How to Install and Configure ownCloud

ownCloud logoIt is difficult to read any tech news and not see something about “the cloud”, cloud computing, cloud hosting, or at least something that mentions the word “cloud”. Many businesses have moved their entire software operations into the cloud, and many individual users rely on cloud service providers for email, documents, and file storage.

There are a plethora of file storage and file sharing services available on the web. Many of them are free for a limited amount of space (often around 2 to 5 GB). For a lot of people, this type of service is sufficient, but if you want your own file storage system, need a lot more space, do not want to pay a third party service, and already have your own web hosting account for your website, ownCloud is a free and open source option you should definitely consider.
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4 Tips to Make Windows 7 Boot Faster

boottime-clockIf you’re a hobbyist that runs a home server, or even a regular computer user that wants to get things done quickly, you will know how important it is to start Windows quickly. There’s nothing worse than having to restart a server and have your visitors tolerate 3 minutes of downtime. Add another 5 minutes of slow loading times until the computer’s fully loaded. When time is money, you really can’t be wasting any of it waiting for a computer to load.
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Getting Started with Amazon EC2

logo_awsWhen Amazon first launched their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in 2006, many people were a bit surprised. Those of us who’d always just thought of Amazon as a retailer were skeptical that they’d have much to offer. In the 5 years since then, Amazon has proven that they’re serious about this business and in making EC2 a world-class cloud computing platform. While there have been hiccups, Amazon Web Services in general are typically regarded as among the best in the business. In this guide, we’re going to cover the basics of cloud computing in general and Amazon EC2 in particular.
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The Complete Guide to Set Up a Minecraft Server

minecraftserver-smallblockMinecraft is one of the most engrossing PC games to come out in the last few years, and with the semi-recent additions to SMP mode, it’s more fun than ever to host your own custom server. Getting the basic server up and running isn’t that difficult, but that’s only part of the picture. Once the software is running, you’ve still got to set up dynamic DNS, port forwarding, and user control. And when THAT’S done, you’ve got to configure the game itself. In this guide, we’re going to cover all of that in enough detail to get you and your server up and running with as little hassle as possible.

Note: The exact step-by-step procedure can vary from one OS to another. Whenever possible we will include details enough to work everywhere, but it’s possible your system may not behave exactly as indicated here. Additionally, Minecraft is still in development and is currently in Beta 1.4. Some of this information may change over time.
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Minecraft Tips and Tricks for Newbies

minecraft-smallIf you haven’t actually played Minecraft by now, you’ve probably at least heard the buzz about it. Perhaps the astonishing sales numbers, or the guy who built a working CPU with game blocks, or the attack on their servers from angry script kiddies. If you haven’t tried it, imagine this: if the entire world was completely endless, and made of nothing but lego blocks, what could you build? As with many things, flexibility breeds complexity, and some aspects of Minecraft can be pretty confusing. Today we’ll cover some things like art packs, migrating between OSes, and working with water and lava.

As popular as it already is, Minecraft is still in the Alpha stage of development. The information here is based on Minecraft Alpha 1.2.5. At this point, anything and everything is subject to change.
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How to Set Up Your Own (Free) Dark Age of Camelot Server

dawnoflight-logosmallBefore World of Warcraft, there was Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC). For those who haven’t played, it’s a medieval MMORPG originally from Mythic Entertainment, now owned by EA. It was DAoC that formed the basis of many of the game mechanics now found in Warhammer Online. Camelot is still alive today, but its popularity has only decreased since newer games have come out. Well what if you could play DAoC whenever you wanted, and had full control over the game mechanics (XP rate, drops, character attibutes), and play for free? You can with Dawn of Light – an open source server “emulator” that can be run on your Windows desktop.
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How to Clone Your Live WordPress Blog to a Local Server

clonewp-mainBloggers, have you ever been in the situation where you want to make changes to your site (such as changing of theme, installing new plugins etc), but afraid that it will break your site? A lot of time, we wish to implement some changes and see how it looks like on the live site, without actually making it live. In such cases, the best solution is to create a local server (aka test server) and clone your live site to the local server. In this way, you can first test out the changes on your local server and make it live only when you have confirmed everything is working well.
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MakeTechEasier Is Now Hosted On KnownHost

knownhost-logoI am proud to announce that MakeTechEasier is now hosted on Knownhost.

About half a year ago, we decided to move out of our shared Hostgator account and migrate to ServInt. Not that Hostgator is no good, it just that MakeTechEasier has grown rapidly over time and we need to get a bigger server to host our site. In my opinion, Hostgator is one of the best shared web host company around and I would seriously recommend them for those who just started blogging.

On the other hand, we switched to ServInt because there were many good reviews about them. But somehow, things just doesn’t go well for us. The server is slow and sluggish. Can you imagine that it takes five mins just to save a post? And the staffs aren’t too helpful in solving my issues too.

This time round, we make a switch to Knownhost and it was the best decision we made this year.

Our experience with KH

Fast and stable server: The server performance is speedy (Josh can swear by that). There is no downtime.

Super Fast Response Time: Most web hosts take at least 1 hour to answer your ticket and if the issue require higher technical expertise, your ticket will be forwarded to the respective department and you have to wait for another few hours to get your ticket answered. For KnownHost, the response time is almost instantly. Whenever I submit a ticket, I will surely get a response within 10 mins. And in most cases, my issues are settled within 30 mins.

Amazing customer support: Kate, William and many other friendly staffs who are always trying their means to help you.

Managed VPS is superb: Even know we have the knowledge and skill to adminster a server, it is always great to have someone who is taking care of all the stuffs for you 24/7.

With all said, here’s is a much faster and more stable MakeTechEasier.com, thanks to KnownHost. If you are in need of a new host, Knownhost is definitely the one.
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How to Migrate Your Site to New Server Without Any Downtime

migrate-site-clockIf you own/manage a website, it is inevitable that you will have to change your web host one day. It could be due to the poor services of your current host, or that your site traffic exploded and you need to move on to a bigger host to accommodate the traffic. Whatever the case, most people will agree that it is never a joyous event to switch server. Your site will be down/unstable/inaccessible during the migration period and it could potentially lead to loss of sales. In this article, we are going to show you how you can migrate your site to a new server effortlessly and without any (or minimal) downtime.

There are two main type of web hosting: Shared hosting and VPS/Dedicated hosting. Shared hosting means that the site is hosted in a shared environment and share the same IP address as hundreds (or even thousands) other sites. In shared hosting, the administrative control given to the user is usually very limited, so there is practically no way to manipulate the DNS feature. On the other hand, VPS/dedicated hosting gives the users absolute control over their servers and they can play around with the DNS feature to reduce the downtime. Let’s take a look below at how we can reduce the downtime for these two hosting environments.
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How to Use Nautilus As a FTP Client

This is a guest post by Abhilash Kumar

nautilus-ftpIf you have a website of your own, you would be fairly used to using various FTP clients to transfer files to and from your hosting space. I personally use Filezilla for this activity. What I do not like about most FTP clients is the interface and the number of sections that are there in front of a user. While the designers are trying to show all that is happening in the background when you transfer a file to a remote server, this transperancy is not always required.

At times like these, I like to switch over to an interface that is familiar and uncluttered. Nautilus, the file manager for the Gnome desktop can also be used as an FTP client without having to install any additional software to your system. Nautilus provides an easy way to connect and exchange files via FTP and makes the process as simple as a copy paste that you may be doing day in and day out.
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