How to enable unattended upgrades on Ubuntu so security patches install themselves, with the apt config files and options explained.
3 min read
How to publish an internal web server through the Astaro Security Gateway (Sophos UTM) Web Application Firewall instead of a plain DNAT.
4 min read
How to write an LSB-compliant init script on Ubuntu, with the required header, start and stop actions, and install steps to run at boot.
2 min read
How to make WordPress updates run over SSH2 instead of FTP on Ubuntu, with a dedicated user, SSH key pair, and the php libssh2 extension.
2 min read
How to harden a WordPress install with tested backup plugins like BackupBuddy, strong admin passwords, and basic security steps.
4 min read
How to turn the $250 Barnes & Noble NOOK Color into a full Android tablet running Gingerbread or Honeycomb, with real hardware specs.
8 min read
VaultPress backed up my WordPress blog 743 times, then failed me at recovery. Why automated backups mean nothing until you test a restore.
5 min read
Time Machine was backing up 920MB I didn't need. How the timedog Perl script shows what changed and which files to exclude from backups.
5 min read
Why I dumped Quicken Essentials 2010 for iBank 4 after Intuit locked in my data, and the parsing work it took to free my transactions.
16 min read
How to run MySQL master-slave replication through an SSH tunnel, covering key setup, my.cnf settings, and the replication user grants.
1 min read
Hidden macOS keyboard shortcuts and settings you won't find in System Preferences, from startup keys to Finder and Dock tricks.
3 min read
Rackspace Cloud vs. Amazon EC2 in 2010, compared on instance sizes, hourly pricing, and features, with a winner picked in each category.
14 min read
Why I moved robpickering.com from SquareSpace to WordPress in 2010, and how to migrate posts, dates, authors, and comments intact.
4 min read
How to create a full backup AMI of an Amazon EC2 instance, plus a 2016 update on the AWS console's one-click Create Image option.
6 min read