My Blogger Update – Internet Jim Live Online Import Export Blog

This is a how to guide for importing and exporting your Blogger blog to other Blogger blogs. Carefully follow the import and export online documentation below. Procedure works for Blogger Classic (HTML), Blogger FTP Publishing, Blogger New (XML), and Blogger Custom Domain Names.

On my online post for Blogger Dashboard – Hide Show All Problems – Missing Blogs; as of 12/14/2008 I discovered a do-it-yourself fix for this peculiar dashboard problem. I made a discovery when doing some Google Searches for free blog editors for Blogger that started me thinking of a possible solution for my particular missing blog in the dashboard problem.

I found this one article that talked about the new features of Blogger Beta, with one of those features being that of importing blog postings from other blogs that a person owns and has the publishing rights to. Other blog platforms such as WordPress have for some time been able to import postings from other blogs, but until recently Blogger did not provide that feature. When I read the write up about this new Blogger feature, it was the old proverbial light bulb going off in my head. I thought, this might be a solution to the missing blog in the dashboard.

Some background information is required for understanding the Blogger technical problem to begin with. When I first created this blog, www.jimwarholic.com, and posted it the first time on the Internet, I believe I did it strictly under FTP publishing, and did not assign a Blogspot.com to the blog at first. I created the website, www.jimwarholic.com back in the year 2006, and started publishing directly with FTP publishing at my webhosting domain using my own domain name.

It was the later part of the third quarter of 2008 in which Blogger did an update to their system, and my blog disappeared completely from the dashboard area. It wasn’t in the hidden mode, or the cookies were not causing it to be hidden as some suggested, it was just gone. I could still gain access to it from the quick edit buttons when logged into my Blogger account, and navigate backwards into the back end of the template settings and publishing setups. I tried everything I could think of to get it to show up in the dashboard, though it was always displayed on my profile page. I assigned another email address for writing on the blog as an administrator. However, the blog would not even show up at the dashboard of the other profile account. I was scratching my head for months on trying to figure it out. I posted information at Blogger Help Groups. I searched online for solutions. I tried to leave a message for Blogger, but they no longer have a contact page online. But, I could not find a fix, that is until 12/13/2008 – 12/14/2008 rolled around.

Sometimes you have to take Internet matters into your own hands. Importing and exporting blogs to Blogger is now a mouse click away on the settings area of each blog control console. You now have three options available to you. Import a blog, export a blog, and delete a blog. To import posts and comments from a Blogger blog, you must first have exported the blog to your local computer desktop or folder on your PC.

I must warn you here. Take some precautions before you attempt to export and do an import of your complete postings and comments from another blog, especially the blogs that are missing from the Blogger Dashboard area. Note also, that if you export your content from one Blogger account, and then import your postings and comments to another Blogger account, with a different name on it, you will end up having all your posts republished with the new Blogger account name.

Additionally, I would recommend before doing the online procedure is having two windows open in your browser, or better yet, having two different browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome, or Internet Explorer) open when exporting a blog from one Blogger account, and importing it to another Blogger account.

*Very important note here. It is highly recommended to have an Internet quick link from your desktop to the old Blogger missing dashboard blog, to that blog’s setup page. To do this, you can use Google Chrome, and create what is known as “create an application shortcut” to your desktop. Once you do that, then you can click on the Internet link in the future to gain access to your blog. Or you can use Firefox and drag the tab to the desktop to the specific page for the postings, settings, and template area of the old blog that has been navigated to with the quick edit links in the postings themselves. You could also do a bookmark or Internet Explorer favorite link too. However, I would not trust just one way only. If you do not do this link step, you will have no way of getting back to the old Blogger blog that remains hidden from the dashboard area. You will be lost forever. The reason for this is that once you publish using the new blogspot.com address, and then change it to your old FTP published address and click publish, your quick links will now be linked to the new blog instead of the old blog. Which means the old quick links used to navigate to the settings tab for the old blog will not work anymore.

Here is what I did for my particular FTP export and import blog solution.

This procedure is written for Blogger FTP publishing but most of these steps should work for other non FTP blogs such as blogspot.com address and custom domain names for Blogger too. The new XML Blogger template files can also be exported and imported too and you should export your HTML Blogger Classic template or XML template file too.

1. First read the Blogger information on, How do I import and export blogs on Blogger? Read it twice and make sure you comprehend all aspects of how to do it before proceeding.
2. Created favorites - bookmarks, and quick launch buttons using Firefox and Google Chrome on the desktop to the old blog setup page to be safe.
3. Saved old HTML template file on to my local computer from the old blog website. I used the following procedure for saving the old template file. Opened Template, Edit HTML, and copied entire html text to a notepad plain text file. Notepad is part of the default Microsoft Windows Operating System simple text editor programs available from the lower left of the screen. Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, Notepad - and Don’t forget to do this and remember where you have saved the file!
4. Opened Firefox and Google Chrome Browsers next to each other. It’s nice to have a bigger screen, but not required.
5. Logged into one Blogger account in Firefox. Logged into the other Blogger account in Google Chrome. Though I used two different Blogger accounts, you can do the same thing with a single Blogger account and have two windows, tabs, or two web browsers open at the same time with the same Blogger account but with different blogs in each tab or window.
6. Navigated to the control area of the blog, using the quick edit links in the old blog postings, and followed the links to the settings tab for the old blog.
7. Exported the old blog to the desktop or folder on your computer’s hard drive which creates a (.xml) file.
8. Created new Blogsopt.com webblog. Went to the other browser, and created a new Blogspot address using the “Create a Blog” link from the Blogger Dashboard. I used http://internetjim.blogspot.com as the blogspot.com website. You can create your own name for your blogspot.com website. Note, it is going to change to your own domain name in the next steps.
9. Verified the new virgin site was live online. (I may have done one test posting to begin with, but am not sure on this point.)
10. Changed the new site title and description to reflect the name of the old blog. Note: I changed the title slightly to quickly visually verify on which website I was on at the time. Because, once you do the import of the posts, comments, and HTML template file, you will not be able to tell the difference from one blog to the other.
11. Switched to FTP publishing on the new blog by first switching back to classic templates mode.
12. Opened both the old and the new blog tab areas and copied the FTP publishing information from one settings are to the other. Went right down tabs: Basic, Publishing, Formatting, Comments, Archiving, Site Feed, Email, OpenID, and Permissions. It is important to get everything the way it is on the old blog to the new blog. Keep the publishing, archiving, and site feed absolutely the same, otherwise, you could end up with new urls, which won’t match up with the search engine results or result in broken links back to your website.
13. Copied from the HTML text in the Notepad template file previously saved in step number 3 and pasted the old HTML text into the new Edit HTML section of the new blog. (This makes the new blog look like your old blog, but not completely until you publish FTP publish it. Important! Don’t publish it yet. Wait till the next step. If you publish before the next step, you will write over all your postings at the hosting server for your blog for a period of time until you repost with the imported posts and comments.)
14. After double checking and comparing all of the settings with the old to the new, it was now time to do an import from the saved (.xml) file located on the computer desktop. Note, there are a couple of options on the import. You can either choose to import and automatically publish all posts immediately or import and save them as drafts to be published later. Your choice at this point. I automatically published at this point in the import process.
    

    Import posts and comments from a Blogger export file. Imported posts will be merged with any current posts, sorted by date.

15. Success! At this point in time, I verified all my posts were properly posted to the server. I navigated to each online to verify. The new blog was now showing up in the dashboard area.

Blogger Notes and Observations

I was still trying to figure out how my blog went missing in the first place. I still think it had to do with when I first created the blog without a blogspot.com address. I went straight to FTP publishing. Another possibility, is I may have created this blog at about the time Blogger still allowed you to use a different email address or Blogger account name other than a Gmail account. Blogs under the old Blogger accounts required a different login screen and are part of the legacy claim for claiming old blogs to be part of your new Google account name. I had however, claimed my blog under this legacy link a long time ago.

Somehow, when the most recent changes occurred with the Blogger Dashboard area, was when I first noticed my blog had disappeared. It seems as though a few other folks have experienced the same problem too. I haven’t heard of a fix from Google as of yet about this particular situation. It may be part of a database glitch for old FTP blogs that were created without a blogspot.com address to begin with that got overlooked when Google Engineers updated the Blogger system and dashboard areas.

Another important point to note when doing an import from one blog to the other, is that if you posted any of your old posts at the old blog account, and then changed the title of the blog postings and re-published the blog at the same spot, the URL would not have changed on this old posting, but when you import the blog postings into a new Blogger blog, the URL is updated to reflect this change. That change in the URL creates a small problem however.

Let’s take a look at a web page example. Let’s say I published a blog at the old account titled “This Is a Test Example” for the title of a new article. The URL at the old account would be the following: www.jimwarholic.com/2007/02/this-is-a-test-example.php. If however you changed the title at the old blog to “Internet Testing at My Online Sandbox Beach” or simply “Test” the new title in the Blogger Title Field would be updated on the old blog posting, but the URL would remain the same. This would not affect any links to that particular posting. But, when you import the name, “Internet Testing at My Online Sandbox Beach” or “Test” for the title of the posting to the new blog, the resulting URL would change to www.jimwarholic.com/2007/02/test.php, which is completely different than the original URL and will break hyper-links to that specific page, unless you create some permanent redirects (301 Status Code) in your (.htaccess) file. If your website hosting provider provides the easy-to-use cPanel website control panel for setting up redirects, or other website hosting control panels that provide for quickly configuring permanent (301) redirect solutions, then each URL can be quickly entered into an online input form. Otherwise, you must manually write a new .htaccess file by including the redirects for each particular file that needs to be redirected to the new URLs. I suggest a search on Google for more information on .htaccess files to understand some of the finer points ln configuring temporary (302) and permanent (301) redirects.

For the moment, I am a bit leery of deleting the old blog by using the “Delete Blog” from the settings page. However, I changed the FTP publishing user name and password, so it would not publish if I accidently happened to click there for some reason. I also gave myself a note on the HTML template area to reflect what the status of that blog is. I might have missed a redirect, and if I saw an old page and thinking it needed to be edited, the old edit quick edit link will still be in affect for the old online posting. You would not want to republish from that old blog, otherwise you will change all your Internet postings back to what they were in the past.

I know this is a rather long Blog posting, but I feel it’s important for everyone out in Internet land to understand what is going on online with your web site, when a procedure like this is implemented on the Web.

Good luck everyone. If you happen to take the plunge into importing and exporting, take your time, and think about what you are doing. Print out these instructions if you wish. Feel free to post your comments or questions to either the comments section of this post or email me directly using the appropriate comment or email form below.

Best regards,

Jim

Brought to you by Professional Web Services. Gain new quality sales leads and attract new customers online with Internet marketing services for your business. Make your business alive today on the World Wide Web. Learn more, contact us today for more sales for you.

Get your business website found online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services. Learn how we can target the right customers for you.

Blogger Import Export Blog Update 12/18/08

After serious consideration about a few things related to possibly maintaining the old blog online, I decided it was in my best internet interest to delete the old blog completely from the Blogger system. There were a number of very good reasons not to save the old blog. For one, if I forgot to do a redirect of an old Blogger posted page, a commentator would still be able to post a new comment to the old blog. This would not be good, since all the old comments were exported and imported into the new online blog, and I really want people to comment on the new blog, not the old blog. Additionally, I found myself accidentally logging in to the old blog through quick edits, on web pages that I forgot about. By deleting the blog completely from the Blogger system, I will no longer have to worry about that. If I forgot a page or two on the permanent redirects, the Search Engine Spiders will eventually figure it out, and gather the proper pages to add to the online search directory database.

Warning about deleted Blogger Blogs!

I was however a little nervous when I went to delete the old blog from my Blogger account. I did not want to accidentally delete the wrong Blogger blog. It paid off and was good that I had two slightly different names for each of the blogs for identification purposes. There is no recovery if you accidentally delete the wrong blog in your Blogger account. Deleted Blogger Blogs are gone forever and Google will not be able to get them back for you.

Get your business website found online with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services and improve your bottom-line.

Labels: Blogger, Blogs, Google, Internet, Websites

posted by James @ Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

Free Internet Security For PC Computers With Comcast

For the past two years or so, Comcast has offered free PC Internet security software if you are a Comcast customer. It really is a great deal and highly advisable to take advantage of the free software for all your computers. Protect your email and Web browsing from infecting your computer today.

Get Protected

The all-new McAfee® Security Suite gives you a whole series of tools to help keep you, your family and your home computers safe, protected and virus-free. It's an all-in-one, comprehensive, easy-to-install solution-and a $120 value, included FREE with your Comcast High-Speed Internet subscription. No strings attached.

Install Internet Security Software For Your PC

The importance of installing Internet security software on your PC can not be overstated. In my case, our family has six computers that are used by various family members. The Comcast Internet Security Suite by McAfee is a great value. With the proliferation of viruses, worms, malware, and intrusive cookies, a computer will become corrupted in no time flat when surfing the Web even if you don't download anything online. Just simply hooking up your computer to the Internet and navigating to a few hazardous websites that you might not be aware of, will attack and download software in the background which will corrupt your computer and the worst part about it is you won't even know your computer has become infected until it's too late.

Internet Security Issues

Intrusive software that are security hazards such as PC key loggers can automatically track your key strokes when you type in your user names and passwords into online banking websites or even when you log in to your online email is just an online mouse click away. Many times this software gets loaded on your computer when you click on a window that pops up, and the popup makes it look like you have a virus on your computer. By simply clicking on the scan button of this pop up window, you are actually installing another malware program in the background. Don't fall for this scam. It occurs so easily, even when users are aware that this can happen; it is easy to click the close button by thinking that the "X" close box closes the window with nothing else to worry about. However, don't assume the close X button on a pop up window is the actual close button for that window. I suggest right clicking on the tab at the bottom of the Windows screen, and select the button that says "Close" on the pop up that you actually wish to close. Also it is wise to have a pop up blocker for your browser. I particularly like Firefox and even the new Google Chrome browser for the excellent popup blocking features.

Spyware, Malware, Adware, and Computer Virus Definitions

• Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent.
• Malware, is a blended word from the words malicious and software, which is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.
• Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software.
• A Computer Virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The term "virus" is also commonly used, albeit erroneously, to refer to many different types of malware and adware programs.

Source Wikipedia

Comcast Has Done It Right

I am really impressed with the marketing strategy from Comcast to their customers. With Comcast keeping their customers' PC computers running free of viruses, with a free Internet security software tool, enables their customers to operate at a higher level of Internet protection than most of their competitors. Most ISPs simply provide you online Web access, with an attitude of "you're on your own now," which simply leaves way too much room for PC problems down the line. Computers are the tool to navigate the Web. If your computer is giving you grief, you are not going to have a very good user experience online. Likewise, if your computer runs trouble free, your life online will be like a breath of fresh air.

What if I am not a Comcast customer? Google Pack comes to the rescue.

Google provides a couple of free basic programs as part of their Google Pack for detecting and removing viruses and spyware.

Google Pack includes a special edition of Norton Security Scan to help you evaluate your computer’s vulnerability to security risks. Norton™ Security Scan is a free, easy-to-use tool that scans your PC for viruses, spyware, and other threats. » Download Google Pack.

Key Features of Norton Security Scan

* Scans for threats residing on your PC
* Detects and removes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses
* Warns you of spyware and unwanted adware
* Schedules regular scans
* Automatically receives updates**

Take the next step and prevent infections before they happen. Protect your system 24 X 7 with our award-winning Norton Internet Security™ 2009, designed to automatically block hackers, viruses, spyware and prevent online identity theft.

The other software tool from Google is Spyware Doctor Starter Edition which detects PC threats and removes spyware, adware, trojans and keyloggers. Spware Doctor Starter Edition includes Smart Updates and scheduling to protect your PC.

Both Norton Internet Security and Spyware Doctor can be downloaded directly from the Google Pack software installer page.

There are other free antivirus software programs available online. I have not tried very many of the free software programs that are available, so I can't give you my recommendations. I would however suggest reading closely the reviews of what others have to say about the various free programs available for download. Be careful from where you download too. I believe a good place to get started is at CNET download.com for Antivirus Software. Note that the sponsored matches are displayed first. Two software programs that I have used in the past for detecting adware, spyware, and malware are Spybot - Search & Destroy^©® and Ad-Aware by Lavasoft.

A general rule that should always be followed when installing antivirus software, is always use some form of threat protection software, but don't use more than one type in automatic detection mode. The reason is the software programs will be fighting each other in the Windows Operating Systems and will be identifying the other software as a virus, spyware, adware, or malware program.

The best antivirus software programs will constantly update their database of spyware signatures and virus definitions and provide automatic PC updates for your local signature database. This is an extremely important point to be aware of because the virus threats are constantly morphing from computer terrorists all over the world, that are looking for ways of creating online havoc for everyone. You need both real time PC protection and automated deep scan protection. If you have an old copy of a PC anti-virus software, that has not had your local computer database updated to current virus signature threats, you are driving a computer on borrowed time, with no brakes, headed down a steep grade, just waiting for the head-on computer crash. Given the severity of the online PC virus threats (through both emails and web surfing), along with spyware, adware, and malware programs lurking on websites, your computer could very well end up with the blue screen of death. At the very least, your computer will become corrupted, slowed down to a crawl, performance will continue to suffer when trying to do anything, system resources will be tied up with running background programs that you are not aware of, memory usage will skyrocket, your hard drive will constantly be ca-chunking away, and you will think you need a brand new computer. I would venture to say that the majority of people that think they need a new computer are probably facing years worth of unsafe computer practices. Even if you buy a new computer and do not set up "best computer practices", you are very likely to start the downward spiral all over again, because you invariably will want to copy your corrupted files, pictures, and programs over to the new computer. And, you will once again get on the PC merry-go-round, where you will certainly end up visiting the same websites, surfing new Internet sites where the online threats reside, and downloading and installing new virus infected software programs which will ultimately affect your PC's health.

From a consumer standpoint trust me when I say, take the small amount of time now to get your online computer house in order. If you don't take computer protection preventative measures now, you will surely be taking extensive time measures and creating PC headaches for yourself in the future just by surfing the web unprotected.

Get your business website in order today. Get your website found on the Internet now with Internet marketing services from Professional Web Services. Contact Professional Web Services for the online website solution.

Labels: Comcast, Computers, E-mail, Internet, ISP, Security, Software

posted by James @ Friday, October 10, 2008

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

Right Minded Marketing Online Today

Internet Marketing



Left and Right Minded Internet Marketing

Adele Revella is the developer of the acclaimed Pragmatic Marketing® seminar, Effective Product Marketing, wrote an article titled, "Right-brained or left-brained marketing"

Laura Ramos, Forrester Research’s analyst for B2B Marketing wrote a research paper, entitled "Segmentation vs Personas, Where Should B2B Marketers Start?." Laura reports that B2B marketers are way behind their B2C peers in developing effective messaging and marketing strategies, and that the source of our problem is that we don't use both sides of our brain.

Websites and Internet Marketing

The emphasis should be to use both right-minded and left-minded marketing approaches when targeting B2B Web buyers, B2C online consumers, and technology companies. This is even more significant given the speed at which buyers and consumers are searching the Internet for the products or services being sought after. Remember, the back button is only one click of the mouse away. Websites must be able to target both sides of the brain in order to convert visitors into paying customers.

For both right and left minded approaches to Internet marketing, contact Professional Web Services. Ask for your free Internet marketing evaluation today. Professional Web Services provides all aspects of Internet marketing for both B2B and B2C businesses on the Web.

Labels: Internet, Marketing, Websites

posted by James @ Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

Hard To Get Started Today

Some Mornings Just Seem To Drag On And On

This morning started 24 hours ago. Picked up one of our cars from the shop for a coolant leak problem. They had to replace the coolant pump, which is behind a cover, which is behind the serpentine belt. Decided to also have the coolant hoses replaced. All of this added up to big bucks. Everything was fine, or so it appeared. Brought the car home, parked it in the driveway, and waited for our daughter, the regular driver of this car, to pick it up.

When she went to start it, all that we heard was a whining sound. The starter would not engage to start the engine. Gave it a rest, then tried it again, and the starter engaged this time. But, by now it was too late to take it in to the shop. Sure, I could have dropped it off, using their drop box, but I figured I'll just do it in the morning. I surely would be able to get it started in the morning. Wrong assumption!

I must say, I am impressed with AAA. They were here with-in fifteen minutes of my call for a tow. So, it's back to the shop for round number two or should I say, round #3. It was just last week that we replaced all the struts and got a couple of new tires to boot. Well, you know, when it rains it pours.

Get Started In Your Business

Time to get back to work. That reminds me, sometimes it takes more time online to get things where you want, and the way you want them for a website, than what you originally estimated or longer than what you expected. At times it seems the hardest thing to do, is to get started.

One of the stories that Bob Parson, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com shared with the public was when he was asked, "What advice do you have for someone who is just starting a business?" He came up with a list of Rules For Survival. In one of Bob's podcasts I remember him also saying, "that you have to do something you love." His whole emphasis was you've got to have fun doing it in the first place. Many companies that have become household branded names and made it big time online, didn't get started because there was a great deal of money in it to begin with. No, the owners of many of the successful Internet related companies got started because first and foremost, they loved what they were doing. Some of these people dared to dream and created new technologies and new industries where there were none before. They saw an e-business hole, and decided to fill it. In the end, it was their passion, love, and pursuit of a dream that launched many of the Internet companies we have today.

So remember, when life sends you lemons, turn them into lemonade. Dare to dream big for your business today.

Jim Warholic
Internet marketing specialist

Labels: Business, Internet, Miscellaneous

posted by James @ Thursday, June 28, 2007

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

World Time Server For Your Business

Are You Operating A Business 9 to 5, 7 to 3, 10 to 6, Or Anytime?

Well, a website functions 24 hours a day, and can be found from anywhere around the globe. If your business is a type of service related business, or provides some form of phone support, it is wise to have your local time on display. When a visitor comes to your B2B, Business 2 Business, or B2C, Business 2 Consumer website from their location somewhere else in the world, and you have a phone number for access, it is smart to let your customers, and future customers know what time it is at your business location. A good place to place the clock is on your contact page, with your business hours displayed. This way a customer will know what time it is where he or she is calling.

There are several ways of doing that. One way is to use a javascript that is dependent on the user's local computer time. That however, does not always reflect the actual time of your business. The visitor could have their clock set wrong, or be using or not using automatic daylight savings time settings. Depending on how the javascript is written for displaying the time on their computer for your location it could be off by an hour or more.

There are some javascripts that display the time from a world time server. This provides a main reference not dependent on the user's computer. But, some of the coding that needs to be placed in the website can be quite extensive.

Here is another option for displaying the time from World Time Server that I think is pretty and cool. The time feature is a Flash file clock display in your choice of color and location. The clock is not dependent on a person's computer but is generated from the off site time server location. The clock can be made to be virtually any size you wish and also post it on any web page or blog posting. If you place it in the blog posting for Blogger, you will need to add the </embed> tag to the end.



No, I am not going to place my phone number here. I don't like getting bombarded with dozens of unsolicited phone calls. I do give out my number to paying customers. If you are in need of website marketing, feel free to contact me using the form below, or visit our website for the online business solution.

Here is a little marketing tip. If you are going to have your phone number in a website, and you want to prevent the spam bots from discovery, then place it as a graphic image on the web site. Only the human eyes will be able to read it.

Oh by-the-way, I forgot what I was doing. Click on Jim to get another good online tip.

Labels: Business, Internet, Time

posted by James @ Sunday, May 27, 2007

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

Forcing Comcast ISP To New IP Address With Router And PC

Slow Speed Broadband Connections With Comcast Are Not The Norm

If you are experiencing slow speed broadband internet problems, or you are a WoW gamer, and your World of Warcraft connection has excessive lag, then you may have the following IP problem with Comcast ISP or your Cable or DSL Internet Service Provider.

There does seem to be a situation that occurs from time to time with Comcast high speed Internet service that is very peculiar. It seems as though some of the IP addresses provided by the automatic DHCP configuration at Comcast produce a very slow Internet connection. Getting a new dynamically generated IP address from the Comcast system can help improve your connection upload and download speeds issue. Learn how you can do this easily with a wired or wireless router and your computer.

Test your Internet speed using any one of the modem speed tests online. Then check your IP address using the check my IP address websites. Write both of these down to use later for comparison purposes. Note: The source website server is also a factor for upload and download speeds to your computer. So, it’s also a good idea to note this source website server from the modem speed test, for checking your online upload/download speeds in later comparisons.

Understanding the technical terms
IP address Types (Dynamic and Static)

There are two types of IP address that can be assigned. Dynamic and Static. When a computer is configured to use the same IP address each time it powers up, this is known as a Static IP address. In contrast, in situations when the computer's IP address is assigned automatically, it is known as a Dynamic IP address.

Sticky Dynamic IP Addresses

A sticky dynamic IP address or sticky IP is a term created by cable and DSL users to describe a dynamically assigned IP address that does not change often. This is however an informal term, as a sticky IP does not differ in any way from other dynamic IP address. Most cable and DSL ISPs assign dynamic IP addresses. However, if you have Comcast Business Internet Service Class with a static IP address or have requested and pay for a static IP address with your home Internet service provider, the only way to change this is for Comcast, other cable companies, or DSL service providers to do it on their end.

Even though IP addresses may not change often for cable or DSL users, the addresses are still controlled by the standard DHCP process. Since the modems are often online for extended periods of time, the leases on the IP addresses are commonly renewed, and therefore may not change.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automates the assignment of IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateway, and other IP parameters. There are four modes of operation: dynamic allocation, automatic allocation, static allocation, and manual allocation.

• Dynamic allocation: A network administrator assigns a range of IP addresses to DHCP, and each client computer on the LAN has its IP software configured to request an IP address from the DHCP server during network initialization. The request-and-grant process uses a lease concept with a controllable time periods, allowing the DHCP server to reclaim (and then reallocate) IP addresses that are not renewed (dynamic re-use of IP addresses).
• Automatic allocation: The DHCP server permanently assigns a free IP address to a requesting client from the range defined by the administrator. This is like dynamic allocation, but the DHCP server keeps a table of past IP address assignments, so that it can preferentially assign to a client the same IP address that the client previously had.
• Static allocation: The DHCP server allocates an IP address based on a table with MAC address/IP address pairs, which are manually filled in (perhaps by a network administrator). Only requesting clients with a MAC address listed in this table will be allocated an IP address. This feature (which is not supported by all routers) is variously called "Static DHCP Assignment" (by DD-WRT), "fixed-address" (by the dhcpd documentation), "DHCP reservation" or "Static DHCP" (by Cisco/Linksys), and "IP reservation" or "MAC/IP binding" (by various other router manufacturers).
• Manual allocation: The DHCP server does not assign the IP address; instead, the client is configured with a user-specified static IP address.

Many DHCP servers can manage hosts by more than one of the above methods. For example, the known hosts on the network can be assigned an IP address based on their MAC address (static allocation) whereas "guest" computers (such as laptops via WiFi) are allocated a temporary IP address out of a pool compatible with the network to which they're attached (dynamic allocation).

How do I get a New Comcast Dynamic IP Address

The following Comcast IP address change process is for dynamic addresses. If you have a router installed after your Comcast modem, then this next procedure is very easy to get the Comcast system to dynamically generate a new IP address. If you do not have a router, I strongly suggest you get one to have an extra firewall between your computer and the Internet. Most IP addresses given out by the Comcast DHCP system are in a leased mode. This means that if your modem is turned off for several days or more, the IP address goes back to a group of IP addresses to be automatically reassigned to other users. Turning off the modem for short periods of time will not reset the leased IP address because the modem is assigned the IP address based on the original computer's MAC address. Every type of networking hardware has a unique code that is the Media Access Control address or MAC address for short.


Router's also have a MAC address. Once this MAC address is synced up with the cable modem, the Comcast DHCP system assigns the IP address to the online outlet. However, if the MAC address is changed, the Comcast DHCP system assigns a new IP address to the online outlet, because it thinks it is a different location. Each computer, with a network card, also has unique MAC addresses. If a person were to hook up a different computer directly to the cable modem, it is likely that a new IP address would be assigned by powering down and then up again the cable modem. However, with a router it is much easier to assign a new MAC address to the router itself. Most routers today have what is referred to as clone the MAC address. This feature allows the user to make the router look like any one of the computers that reside on the premises. Simply logging into the router through a web browser by typing http://192.168.1.1 for Linksys or Cisco, or do a search for Router IP Address to find your particular brand.

Routers Login IP Addresses - Use The Following Format 192.168.x.x

• http://192.168.1.0 (Linksys [older] wireless and wired routers)
• http://192.168.1.1 (Linksys [newer], Cisco, 3 Com wireless and wired routers)
• http://192.168.0.1 (D- Link and Netgear routers)
• http://192.168.2.1 (SMC and Belkin wireless and wired routers)
• http://192.168.123.254 (Some US Robotics routers)
• http://10.0.1.1 (Apple AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express Base Stations. Note: Apple AirPort base station may require software configuration program for Setup & Admin - Internet, Network, and Port Mapping. See: Configuring the Apple AirPort Extreme)
  

Click on those links above to try logging into your router. Those specific router links will open in a new window or tab, or right click from your browser to open in a new window or tab so you can follow the instructions at the same time you log-in to your router. Here is a PDF document link to brand and model specific default router information list of Manufacturers, Models, User Names, Passwords, and Default IP addresses. Note, before attempting this procedure on your router, I suggest you print this information out for reference. Use the print button from the permanent link to this how to get a new IP address article. Also note that a router's IP address can also be changed too. If you can't get a log-in screen on your browser, then you aren't getting to the router's proper IP address for your local area network. Also try logging in to your router with a different browser like Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, Camino, SeaMonkey, Flock, and others. If that doesn't work, then do a Google Search for your particular router brand and model number IP address. If after finding the correct IP address for your router, but still can not get a login screen prompt, you might have to do a hard reset of the router's firmware settings (usually a recessed button). However, if and when you do this, the router will revert to the defaults, and you will loose all your custom user name, password, wireless settings such as SSID and encryption codes, along with other TCP and UDP port settings that might be assigned for online game hosting like WOW - World of Warcraft private servers, if those online gaming TCP and UDP port settings were customized by you or someone else to begin with. After doing a hard router reset, you would then have to re-enter all the information again.

After you get to your router's IP address and you have a user name and password prompt, then type in the login name and password. Hopefully you have changed the user name and password for security purposes (and wrote them down) when you first set up the router and changed them from the default settings. The browser is your window into the router's operating system and allows you to login and set up the router using the internal configuration program. Find the area of the configuration program (usually a tab or hyper-link) where you can clone your MAC address and perform a clone to a new MAC address. Before you clone the MAC address, write the current MAC address down. This is so you can put it back to the original if you need to. Once the cloning of the MAC address is done, then you can try a release IP address and renew IP address in the router's programming structure. This sends a release the lease to the Comcast DHCP and then renews with a new IP address. Suggest powering down the cable modem, router, and computer at this time. Then re-power everything back up and you should have a new IP address.

Now go back and check to see what your current IP address is and the speed at which you can upload and download from the Internet using the online modem speed test. Hopefully you are now running at light speed and no more WoW lag for the active gamer.

Good luck.

Jim at online business solutions. The Internet marketing solution for your business today.

PS This particular problem I have personally seen, and have been able to rectify Internet connection speed issues using this technique. This may not be your particular problem, but it's worth a try. This new IP address solution might also work for other high speed broadband ISP providers. Give it a try with your Internet Service Provider and let our readers know if it works for your DSL or Cable ISP company.

Labels: Comcast, Hardware, Internet, ISP

posted by James @ Thursday, May 17, 2007

Post your thoughts. 15 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

Internet Speed Test For DSL, Cable Modems, And Dial-Up

Verify Your Upload And Download Speeds From Your Internet Service Provider

Check Your ISP Internet Speed Connection. Are you curious to know how fast a connection you have through your Cable, DSL, or Dial Up connection? Well, there are numerous free services online that you simply go to their websites and select a location to connect to online and the program tells you how fast a connection you have to and from that web location.

Here are a couple of providers of this service.

Speakeasy.Net SPEED TEST
Performance.Toast.Net INTERNET PERFORMANCE AND SPEED TEST

What these tests are good for is determining the actual speed that you can really upload, download, and surf online when using your Cable, DSL, or Dial-up modem. Many of the ISP service providers claim that you can go at a certain speed, but now you know how to verify if what they say about your Internet connection is true. One note and suggestion: Try a couple of different website locations to make sure that the speed is not being slowed down by a slow website connection on the opposite end as opposed to the ISP's Internet pipe throughput.

If your Internet connection is not up to speed, you might try getting another IP address for yourself too.

Signed Jim

Professional Internet marketing services to help get your business found online.

Labels: Comcast, Internet, ISP

posted by James @ Friday, April 27, 2007

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net

Automatic Atomic Clock Sync For Your PC

Atomic Clock Sync Settings in Windows XP

While WorldTimeServer.com can help you look up accurate times around the world, we see lots of interest from our users in keeping your local computer clock accurate, too. Atomic Clock Synchronization is the best way to make this happen.

Most of the visitors to this site are using Windows XP, which has an atomic clock sync feature built in and included as part of your operating system. If you have Windows XP and wish to check your synchronization settings, look for the clock at the bottom right and double click on the time to bring up your time settings. You can adjust your local time and date by hand on the first tab, you can adjust your time zone location on the second, and on the third, labeled Internet Time, you can view your current atomic clock sync settings.

If you are behind a firewall, this may require opening certain UDP and TCP ports in the router/firewall, while using the standard Windows Internet Time update for your computer clock, via the clock synchronization as part of the Windows Operating System. To double check if the built in Windows OS version has a problem or not, double click clock time from the Windows OS Task Bar, located on the lower right of the task bar, and select the Internet Time tab, then select the button to automatically synchronize with an Internet time server. Click update now. If everything does not work right for Windows automatic time sync, you will see a message, "An error occurred getting the status of the last synchronization. The RPC server is unavailable." If you get that error message, then there is another option available for atomic clock sync.

Dimension 4 software from Thinking Man Software has the automatic atomic clock sync solution. Dimension 4 will automatically update your computer clock in the background at user set times. It can be set to run at startup, and then synchronize once, then exit the program. Or, if you leave your computer on for extended periods of time, it can be set to start minimized and synced at the selected times and remain hidden in the background. The software is designed to run on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows ME, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 w/SP6 or higher, Microsoft Windows 2000 w/SP2 or higher, Microsoft Windows XP w/SP1 or higher, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Check out the Dimension 4 features and download it today.

Dedicated to keeping track of the time on your Windows PC.

Signed Jim

Ethical SEO and professional Internet marketing services to help get your business website found online. Start gaining more sales today.

Contact Professional Web Services now. It is time to get your business discovered online!

Labels: Computers, Internet, Software, Time

posted by James @ Friday, April 27, 2007

Post your thoughts. 0 Comments Go to the Links to this post. www.pwebs.net