from You Tube. The extension adds a simple drop-down below the You Tube videos enabling you to select and download the video in any format you want.

To download a video, click on the Download button which will automatically appear below every YouTube video once the extension is installed, and select your desired size and format to begin the downloading process.

This extension is available at FastestTube site.

Google Chrome IE Tab Multi (Enhance) Extension

There are websites in the Internet only compatible with Internet Explorer (IE) browser. If you want to access these sites on Google Chrome without separately open it using IE, you can install a third-party add-on that runs IE in a tab inside your Google Chrome Web browser. These add-ons only work with Windows, because they embed the Internet Explorer software on your system inside a tab.

Chrome IE Tab Multi Extension for Google Chrome Browser is a Google Chrome Extension. This extension does the best job of mimicking IE. It adds a Multi-Tab type IE inside Chrome, IE Address bar, Open current url in Chrome new tab, Open current url in Chrome new window, Open current url in new IE, Open current url in opened IE and Support menu shortcut. It also supports ActiveX controls, and can remember which sites you prefer to use in IE mode.

GBookmarks - a Firefox Add-on for Google Bookmark access

Google Toolbar for Firefox is compatible with Firefox version 4 or older. If you use Firefox version 5 or newer, you won't be able to use Google Toolbar. To access services such as Google Bookmark, we will need to install other Add-on for Firefox. One of this Add-on is the GBookmarks.

GBookmarks is a Firefox for Add-on to create a menu to access Google Bookmarks from any computer. Of course, you should have a Google Account to access Google Bookmarks and use this extension.

YAGBE - Google Bookmark access in Chrome

I was reluctant to use Google Chrome at the beginning - there is no Google toolbar available on it.

With YAGBE (Yet Another Google Bookmarks Extension), Chrome user can can now easily add Google Bookmarks support to Chrome.

YAGBE is Google Chrome Extension for managing Google Bookmarks and displayed it in a tree structure.

Features include support for nested labels, add/edit/modify bookmarks and labels, searching, sorting, and emailing bookmarks.

KB2522422: Fix for Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) compatibility issue with Canon Printer Drivers

There is an issue reported that Canon printer may experience failed print jobs when trying to print a web pages in the Internet Explorer 9 (IE9).

Common error messages that pop up include “Script error An error has occurred in the script on this page” and “Message from webpage There was an internal error, and Internet Explorer is unable to print this document”. Microsoft confirmed that users may see variations of error messages on their computer.

Postscript Emulation in printer

Postscript in printers is a page description language and the embodiment of that language on a chip inside a printer. It is an Adobe invention and protected by either copyright or patent law. Anyway, Postscript is open published code, and printer manufactures can choose to license from Adobe, or build their own interpreter based on the PS specifications to avoid the fee structures charged by Adobe. Some do a better job then others.

Generally, PostScript emulation tries to emulate the results of genuine PostScript technology, achieving a printed document that can be very close to the desired result. For most stuff, an emulation will just be as good as the original version. However, the emulation will never achieve results that are precisely the same as a genuine PostScript printer. Some have claimed that certain files fail in emulated PS that work in Adobe. But it is pretty rare case.

Using Mercury/32 as an interface to Gmail SMTP Gateway

Having an SMTP server which can deliver email to the Internet is great when conducting experiment in network environment. There are quite a number of SMTP server software available. In this article, we will use Mercury/32, a SMTP server which is included in the XAMPP package as an example for relaying email to the Internet through Gmail gateway - the Google email system.

Following are some of the steps involves in configuring Mercury/32 to use Gmail SMTP gateway as it’s SMTP relay host.

1. If you already have Web Server (like apache) running on your system, please disable HTTP Server in the Mercury configuration so that it will not conflict with existing server service.
   Select: “Configuration” -> “Protocol modules”
   Uncheck “MercuryB HTTP web server”
   
2. Enable “MercuryC SMTP relaying client” in the same dialog box. Click “OK”
3. Restart Mercury!
4. “Configuration” -> “Mercury core module”,
   • tab “General”
     1. Internet name for this system: localhost
     2. Disable all checkboxs but “Send copies of all errors to postmaster”.
   • tab “Local domains”
     1. if the entry “localhost (local host or server) localhost (internet name)” is there, if not, add it and click “OK”.