But on closer inspection, it isn’t legit.  It’s a phishing email – designed to get me to click on something and then send me to somewhere to get my computer infected with something nasty, or to try and get more information from me.

How did I know this?  I let the mouse linger over the link to see where it was going, and it wasn’t PayPal.

This is a good thing to get into the habit of doing.  If you get links in an email, take a moment and DON’T CLICK.  Let your mouse linger and carefully see if the link is going somewhere it shouldn’t.  And even then, you don’t need to click on it.  Open a browser and go check your account at PayPal or your bank by TYPING IN THE URL YOURSELF.

Be a happy fish – don’t take the bait

Just yesterday there was an article in PC World online warning that hackers are targeting older versions of WordPress – it’s best to keep your site up-to-date.

You can see what version of WordPress you are running by looking at the “Right Now” box on your Dashboard Home page. The version is printed at the bottom, e.g.:

If you need to update, there will be a yellow box at the top of your Dashboard with a link to start the process (click on “Please update now”)

If you need help updating or backing up or anything of the sort, please give us a call.

Secondly, we wanted to make it easier for advanced users to be able to customize the look and feel of the contacts plugin – so we added a CSS textbox in the Contacts Settings page – so you can enter CSS overrides with ease.  We designed it so that if you upgrade to the latest version of contacts or switch themes your custom CSS is preserved.

We hope this latest update to Contacts helps you, your customers and your followers connect better!

Cheers!

For more information – view PayPal’s non-profit FAQ – or drop us a line!

But I don’t think I am going to be visiting it much anymore.

‘Cause I’m hooked on Jetpack by WordPress.

Jetpack is a bundle of plugins from the team at Automattic, and of all the plugins, it’s the Stats plugin that I love the most.  It does all the important things at Google Analytics does with one big difference.

It’s right there in your Dashboard.

Taking a page from the Apple playbook – they aren’t doing anything new – but they have integrated it far better.  It’s an instantly accessible part of your Dashboard, if you activate the Jetpack.

It’s easy to use.  Under Plugins, install and activate Jetpack, register with WordPress.com, and then click on Jetpack (it’s in the upper left corner of your Dashboard.)  Look for WordPress.com Stats and click Configure.

To help remind you to mind your statistics, check the box for “Put a chart showing 48 hours of views on the Admin Bar.”

To see how your campaigns are fairing, let it cook for a day or two then click on Site Stats under Jetpack.

Beautifully integrated.  I’m hooked.  Thanks Automattic!  Well done!

Come join us and tell us what you wanted to accomplish in 2011 but didn’t. Come brainstorm with us on how to have a different outcome in 2012.

Hope to see you on Wednesday, December 7th for the last kickstart of the year.

http://biznik.com/events/what-do-you-want-to-accomplish-next-year-that-you-didnt-accomplish-this-year-snohomish-kickstart

Version 1.1.0 adds the ability to display only posts from a specific category – and it’s still FREE.

For more information, or to download Hot Sheet 1.1.0, click here.

But it almost didn’t happen  – she had first tried contacting us in the comments on a post here, and that comment was buried alongside dozens and dozens of spam comments.

What’s a website owner to do?  How can you stay on top of the deluge of spam and not miss the authentic comments?

That’s when we changed some of the settings on comments and discovered a great plugin – and as a result the amount of spam has dropped dramatically.  Here’s what we did so you can do it too:

First, in your Dashboard >> Settings >> Discussion, check the box that says “Automatically close comments on posts older than XX days.”  Set XX to something like 90 days (that’s what we use.

Next, download and install the “Comment Timeout” plugin by James McKay.  It will allow the comment window to remain open longer on posts with active discussions (i.e. it starts the 90 day clock ticking again.)  Here’s the settings we use (Dashboard >> Settings >> Comment Timeout):

And if that’s not enough (and that works for us), you can also subscribe to WordPress’ Askimet service – it gets good reviews for tackling the spam.  But try the above options first and see what you think!

What techniques do you use to stay on top of spam comments?

At least some of us did.

There were actually two groups – one in the conference room I went to and a second group of coworkers who were asked to leave – they were being laid off from our dot-com.

We realized it soon enough and began trying to figure out who was spared and who had been axed.  Our sys admin hadn’t been at the meeting – surely they hadn’t let him go too?

No – he wasn’t let go – he was kept and had been tasked with changing all the passwords on dozens of servers while we were in that meeting – to avoid any of the laid-off employees being able to login again.  It was part of the plan.

When you have a website or other critical accounts (like PayPal) where multiple people have access – you need to have a good plan in place – and not just for when things go south.

1. Limit the number of people with access

For your WordPress Dashboard, your PayPal account or any critical account, limit the number of people that have access.  Make sure each account is using a strong password.  It is important that the email accounts with access to PayPal use strong passwords too.

What makes for a strong password?

• 8 or more numbers, letters, and special characters –  10 or more is even better
• Use a mix of numbers, upper and lowercase letters and symbols
• Do not use common words like password
• Do not use your name, business or non-profit name as any part of the password
• Do not use repeating digits or series like 1111 or 1234

Have a policy in place that specifies who in your business or non-profit needs access to the PayPal account.  Limit the number of people with access to the account.

Don’t give more than a couple people the Admin role in WordPress – adding posts requires no more than the Editor role.  Remember, people with Admin role can change just about anything on your website.

2. Have a plan for when people leave (or worse)

Have a policy in place to change passwords on critical accounts when people leave or no longer have a need to access those accounts.

3. Keep an eye on the critical accounts

Make it part of your accountant or treasurers job to transfer any received funds out of PayPal (i.e. twice weekly) and into your checking account and to monitor for misuse – ask them to report on their findings as part of their regular duties.

It’s Like Changing the Locks on a House You Just Bought

Using strong passwords and limiting the number of people with access to critical accounts like WordPress Admins or PayPal is like changing the locks on a house you just bought.  Chances are it won’t be an issue, but if something unexpected ever happens (like happened at the dot-com I used to work at), you’ll be in a better position to handle it.