Archive for November, 2011

Extract EMail addresses From a MySQL Database Using phpMyAdmin

November 24th, 2011

I wanted to send out a newsletter to all of my clients. So I can use WHM/cPanel or THT(billing system) to send them out. But it is possible that the emails would not reach it’s destinations. Or it is possible that I end this up with blacklisting my server’s IP address.

So I needed another solution and came up with sending the emails through MailChimp – A professional EMail marketing service. So they will handle everything and I will have a complete report of the EMails I send out.
But the thing is, I didn’t had all the email addresses of my clients anywhere except for the database of my billing system. And when I try to export the MySQL database to a local file and import emails through it ended up failure. Because there are more fields in the MySQL table rather than emails itself.

There is a possible way to extract only the emails from a MySQL database. That is to use phpMyAdmin to execute a custom query to display only emails and export the view.
This is how you can do that.

  1. Login to phpMyAdmin
  2. Select the database and choose the table which contains the email addresses. Click on the Browse button.
  3. Click on SQL and execute the following command.
    SELECT 'email' FROM `your_table`
    email should be replaced with the name of the field which contains email addresses while your_table should be replaced with the table name which contains email addresses and other information.
    Usually, it is already set. So you won’t need to change a thing except for email.
  4. Click on Go and phpMyAdmin will show a view that contains only the email addresses.
    phpMyAdmin Screenshot
  5. Click on the link Export at the bottom of the page. Not the Export in the Tab bar.
  6. Export it as your desire. Personally, I like to have an .CSV file.

From this method followed, you will have a CSV file which contains all the email addresses from your users.
It is possible to use the same method to extract email addresses from your forum, wordpress blog or any other MySQL database which contains email addresses. Just be sure you won’t use them to spam your users.

Check your PC for Security Threats – McAfee Security Scan Plus

November 19th, 2011

I had to reinstall my OS(I have Windows 7) because I had a feeling my PC was affected with some spywares.
Sometimes, I see pop-up ads on my own website! That was a horrible joke. So I went ahead and reinstalled my OS. However, since reinstalling a OS is not an easy task and since it wipes out almost every computer program and my personal settings, I decided to look for a solution that could help me with security along with my antivirus software.

The solution is McAfee Security Scan Plus.
McAfee Security Scan Plus is a free software from McAfee. Since they are one of the oldest companies who offers security solutions, there is no doubt that this is a safe product.
You can download McAfee Security Scan Plus here: http://home.mcafee.com/downloads/free-virus-scan?ctst=1

This application is only 3.27MB weighted and only takes few seconds to installed on your system.
After installing launch the application and click on the button labeled “Scan“. Few seconds later, you will have suggestions to fix the issues on your computer.
McAfee-screenshot

McAfee Security Scan Plus scans your computer for up-to-dated antivirus software, firewall and McAfee SiteAdvisor. And also scans for spywares. Since I didn’t had any since I installed Security Scan Plus, I can’t comment on how to fix the issues if there is. But I guess that they recommend another McAfee product to installed on your computer. So this is another business trick.(?!)
But, does that mean you wouldn’t use this free application?

DMEHosting VPS Review – Another horrible nightmare!

November 15th, 2011

OK. This is not gonna be soft if I assume. But I am not writing this post in a rude manner either. It is just to inform DMEHosting users and to-be users about the way they handle VPS hosting business.

If you read my blog post 123Systems, you may know that I changed my host. And that was DMEHosting.
The reasons for choosing DMEHosting over some other competitors were,

  1. Cheap price for a nice performed server.(3.95$/month for a 256MB server)
  2. I have good ping times to their network. So I had assumed that Asia has good speeds to them
  3. Their representative at WebHostingTalk looked to have good knowledge about what they are doing.

And also few other reasons as well. So I chose DMEHosting for hosting my website and ordered their OpenVZ server OVZ 1 on 18th of October 2011.
» Read more: DMEHosting VPS Review – Another horrible nightmare!

Google Public DNS – Use and Boost your DNS Caching Speed

November 11th, 2011

Have you ever tried to change nameservers of your website? What happens then?
Your domain registrar changes them into your new nameservers and then they update their records of your nameservers. And let those new nameservers to be public. And when your ISP(Internet Service Provider) accesses the registrar’s database, they find the modification to your nameservers and update their records as well. So then you can access your website which is on different nameservers now.

This looks like a 1-2-3 process. But it is not.
How DNS works
This whole procedure takes lot more time. Most likely, it is about 24-48 hours. This is because ISP’s don’t update their records very frequently. So even if it takes 5 minutes for you to change your nameservers, it takes 24-48 hours to see your website in your new server.
This is where we need Google Public DNS.
» Read more: Google Public DNS – Use and Boost your DNS Caching Speed

Firefox 8 Released – Better Performance, Better Security and Twitter Intergration included!

November 9th, 2011

Firefox-8-up-to-date
Mozilla is releasing Firefox new versions at a considerable speed than they did previously. I only remember the time gap between version 2 to version 3 and now they have released 4,5,6 and 7 within very little time. And the good news for Firefox users is that Firefox version 8 is now released to public!
» Read more: Firefox 8 Released – Better Performance, Better Security and Twitter Intergration included!

Asians, why it is not good experience to host your website in US?

November 8th, 2011

United States(US) is the place where the largest datacenters exist in the world. Not only large, they have very large number of datacenters situated in the US(mainly in North America) and also has good connectivity providers like Level3, Cogent and HE(Hurricane Electric).

It is said that HE maintains a good connectivity to Asia. And I believe it is true. But my suggestion is to avoid hosting your websites in US if your main audience is from Asia. Why is that?
I would post you some ping results rather than explaining it first.
» Read more: Asians, why it is not good experience to host your website in US?