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Friday, 1 May 2015
How hackers hack Facebook Account & How to stop them?
Facebook is, undoubtedly, the most popular social networking website with more than 500 million active users. Due to its popularity, many hackers (or should I say crackers?) are actively involved in hacking Facebook accounts of unsuspecting users. This article outlines the many strategies that such hackers use to gain access to Facebook accounts of hundreds of users each day and how you can stop them from hacking your account.
How to safeguard your Email Address?
Just follow these steps:-
How to prevent yourself from being phished?
At all costs, avoid clicking on suspicious links. Moreover, always check the URL in the address bar before signing in. Avoid logging in through various "Facebook widgets" offered by websites and blogs. Instead, use Facebook's homepage to sign in. Always try to use Safe Search while searching. If you do manage to get phished, report thewebsite so that others may get a warning before visiting it.
How to stop keyloggers?
Install a good antivirus and update it frequently. Do not click on suspicious links and avoid downloading illegal software. Also, avoid installing free toolbars and other such spam software. Always scan third-person's flash and pen drives before using them on your computer.
Detailed Guide:- PC Security tips to make computer secure
How to prevent yourself from being socially engineered?
Stay aware during chats and discussions. Use a tough security question, preferably one whose answer you would never disclose to anyone. Moreover, Facebook, or any other company for that matter, will never ask you to change your password to 12345678 or do something as silly as asking you to send out your login details to prove that you are an active user. Always think before taking actions and your e-life on Facebook will be safe from hackers looking to hack Facebook accounts.
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| Facebook is one of the prime target of hackers! |
Email Address Hack
I have always been puzzled by Facebook's leniency in this matter. All a hacker needs to do is know your email address and he will be displayed a confirmation showing your name even if he enters the wrong password. How easily a hacker can then hack your Facebook account if he 'guesses' your password (if you use a weak password) or answers your security question! This is something I hope Facebook improves on quickly. Until Facebook does so, here are some tricks you can use to protect yourself from this vulnerability.How to safeguard your Email Address?
Just follow these steps:-
- Hide your Email Address from everyone by going to Edit Profile>Contact Information>Clicking on the icon beside your email address> checking 'Only Me'.
- Change your primary email address to a one that is only known to you by going to Account Settings>Email> and changing your primary email to the new one (known only to you) and removing your previous email address.
- For additional security, when in Account Settings, check 'Secure browsing' and 'Send me an email when a new computer or mobile device logs into this account' and click Save.
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| A hacker at work! |
Phishing
Phishing is one of the easiest ways to trick users into giving out their login credentials. All a hacker does is setup a webpage similar in design to that of the Facebook homepage, attach a server sided script to track the username and password entered and store it in a log. Sending people emails stating that someone tagged a photo of them on Facebook in the same format as Facebook and giving a link below to the phishing website further reduces the chances of it being detected as a fake. Sometimes, spam Facebook apps, like those promising to tell who viewed your Facebook profile, automatically post links to phishing websites. A new trend amongst phishers is creating Facebook look-a-like widgets for stealing user's login credentials.How to prevent yourself from being phished?
At all costs, avoid clicking on suspicious links. Moreover, always check the URL in the address bar before signing in. Avoid logging in through various "Facebook widgets" offered by websites and blogs. Instead, use Facebook's homepage to sign in. Always try to use Safe Search while searching. If you do manage to get phished, report thewebsite so that others may get a warning before visiting it.
Keylogging through Keyloggers
Keylogger is a type of computer virus that tracks key strokes. Keyloggers can be installed remotely on a computer system by a cracker to record all the activity that is going on the victim's computer. Keylogging gets more easy if the hacker has physical access to the victim's computer.How to stop keyloggers?
Install a good antivirus and update it frequently. Do not click on suspicious links and avoid downloading illegal software. Also, avoid installing free toolbars and other such spam software. Always scan third-person's flash and pen drives before using them on your computer.
Detailed Guide:- PC Security tips to make computer secure
Social Engineering
Social engineering involves using any trick to fool the user into making himself vulnerable to exploits. This could involve anything from sending spoof emails, pretending to be from Facebook, telling you to change your password to 12345678 to a hacker maliciously getting out the answer to your Security Question in a friendly chat or discussion.How to prevent yourself from being socially engineered?
Stay aware during chats and discussions. Use a tough security question, preferably one whose answer you would never disclose to anyone. Moreover, Facebook, or any other company for that matter, will never ask you to change your password to 12345678 or do something as silly as asking you to send out your login details to prove that you are an active user. Always think before taking actions and your e-life on Facebook will be safe from hackers looking to hack Facebook accounts.
Facebook Scams and How to Tackle Them
Online scams are ever increasing. Almost in every phase of the online world, you will come across scams. Social networks are no exception for such malicious activity. Recently, millions of accounts from LinkedIn and eHarmony were compromised. Facebook seeing danger has updated its security and is advising its users regarding various scams and how to fight them back.
‘Please send money scam’
An unknown account sends a message stating that he/she has been mugged. Descriptions of events seem accurate including real names and places. Finally, the sender requests a certain sum, which will enable him/her to return home safely.
Facebook has attributed such scams as ‘Please send money scams’. The sender’s account is either fake or has been taken over by cyber criminals. On receiving ‘please send money scam’ messages, Facebook advices to report/block the account.
Phishing
Phishing is a common way to to hack account(s). Phishing links are sent within messages or through chats.
Phishing links through messages:
A message, which has scrambled words with funny fonts, is the first indication of a Phishing attack. Typo errors and misspelled words are other significant signs to look for. Such messages will be themed around offering gifts such as coins, jewels or any other artifacts. Finally, you will be asked to click on a link placed at the bottom of the message. Immediately report accounts who send such messages.
Phishing links in chats:
If any strange links appear while chatting, then beware. The account through which phished links appeared while chatting is probably compromised. Report the link immediately. However, doing so will not affect the account. Only the link will be considered for review by Facebook’s security team.
What to do if I had clicked on Phishing link accidentally?
If accidentally, a phishing link is clicked, go to password settings in your profile and change your password immediately. This will eliminate any Phishing threat. It is important to ensure that your new password is hard to crack.
Malicious Script Scam
Often you will come across Facebook applications requesting to copy a certain script and paste it in your browser. Such scripts are malicious in nature. For instance, some applications will provide a list of your profile visitors when the script is pasted in your browser. Apart from showing recent visitors, these applications send events and messages to your friend list. These applications and scripts should be avoided. A screenshot of one such application is shown below:
Suspicious emails:
Occasionally, some emails will request to reset your password, give a warning or will be about notifications. These mails are so convincing that they appear to be from Facebook. A request to click at the link provided at the bottom of the message should alert you. To check the validity of the link, right click and copy it. Later paste it on a separate tab and make sure that the URL starts as www.facebook.com.
Note: Facebook will never request your password through emails.
Suspicious Notifications:
Never click on links within suspicious notifications. For instance, you will receive a notification stating that you had requested a password reset albeit you never had requested. Other suspicious notifications include the ones notifying you of registration of a new Facebook account. With the help of your email provider, mark these mails as spam.
Cyber criminals are on the rise. It is your responsibility to safeguard your Facebook account. Next time you are using Facebook, be extra cautious.
‘Please send money scam’
An unknown account sends a message stating that he/she has been mugged. Descriptions of events seem accurate including real names and places. Finally, the sender requests a certain sum, which will enable him/her to return home safely.
Facebook has attributed such scams as ‘Please send money scams’. The sender’s account is either fake or has been taken over by cyber criminals. On receiving ‘please send money scam’ messages, Facebook advices to report/block the account.
Phishing
Phishing is a common way to to hack account(s). Phishing links are sent within messages or through chats.
Phishing links through messages:
A message, which has scrambled words with funny fonts, is the first indication of a Phishing attack. Typo errors and misspelled words are other significant signs to look for. Such messages will be themed around offering gifts such as coins, jewels or any other artifacts. Finally, you will be asked to click on a link placed at the bottom of the message. Immediately report accounts who send such messages.
Phishing links in chats:
If any strange links appear while chatting, then beware. The account through which phished links appeared while chatting is probably compromised. Report the link immediately. However, doing so will not affect the account. Only the link will be considered for review by Facebook’s security team.
What to do if I had clicked on Phishing link accidentally?
If accidentally, a phishing link is clicked, go to password settings in your profile and change your password immediately. This will eliminate any Phishing threat. It is important to ensure that your new password is hard to crack.
Malicious Script Scam
Often you will come across Facebook applications requesting to copy a certain script and paste it in your browser. Such scripts are malicious in nature. For instance, some applications will provide a list of your profile visitors when the script is pasted in your browser. Apart from showing recent visitors, these applications send events and messages to your friend list. These applications and scripts should be avoided. A screenshot of one such application is shown below:
Suspicious emails:
Occasionally, some emails will request to reset your password, give a warning or will be about notifications. These mails are so convincing that they appear to be from Facebook. A request to click at the link provided at the bottom of the message should alert you. To check the validity of the link, right click and copy it. Later paste it on a separate tab and make sure that the URL starts as www.facebook.com.
Note: Facebook will never request your password through emails.
Suspicious Notifications:
Never click on links within suspicious notifications. For instance, you will receive a notification stating that you had requested a password reset albeit you never had requested. Other suspicious notifications include the ones notifying you of registration of a new Facebook account. With the help of your email provider, mark these mails as spam.
Cyber criminals are on the rise. It is your responsibility to safeguard your Facebook account. Next time you are using Facebook, be extra cautious.
Make Facebook Photos & Posts Private
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Do you have private pictures of yourself or your family on Facebook which you don't want the entire world to see? This guide will help you change your Facebook privacy settings to only allow your friends or people you know to see your Facebook photos (and everything else you do). You can even customize the privacy settings of individual albums to share them with a small group of people like your co-workers or relatives.
There are three ways in which you can do this. Either, you can customize each wall post's or photo's settings individually, or set the preferences for specific albums or use a general setting for all posts and photos you have.
You can even hide a photo from specific people or a list of people. This will be especially useful in situations where you don't want your colleagues to see a certain picture that makes fun of them or something similar. Normally, when someone is tagged in a photo, every friend of that Facebook user gets to know about it. So, if you chose to make a photo visible to friends and someone is tagged in that picture, all their friends will see that image. To prevent this, uncheck the Friends of those tagged checkmark.
All those people who are tagged and their friends would still be able to see the photos in your album. To prevent this, you will have to change the privacy settings of each individual photo.
Step 1: Limiting Past Posts & Photos
Go to your Privacy Settings, and then go to "Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public?." Then click on the "Limit Old Posts" button. In the pop-up, click Confirm. This is a permanent change and cannot be undone. However, all those tagged and their friends would still be able to see your posts. To prevent this, you will have to change each post's settings individually.
Step 2: Limiting Future Posts and Photos
While in the privacy center, click on "Who can see your future posts?" This will open a non-functional status update box. However, the privacy options that open when clicking on the down arrow right next to the post button are functional and act as global defaults for the content you post on Facebook in the future. Make sure to select friends if you only wish to share content with your friends. You can however, change this according to your needs; but for most people, friends would be the best option. You can further improve your privacy by selecting Custom and then unchecking the check box that appears next to "Friends of those tagged". This will customize your Facebook settings to show your Facebook activity only to your friends and those tagged.
You can also select who gets tagged in your content to further prevent your content from appearing in front of unwanted eyes. To do this, go to your Privacy Settings from the Settings icon located at the top right of the blue Facebook bar. Then, in Privacy Settings, click on Timeline and Tagging. Then under, "How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?", select Enabled to review tags that friends add to your posts.
Facebook's privacy settings take some time to adjust but once you are done, you will never have to worry about your content ending up in front of unwanted users.
1: Choosing an individual wall post's or photo's privacy settings
While posting your photo or post, click on the down arrow left to the post button. Select Custom from the drop-down menu. Using the pop-up, select who you wish to make a post visible to. You can select if you wish to show a post to friends, friends of friends or specific people or a specific list of people. |
| Select Custom Privacy Options |
2: Limiting the Audience for an entire album
This is much similar to setting the audience for an individual picture. Just go to your albums, click on the Settings icon on the bottom right of the album whose privacy settings you wish to customize. Then select Custom from the drop down menu. The options Facebook offers are almost the same as those for an individual photo, however there is one difference.All those people who are tagged and their friends would still be able to see the photos in your album. To prevent this, you will have to change the privacy settings of each individual photo.
3: Making all your Photos and Posts Private
This is the permanent solution against worrying about your Facebook content. However, it doesn't offer much customization options and should only be used if you are sure how you will use Facebook. This is a 2 step process and involves customizing the audience for your past posts as well as those you will make in future.Step 1: Limiting Past Posts & Photos
Go to your Privacy Settings, and then go to "Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public?." Then click on the "Limit Old Posts" button. In the pop-up, click Confirm. This is a permanent change and cannot be undone. However, all those tagged and their friends would still be able to see your posts. To prevent this, you will have to change each post's settings individually.
Step 2: Limiting Future Posts and Photos
While in the privacy center, click on "Who can see your future posts?" This will open a non-functional status update box. However, the privacy options that open when clicking on the down arrow right next to the post button are functional and act as global defaults for the content you post on Facebook in the future. Make sure to select friends if you only wish to share content with your friends. You can however, change this according to your needs; but for most people, friends would be the best option. You can further improve your privacy by selecting Custom and then unchecking the check box that appears next to "Friends of those tagged". This will customize your Facebook settings to show your Facebook activity only to your friends and those tagged.
You can also select who gets tagged in your content to further prevent your content from appearing in front of unwanted eyes. To do this, go to your Privacy Settings from the Settings icon located at the top right of the blue Facebook bar. Then, in Privacy Settings, click on Timeline and Tagging. Then under, "How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?", select Enabled to review tags that friends add to your posts.
Facebook's privacy settings take some time to adjust but once you are done, you will never have to worry about your content ending up in front of unwanted users.
Safety and Security Risks When Using Facebook
There is no doubt that the biggest social networking site taking over the whole globe is Facebook. Since it’s the biggest thing the online world has ever seen for the last several years, it’s critical that you understand the guidelines and policies listed on the site. They’re very useful in keeping you informed with various aspects of the site and how it runs.
You should know by now that for every website that you go to, there’s always a good chance of encountering good and bad users. Facebook can be accessed by just about anybody so it’s imperative that you are wise and conscious with how you distribute or share information about yourself on it (and other social networking sites for that matter).
Identity theft is one of the biggest concerns in the online world today. They are real and can devastate a person’s life if the person isn’t aware of what’s going on.
The internet is fun to be on nowadays since it helps you to keep in touch with your old and new friends, family and associates. You can share content such as pictures with anyone who has an internet connection, play games seamlessly through a virtual portal, being aware of announcements and updates of certain events and entertaining friend requests. Such things have prompted users to come back for more and what many aren’t aware of is the fact that they are vulnerable to online predators and criminals.
So what should you do to help protect yourself from the bad guys out there? Here are just some helpful things that can help you in the long run if you follow them religiously:
1. Understand how the security feature works on Facebook.
As you are well aware, Facebook is known for periodically modifying its security settings. You will observe posts from the site of the changes being made with regards to its security features that lets other users see content that you don’t want them to view. It’s critical that you look into this carefully and see if the changes can significantly affect you in some way.
2. Don’t reveal too much information on Facebook.
One of the most obvious ways of getting in trouble within the biggest social networking site is by revealing too much information on just about everything (including yourself). You should be aware of the things that you’re sharing, be it your profile, wall posts, messages and even the content that you share such as pictures and videos. You’ll never know, criminals would use whatever it is you post for their own evil means.
3. Pay attention to links, e-mails or friends
Social networking sites these can be penetrated by online criminals who use sites like Facebook to gain information about you. This can occur through a sent or posted link, which will in turn eject a virus or spyware to retrieve personal information about you. If you happen to receive a link that you find suspicious, ask your friends about it or simply delete it.
With the evolution of technology, cyber criminals are more smarter than ever. If you are constantly paying attention for any suspicious activity that comes your way, you can shield yourself from identity theft and other online criminal acts.
You should know by now that for every website that you go to, there’s always a good chance of encountering good and bad users. Facebook can be accessed by just about anybody so it’s imperative that you are wise and conscious with how you distribute or share information about yourself on it (and other social networking sites for that matter).
Identity theft is one of the biggest concerns in the online world today. They are real and can devastate a person’s life if the person isn’t aware of what’s going on.
The internet is fun to be on nowadays since it helps you to keep in touch with your old and new friends, family and associates. You can share content such as pictures with anyone who has an internet connection, play games seamlessly through a virtual portal, being aware of announcements and updates of certain events and entertaining friend requests. Such things have prompted users to come back for more and what many aren’t aware of is the fact that they are vulnerable to online predators and criminals.
So what should you do to help protect yourself from the bad guys out there? Here are just some helpful things that can help you in the long run if you follow them religiously:
1. Understand how the security feature works on Facebook.
As you are well aware, Facebook is known for periodically modifying its security settings. You will observe posts from the site of the changes being made with regards to its security features that lets other users see content that you don’t want them to view. It’s critical that you look into this carefully and see if the changes can significantly affect you in some way.
2. Don’t reveal too much information on Facebook.
One of the most obvious ways of getting in trouble within the biggest social networking site is by revealing too much information on just about everything (including yourself). You should be aware of the things that you’re sharing, be it your profile, wall posts, messages and even the content that you share such as pictures and videos. You’ll never know, criminals would use whatever it is you post for their own evil means.
3. Pay attention to links, e-mails or friends
Social networking sites these can be penetrated by online criminals who use sites like Facebook to gain information about you. This can occur through a sent or posted link, which will in turn eject a virus or spyware to retrieve personal information about you. If you happen to receive a link that you find suspicious, ask your friends about it or simply delete it.
With the evolution of technology, cyber criminals are more smarter than ever. If you are constantly paying attention for any suspicious activity that comes your way, you can shield yourself from identity theft and other online criminal acts.
Facebook Tricks, Tips & Hacks
Almost half of all the sharing that happens online is done on Facebook. This in itself is testament enough that Facebook does the job of connecting people fairly well. However, there are some tips and tricks that can allow you to get more out of Facebook and this article contains a list of some of the best such Facebook tips.
Stop Hackers on Facebook
Are you worried about hackers hacking your Facebook account and posting stuff you don't want them to? Just read the linked post to protect yourself from most basic hacks.
Change Facebook's Theme
Are you bored with the default blue colored Facebook theme and want to get rid of it? Go change it to something super cool.
Post an Empty/ Blank Status
Are you tired of constantly thinking new and interesting status updates for your Facebook friends? Then, post an empty status and show your friends that you denounce the thinking that if your status isn't cool, you aren't either. Just go to Facebook, hold Alt and press 0, 1, 7 and 3 respectively and click Post. This will post the null character as your status which basically is an empty space. Laptop users can do this after activating the Number Lock.
Get Text Messages and Subscribe to the RSS feed of your Notifications
Go to Facebook's notifications page and click on the RSS link to find the RSS feed containing all your recent notifications. You can then subscribe to this feed in any desktop based RSS reader to instantly know about new notifications. To get text messages, click on get Text messages link on the Notifications page.
Change Facebook's Posted via text
Have you noticed that when you update your Facebook status from a mobile, Facebook adds a "Posted via Mobile" link at the bottom of it? You can change that to say hilarious things like "via Carrier Pigeon" or "via My Bedroom." To do this, just go to PostedVia, choose a delivery option and update your status or post to a friend's wall.
Know when friends Unfriend you
Facebook notifies you when someone adds you as a friend but Facebook does not notify you when someone unfriends you. If you wish to access this data, you can use Social Fixer Facebook extension, which will not only allow you to do this but a lot more too.
Use Dynamic Facebook Profile Links to Fool your Friends
This is a funny use of technology to have fun with your friends. Just say some mean things in your status and then include this link -> www.facebook.com/profile.php?=1233445566. This may look like a link to a specific person's Facebook profile but in reality, it redirects users to their own profile. This happens because of the missing 'id' parameter. You can change the numbers to anything you like.
Find Exactly What you are looking for on Facebook
If you ever had trouble finding a friend or a specific post by one of your friend, you should definitely take a look at the Facebook page on searching. It will help you to get acquainted not only with how Facebook search works but also enable you to get the most out of it.
Access Facebook Chat on Your Desktop
Have you ever wanted to chat with your Facebook friends without opening a web browser? Desktop based applications like Digsby can allow you to stay connected with all your friends even when you close your web browser. This is much similar to chatting with Yahoo! Messenger or Google Talk chat client.
Are you worried about hackers hacking your Facebook account and posting stuff you don't want them to? Just read the linked post to protect yourself from most basic hacks.
Change Facebook's Theme
Are you bored with the default blue colored Facebook theme and want to get rid of it? Go change it to something super cool.
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| Facebook Galaxy Theme |
Are you tired of constantly thinking new and interesting status updates for your Facebook friends? Then, post an empty status and show your friends that you denounce the thinking that if your status isn't cool, you aren't either. Just go to Facebook, hold Alt and press 0, 1, 7 and 3 respectively and click Post. This will post the null character as your status which basically is an empty space. Laptop users can do this after activating the Number Lock.
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| This is how the empty status looks like. |
Go to Facebook's notifications page and click on the RSS link to find the RSS feed containing all your recent notifications. You can then subscribe to this feed in any desktop based RSS reader to instantly know about new notifications. To get text messages, click on get Text messages link on the Notifications page.
Change Facebook's Posted via text
Have you noticed that when you update your Facebook status from a mobile, Facebook adds a "Posted via Mobile" link at the bottom of it? You can change that to say hilarious things like "via Carrier Pigeon" or "via My Bedroom." To do this, just go to PostedVia, choose a delivery option and update your status or post to a friend's wall.
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| I posted this status from the unreleased iPhone 5 ;) |
Know when friends Unfriend you
Facebook notifies you when someone adds you as a friend but Facebook does not notify you when someone unfriends you. If you wish to access this data, you can use Social Fixer Facebook extension, which will not only allow you to do this but a lot more too.
Use Dynamic Facebook Profile Links to Fool your Friends
This is a funny use of technology to have fun with your friends. Just say some mean things in your status and then include this link -> www.facebook.com/profile.php?=1233445566. This may look like a link to a specific person's Facebook profile but in reality, it redirects users to their own profile. This happens because of the missing 'id' parameter. You can change the numbers to anything you like.
If you ever had trouble finding a friend or a specific post by one of your friend, you should definitely take a look at the Facebook page on searching. It will help you to get acquainted not only with how Facebook search works but also enable you to get the most out of it.
Have you ever wanted to chat with your Facebook friends without opening a web browser? Desktop based applications like Digsby can allow you to stay connected with all your friends even when you close your web browser. This is much similar to chatting with Yahoo! Messenger or Google Talk chat client.
Change Facebook Theme, Color & Appearance
Facebook is a social networking site which enables people to connect with friends and people around. That's how Facebook is usually introduced. However, Facebook is beyond the need of being introduced as almost everyone is on it. Despite its popularity, Facebook has one flaw; the default blue theme is really boring.
Some even consider it an annoyance while visiting Facebook. As Facebook does not allow users to change its theme like MySpace used to, users are left with no other option but to bear the theme Facebook wants them to use.
However, it is relatively easy to change the Facebook theme to a stylish one using an addon and custom themes which are available free of cost on the internet.
An example of the final outcome would be something like in the image.
Requirement: The basic requirement for this to work is to have Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser.
Steps to achieve this: If you use Google Chrome, click here. Mozilla Firefox users should carry out the following steps to successfully change Facebook theme.
Steps for Google Chrome
Now whenever you open Facebook, it will show the theme that you have installed with Stylish instead of the boring old blue theme.
Some even consider it an annoyance while visiting Facebook. As Facebook does not allow users to change its theme like MySpace used to, users are left with no other option but to bear the theme Facebook wants them to use.
However, it is relatively easy to change the Facebook theme to a stylish one using an addon and custom themes which are available free of cost on the internet.
An example of the final outcome would be something like in the image.
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| This is the Ferrari theme. More themes are available for you to choose. |
Requirement: The basic requirement for this to work is to have Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser.
Steps to achieve this: If you use Google Chrome, click here. Mozilla Firefox users should carry out the following steps to successfully change Facebook theme.
- Open Mozilla Firefox and install 'Stylish' addon.
- Follow the basic steps to install the addon.
- Restart Firefox after successfully installing the Stylish addon.
- Login to your Facebook Account and click on the small 'S' button in your Firefox status bar.
- Click on "Find Styles for this Site" to open a new tab with free themes to use for Facebook.
- Click on any theme and a preview will be shown.
- If everything is fine in the previewed theme, click on "Install with Stylish" button at the top right corner of the page.
- A dialog box will open.
- Click on Install in the dialog box.
Steps for Google Chrome
- Install Stylish for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store.
- Navigate to Facebook.com and click on the S button.
- Click on "Find Styles for this Site" to open a new tab with free themes to use for Facebook.
- Click on any theme and a preview will be shown.
- If everything is fine in the previewed theme, click on "Install with Stylish" button at the top right corner of the page.
Now whenever you open Facebook, it will show the theme that you have installed with Stylish instead of the boring old blue theme.
Google Tricks, Easter Eggs & Secrets
Google's engineers love to hide some pretty cool tricks at the most unexpected places. Add to that Google's policy of giving 20% of working time to its engineers to do what they want, and you have a search engine filled with lots of entertaining Easter eggs and tricks.
Sadly, most of these tricks are still a secret, but every now and then, Google employees leak these cool insider pranks and the whole world gets to know about them. Here, I have created a list of all such known Google tricks and Easter eggs that are still "working."
Google in 1998
Search Google for "Google in 1998" and you will be taken to the past to a search results page that shows how Google looked in 1998.
Kerning
Kerning means adjusting the spacing between characters. So, how would you expect Google to describe it? Literally, off course. When you search Google for Kerning, the spacing of the word Kerning is changed as compared to that of other words. This only works with personalized results disabled.
Conway's Game Of Life
Conway's Game Of Life is a game that indicates how cellular life evolves based on the initial configuration. If you search Google for Conway's Game of Life, you will get a results page with the game running in the background.
Jason Isaacs
Just search for Jason Isaacs and Google will return a page saying Hello to him. This only works on Google UK. This is a reference to Kermode and Mayo's Film reviews which greets Jason with hello every week.
Bacon Number {Actor Name}
Kevin Bacon is a famous hollywood actor who was quoted as saying that he has worked with everybody in hollywood or somebody who has worked with them in 1994. This led to many websites being launched about his claim in 2007. Bacon seeing this immense response launched a charitable website called Six Degrees, which is based on a theory that everyone in hollywood has worked with Kevin Bacon through a chain of six acquaintances or less. An actor gets as many degrees as he is distant from Kevin Bacon's movies in terms of people in the chain of acquaintances.
Google too has now involved Six Degrees of Bacon in its search results. For example, searching Google for Bacon Number Johnny Depp gives Depp's Bacon number to be 2.
Google knows how to celebrate the holidays
Searching Google for a holiday will make Google return a page decorated with items representing that holiday. For example, searching Google for Christmas returns a page decorated with Christmas lights. This also works for Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Halloween and Festivus. These Easter Eggs based on a festival are only activated when that festival is near.
Zerg Rush
Search Google for Zerg Rush and you will see the O's of Google attacking the search results page. They will attacking every result one by one. There is a health bar which indicates how injured a search result is. You can also kill these O's by clicking on them. They also have health bars which indicates their health. You get points on the basis of how many O's you kill. The aim of this game is to beat as many O's as possible.
Askew or Tilt
Ever had the chance of searching Google for Askew or Tilt? If you have, then you already know what comes up. If you haven't, do it now and you will see the search results page literally tilt to give you a better idea of what these words mean. This will work only if you use latest browsers which support HTML5 and CSS3. So, Internet Explorer users, use Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari for a while to use this.
Do a barrel roll
'Do a barrel roll' in its true sense means to do a 360 degree spin. Google takes practical demonstrations way too seriously for this one and literally spins the search results page to give you a clearer idea of the meaning of this phrase. Don't believe me? Go search Google for Do a barrel roll now and see your world turn around.
This Easter egg is apparently a tribute to Star Fox, a video game series developed by Nintendo, because searching Google for Z or R Twice also does the barrel roll, just like in Star Fox. Many bloggersinterpreted a lot of different things from this, but Google clarified that this fun trick was created by a Google Engineer solely for the purpose of entertaining users along with showing the power of new HTML5 and CSS3 technologies. Like the previous Easter egg, this will only work in modern browsers.
Binary, Octal and Hexadecimal Number systems
Another one of those literal Google Easter eggs. If you search Google for "Binary", "Octal" or "Hexadecimal" (without quotes) with Search Plus Your World disabled, Google will show the number of results in the same number system. For example, searching Google for hexadecimal will return the number of results like in the image below.
Recursion
The "Did you mean?" feature of Google often helps many users to get to the right results when they type something different from what they intended to search. If you search Google for recursion, the same feature takes you to an endless loop of clicks all linking to the same results page thereby completing recursion, which occurs when something calls itself. Seriously geeky.
Anagram
Another one of those "Did you mean?" Easter eggs. Search Google for Anagram and Google will instantly ask whether you meant "Nag A Ram" which is one of the anagrams of the word "anagram." Google really shows their word-playing skills with this one.
Asking Google to define Anagram makes Google ask if you meant nerd fame again.
ASCII Art
Are you a fan of ASCII art? Google surely is. Search Google for ASCII art and Google will greet you with a search results page having an ASCII version of the Google logo at the place where normal logo should have been. This Easter egg does not work anymore. When it did work, it looked like the image given below.
Google Calculator Easter Eggs: The loneliest number
Do you know which is the loneliest number? Ask Google Calculator. Search Google for the loneliest number and the in-search Google Calculator will give one as the answer, which apparently is a tribute to the Harry Nilsson's song "One."
Once in a Blue Moon
Ever wondered how much is 'once in a blue moon'? You must have heard this phrase often but Google calculator will give you the exact value of this phrase and surprisingly, it denotes frequency rather than time. Go search Google for this to get "1.16699016 × 10-8 hertz" as the answer.
The number of horns on a unicorn
Want to know the number of horns on a unicorn? Google calculator can help. Searching Google for the number of horns on a unicorn will give 1 as the answer.
Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the universe and everything
Google is omniscient. Even the "answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything" is known to Google. Just search Google for the above phrase and Google calculator will give you an answer. What are you waiting for? Just go to Google and find the true meaning of life.
[Pause to give you the time to search]
Surprised by the answer (42)? This is a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a popular novel based on a radio show (by the same name) of the late seventies. Google engineers surprised you with these tricks, didn't they?
Sadly, most of these tricks are still a secret, but every now and then, Google employees leak these cool insider pranks and the whole world gets to know about them. Here, I have created a list of all such known Google tricks and Easter eggs that are still "working."
Google in 1998
Search Google for "Google in 1998" and you will be taken to the past to a search results page that shows how Google looked in 1998.
Kerning
Kerning means adjusting the spacing between characters. So, how would you expect Google to describe it? Literally, off course. When you search Google for Kerning, the spacing of the word Kerning is changed as compared to that of other words. This only works with personalized results disabled.
Conway's Game Of Life
Conway's Game Of Life is a game that indicates how cellular life evolves based on the initial configuration. If you search Google for Conway's Game of Life, you will get a results page with the game running in the background.
Jason Isaacs
Just search for Jason Isaacs and Google will return a page saying Hello to him. This only works on Google UK. This is a reference to Kermode and Mayo's Film reviews which greets Jason with hello every week.
Bacon Number {Actor Name}
Kevin Bacon is a famous hollywood actor who was quoted as saying that he has worked with everybody in hollywood or somebody who has worked with them in 1994. This led to many websites being launched about his claim in 2007. Bacon seeing this immense response launched a charitable website called Six Degrees, which is based on a theory that everyone in hollywood has worked with Kevin Bacon through a chain of six acquaintances or less. An actor gets as many degrees as he is distant from Kevin Bacon's movies in terms of people in the chain of acquaintances.
Google too has now involved Six Degrees of Bacon in its search results. For example, searching Google for Bacon Number Johnny Depp gives Depp's Bacon number to be 2.
Google knows how to celebrate the holidays
Searching Google for a holiday will make Google return a page decorated with items representing that holiday. For example, searching Google for Christmas returns a page decorated with Christmas lights. This also works for Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Halloween and Festivus. These Easter Eggs based on a festival are only activated when that festival is near.
Zerg Rush
Search Google for Zerg Rush and you will see the O's of Google attacking the search results page. They will attacking every result one by one. There is a health bar which indicates how injured a search result is. You can also kill these O's by clicking on them. They also have health bars which indicates their health. You get points on the basis of how many O's you kill. The aim of this game is to beat as many O's as possible.
Askew or Tilt
Ever had the chance of searching Google for Askew or Tilt? If you have, then you already know what comes up. If you haven't, do it now and you will see the search results page literally tilt to give you a better idea of what these words mean. This will work only if you use latest browsers which support HTML5 and CSS3. So, Internet Explorer users, use Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari for a while to use this.
Do a barrel roll
This Easter egg is apparently a tribute to Star Fox, a video game series developed by Nintendo, because searching Google for Z or R Twice also does the barrel roll, just like in Star Fox. Many bloggersinterpreted a lot of different things from this, but Google clarified that this fun trick was created by a Google Engineer solely for the purpose of entertaining users along with showing the power of new HTML5 and CSS3 technologies. Like the previous Easter egg, this will only work in modern browsers.
Binary, Octal and Hexadecimal Number systems
Another one of those literal Google Easter eggs. If you search Google for "Binary", "Octal" or "Hexadecimal" (without quotes) with Search Plus Your World disabled, Google will show the number of results in the same number system. For example, searching Google for hexadecimal will return the number of results like in the image below.
Recursion
The "Did you mean?" feature of Google often helps many users to get to the right results when they type something different from what they intended to search. If you search Google for recursion, the same feature takes you to an endless loop of clicks all linking to the same results page thereby completing recursion, which occurs when something calls itself. Seriously geeky.
Anagram
Another one of those "Did you mean?" Easter eggs. Search Google for Anagram and Google will instantly ask whether you meant "Nag A Ram" which is one of the anagrams of the word "anagram." Google really shows their word-playing skills with this one.
Asking Google to define Anagram makes Google ask if you meant nerd fame again.
ASCII Art
Are you a fan of ASCII art? Google surely is. Search Google for ASCII art and Google will greet you with a search results page having an ASCII version of the Google logo at the place where normal logo should have been. This Easter egg does not work anymore. When it did work, it looked like the image given below.
Google Calculator Easter Eggs: The loneliest number
Once in a Blue Moon
The number of horns on a unicorn
Want to know the number of horns on a unicorn? Google calculator can help. Searching Google for the number of horns on a unicorn will give 1 as the answer.
Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the universe and everything
[Pause to give you the time to search]
Surprised by the answer (42)? This is a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a popular novel based on a radio show (by the same name) of the late seventies. Google engineers surprised you with these tricks, didn't they?
How to Move a Blogger Blog to Your Own Domain: Tips and Tricks
What a week this has been for this tech blog! I finally moved it from blogspot subdomain to a custom domain. I have been wanting to do this since a long time (ever since this blog started getting some attention) , I somehow couldn't manage to do so because of the fear of losing search traffic.
Google's recent move to redirect blogspot.com to country specific sub domains helped me solidify my decision to the extent of finally moving. I made a lot of other changes as well and have listed as much of them as possible as they might help some of you who are also planning to make the move. I have listed them in the order in which I made them.
1) Registered TweakAndTrick.com.
2) Changed my domain's settings to hide personal information from being displayed in the who is database.
3) Modified my domain's CNAME and A records to correctly point to Google's servers. Check this page from Blogger for details regarding this step.
4) Generally, it takes some time for your domain registrar to completely update the settings mentioned above. So, if you immediately point your new domain to your blog, users will see a 404 error. To avoid this, I created a new blogspot blog and modified its settings to point to my new domain.
5) When my domain correctly started loading the temporary blog, I modified this blog's settings to link it to the new domain. Now my new domain was correctly loading my blog. While doing this, I made sure to select redirecting the non www version to the www one.
6) Downloaded my blog's template and opened the downloaded XML file in Wordpad. I then used Wordpad's Find and Replace function to replace each occurrence of tweakandtrick.blogspot.com with www.tweakandtrick.com and uploaded the modified template. This automatically changed all navigational links to use the new domain.
7) Some widgets still had links pointing to the blogspot subdomain. I changed them manually.
8) Went to Google Webmaster Tools, added my new domain and submitted the full sitemap. Normal Blogger feeds show only 20 URLs, so in order to submit all the URLs, I submitted a custom queried feed that includes 500 URLs.
Normal Feed: /atom.xml
Feed I Submitted: /atom.xml?redirect=false&orderby=updated&max-results=500
9) Bing also brings considerable amount of traffic to this blog. So, I added the new domain to Bing Webmaster Tools and submitted the same sitemap.
10) Blogspot uses 301 permanent redirects to redirect visitors to new domains. This should have normally allowed Google to immediately index my new blog's URLs but it did not. So, I resubmitted my old blog's complete sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools. As the Blogspot blog had some authority in Google, GWT quickly processed the sitemap and immediately noticed that all those posts had moved to the new domain. This notified Google to index my content under the new domain and after almost 12 hours, my old blogspot URL's started getting replaced by the new ones.
11) Notified readers of the move on Facebook and Twitter.
12) After making the move, my search traffic is way lower than normal. This should change and traffic should return to normal once search engines completely transfer my Blogspot subdomain's trust and authority to this new one.
Some other changes I made
1) Used Feedburner's MyBrand feature to transfer my FeedBurner feed to my own sub-domain.
2) Modified my social profiles to link to my new domain.
3) Earlier, my about page and categories on this nbsp;blog were simple posts that included dates in the URL. This made them look ugly, so I shifted these to independent Pages and canonicalized the old pages to new ones.
Some Noticeable Benefits
It is too early to say this but ever since I moved to my own domain, the subscription rate has gone up considerably. It has also increased the percentage of users who are completing the subscription process.
Google's recent move to redirect blogspot.com to country specific sub domains helped me solidify my decision to the extent of finally moving. I made a lot of other changes as well and have listed as much of them as possible as they might help some of you who are also planning to make the move. I have listed them in the order in which I made them.
1) Registered TweakAndTrick.com.
2) Changed my domain's settings to hide personal information from being displayed in the who is database.
3) Modified my domain's CNAME and A records to correctly point to Google's servers. Check this page from Blogger for details regarding this step.
4) Generally, it takes some time for your domain registrar to completely update the settings mentioned above. So, if you immediately point your new domain to your blog, users will see a 404 error. To avoid this, I created a new blogspot blog and modified its settings to point to my new domain.
5) When my domain correctly started loading the temporary blog, I modified this blog's settings to link it to the new domain. Now my new domain was correctly loading my blog. While doing this, I made sure to select redirecting the non www version to the www one.
6) Downloaded my blog's template and opened the downloaded XML file in Wordpad. I then used Wordpad's Find and Replace function to replace each occurrence of tweakandtrick.blogspot.com with www.tweakandtrick.com and uploaded the modified template. This automatically changed all navigational links to use the new domain.
7) Some widgets still had links pointing to the blogspot subdomain. I changed them manually.
8) Went to Google Webmaster Tools, added my new domain and submitted the full sitemap. Normal Blogger feeds show only 20 URLs, so in order to submit all the URLs, I submitted a custom queried feed that includes 500 URLs.
Normal Feed: /atom.xml
Feed I Submitted: /atom.xml?redirect=false&orderby=updated&max-results=500
9) Bing also brings considerable amount of traffic to this blog. So, I added the new domain to Bing Webmaster Tools and submitted the same sitemap.
10) Blogspot uses 301 permanent redirects to redirect visitors to new domains. This should have normally allowed Google to immediately index my new blog's URLs but it did not. So, I resubmitted my old blog's complete sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools. As the Blogspot blog had some authority in Google, GWT quickly processed the sitemap and immediately noticed that all those posts had moved to the new domain. This notified Google to index my content under the new domain and after almost 12 hours, my old blogspot URL's started getting replaced by the new ones.
11) Notified readers of the move on Facebook and Twitter.
12) After making the move, my search traffic is way lower than normal. This should change and traffic should return to normal once search engines completely transfer my Blogspot subdomain's trust and authority to this new one.
Some other changes I made
1) Used Feedburner's MyBrand feature to transfer my FeedBurner feed to my own sub-domain.
2) Modified my social profiles to link to my new domain.
3) Earlier, my about page and categories on this nbsp;blog were simple posts that included dates in the URL. This made them look ugly, so I shifted these to independent Pages and canonicalized the old pages to new ones.
Some Noticeable Benefits
It is too early to say this but ever since I moved to my own domain, the subscription rate has gone up considerably. It has also increased the percentage of users who are completing the subscription process.
Use Long tail Keywords to Increase Blog Traffic
Keyword research is one of the fundamental parts of any search engine optimization strategy. Before you start trying to get to the top of the search rankings, you have to decide which search terms you want to rank well for. Ideally they should be relevant to your topic, so searchers find what they were looking for, popular enough to bring in a good stream of traffic, but not so competitive that ranking well is impossible.
Most bloggers and webmasters who do keyword research aim to find opportunities where the search term is fairly popular, but not fiercely contested. The idea is that it's no use trying to rank well for 'san diego hotels' because some very big players target that keyword and it's going to be very hard to rank well for it, and it's no use putting all your time and effort into ranking well for 'cheap dog friendly san diego hotels' because capturing the top spot won't do you much good. Very few people will search for that phrase.
But what if you don't focus all your efforts on that very specific keyword? What if you do the minimum amount of work required to rank well for that phrase (if it's not very competitive it won't take much work), then do the same for 30 more like it? Each one may not bring in much traffic alone, but between them they could supply a healthy stream of visitors. The total amount of work required to rank well for 30 easy keywords could still be a lot less than what you'd have to put in to rank well for one very strong keyword.
That's the principle behind 'long tail' keywords. They aren't popular but they are easy to rank for, and if you get enough of them, they can bring in plenty of visitors.
It's not just a clever way of boosting the number of arrivals either. It's very clear what someone searching for 'cheap dog friendly san diego hotels' wants. If you can provide a page that contains that specific information, you'll have a good chance of making that visitor very happy. They'll be far more likely to click on an affiliate link, sign up to your newsletter, or even just spend a lot of time on your site than someone who arrived through a more general keyword and didn't find exactly what they were after.
Blogs are ideal for targeting long tail keywords. You have the freedom to write each post on a very specific topic and can add as many new, diverse pages as you like- something that can make sites with a more static architecture look cluttered and untidy.
You don't need to focus your whole strategy around long tail keywords, but just choosing half a dozen to experiment with can be a worthwhile activity. Pick a few relevant, low competition and relatively low traffic phrases and see what it takes to get your blog ranking well for them. Compare the amount of work required with the traffic you get back (remembering that long tail traffic can be very high quality) and you might find that these keywords deliver a pretty good return on a very small investment.
Most bloggers and webmasters who do keyword research aim to find opportunities where the search term is fairly popular, but not fiercely contested. The idea is that it's no use trying to rank well for 'san diego hotels' because some very big players target that keyword and it's going to be very hard to rank well for it, and it's no use putting all your time and effort into ranking well for 'cheap dog friendly san diego hotels' because capturing the top spot won't do you much good. Very few people will search for that phrase.
But what if you don't focus all your efforts on that very specific keyword? What if you do the minimum amount of work required to rank well for that phrase (if it's not very competitive it won't take much work), then do the same for 30 more like it? Each one may not bring in much traffic alone, but between them they could supply a healthy stream of visitors. The total amount of work required to rank well for 30 easy keywords could still be a lot less than what you'd have to put in to rank well for one very strong keyword.
That's the principle behind 'long tail' keywords. They aren't popular but they are easy to rank for, and if you get enough of them, they can bring in plenty of visitors.
It's not just a clever way of boosting the number of arrivals either. It's very clear what someone searching for 'cheap dog friendly san diego hotels' wants. If you can provide a page that contains that specific information, you'll have a good chance of making that visitor very happy. They'll be far more likely to click on an affiliate link, sign up to your newsletter, or even just spend a lot of time on your site than someone who arrived through a more general keyword and didn't find exactly what they were after.
Blogs are ideal for targeting long tail keywords. You have the freedom to write each post on a very specific topic and can add as many new, diverse pages as you like- something that can make sites with a more static architecture look cluttered and untidy.
You don't need to focus your whole strategy around long tail keywords, but just choosing half a dozen to experiment with can be a worthwhile activity. Pick a few relevant, low competition and relatively low traffic phrases and see what it takes to get your blog ranking well for them. Compare the amount of work required with the traffic you get back (remembering that long tail traffic can be very high quality) and you might find that these keywords deliver a pretty good return on a very small investment.
Health Tips for Bloggers: Stay Healthy While you Blog
Sitting most of the day is not good for your health. Experts say it is better to stand rather than sit while you go about your daily work. This usually means raising your computer monitor to eye-level, and elevating the keyboard and mouse to a height that is easy to use from a standing position. This has led to the growing trend of creating “standing office workstations.” However, there are other things bloggers can do to counteract the effects of sitting all day.
You are what you eat
Your diet is important. If you spend most of your time sitting down, you may be gaining fat. Schedule meals on your calendar, and treat them like any other appointment. This prevents binging on fast food. In addition, prepare your own food, so you will know what is in it. Drink loose-leaf tea, which is better for fat-loss than coffee. It is also good for increasing energy levels. Control the amount of snacks you eat during the day.
Avoid snacks with starches and sugars.
With the multitude of sites and apps concerning calorie counting, maintaining your weight and making sure you eat the right things couldn’t be easier. If you don’t want to stretch so far as to be counting calories on a regular basis, simply being careful and not opting for that regular unhealthy snack can make a big difference to ablogger’s wellbeing.
Back problems
Prevent back problems with the following tips. Get a chair that lets you put your feet on the floor while keeping your hips and knees level. Use a footstool to accomplish this, if necessary. Every half hour get up and go for a short walk. This is also a convenient time to drink some water, so keep a bottle nearby. Drinking water will help you to be more alert.
Exercise at your desk
Here are a few exercises you can do at your desk. To stretch the back, roll your shoulders backward in a circle a few times and then relax. Stretch your neck every so often by looking right and left. Tilt your head from side to side, then backward and forward. The more adventurous blogger should consider getting an exercise ball to use as a chair. This will help to keep your spine in proper alignment. You will find that it is easier to do stretching exercises when sitting on one of these. Also, it’s a good idea to stretch your hands and fingers in between all that blogging!
Go for a run
It’s a new fad that seems taking off in offices around the world. You can go for a job during your break or maybe even at the end of the day around the office block. It helps if there’s a shower at your work though!
Other health issues for bloggers
Lessen the possibility of getting headaches and eye irritation. Every 30 minutes or so, look away from your computer screen. Focus on other objects in the room. It could be anything, a clock or a desk, for instance.
Pay attention to your oral-health. Prevent gum disease by brushing and flossing your teeth carefully. Gum disease is four times more prevalent in smokers than in non-smokers. Tobacco use of any kind will increase the risk of gum-disease, so try not to skip out and have a cigarette.
Making a few basic changes as suggested above can go a long way toward keeping bloggers healthy. Things such as scheduling when you eat, drinking water, making sure your chair is ergonomic and doing various exercises at your desk can be easily included in your work routine. Get started today for a healthier tomorrow.
This is a guest post by Richard. Richard is a freelance writer who produces content related to health and technology. He mainly writes on issues related to cosmetic dentistry. Pay him a visit at @thefreshhealth.
You are what you eat
Your diet is important. If you spend most of your time sitting down, you may be gaining fat. Schedule meals on your calendar, and treat them like any other appointment. This prevents binging on fast food. In addition, prepare your own food, so you will know what is in it. Drink loose-leaf tea, which is better for fat-loss than coffee. It is also good for increasing energy levels. Control the amount of snacks you eat during the day.
Avoid snacks with starches and sugars.
With the multitude of sites and apps concerning calorie counting, maintaining your weight and making sure you eat the right things couldn’t be easier. If you don’t want to stretch so far as to be counting calories on a regular basis, simply being careful and not opting for that regular unhealthy snack can make a big difference to ablogger’s wellbeing.
Back problems
Exercise at your desk
Here are a few exercises you can do at your desk. To stretch the back, roll your shoulders backward in a circle a few times and then relax. Stretch your neck every so often by looking right and left. Tilt your head from side to side, then backward and forward. The more adventurous blogger should consider getting an exercise ball to use as a chair. This will help to keep your spine in proper alignment. You will find that it is easier to do stretching exercises when sitting on one of these. Also, it’s a good idea to stretch your hands and fingers in between all that blogging!
Go for a run
It’s a new fad that seems taking off in offices around the world. You can go for a job during your break or maybe even at the end of the day around the office block. It helps if there’s a shower at your work though!
Other health issues for bloggers
Lessen the possibility of getting headaches and eye irritation. Every 30 minutes or so, look away from your computer screen. Focus on other objects in the room. It could be anything, a clock or a desk, for instance.
Pay attention to your oral-health. Prevent gum disease by brushing and flossing your teeth carefully. Gum disease is four times more prevalent in smokers than in non-smokers. Tobacco use of any kind will increase the risk of gum-disease, so try not to skip out and have a cigarette.
Making a few basic changes as suggested above can go a long way toward keeping bloggers healthy. Things such as scheduling when you eat, drinking water, making sure your chair is ergonomic and doing various exercises at your desk can be easily included in your work routine. Get started today for a healthier tomorrow.
This is a guest post by Richard. Richard is a freelance writer who produces content related to health and technology. He mainly writes on issues related to cosmetic dentistry. Pay him a visit at @thefreshhealth.
Discover New Blog Post Ideas with Google Analytics Data
Anyone who has kept a blog for some time or who writes for a living has likely experienced that feeling of no inspiration. There’s absolutely nothing left in the tank – even all the rubbish ideas have been used up and you are left feeling unmotivated. It is at this point that sometimes blogs can get abandoned, as constantly thinking up new ideas is hard work and tiring.
My first stop when I get to this stage is usually Google News. Just having a read through some of the top stories can trigger a hook to link one to the theme of your blog, and if you optimise properly, you could even get on top of some of the traffic for that particular story. It is easier said than done, however, and there aren’t always big stories around that are relevant.
What I prefer to do is rely on Google Analytics to work as my inspiration on those uphill days. Chances are you will be getting some longtail traffic in to your blog. If you aren’t, you may need to work on your blog’s optimisation a bit before this technique is useful. By scrutinising your longtail traffic and understanding the terms people are actually using to reach your blog you can get some innovative ideas as to areas to plan your next blog posts around.
So to look at longtail traffic in Analytics you need to go into the Traffic Sources -> Keyword report (or Traffic sources -> sources -> search -> organic if you are using the hideous new version of Analytics). Go to page 10 of referring key terms and have a poke about to see what’s in there. Chances are there will be some quite interesting terms.
For example, a quick look at a random sample of my referring key term report reveals that there could be good mileage in blog posts about cartoon audio effects, music for schools, thunder sound effects and tire skid sound effects. These base ideas can be expanded into popular/entertaining/ interesting topics – best cartoon sound effects, most impressive tire skids in films, top 5 thunderstorm scenes in films, teaching with music in school. Sometimes you hit the jackpot and come across an idea that can be extended into a series of blog posts.
The joy of using this technique is as your blog grows stronger and starts ranking better for more longtail traffic, you will get even more inspiration delivered straight into your Analytics. Obviously you do need to continue using your own ideas to mix it up a bit and keep on top of trending topics but I highly recommend Analytics for those slow days.
My first stop when I get to this stage is usually Google News. Just having a read through some of the top stories can trigger a hook to link one to the theme of your blog, and if you optimise properly, you could even get on top of some of the traffic for that particular story. It is easier said than done, however, and there aren’t always big stories around that are relevant.
So to look at longtail traffic in Analytics you need to go into the Traffic Sources -> Keyword report (or Traffic sources -> sources -> search -> organic if you are using the hideous new version of Analytics). Go to page 10 of referring key terms and have a poke about to see what’s in there. Chances are there will be some quite interesting terms.
For example, a quick look at a random sample of my referring key term report reveals that there could be good mileage in blog posts about cartoon audio effects, music for schools, thunder sound effects and tire skid sound effects. These base ideas can be expanded into popular/entertaining/ interesting topics – best cartoon sound effects, most impressive tire skids in films, top 5 thunderstorm scenes in films, teaching with music in school. Sometimes you hit the jackpot and come across an idea that can be extended into a series of blog posts.
The joy of using this technique is as your blog grows stronger and starts ranking better for more longtail traffic, you will get even more inspiration delivered straight into your Analytics. Obviously you do need to continue using your own ideas to mix it up a bit and keep on top of trending topics but I highly recommend Analytics for those slow days.
5 Tips to Improve Your Blog
Just about anyone can blog. But not everyone can blog well. There are several factors that go into setting your blog apart from the millions that are out there competing for attention. Here are 5 tips that you can use to make sure that blog stands ahead of the crowd:-
1. Self-host
Self-hosting your own website is one of the easiest ways to give your blog more credibility. It’s a lot easier for readers to remember a website that istweakandtrick.com over tweakandtrick.blogspot.com. It also shows that you take your blog more seriously than someone that is utilizing a free blog site. And these days, it’s relatively cheap to host your own domain name. HostGator, Dreamhost, and Bluehost are three hosting companies that charge you about $10 a month (or less!) to self-host your website. You can even add a custom domain in most free blogging platforms if you don't want to move away.
2. Promote via social media sites
Facebook and Twitter are two great resources when it comes to promoting your blog. You can create a fan page on Facebook where you can link to your blog site and keep your readers engaged as well as grow your readership. Facebook is such a huge social media resource with the ability to reach millions of potential readers… why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that? The same goes for Twitter, where you can post links to your current (and past) blog posts and also find different chat groups to participate in. Participating in chat groups is a great way to find people with the same interests as you. You don't have to be limited to just Facebook and Twitter. There are many websites you can be active on.
3. Headlines
You should write strong headlines that easily define what you are going to be talking about in your post. This not only peaks a readers interest, but also allows your blog to be more searchable. Strong doesn’t necessarily mean something with flair though, it means something direct that immediately identifies what readers can expect to find in your post, and that will pop up in a search engine when someone types in a particular topic.
4. Write well
Readers can tell the difference between a post that has obvious time and effort put into it and one that is just slapped up to get something out there. Put time into what you’re posting about. People appreciate posts which are original and well thought out.
5. Layout
Your blog layout should be clean and easy to navigate. The design should be visually appealing without being overwhelming. No one wants to have to guess on where to find information. You should have a search bar where people can easily search topics and archives that readers can look through to see what else you’ve written. You should also include a contact page so that it’s easy for others to get in touch with you if they have questions or comments about something you’ve written, or want to get in touch with you about a potential business deal.
By putting these tactics into play you should be able to market your blog in a more effective way and increase your readership. It may take a little time on the forefront, but you will reap the benefits of these efforts in the end.
Self-hosting your own website is one of the easiest ways to give your blog more credibility. It’s a lot easier for readers to remember a website that istweakandtrick.com over tweakandtrick.blogspot.com. It also shows that you take your blog more seriously than someone that is utilizing a free blog site. And these days, it’s relatively cheap to host your own domain name. HostGator, Dreamhost, and Bluehost are three hosting companies that charge you about $10 a month (or less!) to self-host your website. You can even add a custom domain in most free blogging platforms if you don't want to move away.
2. Promote via social media sites
Facebook and Twitter are two great resources when it comes to promoting your blog. You can create a fan page on Facebook where you can link to your blog site and keep your readers engaged as well as grow your readership. Facebook is such a huge social media resource with the ability to reach millions of potential readers… why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of that? The same goes for Twitter, where you can post links to your current (and past) blog posts and also find different chat groups to participate in. Participating in chat groups is a great way to find people with the same interests as you. You don't have to be limited to just Facebook and Twitter. There are many websites you can be active on.
3. Headlines
You should write strong headlines that easily define what you are going to be talking about in your post. This not only peaks a readers interest, but also allows your blog to be more searchable. Strong doesn’t necessarily mean something with flair though, it means something direct that immediately identifies what readers can expect to find in your post, and that will pop up in a search engine when someone types in a particular topic.
4. Write well
Readers can tell the difference between a post that has obvious time and effort put into it and one that is just slapped up to get something out there. Put time into what you’re posting about. People appreciate posts which are original and well thought out.
5. Layout
Your blog layout should be clean and easy to navigate. The design should be visually appealing without being overwhelming. No one wants to have to guess on where to find information. You should have a search bar where people can easily search topics and archives that readers can look through to see what else you’ve written. You should also include a contact page so that it’s easy for others to get in touch with you if they have questions or comments about something you’ve written, or want to get in touch with you about a potential business deal.
By putting these tactics into play you should be able to market your blog in a more effective way and increase your readership. It may take a little time on the forefront, but you will reap the benefits of these efforts in the end.
What is a Blog?
I recently started blogging at this blog. When I informed some of my friends that I have started a blog, the first thing they did was to ask a question. Neither about the topic of my blog nor about its address. The first question they asked was 'What is a Blog'?
Upon hearing this, I was for some time left astonished; whether on the simplicity of the question or my inability to imagine them not knowing what a blog was, that I cannot tell. Later, they made themselves clear and said that they wanted to know how does a blog differ from a website and whether they can be considered one and the same. After trying for hours to make it clear to them "what a blog" was, I came up with the idea of writing this post. So here I am writing a post describing what is a blog.
The idea of a Web Log (or just blog) in its simplest description is to provide an electronic alternative to a personal diary. But, unlike personal diaries, blogs are intended to be public. Public in the sense that they can be viewed by anyone. However, this is not always the case. Your blog is totally your domain and it is up to you whether you want it to be public or only limit it to the users you choose.
Diary Blogs are not the only type of blogs. A blog can be focused on only one topic like HTML in which case it is called a niche blog or be totally random in which case it is referred to as a personal blog or even a random blog. As earlier said, there is no limit upon the topic of your blog.
Then there are Photo blogs and Video blogs too which contain content only in the form photos and videos respectively. Blogs are not limited to individuals only. They are also used by companies to inform latest developments within the companies and also as a method to improve their public relations. Other common types of blogs are Art blogs and Music blogs.
Because of the ease of setting up a blog and its ability to transcend borders, blogging has evolved drastically in the past decade. Blogs have become a great way of socializing too. Blogs serve as a platform to showcase a person's thought to the online world.
Blogs are commonly updated regularly. This might probably be the only difference between a blog and a website. Websites tend to be static in nature and blogs on the other hand are dynamic in nature. A website can comprise of only a blog or have a blog as its part.
Regular Updates are not just limited to blogging; due to the preference search engines give to regularly updated content, most websites are updated regularly and the difference between blogs and websites is narrowing. It is becoming tougher and tougher to differentiate between the two.
However, the availability of a commenting system presently serves as the biggest differentiation between a blog and a website.
Now after this post, may be you might now more clearly understand what a blog is.
Upon hearing this, I was for some time left astonished; whether on the simplicity of the question or my inability to imagine them not knowing what a blog was, that I cannot tell. Later, they made themselves clear and said that they wanted to know how does a blog differ from a website and whether they can be considered one and the same. After trying for hours to make it clear to them "what a blog" was, I came up with the idea of writing this post. So here I am writing a post describing what is a blog.
The idea of a Web Log (or just blog) in its simplest description is to provide an electronic alternative to a personal diary. But, unlike personal diaries, blogs are intended to be public. Public in the sense that they can be viewed by anyone. However, this is not always the case. Your blog is totally your domain and it is up to you whether you want it to be public or only limit it to the users you choose.
Diary Blogs are not the only type of blogs. A blog can be focused on only one topic like HTML in which case it is called a niche blog or be totally random in which case it is referred to as a personal blog or even a random blog. As earlier said, there is no limit upon the topic of your blog.
Then there are Photo blogs and Video blogs too which contain content only in the form photos and videos respectively. Blogs are not limited to individuals only. They are also used by companies to inform latest developments within the companies and also as a method to improve their public relations. Other common types of blogs are Art blogs and Music blogs.
Because of the ease of setting up a blog and its ability to transcend borders, blogging has evolved drastically in the past decade. Blogs have become a great way of socializing too. Blogs serve as a platform to showcase a person's thought to the online world.
Blogs are commonly updated regularly. This might probably be the only difference between a blog and a website. Websites tend to be static in nature and blogs on the other hand are dynamic in nature. A website can comprise of only a blog or have a blog as its part.
Regular Updates are not just limited to blogging; due to the preference search engines give to regularly updated content, most websites are updated regularly and the difference between blogs and websites is narrowing. It is becoming tougher and tougher to differentiate between the two.
However, the availability of a commenting system presently serves as the biggest differentiation between a blog and a website.
Now after this post, may be you might now more clearly understand what a blog is.
Guest Blogging has Disadvantages that could Harm your Blog
I think that accepting guest posts on your blog is a great way to connect with new webmasters and offer fresh perspective to your blog's readers. Guest Blogging has many more advantages, but it has some risks and disadvantages that cannot be overlooked. Here are some ways in which guest blogging could actually harm your website:-
- Guest bloggers get a direct search engine friendly (read dofollow) backlink from your blog. As a dofollow link mean that you trust a website, Google and other search engines are likely to penalize your website if you link to spammy pages or pages created solely for the purpose of generating sales.
- Guest Posts can be unrelated to your blog's niche. This could not only frustrate your subscribers but also make Google think that your website is a content farm. This is certainly not what you wish Google to think about your website especially after the dreaded Google Farmer aka Panda Update.
- Extremely short guest posts could mean addition of low quality pages (read thin content) on your website. This would reduce the overall quality of your blog for both human readers and search engine bots.
- Guest Posts could annoy your regular readers. Regular visitors of your website visit because they like your opinions and wish to read more from you, not from some stranger who they hardly know or have any information about.
- Guest Blogging could actually lower the number of subscribers on your blog. This is basically a result of the previous two points. When your subscribers find that you provide irrelevant updates, they would undoubtedly wish to unsubscribe themselves from your blog.
- Some guest authors copy content from other websites. If you are not able to discover it and publish their submissions, you further risk annoying readers who might know the original source of those posts. This could also result in search engines lowering your rankings for high traffic keywords as a result of the duplicate content effect.
- Some guest authors take your blog up for granted and often submit posts that are written with lack of attention and an uncaring attitude. This results in receiving useless submissions which lead to wastage of your time reading and sorting through them.
- Some guest authors write self promoting content with the aim of driving traffic to their websites. Hence, they deliberately try to make their articles less informative so that a reader must visit them in order to get full details. This again annoys your readers and results in low quality pages.
 |
| Guest Blogging has some disadvantages |
What should you do with guest posts? Should you accept them or not?
My recommendation would be that you should allow guest posting on your blog but, always take a close look at the author's website and make sure that it is worth a link. Moreover, set some quality standards for accepting articles and try to be professional in your decisions. Do not accept posts that you yourself do not like, after all your readers trust your opinions and that is the main reason they are reading your blog anyway.How to Access Blocked Websites, View Restricted Sites
Most of us find ourselves in situations where a website we wish to visit is blocked by a software or by our ISP (Internet Service Provider). So the question arises, how can we access blocked websites? The answer to this is simple: Proxy websites. Before going into details, let us know a bit about these proxy websites.
If you do not want to search, here are few popular free proxy websites you can use:-
Proxy Websites
A proxy website acts as an intermediate source between the user and server the site being contacted is hosted on. Users send requests to proxy websites which conveys them to the site's server. The reply received by the proxy website is then forwarded to the user's computer. This gives an impression to ISP's and blocking softwarethat the user is visiting the proxy website but in reality, s/he is visiting the site which was blocked. Thus, proxy servers also provide extra security to users by hiding their online activities from their ISP's.Commonly Blocked Web Sites
The sites which are most commonly blocked at workplaces, schools and offices include websites like Facebook, Orkut, Blogger (blogspot), Google News, Typepad, eBay, MySpace, YouTube, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, Bebo, Google Talk, Gmail, Photobucket, AOL AIM, Flickr, Twitter etc. In some countries, social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit are also blocked. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China have even blocked access to mainstream media websites like The New York times. A proxy website can be used to easily access these blocked websites. As proxy websites hide a user's location, they can also be used to access popular websites which are restricted to particular countries and block users from other countries from visiting them.Types of Proxies
There are two types of proxies. First, there are web proxies which have an interactive interface; and second, the proxy servers which work on the basis of IP Addresses and port numbers. Proxies can also be segregated on the basis of anonymity into Anonymous, Transparent and High Anonymous depending upon the amount of privacy they provide.How to Find Proxy Websites and Proxy Servers
A simple Google search containing the word "proxy websites" is likely to return a lot of useful results. However, most of them are likely to be lists containing proxy servers which you can setup using their IP Address and Port Number. So, in order to find interactive proxy websites, you will have to search for something like "Facebook Proxy Server" or "Twitter Proxy Server". A search like this is most likely to return interactive proxy websites with which you can access your blocked website by simply entering the URL in URL field. If you want additional securityand anonymity, you can opt for a paid proxy server.If you do not want to search, here are few popular free proxy websites you can use:-
- http://www.spysurfing.com/
- http://proxify.us/p/
- http://kproxy.com/
How to Setup Proxy Servers using their IP Address
If you wish to visit your blocked website using a web proxy, you do not need any setup. However, if you wish to use a proxy server that can only be accessed by using its IP address and port number, you must configure your browser to use it. Follow the instructions given below to setup this type of proxy in your browser:-Google Chrome and Internet Explorer Users
Google Chrome uses the same network settings as Internet Explorer. So, in order to configure Google Chrome to use a proxy server, you have to configure Internet Explorer. You can configure a proxy server in Internet Explorer by following the instructions given below:-- Start Internet Explorer.
- Click on Tools, Internet Options.
- Click on Connections Tab, select your Network Connection and click on Settings.
- Check on Use a Proxy Server for this Connection.
- In the Address field, add the IP Address of your Proxy server. In the Port field, enter the Port Number.
- Click on OK and OK again.
Mozilla Firefox Users
Mozilla Firefox users can configure their browser to use a proxy by following the instructions given below:-- Start Mozilla Firefox.
- Click on Tools, Options.
- Click on Advanced Tab.
- Click on Network tab.
- Click on Settings.
- Encircle Manual Proxy Configuration.
- Enter the IP Address and Port Number at the appropriate place. In most cases, it will be a HTTP server.
Ways to Unblock Restricted Websites
One way of accessing blocked websites is through the use of proxy websites. However, it is not possible to use them to unblock each web site. If the website you wish to visit falls in this category, then you must use the methods given in this article. Beforehand, I would like to make it clear that different websites are blocked differently.
So you must try all of the tricks given before reaching the conclusion that you cannot access a website. Some of the tips given in this article can also be used to prevent your surfing and IP Address from being logged. So, let us begin:-
So you must try all of the tricks given before reaching the conclusion that you cannot access a website. Some of the tips given in this article can also be used to prevent your surfing and IP Address from being logged. So, let us begin:-
Cache
Google and other search engines maintain a cache of web pages that are spidered by their robots and are present in their index. This cache(snapshot) of the web page is saved by Google as a back up in case the original page is unavailable. This can be accessed by clicking on the cached link besides the search results that appear for search queries. The cached version of the page might not be the latest version of the website but nonetheless, you can still use it to visit the web site of your choice. Another way to view the cached version of a web page is by using the 'cache:example.com' search query.Internet Archive( Wayback Machine)
Internet Archive is a non-profit organization which stores websites in an archive form using which you can see how the website looked at a specific time. This is similar to a saved copy of the website on your local hard drive. Just visit Wayback Machine and enter the address of the web site you wish to visit to see if a cached copy of it is available. This archive can also be used to access websites that are suspended or down. |
Translation Services
Translation Services like Google Translate and Yahoo! Babel Fish can also be used to unblock websites. Enter the URL of the website in the translation field. Select a different language than the one on the website in the "Translate From" field, and the language you read in the "Translate To" field. e.g. If the web page is in English, select an other language like Spanish in the 'Translate From' field and English in 'Translate To' field. This method can be effectively used to access restricted websites.Changing HTTP into HTTPS
This is the fastest way to gain access to restricted websites. To use this method, just change the 'http:' in your URL to 'https:'. This can confuse the software which is blocking the site you wish to visit. Although this might not work every time, it still is a handy trick to tackle not so complex website blocks.IP Address of the Website as Address
This is probably the most effective way to access blocked websites. To use this method, first you need to find the IP Address of the website you wish to visit. You can use the command prompt and type 'ping mydomain.com' to get the IP Address of the restricted website. Now that you have the IP address of your website, just enter it in the address bar of your web browser and press Enter. It is highly probable that the website you wanted to visit will be unblocked.
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