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How to change or Reset windows 10 password using command prompt 2022

reset windows 10 password

Have you forgotten or lost the Windows 10 user login password of your PC? If you are using Microsoft account to log in then you can reset it online at Microsoft’s site. But if you have a local admin account and Looking for reset Windows 10 password without using any third party software? Here how to change or reset windows 10 password using the command prompt. It’s very simple and easy you only need Windows 10 installation media to access command prompt window to Reset Windows 10 Local Admin Password.

Reset Windows 10 Local Admin Password

As PC is locked we can t perform any action there, we need to boot from windows installation media to perform feature steps. If you don’t have Read how to create Windows 10 installation media from here.

  • When you are ready with Windows 10 bootable USB or DVD put it and restart your PC,
  • Press F12 or F2 key continuously to access Boot menu,
  • Select Boot from DVD or removable disk (if you are using Bootable USB)

Select boot from

  • Then press any key to boot from installation media,
  • Here on installation screen press Shift + F10 key to open command prompt window.

open command prompt from installation screen

  • Now we are going to Replace the file utilman.exe with cmd.exe and Before you do this, you should make a copy of utilman.exe so that you can restore it later.
  • Lets first identify the drive letter using Diskpart command.
  • Type command list volume display all drive letters with the volume number.
  • Note down the drive letter where Windows is installed, for me its D
  • Now type command exit to leave from disk part.

Disk part command

  • Then type command cd d: to  change the directory,
  • Run command, cd windows to then cd system32 to change the directory to there.
  • To Backup utilman.exe, use command, copy utilman.exe utilman1.exe
  • use command copy cmd.exe cmd1.exe to backup the cmd.exe.
  • Now run command del utilman.exe to delete the utilman.exe from there.
  • And rename cmd.exe as utilman.exe using command rename cmd.exe utilman.exe
  • That’s all type exit and close command prompt, cancel the installation and let windows boot normally.

Reset windows 10 password using command prompt

  • Now On the Windows 10 sign-in page, click the Utility Manager icon
  • This will open the command prompt window.

Utility Manager icon

  • Here type command control userpasswords2 and press enter key.
  • This will open the user accounts window, where you can manage user accounts and reset the password.
  • Select the user account, and click reset password,
  • A new prompt will open here type the new password, for the user account,
  • Confirm new password by re-type the same.
  • Click ok, then apply to save changes, close the command prompt window.
  • Now type the new password for login to that user account.

reset windows 10 password

Note: Also here on command prompt window you can run command

net user Administrator /active:yes

This will enable the hidden administrator account, and allow to access your Windows PC.

  • Press Windows + R, type compmgmt.msc and ok
  • Expand local users and groups,
  • Select users, then click the user account on right-hand side,
  • Right-click on select set password,
  • After that log off from the administrator account and log in user account with the newly created password.

Change or set new password

Resetting Windows 10 passwords via command prompt is the best free option to help you unlock
a locked PC. However, it could be a big challenge for average users who had never known or
used the command prompt in their life. For them, programs with GUI is the preferred method as
only a few clicks can reset the password.

reset password

Take Androidphonesoft Windows Password Recovery for example, find another Windows PC
and download the program. Then insert a USB and burn the password reset utility to the USB.
After that, boot the locked Windows 10 from the USB and remove the password from the target
account. This is much faster than using the command prompt for Windows password reset.

Also, you can use Free Windows Password Recovery Tools like Ophcrack, Kon-Boot, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, to recover your windows passwords. Have you reset the forgotten Windows 10 password? Let us know on the comments below, Also read:

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Useful Linux Terminal Commands you must remember on 2022

linux terminal commands

On Linux, the command-line is a powerful tool. Once you understand how to use it, it’s possible to accomplish a whole lot of advanced operations really fast. Sadly, new users find the Linux command-line confusing, and don’t know where to start. In an effort to educate new users on the Linux command-line, we’ve made a list of 25 basic Linux terminal commands to remember. Let’s get started!

First of all To open the terminal, press Ctrl+Alt+T in Ubuntu, or press Alt+F2, type in gnome-terminal, and press enter.

 ls :

ls is the list directory command ls command can also be used to reveal hidden files with the “a” command line switch.

ls

ls -a

LS command

cd: 

cd command used to change directories in the terminal. And you can add “..” to go backwards up a directory

cd /path/to/location/

cd ..

 pwd: 

PWD command used to display the current directory in the linux terminal

 pwd 

pwd command

mkdir: 

you can use mkdir command to create a make a new directory or create a new folder. Also use the “p” command line switch To preserve the permissions of the folder to match the permissions of the directory that came before it,

mkdir

mkdir -p name-of-new-folder

 rm:

rm command used to remove, delete a file from the command line, If you are looking for delete a folder use the “rf” command line switch.

rm /path/to/file

rm -rf /path/to/folder

Create and remove directory

cp:

To make a copy of a file or folder use cp command followed by the location of the file. And to copy a folder, use cp with the “r” command line switch

cp /path/to/file

cp -r /path/to/folder

mv: 

Using mv command you can do lots of things on linux such as move files around to different locations or rename files. move a file from one location to another, try the following example.

mv /path/to/file /place/to/put/file|

If you looking for move a folder, write the location of the folder followed by the desired location where you’d like to move it.

mv /path/to/folder /place/to/put/folder/

To rename a file or folder, cd into the directory of the file/folder you’d like to rename, and then use the mv command, for example:

mv name-of-file new-name-of-file

mv name-of-folder new-name-of-folder

You can use the clear command to clear the terminal if it gets filled up with too many commands.

sudo — A widely used command in the Linux command line, sudo stands for “SuperUser Do”. So, if you want any command to be done with administrative or root privileges, you can use the sudo command.

touch — The touch command is used to create a file. It can be anything, from an empty txt file to an empty zip file. For example, “touch new.txt”.

history: Well, history command Displays a list of all recently used commands.

cat: The cat command lets you view the contents of files in the terminal. Write the command out followed by the location of the file you’d like to view. For example cat /location/of/file

head: you can use the head command followed by the location of the file to view the top 10 lines of a file. here an example: head /location/of/file.

tail: And the tail command followed by the location of the file used to display bottom 10 lines of a file. tail /location/of/file

man & –help: To know more about a command and how to use it, use the man command. It shows the manual pages of the command. For example, “man cd” shows the manual pages of the cd command.

Typing in the command name and the argument helps it show which ways the command can be used (e.g., cd –help).

Ping:  The ping command used to check the latency between your network and a remote internet or LAN server. for example, ping google.com  or ping IP address (192.168.1.1)

And to ping few numbers of times use c command line switch and a number. for example, if you want to ping a website 5 times then use command ping google.com -c5

hostname: command used to know your name in your host or network. Basically, it displays your hostname and IP address. Just typing “hostname” gives the output. Typing in “hostname -I” gives you your IP address in your network.

uptime: command used to check how long your Linux system has been online,

uname: command can be used to view your current distribution codename, release number, and even the version of Linux you are using.

du: Command line used to view the space that a directory on your system is taking up

whereis: command used to track down the exact location of an item in the command-line. For example, you can use whereis firefox command to find the location of the Firefox binary on your Linux system

locate: Command used to Search for files, programs and folders on the Linux. Simply write locate command, followed by a search term. Example locate search-term

ps: command used to view current running processes directly from the Linux terminal,

curl: command used to download a file from the internet through the Linux terminal. Simply write the curl command followed by the file’s URL, the > symbol and the location you’d like to save it. For example: curl https://www.example.com/file.zip > ~/Downloads/file.zip

You can exit from the terminal by using the exit command.

Also you can shutdown or reboot the computer by using the command sudo halt and sudo reboot.

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Updated WordPress Ping List for Faster Indexing Of New Post 2022

Update ping list on wordpress

Search engine Indexing is a necessary part of SEO, No matter how many posts you have published but if they are not getting indexed then they are of no use. Even well SEO optimized article takes days or even weeks to get indexed because it has to wait for search engines’ crawlers to crawl it. If you are facing a slow crawl rate and lesser page index issues from search engines like Google, you need to build backlinks as well as update your ping list for fast indexing. Here we have listed Updated WordPress Ping List for Faster Indexing Of New Post.

What Is WordPress Ping?

Pinging, as the name suggests, is a way of informing the search engines, blog directories, RSS directories and feed websites etc that you have published new blog posts or updated any content on your blog. This will instruct bots to crawl your blog right away for any new updates.

Every time you publish a new post, WordPress automatically pings or notifies all the major feeds and networks and push them to update the information regarding your blog. For a better reach and pushing things a level up, we should update the default Ping services in WordPress. This helps to increase our reach more quickly and effortlessly

How To Add/Update Your WordPress Ping List

Now you have the question in your mind, how to add or update your Ping list? Don’t worry here follow the steps below to Add or Update your WordPress ping list.

  1. Login to your WordPress dashboard
  2. On left sidebar Go to Settings –> Writing
  3. Scroll down to ‘Update Services’.
  4. Here, you will see all the ping services added to your blog.
  5. To update your list, copy all the pinging services mentioned below and paste them in this box.
  6. Click on ‘Save Changes’.

And now Your website will be indexed faster with the updated ping list. Thus increasing the search engine optimization and reach. Alternatively, you can always use other services like ping-o-Matic to ping services manually.

Update ping list on wordpress

WordPress Ping List For July 2020

Below is the best WordPress Ping List for faster indexing of your site.

http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/pingSubmit?bloglink=https://zcom.tech/

http://rpc.weblogs.com/pingSiteForm?name=ZcomTech&url=https://zcom.tech/

http://bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://blog.with2.net/ping.php

http://blogping.unidatum.com/RPC2

http://blogpingr.de/ping/rpc2

https://ping.blogs.yandex.ru/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.cr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.hu/ping/RPC2

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://blogsearch.google.co.id/ping/RPC2

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://blogsearch.google.co.il/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.in/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.it/ping/RPC2

http://news2paper.com/ping

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc

http://ping.fc2.com

http://ping.rss.drecom.jp

http://rpc.bloggerei.de/ping/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.twingly.com

http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://rpc.twingly.com

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://www.feedsubmitter.com

http://blo.gs/ping.php

http://www.pingerati.net

http://www.pingmyblog.com

http://geourl.org/ping

http://ipings.com

http://www.weblogalot.com/ping

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://coreblog.org/ping/

http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt

http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc

http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.myblog.jp

http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://ping.weblogs.se/

http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/

http://rpc.newsgator.com/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php

http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/

http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080

http://rpc.urlfan.com/ping

Note: As a beginner, you might think that pinging services repeatedly might make you appear more frequently and faster in search engine results. But keep in mind Pinging unnecessarily will eventually make your blog blacklisted. Google will consider your blog as a spammer So be careful.

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Ultimate WordPress Tutorial for Beginners (Updated May 2022)

WordPress for Beginners 2019

Nowadays Everyone is blogging, whether it’s for professional reasons, Make money or just for fun. However, very few blogs end up becoming a success. If you also think about starting a Blog WordPress is a great platform to start your blog. If you ever thought of learning WordPress, but still thinking Where to start? and How to start?, then you have come across the Ultimate WordPress tutorial for Beginners. This guide will help you learn WordPress in the easiest and quickest way. This guide will take you through everything you need to know about getting a WordPress blog online, from conception, creation, to ensure you can reach the right people.

Why use WordPress?

Well, the short answer is, that it’s awesome, but we’ll get more in-depth into that shortly. This guide will take you through everything you need to know about getting a WordPress blog online, from conception, creation, to ensure you can reach the right people.

Before starting a new WordPress blog you need to ask yourself a few key questions before you even get started…

Why are you blogging?

This may seem like an obvious question, but you have to have a purpose or a goal. If you’re blogging because you love blogging, then great! If you’re blogging for business, you need to decide on what actually constitutes success.

Are you looking for more traffic? Want a bigger search engine footprint? Trying to sell more? Increase brand awareness? Or just as likely, all of the above?

Work out some preliminary key performance indicators (KPIs) before you get started. KPIs such as a number of sessions, bounce rate, average session duration, pages per session, social shares are all good metrics to track the growth of your blog in the early days.

Do you have the resources? Consider everything you’ll need to set up and run a successful blog, such as staff, designers (a huge help), contributors, and most importantly; time.

Are you committed? Probably the most important question of all. If you are not fully committed to regular blogging and sharing content you’re passionate about, you’re going to fail. If you’re not interested in what you’re writing, how can anyone else be?

Why choose WordPress?

Wordpress

There are plenty of options for bloggers today. All-in-one services such as Google’s “Blogger” and Tumblr remain very popular due to their simplicity. But if you really want a blog you can call your own it makes sense to use a platform you can host yourself, so you’re not at the mercy of a third party.

Blogger might seem like an easy option, but what if Google one day decides to shut it down?

Hosting your own site gives you more control over your blog and its content. So what platform should you choose?

There are plenty of content management systems (CMS) out there that can do a fine job such a Joomla, Drupal, Ghost or Anchor. Or, you could pay a developer to create something completely custom for your needs.

It’s popular

Firstly, popular doesn’t equal the best. You only have to look at the state of the music or movie charts these days to work that one out! But in the world of blogging platforms, it is safe to assume there is a reason for its popularity.

How popular you say? Well, the stats are staggering. WordPress is used by over 58% of all websites using a CMS. Even more amazingly, WordPress is the CMS behind nearly 25% of all the websites on the internet today!

It’s simple

WordPress is incredibly simple and intuitive. Personally, the first-ever site I created (note that I don’t use the words “designed” or “developed”) was done so using WordPress.

It has a fantastic learning curve for beginners. Some small prior knowledge of HTML and CSS is, of course, a benefit, but it is not necessary.

Even if you know nothing of coding you’ll doubt you’ll learn some new tricks along the way as you build and customize your blog.

If you do start messing around with code without really knowing what you’re doing (I’m often guilty of this), WordPress can be very forgiving.

Just remember the golden rule! Even a single keystroke out of place can cause carnage, but as long as you’ve backed up, it’s simple to replace the affected file.

It’s open-source and free

WordPress is free to download and use as you wish, and it’s open-source, which means developers and designers can make any modifications necessary to customize the platform for your needs.

It’s scalable

WordPress can grow with you, instead of holding you back. It is perfectly at home as a small hobbyist site, or as an enterprise-level blog attracting millions of monthly users.

When thinking of scalability the main thing you’ll need to consider is your web hosting environment – more on that later.

Still not convinced? Here are just a few of the big brands that use WordPress:

  • The New York Times
  • eBay
  • Sony
  • Samsung
  • TechCrunch
  • Mashable

It’s well supported

As WordPress is so ridiculously popular, it’s not hard to get help online. WordPress.org has a wealth of support guides available online, which includes a very busy support forum.

However, you might not ever need to log in and ask a question since you can almost guarantee that somebody online has already experienced the same issue as you, and they’ve quickly been directed to a relatively simple fix.

It won’t be hard to find a local web designer proficient in WordPress either. Good news if you ever want a redesign or any other custom work carried out.

Themes

Themes are pre-designed WordPress templates, and in most cases, it’s as simple as uploading and clicking a button to test out a new design for your blog.

There are literally millions of themes available online, some for free, and some premium.

Some of the most popular themes available at WordPress.org, With so much choice there is absolutely no chance you won’t be able to find a design that suits you.

Failing that, you can always commission a custom theme to be designed for you – there are plenty of designers and agencies who specialize in WordPress themes.

Plugins

In the words of WordPress; “Plugins are ways to extend and add to the functionality that already exists in WordPress.” Or in simple terms, plugins can allow you to add almost any functionality you can imagine to your blog, without having to get into any code. And I do mean almost any functionality, such as:

  • Contact forms
  • Comment systems
  • Galleries
  • Antispam filters
  • Social share icons
  • Automatic backups
  • Added security
  • XML Sitemaps

That’s the tip of the iceberg. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve needed some kind of functionality on my own blog, before searching online and quickly finding a plugin that effortlessly does the job for me.

What about the negatives?

So WordPress sounds great right? Well, it is, but there are a few negatives. Firstly, it gets hacked – a lot! A big reason for this is simply because WordPress is so popular, but there are a few common mistakes WordPress users fall foul of that makes it so much easier for hackers.

Since WordPress is open-source, anybody can add code to it, and not everybody knows exactly what they are doing.

One of the biggest security flaws with WordPress is users downloading unsupported plugins that are never updated. These can often be easily exploited by hackers.

WordPress itself is far from perfect either. Every new release contains bug fixes and patches to plug up security holes found in previous versions.

To help stay safe when using WordPress follow these two golden rules:

  1. Always keep WordPress, and any plugins, up to date. The worst thing you can do is to set up your site and then just ignore the update requests. Eventually, you will be hacked; it’s just a matter of time.
  2. Only use well-supported, frequently updated plugins: There are many thousands of plugins out there, and a good majority of them are no longer supported by their developers and are basically dead. These plugins are like an open window to hackers

That’s not all you can do to improve security either. There are some great security plugins available to make your blog a virtual Fort Knox.

This, amongst other reasons, is why there are a sizable number of developers out there that do not like working with WordPress at all.

In fact, WordPress came out third in a survey of “Most Dreaded” technologies by Stack Overflow.

To be fair to WordPress most of the common complaints from developers stem from poor user code and extensions outside the core WordPress install such as:

  • Difficulty with backward compatibility
  • Outdated plugins causing security issues
  • Working on someone else’s poor code
  • Trying to keep WordPress PCI compliant
  • Users not updating themes and plugins

But unfortunately for developers the world over, as over a quarter of all websites using WordPress today, it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Now after knowing about WordPress lets See how to install WordPress and what are the recommendations are required to install WordPress and start your blog.

To start a blog you must need 2 Things

  1. Domain Name ( is your website address )
  2. Fast and Secure Hosting ( where you can host your blog data to get access online )

How to install and setup WordPress

Installing WordPress is pretty simple in most cases. There are a few ways to install depending on your web host specifications, but all-in-all it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes whatever way you choose.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org?

Before we get into the technical installation stuff, you may have noticed that WordPress has two different sites online; WordPress.com and WordPress.org. So what’s the difference?

WordPress.com is a little similar to Blogger, where WordPress themselves handle the installation for you and provide the hosting platform. Using a free account you can create a WordPress site under the URL “yourdomain.wordpress.com”, or alternatively sign up to a premium package and use a custom domain name.

Drawbacks to WordPress.com include not being able to edit the PHP source code, or upload plugins – plugins are available but represent just a tiny fraction of what is available over at WordPress.org.

WordPress.org is where you can download the WordPress installation files and get your hands dirty by doing it manually.

I’d definitely recommend this option since you’ll have more control over the back end of the WordPress system.

Doing it manually also means you’ll learn more along the way and have a more scalable solution as your site grows – you’re not restricted to the WordPress.com solution.

Purchase A domain name for your blog

Before starting your blog you must decide a website URL Address ( Domain Name ). This is the name your site is going to be stuck with (unless you make a drastic decision) so you need to choose the domain that best suits your blog.

A domain name needs to be short, memorable, catchy, and most importantly – available. You’ll find that most of the popular domain extensions are long taken, so you’ll need to get creative.

Domain Names are formed by the rules, regulations, and procedures defined for Domain Name System (DNS). In Short, Any name registered under DNS is considered as Domain Name. You can grab a domain Name just only 1$ for the first year on GoDaddy ( GoDaddy is the leading domain register company).

Choose Fast and secure Web hosting

Web Hosting is a service that allows a business or an individual to place their website/blog to digital location. Web Hosting is a place where you can store your blog/website files. It is a type of Internet Hosting Service that allows businesses and individuals to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.

When choosing a web hosting for WordPress you’re going to need the following in order for WordPress to work.

  • PHP version 5.6 or higher
  • MySQL version 5.5 or higher
  • mod_rewrite Apache module
  • A server running Apache or Nginx (recommended)

For my personal experience, I am using Hostgator WordPress Hosting which is very fast and Reliable. Also for my users Here I have a discount coupon you can grab 85% Discount on all hosting plans include ( Linux shared hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting. )

How to grab Hostgator 85% discount

Here fallow me to grab 85% on Hostgator WordPress hosting. First of all open Hostgator official site from given link: www.hostgator.com/deals-85%-off-cupon now Here select your hosting plan as your choice. For example here, I am select WordPress hosting for 2 sites. now on payment window apply coupon code DONTLEAVE2 to get 85% discount on your Total. Refer below screenshot Here I have selected WordPress hosting ( 2 sites ) for 3 years and it cost me only $ 86.13 and discount up to $ 488.07

Hostgator discount

Now lets come to WordPress installation steps.

One-click install vs manual install

So you’ve chosen WordPress.org, now let’s get to installing.

Depending on your type of hosting there are two main ways to install WordPress. You can install it manually by first downloading the installation files here.

The second way of installing, if your host allows, is via a one-click install. Many web servers offer plugins that almost instantly allow you to install WordPress in a single click via your customer control panel.

How to install WordPress Step by step guide.

Access WordPress Dashboard

By default after install WordPress, you can access your WordPress dashboard by this URL: www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Here use your username password to access your dashboard.

Choosing a WordPress theme

Once you have successfully installed WordPress, it’ll use its default theme “Twenty Twenty”. This theme is fairly functional but a bit boring and may not suit your particular theme or niche. So it’s time to choose a new theme.

There is two types of theme free and premium. The number one benefit of a free theme is that there are quite literally thousands to choose from, and they are all… well, free.

The best place to start looking for free themes is on the most popular themes section over at WordPress.org. You can quickly test these themes out from your WordPress dashboard.

Just look on the left-hand nav bar in your WordPress dashboard for “Appearance” and “Themes” links. You can easily install themes from WordPress.org and even test drive them with the “Live Preview” feature.

However, there are negatives to free themes. A lot of them are no longer supported or never came with any support in the first place.

Once you install it, it’s up to you to make any edits or fixes you may need to complete along the way.

Free themes also may need proper attribution to the original creator – this may come in the form as a message or link to the creator’s website in the footer of the theme.

Always check the license too. Many themes are free to use for non-commercial purposes, but then have a license fee for business users. Always check the documentation that comes with your theme.

In my opinion, it’s best to look for a premium theme, preferably one that comes well supported.

Theme Forest marketplace is a good place to start, with themes available from talented designers from as little as four or five dollars.

With a budget of around 50-100 dollars, you’ll likely find exactly the right design for your site, as well as getting some top quality support from the theme creator.

Another place to look is Elegant Themes who offer over 80 brilliantly designed themes and plugins, all available for a one-off yearly subscription cost.

Think carefully about your blog layout

When choosing your theme, think about the kind of layout you want on your blog. Do you want a traditional three column theme showing categories, posts, and archives? Do you want a two-column theme to dedicate more space to your posts? Or perhaps you just need a single column to really let the imagery on your posts do the talking?

Don’t worry too much about the positioning of elements within the sidebar of the page, since these can be arranged as you wish using the widgets feature of WordPress.

Whatever theme you choose it’s vital that it’s mobile-optimized (or responsive). Not only is this essential to user experience with mobile and tablet usage continuing to grow, but Google has recently confirmed that “mobile-friendliness” is now a ranking signal.

So having a responsive, mobile-ready site is more important than ever. Thankfully most modern WordPress themes are responsive.

Security

As I mentioned earlier, WordPress gets hacked a lot. To the extent that some poorly protected sites are under constant brute force attacks by opportunist hackers hoping to find someone using weak passwords such as “123456” or just “password”.

There are a few simple ways to make this a lot harder for hackers. First, you need to change your username.

For some reason, WordPress always sets the admin users username as “admin”. This is pretty dangerous really, as for all intents and purposes hackers already know half of your login information.

Secondly, choose a complicated password.

I know it’s a pain trying to remember a difficult password, but it is nowhere near as annoying as having to fix a hacked site!

To make your password even more fiendish, use a password generator online like this one.

Next, you’ll need to change the WordPress login area, which by default is http://example.com/wp-admin.

Again, hackers will assume you haven’t changed this default login address and constantly hit it, trying to strike lucky. Don’t let them get that far by changing that to something different, such as http://example.com/mysecretlogin58 .

All this sounds like a lot of work, but thankfully the iThemes Security plugin will take care of all of this and a tonne of other important security stuff.

Just install it and follow the checklist to close the security flaws in your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugins

Your fresh WordPress install is likely to come with just two plugins pre-installed. Akismet; a powerful anti-spam plugin for stopping comment and contact form spam, and “Hello Dolly”, which is not really a plugin but an example of how plugins work – activating it causes random lyrics from the Louis Armstrong song of the same name to appear in the top right of your admin screen.

Plugins can offer some great functionality and really help you on your quest for blogging success, but they can come at a price.

Optimize WordPress blog for search engines

WordPress is very SEO (search engine optimization) friendly out-the-box and you can do most of the on-page SEO work easily enough within your control panel.

Best of all, you don’t need to be an SEO expert – just dedicate a little time and you can reap the results.

On-Page SEO stuff

On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing your web pages for the benefit of search engines; most likely Google.

I won’t get fully into SEO here because that would be another 10,000 words on its own. However, we’ve already written a comprehensive beginner guide on the subject!

Make sure every post has a:

  • Unique title tag, which contains your relevant keyword(s).
  • Unique meta description, to lure in visitors that have found your page when searching on Google or browsing social media.

Once you’ve got the basics of SEO nailed, it’s time to install Yoast SEO plugin.  There are a few SEO plugins available for WordPress but Yoast offers the most functionality, displayed in the simplest way.

Once installed, you’ll see a section for Yoast on your post editor page. From here you can include your title and meta description, and even get a preview of what it will look like in the search engine results pages.

Yoast will be quick to inform you if you haven’t included your main keyword, or if your meta description is too long.

Permalinks / URL structure

Permalinks are the permanent URLs to your individual blog post, as well as other categories and tags on your blog.

By default, WordPress permalinks are pretty ugly. You may see that your first post looks like http://example.com/?p=01 – “01” being the post ID number.

Thankfully it’s pretty easy to change permalinks to make things look a little prettier. Ideally, you want your post structure and URL to look something like this:

  • http://example.com/my-seo-blog-post

From your WordPress admin area just look for “Settings” on the left-hand nav bar, then choose “Permalinks”. Here you can choose your preferred structure, or create a custom structure. You can find more on creating a custom structure here.

PageSpeed and Caching

Site speed and load times are important for any website, and slow loading times is one of the main cause of high bounce rates. In short, nobody waits for a painfully slow site. If that wasn’t reason enough to speed things up, back in 2010 Google confirmed site speed was a factor in how it ranks website pages.

Large images, poorly coded plugins and themes, slow web hosting, and really long pages that scroll down forever can all make your site load at a snail’s pace.

First, run the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to get an understanding of speed improvements that can be made.

As ever, there’s a plugin that can help speed things up. There are plenty to choose from, but W3 Total Cache is the most popular.

W3 boasts you can get at least a 10x improvement in overall site performance when fully configured.

Take a look at this guide by Smashing Magazine for more ways to speed up your WordPress blog.

How to optimize your imagery

Don’t forget to optimize your images for Google search too! Image-rich websites can benefit from the traffic coming via Google Image search, but only if Google understands what your images actually are.

  • A descriptive file name for your images. “DCM9342782.jpg” means nothing to both Google and your visitors. Name your images files appropriately.
  • Always use the Alt attribute.
  • Use image title tags where possible.

Setting up Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools

Analytics and Webmaster Tools are tool vital Google tools every marketer should be proficient in using.

Google Analytics is a powerful and very popular web analytics tool. This free application will provide you with a huge amount of actionable data and metrics to help you monitor your traffic performance.

Analytics can be pretty complicated, but it’s easy to work out the basics such as monitoring how much traffic your site is bringing in, and where it’s coming from.

To install it you’ll need to include your analytics tracking code within the header of your WordPress theme.

Webmaster Tools, now known as “Search Console”, is another free Google Service that acts as the link between your site and the Google search engine pages.

Webmaster Tools monitors the health of your website and will alert you to problems it may encounter such as:

  • Indexing issues. Such as Google being unable to access your site
  • Any hacking or malicious code on your site
  • Broken links on your website

If you haven’t got the newly rebranded “Search Console” set up with your domain/site you could be missing huge issues that might be stopping your search performance is as good as it could be.

Again it’s very easy to install. Since we’ve already installed Yoast SEO on your blog, just load up Yoast and look for “General” and then the “Webmaster Tools” tab.

Now all you need to do is set up your Webmaster Tools account and drop your ID number into this area of the Yoast plugin.

Content and publishing

So you’ve spent hour upon hour setting up your blog, optimizing it, creating all the relevant social profiles – finally, you can start doing what you set the thing up for; writing!

As mad as it sounds, writing is only part of a blogger’s job, but as you have invested so much time into your blog thus far, you better have some super interesting content to go with it.

In the early days, it’s a breeze to come up with new blog post ideas. If inspiration isn’t coming to you thick and fast in the first few weeks you might want to think about giving up now, as it only gets harder.

When learning about blogging, and online marketing in general, one of the phrases you’ll hear repeated over and over is the age-old adage “content is king”, and it still rings true today.

You can have the best-looking blog on the web, with a huge network of fans eager for new content, but if your writing is terrible you’re going to get nowhere fast.

What to write about?

Perhaps this question should be, “who are you writing for?” defining your audience at this stage is key, as only once you’ve identified your demographic can you really write content that appeals to them.

After a few months of regularly blogging you may find ideas a little thin on the ground. Writers block happens to the best of us, but inspiration is never far away. Here are just a few simple ways to come up with some great new post ideas.

  • Spy on the competition: See what works for other bloggers in your niche. But don’t just steal their idea and copy the post, but make it a million times better than theirs!
  • Identify keywords: Look up the short tail and long-tail keywords relevant to your niche. What’s popular? Write about that.
  • Draw on your own experiences: What problems do you encounter in your industry? What solutions have you found? How did you reach a certain conclusion? If you’re experiencing a certain problem, there is a good chance others are too – help them out!
  • Speak to real people: Yes, in-person. Speak to your colleagues and industry peers. You’ll soon come up with ideas for a new article.
  • Use social media: Use social media to come up with ideas on blog posts. Check out our guide to mining Twitter for inspiration.
  • Get your customers to generate content for you: User-generated content is usually unique, original and authentic; and best of all its free. Incentivize your customers and social media followers to get creating.

Staying consistent is a major factor in blog success, so it helps if you’re in a constantly changing industry with lots of exciting new things to write about.

But even if you think your subject matter is boring, there are still ways to come up with fresh material.

Readability and post formatting

One of my biggest bugbears in the world of blogging is poor readability and badly formatted posts. An epic blog post, such as this, is hard enough to read as it is, but it’s nigh on impossible if all the copy is in one giant block.

Font type, font size, text color, background color, and text layout all need to be considered when publishing articles.

A few pointers:

  • Use a fairly large font. Ideally around 14-18px. Also, choose an appropriate font – comic sans will not suit a serious business blog.
  • An obvious one, but ensure your text color doesn’t clash with your website’s background color.
  • Use line breaks. Breaking up paragraphs with a line break makes things so much easier to read. It may not be preferable for print, but try using single sentence paragraphs when conveying important information.
  • Use bold for certain keywords or critical phrases.
  • Use heading tags effectively. Every page should really be using at least H1s and H2s to separate sections within your article.
  • Use bulleted lists (like this one). Bullet points can be easily scanned and allow the reader to take in a lot of information quickly.

For more ways to make your blog easy on the eye, check out these tips from the guys at Copy Blogger

How long should your posts be?

This question is a cause for much debate, but in my opinion, the answer is; as long as it takes to convey your message. It could be 300 words or it could be  8,500 words (like the post you’re reading).

The real intent behind this question is, what does Google want? Well, Google does indeed love quality content and the odd beefy article.

Research by serpIQ showed that Google did seem to prefer lengthy content, with the average word count of articles occupying the top 5 positions in Google all being over 2,300 words.

However, could this be a red herring? Correlation does not imply causation. There are many factors at play here, not just word count.

It would be naïve to think that Google ranks content higher just because it contains more words.

Perhaps people just prefer longer content, and as such more people share and link back that kind of content?

One thing I do know – don’t get too hung up on a content length, just mix it up.

If your story demands 3,000 words, so be it. Just don’t write for the sake of it, as this will make your posts boring and unnecessarily long.

Writing the perfect titles and meta descriptions

A good title can make or break a blog post regardless of the content that follows it. A great title can hook people in and get them to click through to your article.

The same goes for meta descriptions – a short line or two describing what your article is about.

First of all, why is this important? Well, your title tag will not only tell Google what your content is about (and help decide how your page is ranked), it also tells your human readers what’s in store for them should the click this link.

And whilst the meta description is not a ranking factor Google uses, the description still plays a pivotal role in convincing people to hit your link.

So where is your title and meta description likely to appear?

  • In the search engine results pages (SERPs)
  • Across social media when shared
  • On your blog home page

Organizing posts with tags and categories

After a few years of regularly publishing posts, a blog can get pretty huge, often with hundreds or separate pages.

Thankfully WordPress allows you to categorize and compart posts types by using categories and tags.

However, a common question amongst WordPress users is what’s the difference?

The official WordPress explanation is that categories allow for broad grouping of post topics, but when you want to group posts around more specific terms you can use tags.

For example, imagine you run a fashion blog and you’re writing a piece on a particular item of clothing.

You may categorize the blog article under “Men’s trousers”, and then use several different descriptive tags such as “Jeans”, “Levi’s”, and “Blue”.

Using this method you can then easily find all posts under the category of “Men’s trousers”, or if you wish, view all blog posts that mention the brand tag of “Levi’s”.

You don’t have to use categories and tags this way, however, this is just a recommendation from the horse’s mouth.

At the WPR blog, we use categories and tags a little differently. We use categories to determine the topic, such as “WordPress SEO”, and then use tags to display the difficulty level of the article, e.g.: “Wordpress Tips”.

This makes it easier for our readers to find posts based on their difficulty level.

Experiment with categories and tags and see what works best for you, but I have one final piece of advice; don’t go overboard with tagging.

There’s nothing more ugly and pointless than seeing dozens of brand new tags at the bottom of a blog post, especially as these tags will likely never be used again and could even end up causing Google indexing issues.

Repurposing your content

When you have published your content, the content life-cycle doesn’t have to stop there.

Once you’ve been blogging for a while it’s a good idea to go back and review some of your most popular content.

Anything that was particularly well received is definitely worth revisiting – but in a slightly different format.

Repurposing your old content enables you to:

  • Reach a new audience
  • Gain new backlinks
  • Create new content with minimal effort/resources

Try repurposing a stat-heavy article into an easily-digestible Infographic, turn a step-by-step guide into a slideshow presentation, or even create a podcast using a particularly wordy post such as a case study.

Competitor analysis

Steve Jobs quoted Picasso when he famously stated that “Good artists copy; great artists steal” and what he may have meant by this is that copying something exactly is relatively pointless, but stealing an idea and making it better can have value/merit.

By investigating what works best for your competitors you can come up with some great ideas for new blog posts, as well as be identifying opportunities for new backlinks.

If you’re stealing an idea from a competitor, don’t just copy their content in a roundabout way – make it a thousand times better!

Make your version of that post the definitive resource on that topic; otherwise, you’re not adding any value.

Reaching your audience

Once you have published your article don’t just sit there and expect the traffic to roll in.

Depending on your niche it’s likely the search engine results pages (SERPs) are crammed with similar articles to your – articles that are long-established with plenty of backlinks and social shares.

In the long-term, as your reputation grows, you’ll likely find pages from your blog climbing the SERPs and you’ll start getting some Google referral traffic.

But in the short-term, you need to make an effort to get your content seen by the right people.

I hope after read This Ultimate WordPress Guide for Beginners you can now easily start your own WordPress Blog 🙂 Good luck to start.

Also read:

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ExpressVPN Review 2022 | #1 Trusted leader in VPN (49% discount+3 month free)

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ExpressVPN is a VPN service based in the British Virgin Islands. Operational since 2009, it is a standout amongst the most presumed and one of the best VPN services in the market. Its security ensuring and anonymizing abilities are commendable, however, the thing that grabs everybody’s eye the minute you enter ExpressVPN’s website is the speed guarantee. The words “the quickest VPN on Earth” is noticeable and underscored.

ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN Review

In this review, we will cover everything about ExpressVPN including its servers, valuing, speed, bolstered stages, evaluating, and that’s just the beginning. How about we begin with the Pros and Cons.

Expressvpn pros and cons Comparison

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ExpressVPN Servers

ExpressVPN has in excess of 1500 servers in 94 nations over the world. While there are a couple of VPNs that offer these numerous servers, it’s sort of a selective club. These servers offer shared static IPs and are situated in all the real areas around the globe. There’s dependably an ExpressVPN server close you. This enhances the effectively quick association speeds and guarantees that there will never be server clog, bringing about less association drops. It additionally gives Stealth servers to nations like China and UAE which utilize rehearses like profound bundle assessment to recognize and square VPN clients. VPN utilization is prohibited in UAE currently, so having a VPN that shrouds the way that you are utilizing a VPN is critical.

Expressvpn server locations

 

There were no DNS, IPv4, and WebRTC leaks with ExpressVPN. It keeps you protected at all times, and the DNS, IPv4, and WebRTC results gave a good idea about how well the VPN works towards protecting your privacy and identity.

ExpressVPN for Netflix

Expressvpn unblock Netflix

Netflix is descending extremely hard on VPN clients as it attempts to keep its administration geo-confined and keep outcasts from getting to Netflix USA. That variant has the best substance, so it is reasonable that you would need to unblock Netflix USA. Be that as it may, where most VPNs fall flat, ExpressVPN succeeds. It can enable you to unblock Netflix USA through a couple of servers. These servers are all clearly in the US, however, there’s no sign with respect to which of these can enable you to out. This is somewhat brilliant in light of the fact that publicizing that data will bring about obstructing of those servers by Netflix. To get to Netflix USA with ExpressVPN, simply get some information about which servers can encourage you. You can likewise utilize their SmartDNS benefit for this reason (more on this later). You can likewise check ExpressVPN’s Netflix page.

ExpressVPN for Kodi

Expressvpn on kodi

Kodi enables you to watch your most loved films and TV appears for nothing. Despite the fact that it is an incredible media spilling gadget, it can’t vouch for a portion of the free gushing connections it gives you. There’s no telling who may run those connections, and the administrator may keep an eye on you. In this way, it’s best to utilize ExpressVPN for Kodi also. Setting up ExpressVPN on Kodi is straightforward, and you can pursue the setup manage on their site.

ExpressVPN for Torrents

Torrent services and websites are an important part of everyone’s internet usage these days. They give all of you the sorts of documents and information you may need, similar to films, TV appears, recreations, programming, music, and so forth. It is very simple to download deluges through a customer, however, when you download downpours without a VPN, anybody can see your downpour movement. Any noxious client in the pool can keep an eye on you, or any inquisitive individual associated with a similar open system can see your action. Also, ISPs can, and regularly do, throttle the data transfer capacity accessible to you when you download torrents.

To keep yourself away from all prying eyes and download torrents freely, use ExpressVPN. It will hide your torrent activity from everyone, and its high-speed servers ensure that your download speed does not suffer at all. Not all ExpressVPN servers support P2P, but you can always ask the customer support for help in the matter.

ExpressVPN Pricing

ExpressVPN pricing plan and Discount

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If you are looking for a pocket-friendly VPN service, then ExpressVPN is not your cup of tea. It’s just not for people running on a strict budget with its $12.95 per month package. The annual package does offer a considerable discount ($6.67/month) due to the longer subscription, and there are discounts every now and then, but it still remains one of the most expensive VPN services.

But you can use their no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee to good effect. If you find that ExpressVPN is not what you expected and the service is lacking in some areas, you can ask for a full refund within a month. While most other VPNs offer a 7-day money back guarantee, ExpressVPN offers a 30-day guarantee. How’s that for confidence!

Desktop users do not have the option of a free trial. However, a 7-day free trial and a one-day free trial is available for iOS and Android users respectively. Although one day isn’t time enough to test the service, it’s in compliance with Google Play regulations, so there’s not much as can be done. As for payment options, you can pay using credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin, and a variety of third-party merchants.

ExpressVPN Speed

VPNs do tend to diminish your browsing speed a little as a result of the encryption overhead that is added to your connection. Be that as it may, what isolates the best from the rest is the way steep the decrease in speed is. The better VPNs ensure that the speed decrease is negligible, while the best VPNs guarantee that the decrease is unnoticeable. ExpressVPN is extraordinary compared to other VPNs, so it’s nothing unexpected that you don’t locate any discernible drop in the association speed. Testing through various servers amid various occasions gives a sensible gauge of a VPN’s speed, and ExpressVPN returned promising results.

It gives one of the quickest download speeds among all VPNs. Spilling recordings in 1080p goals and playing on the web multiplayer diversions does not give you any issue when utilizing ExpressVPN. When you download deluges or normal documents, you will see that association speeds are like when you download records without the VPN. At times, you may even find that the velocities are better, founded on the server you pick. The main issue you may confront is an association drop or two each other day or somewhere in the vicinity.

It provides one of the fastest download speeds among all VPNs. Streaming videos in 1080p resolution and playing online multiplayer games does not give you any problem when using ExpressVPN. When you download torrents or regular files, you will notice that connection speeds are similar to when you download files without the VPN. In some cases, you might even find that the speeds are better, based on the server you choose. The only issue you might face is a connection drop or two every other day or so.

Protocols and Encryption

Although there are many reasons one might use a VPN service, privacy and encryption are on everyone’s list of requirements. ExpressVPN gives you as many options as you want from within the client. You can choose from PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN, and SSTP. The encryption is the modern standard AES 256-bit, and authentication is an impressive SHA-512. Both of these provide for a service that keeps out all nosy parties and ensures that your online activity is your business alone. It also helps you share sensitive information over the web without worrying about it getting intercepted through a man-in-the-middle attack.

Clients and compatibility

ExpressVPN offers dedicated clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and offers an Android, iOS, and Amazon Fire TV Stick app. You can also use the setup guides on the website to setup ExpressVPN on your Smart TV, Roku, gaming console, Chromebook, and Routers. If you want, you can also order pre-configured router to cover your entire home network with ExpressVPN protection.

The best part about doing this is that your router is only counted as one device, and you can extend that protection to as many devices you want to connect to that router as you want. Before setting up ExpressVPN on your router, just check if they two are compatible. If that’s not the case, but you want a VPN on your router anyway, go for their pre-configured routers.

The VPN clients are the most intuitive and feature-rich you will see. While you cannot change the encryption type from within the VPN for security reasons, you can change VPN protocols and servers freely. It is set to OpenVPN over UDP by default, which is a good choice. The client will automatically choose the best server for you based on your location and usage, but you can override that and make a choice of your own. When setting up for the first time, you have to enter an activation code for any device you choose to connect. This enables you to connect to the VPN the moment you start the client later.

The UI is attractive, and you can use all features like ‘Network Lock,’ which works similar to an auto-kill switch. Network lock protects you from DNS and IP leaks as well as keeps you safe in case of connection drops. This is especially useful when you are downloading anything with a VPN, most importantly torrent files.

Downloading torrents without VPN protection is not advised because anyone can see your torrent activity from the pool and you can face legal action and experience bandwidth throttling from your ISP. Since ExpressVPN allows P2P, you can use ExpressVPN torrent downloads and be free to leave your system because you have Network Lock’s assurance.

The Mac client differs from others in that it has the Split Tunnelling feature as well, which allows you to choose which apps’ traffic passes through the VPN servers. Before you do this, always make sure you know what you are doing. Otherwise, you will end up making a hole in your own defense. You can use ExpressVPN on up to three devices simultaneously. Previously, you could only use one device of a kind. But ExpressVPN has modified that feature and allowed you to choose the devices as per your requirement.

You can use it on two laptops and one phone, or any combination you want. The only issue you can have is that before you want to connect the fourth device, you have to manually disconnect one of the three devices using the connection. Simply shutting off the device does not help your cause. A slight inconvenience, but something you’d expect ExpressVPN to take care of.

ExpressVPN Logs Policy

A VPN that hides you from everyone but records everything you do is more dangerous and damaging than using the internet without VPN. This is why using a VPN with a no-logs policy is important. ExpressVPN falls into this category. Moreover, since it is based out of the British Virgin Islands, it does not face legal pressure from the NSA or GCHQ, etc. to disclose user logs. A no-logs policy and no data retention laws to worry about is what you should look for in any VPN.

Expressvpn Encryption and security features

The only things that ExpressVPN records are connection timestamps, the server you connected to, and the bandwidth used during the connection. Your personal IP address is not recorded, and this information is never shared with anyone. Although some people find an issue with this, there’s a workaround. If you subscribe to ExpressVPN using their newly established .onion extension or a Tor proxy or someone else’s system and pay through Bitcoin, ExpressVPN will have no way of identifying you.

Customer support

ExpressVPN Customer support live chat

ExpressVPN offers a 24X7 customer support service through live chat, email, and ticket system. All three systems work like a charm. You don’t have to wait for even a minute to hear from a support executive through the live chat, and the responses are not just cordial but informative and helpful. The same may be expected from their email and ticket systems. The knowledge base is good enough to handle most of the general queries. ExpressVPN’s customer support service is arguably the best we have seen so far.  

Extra Features in ExpressVPN

Stealth Servers

ExpressVPN has dedicated stealth servers to help people in China. The country has strict censorship laws, and while people have been using VPNs to have some online freedom for years, the government is making things harder. They are now hunting down VPN users and enforcing severe legal penalties on VPN users. The Chinese government uses techniques like deep packet inspection to identify VPN traffic and locate the VPN users. But with ExpressVPN, you have a way out. It has dedicated servers in Hong Kong to beat the Chinese government’s internet censorship. There’s not much known as to how these servers work and help you stay under the radar, but the only thing that matters is that they do work in helping you circumvent government censorship if you are living in or are traveling to the Chinese mainland.

Smart DNS

While VPNs help you unblock geo-restricted content, there’s another way to do so, especially for streaming services. SmartDNS services allow you to unblock geo-restricted streaming services. While they work in a similar fashion to VPNs, there are a few differences. For starters, SmartDNS changes your DNS settings and ensures that DNS requests for geo-restricted services are handled by their dedicated servers. This enables you to overcome geo-restriction. Since there is no encryption involved, you enjoy much higher speeds than VPNs, although you should understand that this comes at the cost of not having the protection which VPNs offer.

ExpressVPN offers a SmartDNS service that is simple to use and can help you unblock popular streaming services like Netflix USA and the BBC iPlayer. Setting it up is pretty simple, and you can visit the website to get it up and running.

Browser extensions

ExpressVPN offers browser extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users. It is a little different from other VPN browser extensions in that it is of no good without having the VPN client on the system as well. The browser extension gives you more control over the VPN client on your system. It doesn’t add anything to the experience, but only improve the comfort of using the service on your system.

If you are looking for a VPN service that gives you everything you want, then there’s no better choice than ExpressVPN. It has more than 1500 servers across 148 cities in 94 countries of the world. These servers provide you some of the best connection speeds you will see. Although we’re not sure whether it really is the fast VPN on Earth as the website claims, it’s not too far off the mark. As for privacy and security, you don’t have to worry about them when using ExpressVPN since it uses OpenVPN over UDP by default in the clients and uses strong encryption and authentication algorithms. With 3 simultaneous connections, a great Smart DNS service to unblock geo-restricted content, P2P support, features like Network Lock and Stealth Servers, and arguably the best customer support service in the entire industry, it’s no surprise that ExpressVPN is one of the top-ranked VPNs. The only downside is that it is a bit pricey. But with the 30-day money back guarantee, and a 7-day free trial for iOS users, you have ample of time to try the service fully.

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Laptop buying guide 2022 (What factors to consider when Buying a new Laptop)

Looking for buying a new laptop but can’t decide which one to buy? There are a number of big manufacturer such as Dell, Lenovo, HP, or Acer is selling a wide variety of sizes, features and prices, which make difficult to decide which laptop is best for you? Here Our laptop buying guide help to choose Processor, RAM, Internal memory, Graphics card and battery for a good performance laptop. But if you are in hurry, here our recommend Choose display size between 12.5 to 14, intel core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 1920 x 1080 screen, Minimum 5 to 8 hours of battery life and prefer SSD Storage instead of a hard drive.

What are the specifications of a good Laptop?

Now let’s discuss the factors you must check, Depending on your computing needs, there are several factors to consider before deciding which laptop is best suited for you. Basically, a Laptops performance is based on 5 main pillars

Processor + RAM + Internal memory + Battery + Graphics card = Performance

Which brand is best for Laptop?

This is the first question comes to your mind when buying a laptop, which brand is best for a laptop? This is basically because, even after identifying a laptop with all the right features, it all ends with what you’re heart is comfortable with. You might have love for a certain brand or might just want to try out something new. So the brand choice is entirely up to you. But recommend you need to choose a brand that has spend quite some time in the market. This is so essential because in future, you might need to make replacements to some your hardware components, stuff like the keyboard, screen and other components.

Which processor is best for Laptop?

The processor or the Central Processing Unit is the brain of that desktop or laptop. It does exactly same as the human brain. It does all the logical and arithmetic operations. Processors are classified according to how powerful they are. Means if you have more powerful the processor, the more tasks that the computer can process at a single time. The processor consists of the clock speed which particularly tells how much many tasks can be run at a time.

There has been an advancement in the processors over time all the way from the Pentium processors to the most current i9. As you can tell, i9 is the most powerful processor, but again not everyone needs an i9.

Also read: Compare Intel core i3 vs i5 vs i7 processors Which One Best?

Selecting the right processor would depend on the kind of applications you wish to run. If you’re the kind of person who plays a lot of games, do a lot of video of editing or a programmer who will always be running the powerful IDEs like Android Studio, then advise you to have at least a 5th generation i5 processor. It’s exactly what you need to render those graphics, games or the powerful IDEs. Here’s a quick reference guide to help you select the right processor

Which processor is best for Laptop

Is 4gb RAM enough for my Laptop?

RAM (Random access memory) measured in terms of Gigabytes(GB) which temporarily stores data as it is being processed by the processor. And the amount of RAM decides on how smooth and lag-free an experience you get on your laptop.

A person who performs a lot of heavy tasks like gaming, programming, video editing needs a lot of this. I recommend at least 8GB. but if you can get more, the better. With RAM, you can upgrade even after buying your laptop as most of the computers these days contain more than one space for RAM chips. So you can upgrade to more RAM by utilizing the extra ports. However, if you’re a regular user who does surfing, document editing then 4GB memory is just enough for you.

Also read: Difference between static RAM and dynamic RAM, Which is preferred?

Which one is best DDR4 or DDR3?

We recommend buy a laptop with DDR 4 RAM as it is faster, efficient power consumption that improves battery life and feature proofs your laptop. Where DDR3 RAM are cheaper but older slower & consumes more power

How much RAM enough for my Laptop

How much storage do I need on my laptop?

Selecting the right amount of storage capacity for your laptop depends on storage space requirement and speed of storage. As you can guess, the more storage you have, the more files you can store on your computer. However, unlike in the past where there were only HDD storage devices, there’s is a new kind of storage called the SSD. So there’s to be a choice between the two. SSD is the newest and obviously, it has more advantages over HDD including faster rates of reading data. But the advantages come with a cost, SDD is somewhat more expensive than HDD.

If you don’t mind the amount then SSD is the best but if you mind the amount then HDD should be just fine. The capacity I recommend is at least 500 GB for all groups of people. You can decide to change to a bigger size in the future as your requirements expand.

Read this before Choosing the right storage for your laptop, Difference between HDD and SSD.

Choosing the right storage for your laptop

Do I need a graphics card on my laptop?

If you are a gaming user you must consider this, video card memory mostly referred to as the GPU. Gaming requires a lot of video memory if you’re to enjoy it. Opt for at least 4 GB of video memory, if you’re to enjoy smooth loading and playing. The screen resolution should at least be 1920 x 1080 for the clearest experience. Also If you are using photo and video editiong software like photoshop, design software like AutoCAD, and of cours most modern games require a dedicated graphics card to function smoothly

If you’re not into gaming at all, then a minimum of 1GB of video memory should work for. There won’t be much load on the graphics card. The screen resolution should as well be at least 1920 x 1080. You also need clear text and images in the screen.

Pro tip: Just like RAM the more the GBs in your graphics card the smoother your games will run even in full HD or 4K resolution

Which laptop screen size should I buy?

The next thing you want to look at is the laptop screen size, If you are looking for gaming purpose, the screen size matters and you need a bigger screen. But for some tasks, there’s completely no need for a very large screen especially if you’re going to be moving around here and there with your laptop.

So for students who will always carry a laptop to class, business men who will always carry the laptop regularly to work, make sure to get a portable laptop in other words a small sized computer. For portability get a laptop with at most 14 inches of screen size.  This will save you energy to be used while carrying that laptop bag. But as you plan buy a portable laptop, it shouldn’t be too small, long hours on computer of a small will often cause eye strain, therefore, you should mind keeping your eyes healthy too.

  • 11 to 12 inches: The thinnest and lightest systems around have 11- to 12-inch screens and typically weigh 2.5 to 3.5 pounds,
  • 13 to 14 inches: Provides the best balance of portability and usability, particularly if you get a laptop that weighs under 4 pounds.
  • 15 inches: The most popular size, 15-inch laptops usually weigh 4.5 to 6.5 pounds. Consider this size if you want a larger screen and you’re not planning to carry your notebook around often.
  • 17 to 18 inches: If your laptop stays on your desk all day every day, a 17- or 18-inch system could provide you with the kind of processing power you need to play high-end games or do workstation-level productivity.

Choose the right battery for your laptop

This is another crucial factor to consider while buying a laptop. A strong battery should be key while buying a new laptop. You will occasionally be away from power sources especially if you’re to be moving with the laptop. This applies to students, business people who carry Laptop every day from home to work. A battery which can last for at least 4 hours is great as you can finish work without worrying about the power supply.

Operating system and Price

So having looked at everything you need on your laptop, its time to look the operating system that you can work with. The most distinct operating systems that you’re going choose from are Windows OS and MAC OS.

Don’t mind about Linux at this as you can choose to install it at any time and on any kind of laptop. MAC OS is manufactured by Apple and only runs on Apple machines, so if you’re that person with Apple everything, MAC is for you. The rest of the computers can run all operating systems apart from the MAC Operating System. Something to note is the price, Apple laptops are a bit more expensive than the rest.

Warranty

A warranty is a written document from the manufacturer or seller to a buyer to guarantee laptop repair or replacement for a specified period of time. Most of the genuine sellers provide this service and I recommend buying a laptop which has at least a 1 month warranty. In this case, you won’t be stressed in case of any hardware failure.

You should, however, be very careful while handling a laptop that has a warranty, a very small mistake like opening the laptop cover can void the warranty and make it useless therefore make sure you read and understand the terms and conditions for the warranty.

Some other things:

Ports are usually not very important while choosing a laptop but its helpful if you get the connection you need right on the system rather then carry a slew of dongles. Most of laptops have USB 3.0 ports and HDMI out for video. However, an increasing number of laptops use USB Type-C or Thunderbolt 3 ports that are USB Type-C compatible. Getting Type-C is a definite plus because you can use it to connect to universal chargers and docks.

Also consider networking: Although all laptops have built-in wireless networking (if you have a fancy 802.11ac router, check your laptop’s wireless chip supports AC, so you get the best transfer speeds), not all have an Ethernet plug.

Did these tips help to decide which laptop is best for you? Let us know on comments below. Also read:

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Android phone won’t turn on after update? Try these solutions in 2022

Fix Android Phone Won’t Turn On

last time you used your phone, But found it suddenly switched off and Your Android phone won’t turn on? A number of users reported phone Charging but it does not power on while others say that their Android phone won’t charge or turn on at all. It’s very frustrating because you want your phone to at least switch on so that you can see what is happening.

What to do When Android Phone Won’t Turn On?

The fact is that with a phone not switching on, your troubleshooting is very limited because you have no screen to work on. However, there are a few basic things that can still be done.

Check its Charging Issue

The first thing you should do is to let the phone charge for 20-30 minutes, and then try to turn it on. If your phone powers on, then the problem with android phone battery that won’t hold the charge

Defective Charging Cable

Sometimes I personally found phone charging only there is no improvement on charging percentage, and Damaged cables can be a reason why your phone is unable to charge and if your phone’s battery is dead then your phone will not switch on.

So its recommended try a different charger, or try using a USB cable and connect your device to your computer. At the same time If you were using a computer to charge the phone then switch to a wall charger to check if it works

Perform a Power Cycle

If you have a device with a removable battery. Since your Android device is powered off, remove the battery, then press and hold the Power button for a few seconds so that all the power is drained from within the circuits of the phone. Now reinsert the battery and try to Power on your phone. If the phone switches on then this could have been a one-time issue with the phone which stands resolved.

Also if you have an extra battery with you, used it and check if the phone powers on when you switch batteries.

Check Power button is working properly

After you charge the phone, Press the Power button a few times to ensure that there is definitely a problem in powering on the phone. If it Powers on then check if the Power button is working properly. There may be a problem in the way the Power button is wired up and maybe some loose component is causing the issue. Take the phone to a technician who can check the internal wiring of the phone if the Power button is not working properly.

Reboot your phone into Safe Mode

Sometimes, the problem in your phone arises because of a Third party app which may be corrupted. This can be checked by trying to boot your phone into Safe Mode where the third party apps will not run. Only the pre-loaded apps will run on the phone when it is in Safe Mode. This will help you narrow down the problem. If your phone works in Safe Mode, you know that the problem lies in one of the third party apps. Let us first look at the steps that will help you reboot your phone into Safe Mode.

  1. Try to power on your phone by pressing and holding the power key and the volume down key
  2. Once you see the Samsung screen, you can release the Power key but continue to hold the volume down key till the home screen appears and you can see Safe Mode written on the lower left corner of the phone screen.

If you are able to boot your phone up in Safe mode, then you have a problem with one of the third party apps that are installed on your phone. To solve this problem you can either reset your phone to factory settings or you can uninstall third party apps and try restarting your phone in normal mode.
To leave Safe mode and go back to normal mode, you just need to restart the phone the usual way – By bringing up the Power options by pressing and holding the Power button and choosing Restart.

Wipeout Cache Partition

Press and hold the Power button, the Volume Down button, and the Home button all at the same time. Once you see the Android icon, release the Power button but continue to press and hold the other two buttons till you see the System Recovery screen.

You will see a menu with many options. Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option that says ‘Wipe Cache Partition’. Select the option by using the Power key and the process of wiping out the cache partition will initiate.

Wipe Cache Partition
Once it completes, your phone will automatically reboot and new cache files will be built by your phone. If you are able to go through the entire process successfully and your phone switches on, then your problem is fixed.

Reset the Phone to Factory Settings

If you have not been able to get any success with any of the solutions above, then try resetting your Android device or the tablet whatever you are using to its initial settings because it will help your phone get rid of all files that may be causing the problem.
Note: Factory reset wipes all data on the phone, so you will end up losing data and the apps that you may have installed on the phone permanently. If you do not wish to lose any data on your phone then it is advisable to take your phone to a technician who can check alternative ways to fix your phone.

  • Press and Hold the Volume Down, Home, and Power button.
  • Once you see the Android icon, release the Power button and continue to press and hold the other two buttons till you see the Recovery Mode screen.
  • Once you get the menu on the Recovery Mode, highlight the option “Factory Reset” by using the volume down key.
  • Select the option using the Power key and let the process of factory reset to complete after which your phone will restart on its own.
  • Once the phone restarts you can begin using it and you will get a fresh start, but all data will be lost.

Did these solutions help to Turn on your Android Device? let us know on comments below. Also, read