Web Hosting Box

Next Tuesday will be Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday for the month of October. For IT admins this means it’s time to clear your calendar and prepare to address a record-setting 16 security bulletins addressing 49 different identified vulnerabilities. This breaks the current record of 14 security bulletins that were issued back in August 2010.

Most of the updates plug security holes that could allow malevolent internet users to inject malicious code into the users’ computers. As these holes are usually in features not switched on by default, Microsoft usually labels them as Important (the most critical updates are labeled Critical).

It’s a long list of affected software that includes: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3, Office 2003 Service Pack 3, Office 2007 Service Pack 2, Office 2010, Office 2004 for Mac and 2008 for Mac, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, SharePoint Server 2007, Groove Server 2010, and Office Web Apps.

These patches are considered important as we head into the last quarter of the year, a time when many businesses have a heavy volume of online shopping. This period sees many financial and retail companies going into lockdown mode where they don’t update their systems.

Microsoft will release the 16 updates at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 12.

Microsoft and Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, have announced that the Windows Live Spaces will be transitioned to WordPress.com. A new migration utility will greet users of Live Spaces when they login so they can transfer their blogs. The announcement was made at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.

Recently posted on Inside Windows Live, Dharmesh Mehta, Director, Windows Live Product Management, said

“Over the last few weeks, we’ve spent a good bit of time talking about our approach to partnering with the web, and as part of that, how we’re deeply integrating with the leading consumer services that you find most valuable….

As we looked at customers’ blogging needs and what different companies were providing, we were particularly interested in what WordPress.com is doing….

So rather than having Windows Live invest in a competing blogging service, we decided the best thing we could do for our customers was to give them a great blogging solution through WordPress.com.”

Paul Kim from Automattic added on the Just Another WordPress Weblog:

“Over a six month period, beginning today, Windows Live Spaces users will have the option to move their blogs to WordPress.com. To make this possible, we’ve created a brand new importer for Windows Live Spaces to WordPress.com. New Windows Live users will also be offered a WordPress.com blog when they choose to create a new blog.”

There are about 30 million blogs published with windows Live Spaces, they will have until March 2011 to transition their content. Considering the endless layout options WordPress options we think Mircosoft is making a smart move to not compete.

Google Chrome is one of the safest web browsers around and thanks to the Webkit based rendering engine it is not only secure but also provides faster webpage rendering. Now this engine can be embedded into older versions of Internet Explorer (such as IE6) to make them resistant to security flaws and to provide a smoother Internet experience.

This comes as part of the Chrome Frame plug-in that is now out of Beta stage. This plug-in can be integrated seamlessly into Internet Explorer to provide features such as HTML5 Canvas tag, CSS3 and much faster JavaScript with up to 10x page load speedup. The plug-in supports IE6, 7 and 8.

Google frame was initially created to work with Google Wave and supports many advanced features that Internet Explorer lacks. Microsoft naturally doesn’t admire Chrome Frame’s capabilities and responded with the following statement:

“Given the security issues with plug-ins in general and Google Chrome in particular, Google Chrome Frame running as a plug-in has doubled the attach area for malware and malicious scripts. This is not a risk we would recommend our friends and families take.”

However after months of testing, Google claims that Chrome Frame is now more secure than ever. Developers can integrate Chrome Frame with newer web pages and ask users running Internet Explorer to install the plug-in that would make their browser compatible with the newer web standards, giving a much smoother internet experience and protecting them from security flaws.

Here is a small demo of Chrome Frame:

Image Source.

There are many metrics for which to classify a web hosting provider. These are commonly used to determine the costs and benefits of starting a website from the ground up. With so many web hosting providers to choose from, it can be difficult to know which companies are the best. The most common aspects of classifying web hosting include:

• Cost
• Programming languages
• Operating systems
• Web servers
• Features

The first question most new owners ask is regarding the costs of running a site in order to set a budget. Over the past 10 years, web hosting has become inexpensive due to budget hosting. Many of the inexpensive hosts cost less than $5 per month. For only a few dollars more per month, you can acquire some excellent features.

Another inquiry by website owners is the programming languages used on the server. This will allow them to customize the site by increasing interactive features. Commonly used languages include, ASP, JSP, PHP and Perl. These are all web-based programming languages that provide full user’s command.

The third classification is the operating system used on the server. The choices are usually Windows or Linux. The above programming languages only work on one operating system or the other. Therefore, you must choose which operating system based on your specific needs. There are equal advantages and disadvantages of both.

The next classification is the features of the web servers. These commonly include performance and connection speed as well as the type of hosting. The choices are, shared hosting, dedicated hosting and Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting. Each option has a different cost for monthly service.

The last classification is the features offered by the web hosting provider. These are typically the extras you receive after signing up. For instance, many web hosting providers are now offering simple WordPress setup from the control panel which makes it much easier for users to create a blog or storefront.

Due to the number of web hosting providers currently available on the internet, it can be difficult to classify them all. Using these five categories can help you make a more informed decision and discover what you really want your website to be and what tools you need to achieve that goal. As more providers are added to the internet offering additional features to have an edge on their competition, more categories will develop to differentiate the good from the bad.

Skype recently completed beta group five-way video calling and apparently it went well as they have just released a new version of Skype 5.0 for windows that doubles group support. It now allows up to 10 video callers.

This Skype 5.0 beta two is available for download and includes 10-way video calls, automatic call recovery and a cleaner user interface. The update is also said to improve call quality and includes a number of bug fixes to make the overall experience much smoother.

The most exciting feature is of course the 10-way video calling which will make the service more appealing for large virtual team meetings or online family reunions. Although the 5.0 is still beta and therefore buggy it already has more positive buzz than the competing Gmail Voice Calling.

From current reporting there are issues with video quality once you start getting past 3 or 4 people. The quality will also be dependant on each participant having a fast internet connection and a powerful computer. It is also still limited to users with Windows.