by Jonny | Feb 2, 2011 | Updates
I recently purchased a HD R-6850 for my PC.
It is performing amazingly well for the games I play and I’m loving and enjoy it. – It is a major step up from my 9600GT. It is already overclocked by MSI and it comes with software by them which helps you further over clock it. I can play Project Reality (A BF2 Modification) pretty well on high settings and I can record on FRAPS decently, I just need the hard drive space to do this effectively.
I’ve also figured my over heating problem out. On start up, sometimes my computer would reach 100 degrees, but mostly 80 degrees and I couldn’t tell what the problem was. I was so sure I had placed enough thermal paste on the CPU and heat sink and it was all fit-in snugly, so I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Though it was because I had no put enough thermal paste on the CPU which was causing my CPU to over heat and especially in games; cause a lot of slow downs and freezes. (Or what I usually call “lag” though technically in-correct)
But yeah my CPU is running fine now at around 50 degrees overclocked to 3.0 Ghz from 2.5 Ghz. I could do with a better CPU, but for now I’m quite content with the CPU. But even at 50 degrees, I still thing that temperature is a little high, so perhaps I’ll buy a new CPU fan which has a faster RPM than my current CPU fan; which is lacking somewhat.
Everything is fine on the computer-side. Just need to get my life sorted.
by Jonny | Jan 31, 2011 | Updates
I've switched hosts after a serious hacking problem has affected my website(s) on my old hosts server.
I had no prior problems or any major problems with my old host, but the fact that cPanel would load really slow and my wordpress sites would load a little slow. After the move, things have improved, including loading times. The problem now is getting back into the Google Search results as my sites were penalised because of the incident in my last post. Most of my traffic or a good majority of my traffic came from Google and now this has severely affected my online websites traffic. I looked at my keyword tracker tool and I weep when I see that all my keywords have been delisted from Google.
I guess this is why I left my old host in frustration. I built this website up for around 2 years (Another website) and one problem arises and compromises my entire operation. – Because my host didn't secure their rules which made someone else's website a directory on my domain name. It must have also affected other customers too since I had to report this problem for other customers who might have not been aware.
Whatever the case, I'm happy I moved. I feel that I've moved from a budget web host to a semi-decent host. Though the support with my new host is a little slow. But I don't need much support, as long as they don't screw things up on server-side issues.
by Jonny | Jan 29, 2011 | Updates
If my day couldn’t be made any worse, I’m currently going through hosting problems.
I believe that my hosts web server has been compromised in some way or another. Whatever the case, my websites search engine rankings have severely been disrupted because of problems which I believe are to do with my host.
So what is the problem?
Digital Point (Online web forum) has this keyword tracker for search engines which monitor your websites ranking in search engine results for particular keywords. To see updated keywords (I.e. how your keywords are doing for the current day) you have click a refresh button so the latest results can be checked in the search engines. I did this today. I found that for all if not most of my keywords I had been monitoring had been de-listed altogether from multiple search engines including Google; my main source of traffic. I then checked why, on the Google Webmaster Tool website and found that my website has been de-listed since it contained files linking to a phishing website. Naturally I thought my website had been compromised. The apparent phishing website which appeared to be under all my domain names under my shared hosting account in a particular sub directory were websites which were asking for confidential information. (Such as bank details) – Plus it was a direct copy (Design-wise) of a large legitimate website.
I looked for the files in my directories. — They weren’t there.
I then went on my hosts support desk and opened a ticket telling them of this problem. I then find a review page (A page where people had reviewed my web host) and tested to see if others were also facing a similar if not the same problem. As I couldn’t find the files from that phishing sub-directory on my website, so in my head I thought of several possibilities:
1. My DNS had be compromised. Or my files pertaining to redirects had been modified. (.htaccess)
2. My host had been compromised.
3. All my websites had been compromised. (Unlikely)
Going back to the review page (Reviews of my web host), people had posted links to their websites hosted with my host. (Which I won’t name) I used the links or peoples websites to see if they had the same problem, as I said above. Instead of my domain name in the URL, I replaced it with theirs and with the corresponding phishing directory.
i.e.: http://www.domainame/~blindsp/goss/gtwpages/
By Jove I had found out from this that my hosts server had been compromised and that it wasn’t a security flaw in any of my websites. It was in fact my web hosts fault.
I’m still waiting for them to fix this issue and then I’ll probably have a go at them as this has cost me dearly in search engine positioning rankings. I was the top 10 for some very highly used keywords and now I’ve been marked down by Google because of the phishing website which is appearing under my domain names.
This is just horrible. I hope they fix it soon and I have some real concessions if my host can’t provide me with an explanation which I find satisfactory. I may just jump ship to a more reliable provider as I do not like the idea of staying with a host whose server has been compromised with me having to report this compromise to them. This has also possibly affected thousands of other websites out there if there are that many on this server.
by Jonny | Jan 14, 2011 | Updates
If you know Google AdSense it is a ad program which allows webmasters to publish advertisements on their website. There are probably millions of AdSense publishers who have websites which to some degree are making money. But it always seems depressing when you see these 'success stories' saying, "Oh I've just $200 in one day with AdSense" or just recently someone on DigitalPoint posted a thread saying they had made $20,000 ($USD) in one year; with Google AdSense. It is astonishing that you can earn so much by doing this. Google AdSense in 2010 made a staggering $8.16 billion ($USD).
Why I'm depressed?
I started on the web originally as a webmaster (I created my first site) in 2005, I had created previous websites which weren't exactly websites, they were just web pages on sites which let you play around with some type of crude editor. Anyways, I created my first blog in 2005 which really got me interested in making money, as it was then I found out about Google AdSense. I didn't want a day job, I wanted to do something I love and sitting in an office wasn't it! Since 2005 I've tried to make enough money to get out of my day job. I mean wouldn't that be great? You have your own freedom essentially and you are required to do this or that. I guess I like being my own boss, I mean who wouldn't want that.
I'm depressed because I've been trying for over 5 years to do something. I've started countless forums first on free sites, then I started my own free and paid web host which didn't go too well as I had personal issues and had to pay a staggering mortgage which required me not to be on the web; but for my ass to be out there and working. I've had 5 years to come up with something and I've likely spent many thousands of pounds (UK Currency) on the web; yet what have I produced? I feel I haven't done anything. I have my 2 blogs (This one and my webmaster website) a military site and and astronomy website. My most popular is my military site at the moment. But with earnings a bit jumpy, it makes me wonder a bit. I mean I used to do this kind of stuff for the love it, I loved creating websites and trying to make them popular. But my only motivation is for my websites to make money. It is not money though that is driving me only… I really do want my sites to succeed, but in order to do that I need a reward or a break! I think I'm coming a little burnt out over it all.
I'm just going to keep trying though. 5 years in my opinion is a long time, but you aren't going to get anywhere if you stop. I just need to keep going and keep doing what I love best… which is running my military website. – I don't know why but I've always been interested in armoured vehicles or anything military related.
But c'mon
It just upsets me that I can't say that I've made this amount of money. Because in reality I haven't made much for myself. A name is usually backed up by something of purpose. I have nothing to back me up to say that I've done SOMETHING. Sure I've created websites, but are they successful? No. They may get traffic, but money is what makes the world go round seemingly. If you aren't making those pieces of paper then you aren't successful. You can measure success in several ways but money is the primary and everything else is secondary.
I mean I love the fact people are making money through AdSense … and I'm freaking jealous, I want to be in that position to be able to proudly say, through my ups and downs I've finally made it! But it has been 5 years and I haven't produced much. I wish I my military website back in 2005, my god would my website be popular.
I've made a goal
I'm not going to worry about making money any more. I've set a goal… the goal is: I will need to make 100 quality articles for my military website this year. Currently it only has 58 articles, which have taken me a long time to write up. I set the site up in 2008, but I left the site up and running without any updates for a couple years; then I started writing again as I was inspired and enthusiastic. My other goal is to gain traffic. Currently I'm looking at around 10,000 absolute unique visits (According to Google Analytics) this month. Which is a step up from previous months, as previous months in 2010 I was averaging around 3 to 4,000 unique visits per month. By the end of this year, my goal is to at least get 20,000 unique visits in 1 month. It might come at the end of the year or perhaps my website will pick up in the search engine rankings, who knows; it is my new goal now.
by Jonny | Jan 8, 2011 | Updates
Since moving to Taiwan, the one thing I have nearly killed over is those irritating mosquitoes who bite you and you don’t even know it! Then you find out you have several itchy lumps on your arms, face, legs and wherever your freaking skin is visible. It is literally getting to the stage where I am getting bit every single day. I’ve tried sprays, a fly zapper in my room when I sleep and I’ve even killed some mosquitoes with my bear freaking hands. Yeah, I’ve caught quite a few actually; though I’m no expert in the art killing these bugs. But they still keep coming and the next day I find that I have some lumps still even though I take measures to stop those little bastards.
On top of my bad mood with these mosquitoes, I had one of my teeth pulled out as there were 2 roots to one tooth or apparently one trying to grow beneath my other tooth which subsequently was painstakingly pulled out. Or should I say, cut in half then pulled out. I mean boy oh boy, it was painful, they cut my tooth in half, then used what looked like screw driver for teeth, to use this tool for leverage to break my tooth’s root out. I mean they gave me like 10 injections (Local anesthetic) but it still hurt like a bitch. – I originally had a pretty cute women from Canada (Who is Asian — oh do I love Asians with Canadian accents, especially if they are hot) but she wasn’t strong enough to pull my tooth out, so they called in this old bloke who pulled the tooth out even though he saw I was in extreme pain. At least with the girl she was gentle and was slowly taking out my teeth by cutting it into different sections. 😀 Oh and she had her hand on my face … or was that her hand holding my mouth open? I don’t care, she was hot, cute smile too. I think she kind of enjoyed that I was in pain… as I guess I put some funny faces out there when trying to be brave in front of her lol!
Hopefully those mosquitoes will go away once I find where the hell they are coming from!
by Jonny | Jan 5, 2011 | Updates
Mostly in Taiwan everyone lives in an apartment. Unless you are rich or you have a big family you’ll buy a house if you can afford a mortgage. However in Taiwan if you are going to rent a place, it should really be an apartment if you are on a low budget. When in the UK I lived in a nice spacious house in comparison to the place I’m living in right now in Taiwan. Currently I am dissatisfied with the apartment I am living in. It is tiny and not very nice.
I planned this around a month ago and found the place and I am moving in tomorrow morning. I just have to get the internet moved over there and get my whole life sorted out over there along with my family who live in Taiwan with me. I’m just glad I’ll be living in an apartment where I can at least have a little freedom. As currently, I can’t really put anything anywhere as I’m living with other people I haven’t known for a long time and the apartment I’m in now is so small; there are not many places I can put things.
Whatever the case, things are looking up for me at the moment. But my life isn’t what I suspected it to be. Though those wise men would say in those films “it usually never is what you suspected it to be” or whatever. 😉