Category: Domain Related

November 12, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

It’s pretty much a weekly occurrence for the world’s leading web world giant to be making a splash of some sort, and lately a good many of those splashes have been stark reminders of just how increasingly omnipotent Google has become in every aspect of digital life. On the one hand the way they’ve pushed the development of new technology has been of great benefit to all of u, while on the other there are times when we hear of news that makes you wonder if it’s a good idea to have so much power and influence consolidated in one pair of hands. Here at 4GoodHosting, it’s safe to say we’re much the same as any other Canadian web hosting provider would be in the way we regard this. The nature of what we do gives us a very valid first-hand overview of such proceedings, and offering genuine perspective on it is really something that comes with the territory. It’s also likely safe to assume that the majority of those trusting their web presences to us will have you understanding of what would be meant by ‘quantum supremacy.’ That term is definitely trending online right given what’s recently been announced as it regards Google’s latest accomplishment. It certainly has the potential to be quite a pivotal development in the world and one that is maybe even a little ominous too (read on), so we’ll make it the topic for this week’s blog. An End to Effective Encryption A term that most of you will know, however, is encryption. To encrypt something is to keep it locked behind some sort of code that is nearly unbreakable for some and entirely unbreakable for most. Up until now, encryption has been the means by which digital files and the like have been effectively kept out of the hands of those who should not have access to them. If what is being reported here now is true, however, Google’s new 53-qubit quantum computer has achieved ‘quantum supremacy’ and apparently it will soon come to mean that nothing is entirely secure, even with the best and most advanced encryption. To give you an idea of...

November 7, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

It’s nearly impossible to veer away from web security and privacy concerns these days, as it’s a pressing issue in the digital world and the frequency with which new hacker attacks are arriving makes this types news as necessary as it is overwhelming. As we discussed in an earlier entry here, hackers are motivated by money, as there’s dirty dollars to be made selling sensitive information acquired from people without their consent, approval, or anything or the sort. So here we are into the second last month of 2019 and – not surprisingly – another new and urgent software vulnerability is pushing its way to the forefront of what’s new and noteworthy in the world of web hosting. Here at 4GoodHosting, it’s likely that we’re not different from any other good Canadian web hosting provider in that we don’t have the luxury of not paying attention to developments like these, and so here we are again today. Most of you will be familiar with Horde, as it’s one of the most popular free and open-source web email systems available to consumers these days. In truth, it’s the epitome of what a quality open-source web resource should be, as it’s been very responsibly built and is a good example of what can and should be done to ensure that software does not eventually become exclusive to deep-pocket development businesses. However, unfortunately it seems that a major security flaw with Horde has been exposed and we believe it’s always best to put users in the know as soon as possible regarding this stuff. We’ll try to go short on the technical stuff, but this vulnerability is related to CVE 2018-19518, an IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) and it exists in the ‘imap-open’ function that is used to open an IMAP stream to a mailbox. Invisible Thieves In most cases where security is compromised and information or identity theft occurs – both in the digital world and otherwise – there’s more often than not some type of identifiable evidence of an unwelcome guest having been on the ‘premises’. Not so here, as a prominent web security researcher claims they’ve detected several vulnerabilities in...

October 28, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 7 minutes

There’s no family of phones that make quite the splash like iPhones when a new one arrives. These days it’s the iPhone 11 that’s come onto the scene with a whole lot of fanfare, and for good reason. It’s quickly becoming regarded as a big step up from its predecessor, and not surprisingly they’re being snapped up big time by consumers who don’t mind the somewhat pricey tags attached to them. The tech giants out there in Mountain View, CA truly don’t ever rest on their laurels, and the iPhone 11 is a testament to that. Here at 4GoodHosting, we’re thinking it’s likely that every quality Canadian web hosting provider is going to have plenty of customers who are iPhone faithful. We’re no exception there and we have more than a few of them here ourselves. If you’re going to shell out the big bucks for the newest iPhone then you’ll be expecting a superior product. Now to be clear we’re not suggesting the iPhone 11 isn’t one, but it is true that – as is the case with any tech product – there’s often a few kinks that need to be worked out. These issues aren’t so major that they’ll be any type of deal breaker that will have an owner second guessing their decision to buy the newest iPhone, but they’re significant enough that any ‘fix’ for them will likely be most welcome. So that’s what we’ll have for you here today, an overview of common problems with the iPhone 11 Pro and very straightforward ways of addressing them. Eventful OS It’s true that the number of reported issues with iOS 13 makes up quite a list. In response to this Apple has released a series of updates to respond to them, offering fixes to mitigate issues with the hardware. Here are a few initial iPhone 11 problems we’ve discovered around all three versions of the new phone so far and some tips on how to fix them. Problem & Fix 1: Wireless Charging This issue is definitely the most widespread of all, so it gets top spot on our list. The most common issue here is when...

October 21, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

It’s likely fair to say that people who are loyal to MACs are more fervently that way than their opposites, meaning people who are PC. Whether that has anything to do with Apple’s advertising campaign of 10 years ago or so where MAC was a young, hip, and casual and PC was older, inflexible, and suit n’ tie guy all the way. But the truth of the matter is for those with certain prerogatives when it comes to their computing device – especially for creative work – a MAC is the only way to go much of the time. It’s for this reason and the ongoing popularity of the iMAC and MACBook that today’s subject is worthy of some attention. There’s been a pronounced rise in the number of phishing attacks against MACs, especially in recent years. Here at 4GoodHosting, we can assume that many of you are MAC devotees as well, and that’s why as a leading Canadian web hosting provider we can relate to how anything that puts you more up to speed on what might be threatening your Mac is going to be quite welcome. So what’s this all about, and what’s the need-to-know here and what’s just noise? We’ll do our best to lay it all out for you here today. The Mac Myth of Malware Immunity That MACs are immune to malware is a myth, but it’s certainly a popular one. It is true that the risk of attack for Apple’s computers is significantly less than for Windows computers, but they can still be compromised and infected. Look no further than the Zoom infection that hit up many users earlier this year, and something that did get quite a bit of coverage. This is confirmed with a report a few months back from antivirus firm Kaspersky, which published a report claiming that phishing attacks on Mac users could double from their 2018 rates by the end of this year. That’s going to be a cause for concern for anyone using a Mac. The report states that in the first half of 2019, Kaspersky software detected some 6 million or so phishing attacks targeted at Mac...

October 14, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Internet privacy is one of the hottest of the hot button issues in the digital world these days, and it has been for quite some time. There’s so many different ones that are still discusses at length, and for good reason. News over recent years has indicated the surprising extent to which people’s private and other information has been exposed. There are ongoing efforts to counter this trend, but as is the case with many things it takes time to put effective measures in place. Browser fingerprinting is one of them, and when one digs deeper into this particular issue it’s fairly common to have greater concerns about it. Here at 4GoodHosting, we are one of the many reputable Canadian web hosting providers who see the ‘insecurity’ of the World Wide Web to be as big a problem as it really is. As such we choose to make people informed of what they can do to protect themselves against the prying eyes that they likely have no idea are watching their moves online. So what’s at issue here, how concerned should you be, and what can people do to be proactive in defending themselves against browser fingerprinting. Let’s look at all of this today. Pervasive Peeping A good number of people who use VPN services to hide their IP address and location may believe that by doing so they don’t have to worry about their browsing privacy being violated. This is the best place for us to start here, because that’s simply not true. With browser fingerprinting you can be identified and tracked. One thing there’s no getting around is that every time you go online, your browsing device then provides highly specific information about your operating system, settings, and even hardware, to the site you’re visiting. This in itself is perfectly normal, and ideally shouldn’t be any cause for concern. However, when this information is used to identify and track you online then you’ve experienced browser fingerprinting, and unfortunately many unique details and preferences can be exposed through your browser. Once a sufficient amount of information has been collected, you are now regarded as having a ‘fingerprint’ for tracking...

October 8, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

It may be the name of a particularly scenic island off the Southern California coast, but Catalina is now also the name of the newest Mac OS that has recently arrived. Like any successful company they’re not ones to rest on their laurels at Apple, and as such these new and improved operating systems keep on coming. For most Mac owners that’s a good thing, and there’s a LOT of R&D efforts and budget directed towards determining what new wrinkles users will find most appealing. Here at 4GoodHosting, we imagine that nearly every other quality Canadian web hosting provider is also going to be taking note of the new features seen with Mac OS Catalina. Considering that Macs are the computers of choice for people who employ their devices for creative purposes, we can go ahead and assume these development will appeal to enough of our customers that they’re definitely worthy of a blog post. So let’s do that here today – have a look at the Top 5 New Features with Mac OS Catalina. With its release, the new MacOS brings with it a laundry list of changes, including a host of new features, a few updated apps, and the demise of a beloved app. But among these features, five really stand out from the rest. Here are the five best features in MacOS Catalina. Apple Music, Podcasts, and TV – Replacing iTunes To be certain, there are a LOT of people who are none to pleased to have heard of iTunes’ coming demise. Whether or not that’s going to be problematic for you, the general consensus is that over time these users will also come to appreciate the appeal of what’s being introduced here with Catalina as it regards entertainment via the devices. Beginning with Catalina, iTunes is will be replaced with Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts apps. And, in our opinion, if you’re open to new things you’ll quickly come to see how this is all a good thing. The general consensus is that the Apple Music app is lightning fast and will provide users with a library of some 50 million songs, playlists, and...

October 1, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Bandwidth is a term that’s bandied about fairly regularly in the digital world these days, and not surprisingly given how not enough of it can mean the ‘lag’ that nearly everyone has major difficulty tolerating. Truth is a lot of people that might be decrying a lack of it may not actually know what it is, and are more simply regurgitating what they’ve heard others says when voicing similar complaints. Sufficient bandwidth is an absolute necessity for providing reliable web hosting, and here at 4GoodHosting we’re the same as every quality web hosting provider in Canada in that the success of our business depends on having it to the extent that it’s needed for websites hosted with 4GH. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but what is worth mentioning is that – in addition to having a basic understanding of web hosting bandwidth – there are measures that webmasters can implement themselves to increase available bandwidth. All of that to come here in today’s blog entry, but first let’s have a basic look at what exactly web hosting bandwidth is and why you certainly can’t do without it What is Web Hosting Bandwidth Nearly all of you will be familiar with what it’s like to be driving in rush-hour traffic, or even observing it from a distance. We can think of bandwidth like the lanes of a highway and each vehicle represents the web traffic moving towards your site. Too many of them on those roads leads to long delays and frustrated drivers, while at the opposite end too many lanes mean excessive infrastructure costs for the city and a network that’s difficult and expensive to maintain on the taxpayer dime. To the point, web hosting bandwidth is the amount of data that a website can deliver to its visitors over a certain period of time. We can conceptualize bandwidth as the capacity or diameter of any one or more of the ‘tubes’ of the internet – high bandwidths mean stronger, larger connections that can deliver more traffic and data, while low bandwidths mean more restricted connections or networks that often result in backlogs and slower loading speeds. Web hosting...

September 23, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

There’s a whole spectrum of people who have to have at least some level of familiarity with search engine optimization. Those that have SEO anywhere in their job title are a given, but there’s a number of other people who need to be catering to SEO realities with their work. Those of us who create content are a good example, but there’s others too. Even if you’re an absolute lay person when it comes to this stuff, you’ve probably heard how Google and other search engine powerhouses prevent people from becoming complacent with all this by constantly changing the algorithms that determine the value of SEO. Here at 4GoodHosting, as a top Canadian web hosting provider this stuff is very much front and centre for us nearly all the time. We know it has some serious importance for a good number of you too. Page rankings are serious stuff if you need to have your business as visible as possible online, and as such many people make an effort to really stay on top of best SEO practices. Now we don’t claim to be the best of experts, but here are 3 guaranteed effective SEO enhancing moves you can make to help your website climb to higher spots in SERPS (search engine result pages) Move 1: Publish Better Long-Form Content More Frequently You’ve probably already heard the expression ‘content is king’, and likely more than a few times too. Fact is it’s as true as can be. Google rewards quality long-form content provided it is written in ways which benefits the users of the site. To ensure this, you need to review your service pages and give them priority. With a top-to-bottom, most important to least approach. you can identify spots where you can add informative sections of FAQ to expand the value of upon page. Why FAQs though, you may be asking. They are an excellent means of naturally working in keywords – and especially for FAQ questions that you can foresee being made with voice searches more frequently. Testimonials are another useful resource for this that many people won’t be aware of, and working with the same principles....

September 17, 2019

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

If you were to take a poll of everyone who has their own personal website for ‘self’ ventures – whether that’s a blog, a forum for ideology, or anything else ‘self’-oriented in a similar way – you’d find that the majority of those sites were built on WordPress. Despite the fact that it’s as old as one can imagine in the world of web publications resources, it’s still as present as ever in the online world. This makes it so that it’s worthy of mention anytime an external force threatens the well being of websites built on WordPress. This isn’t the first time the software suite has been the target of hackers, and it very likely won’t be the last. Here at 4GoodHosting, we think part of being a leading Canadian web hosting provider is keeping our valued customers up to date on developments that may influential to their online well being. Considering we can go ahead and assume that a good many of the sites hosted through us are WordPress sites, we’ll dedicate today’s blog to making those of you aware of this new risk. The Skinny These new serious vulnerabilities in at least 11 plugins for WordPress started to be seen last month, and it appears they are currently being used in an ongoing malware campaign. This was reported on in the circles where it needed to be, but what’s new with all of this is that that the hackers appear to have changed their tactics over the course of the last two weeks. The first instance of this featured malicious code being injected into sites to prompt them to show pop-up advertisements, or – worse – redirect the visitor to rogue websites. Then about 3 weeks ago, on the 20th of last month, the hackers changed their code and it is now also able to determine if a visitor has the rights to create user accounts on the site. Should someone with admin rights log in, the malicious code then is able to created a new admin account that won’t be noticed the principal authorized user. To catch this, be on the lookout for email addresses reading...