Dominic Foster

5 Simple Steps To Speed Up Firefox

August 5, 2007 on 10:07 pm | In Geek | No Comments

I have been getting a bit frustrated recently about how slowly Firefox has been opening up new tabs.

I did these 5 simple steps, and found that it sped it up immediately. Sorry, it ain’t rocket science - but it works!

Select Tools -> Options from the menu bar.
Click the Privacy icon.
Click the Clear Now… button.
Check the Browing History, Download History and Cache checkboxes.
Click Clear Private Data Now.

Clear the cookies too if you don’t really want them. I just keep them because I stay logged into my favorite sites.

I don’t know why it works, but it does. Try it and see how it goes.

How To Fix XAMPP on Windows XP Running ZoneAlarm

May 4, 2007 on 9:50 am | In Geek | No Comments

If you are having problems running XAMPP on a machine running Windows XP with a ZoneAlarm firewall, then this may solve your problems.

When I say problems, I mean that after about 20-30 minutes running XAMPP, your ZoneAlarm craps itself and shuts down. At the same time, XAMPP throws its toys out of the cot and refuses to do anything. Then XP starts leaking memory to the extent that nothing works and you just want to plant your fist in your monitor. You begin to wish you had the brain cells to get Apache, PHP and MySQL working on your Windows box, but you are sure it’s all part of the big plan by Microsoft to get everyone developing in ASP.NET on Windows servers

Anyhow, here is a simple solution that works for me:

Instead of using the XAMPP control panel to manage the Apache and MySQL services.
Navigate yourself to the C:\Program Files\xampp folder. Or wherever else you installed XAMPP.
Double click the xampp_start.exe file.

And thats it. This will start the Apache and MySQL services without using the XAMPP Control Panel, and does not seem to cause the problems outlined above.

If you have found any other ways, please leave a comment.

How To Set Up Subversion On Dreamhost

March 2, 2007 on 7:51 am | In Free Tools, Software, Tools | 1 Comment

If you want to set up a great the great open source version control software, Subversion, on your favourite webhosting company, DreamHost, then this post is for you.

I have been wanting to set up an online version control system for everything that I am working on for some time but had always shied away thinking that it was too hard to sort out (read: I’m lazy).

I thought that my hosting company DreamHost had a ‘One Click Install’ of this, but whenever I checked the install page I could never see it, so continued to trawl the net for a tutorial that would make setting it up manually seem easier than it would ever be.

Subversion picture However, yesterday, I noticed that Subversion has a page all to itself in the DreamHost ‘Goodies’ menu!

So I clicked on the link and there is a page which makes it look easy as to install it and get it working.

So here is what I did:

Created a new subdomain on the domain where I wanted to install Subversion. I’m not sure if it would work by installing it into a directory in a domain that is also a website. Maybe it would and maybe it would take a whole load more configuring and maybe it would stuff up your website an corrupt your repository … so when you don’t need to pay anything extra for as many subdomains (or domains) as you want, then you may as well create a dedicated subdomain and save yourself the grief.
Wait for the subdomain to propagate. If you install when the subdomain is created but not properly propagated then you run the risk of creating a dodgy repository. It took about 4 hours for the subdomain to propagate.
Install Subversion:
1. Go to the Subversion page in the Goodies tab (pictured).
2. Choose a Project Name - e.g. “My Subversion Project”.
3. Choose a Project ID. This must be alpha-numeric (no spaces etc..). Just use something descriptive that will identify the project - e.g. “mysubversionproject”.
4. Select the URL you want to install it into from the drop-down list. The URL will be the subdomain that you created. You will notice that the text box next to the drop-down list is filled with the same text as your project ID. Change it if you must, but I wouldn’t bother.
5. Add you usernames and passwords in the format - 1 user per line:
  username password
  username password
  username password
6. Select to make it private or public.
7. Click the “Create my new project repository now” button.
You’re good to go!

Now, if like me, you are planning on developing on you workstation and you hate using SSH to administer website stuff, then you will want to use Tortoise SVN. This gives you a Windows GUI application to work with your subversion repository. It will embed itself into windows explorer and give you ‘right click’ functionality for your working folders and files.

Each time you perform an action with Tortoise, you will need to supply you username and password that you gave for your Subversion install. You can select for this to be saved by Tortoise so that you don’t have to keep typing it in.

Now I can develop on my workstation and pull the code down to my laptop when I’m working in Starbucks! Also, all my client work can be rolled back easily when the client decides that they don’t actually want the feature that they screamed and shouted for anymore. No more unpicking code of reverting to backup up copies.

SEO Simple - Wordpress Theme

February 16, 2007 on 10:11 am | In SEO, Wordpress Template | No Comments

You may have noticed that I have changed my Wordpress theme.

It is called SEO Simple and if you like it, you can download it here.

It is of my own making and is also my first effort at doing a WP Theme.

I hope you like it.

AdSenseLog - Desktop AdSense Account Application

July 17, 2006 on 10:13 am | In AdSense, Entrepreneur, Software, Tools | 1 Comment

In my last post, Michael Cheneys AdSense Videos (Update), you can see a graph of how my AdSense earnings have improved over the last couple of months.

I forgot to mention that I made this graph really easily using a piece of software called AdSenseLog - a really neat piece of software that is produced by MetalGrass Software.

AdSenseLog runs on you Windows desktop (not sure if there is a Linux or Apple version), and is able to log into your AdSense account and get pretty much all the data you can get when you are logged into AdSense in your browser.

You then have the ability to dive into your data and do all sorts of analysis on it and have it spat out into neat graphical images.

I used to have to do this by exporting data into CSV format and then loading it up in Excel, and then making a graph from that.

Anyhow, AdSense log is available for a free 30 day trial download. If you earn less than $50 a month with AdSense then it is free to use. The basic version costs $20 and can be used with accounts that earn up to $250 a month. The pro version is $50 and can be used for unlimited earnings.

Another cool thing is that you can leave it running in your system tray and set it to check your account intermitently. If your earnings increase, then it will notify you with a sound.

Michael Cheneys AdSense Videos (Update)

July 13, 2006 on 3:08 pm | In AdSense, Entrepreneur, Michael Cheyney, Tools | 5 Comments

Back at the beginning of May, I bought Michael Cheyneys Adsense Videos and said that I would report back on the outcome of implementing his techniques. I actually said that I would report back after a month, but I’ve been tied up in a pretty intense consultancy project. Well that project is coming to an end and I have a bit of spare time, so here we go.

Rather than go into a long blog post about how my adsense income has almost doubled on a month-on-month basis, I decided to make a graph of my earnings:

Adsense Earnings

You should be able to see from the graph when I got the Adsense Videos

As you can see, there is a drop at the end where things have stabalised for this month. I think the reason for this is because I have not been marketing my websites due to consultancy restraints on my time. However, it’s now time to get back into it.

I will hopefuly report back with another earnings update soon.

Google Bread

May 29, 2006 on 9:23 pm | In AdSense, Entrepreneur | No Comments

I think that my month of ProBlogging from home is really starting to affect my family.

Here in New Zealand we have a popular brand of bread that is called ‘Vogels’.

We buy an organic brand for our kids as it is not chewy and we reckon that since it is organic then it must be better for them than regular bread.

My wife and I buy ‘Vogels’ bread for ourselves as we prefer a wholemeal grain style bread.

Today, my 3 year old son asked if he could have ‘Googles bread’ for breakfast.

Perhaps I’d better find offices somewhere.

You don’t have to get it right, You just have to get it going!

May 26, 2006 on 1:33 pm | In Entrepreneur | 1 Comment

I just read this great quote in an email I received:

You don’t have to get it right, You just have to get it going!

How true!

I haven’t got much to say about it. I believe it speaks for itself!

I really just wanted to quickly blog it to share it before I forgot.

I hope you find it is useful.

Building a Web 2.0 Website

May 25, 2006 on 11:17 pm | In Entrepreneur | 3 Comments

I’ve just read Using the Web2.0 Bandwagon to Jumpstart a Real Site and it really struck a chord for me.

If you are considering, or are currently, building a Web 2.0 App, then I recommend that you go and read it now.

I have a Wep 2.0 App that I will be building with a business partner in the near future. I’m not going to tell you what it is or what it is about though cos it’s going to be really successful and I’m goint to retire to Takapuna Beach on the profits :). Nick Wilsons post at Performancing could not have come at a better time for me.

I hate to see people make mistakes, and I can’t begin to imagine how it must feel to have people posting negative comments about your hot new website at TechCrunch. However, I’ve got to agree with whats being said.

I reckon that Winelog.com need to get on the case and have their website fixed up while it is still in its early stage. Good luck to them.

Habit of Highly Effective Blogging

May 24, 2006 on 9:18 am | In Blogging | 5 Comments

As part of Darrens request for ideas on Habits of Highly Effective Blogging, here is the most effective habit that I use:

Get out of bed early and start blogging quickly

This probably does not sound very exciting or even inspiring, but for me jumping out of bed as early as possible and getting online is the most effective way of boosting production.

However, getting up early does not necessarily mean jumping out of your pit at 5.30am sharp each day. I know from experience that when blogging is providing a major part of your income, that blogging into the early hours is not uncommon. Even going to bed and hopping out again an hour later because you can’t sleep for all the ideas in your head, and getting them into some blog posts is of utmost importance because you will probably forget them by the morining. Sometimes, if you don’t get to bed until 2.30am, getting up early can mean getting up at 8.00am.

So, for me, getting up early means getting up when I wake up - which is usually between 5.30am and 6.00am. By doing this I can be at the computer going through my start-of-the-day routine which involves checking stats, checking affilliate programs and then checking emails and RSS incase there is news that I should start blogging about. News includes material from news sources and marketing/PR material from affilliate programs.

Then I can get into my next routine which is writing my ’stock’ posts for the day. These are the posts which are form the regular daily articles/reviews etc. Once this is done then I’m virtually free to carry out research on my niches and running other aspects of my business.

By getting up early, it means that I can get into ‘The Zone’ pretty quickly and effectively manage my workload and get everything done by lunchtime. This then gives me about 2-3 hours of consulting/research time before my kids finish kindergarten. I’m then free to have family time until the kids go to bed, and then some time with my partner.

I usually do a couple of hours of work before going to bed, which might include writing a couple of posts, catching up on emails or doing some research.

My least effective days come as a result of waking up early and then rolling over and going back to sleep for an hour or two. When I do eventually get up, I feel unmotivated and without any direction. Breakfast usually takes a hour or so and I get distracted easily.