Ricmedia PC Help

Tech Guides for Everyone

Website optimizations for a faster experience

Website Optimizations on Ricmedia PC Help

Today I installed a special WordPress plugin called WP-Rocket which optimizes this website for a much faster and smoother user experience. I also setup a CND via MaxCDN to further speed up delivery from Ricmedia PC Help. Part of this optimization is something called Minifying, which removes white-space in certain text files like JavaScript and CSS, and although this feature greatly increases speed, it can sometimes break the website and cause display issues.

I will attempt to keep on top of this issue as much as I can, but it would be terrific if you guys can also let me know if you have any problems…thanks 😉

Cheers!

Richie

The Ultimate Facebook Privacy Guide

The Ultimate Facebook Privacy Guide

Introduction

Nowadays, you can’t be too careful with your Facebook privacy settings, especially those of you with families. Today I want to show you how to secure your Facebook privacy while still enjoying a good degree of social contact.

Contents

  1. Introduction, Video guide, General privacy settings
  2. Facebook apps privacy & privileges
  3. Blocking users & turning off Facebook Chat

General Facebook privacy settings

Facebook has four settings for most of their privacy options: Friends, Friends of friends, Everyone/Public or Custom. Let’s go through each option along with the privacy level of each.

  • Everyone/Public = Anyone on the Internet can see your stuff, contact you or send a friend request, low privacy
  • Friends of Friends = Your good friend Kate is friends with Tom, he can see your stuff, contact you or send a friend request, moderate privacy
  • Friends = Only people you have already added and confirmed as friends can see your stuff or contact you, high privacy
  • Custom = Choose which users or groups who can see your stuff, privacy depends on who you choose

So now we know how the different levels of privacy work, let’s go through each setting and change it to the privacy level you want. Do this by going to Settings Arrow â–¼ top-right of your screen, then choose the Settings menu item, then on the navigation panel to your left, click on Privacy. You will now be on the Privacy Settings & Tools page where all your privacy settings are. I will explain further each setting and include a recommended setting for each.

  • Who can see my stuff?
    • Who can see your future posts?
    • Means: Who can, from this moment on-wards, see anything you post? Includes images, text, video and other activity, doesn’t affect earlier activity/posts. Recommend Friends
    • Review all your posts and things you’re tagged in
    • Means: Go through all your posts and set custom visibility for each
    • Limit the audience for posts you’ve shared with friends of friends or Public?
    • Means: Make all your previous activity limited to friends only, nothing in Public or Friends of Friends view. Anything you previously posted with Public, Friends of Friends or Custom visibility will no longer be visible to those people or groups except Friends. Recommend Yes
  • Who can contact me?
    • Who can send you friend requests?
    • Means: Who has permission to click the Add Friend button on your profile page, the Add Friend button will not be shown to those not in your chosen privacy level. Recommend Friends of Friends
  • Who can look me up?
    • Who can look you up using the email address you provided?
    • Means: If someone searches your email address you@youremail.com they will find your profile in Facebook search results. Recommend Friends of Friends
    • Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?
    • Means: If someone enters your phone number (555) 555 5555 they will find your profile in Facebook search results. Recommend Friends of Friends
    • Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your Profile?
    • Means: If someone searches anything that matches anything you’ve posted, your profile page may show up in search results (depends entirely on search engine). Recommend No
Recommended Facebook privacy settings example
Recommended Facebook privacy settings example

Per Post Privacy Settings

There might be a time when you actually want to post something Public and Facebook allows you to do just this. When you post anything (image, text, video or link) just to the right of the Post button, you will see a drop-down button that says either Public or Friends, click on it and you can choose exactly which group of people can see this individual post (click on the More Options â–¼ item to choose Custom visibility or Only Me).

Choose the visibility level when you post anything on Facebook
Choose the visibility level when you post anything on Facebook

You can also go through and individually change the visibility level for anything you have previously posted. Just go to the post and just under your name you will see a little World icon or Friends icon with a down arrow â–¼, click on it and change the visibility level to Friends, Public, Custom or Only Me.

Change the visibility level of an older post on Facebook
Change the visibility level of an older post on Facebook

Connect VPN using SoftEther SSL-VPN on Windows (all versions)

[youtube=https://youtu.be/ywwqnffd1d4]

In this guide I will show you how to connect your Windows (all versions) PC/laptop to any VPN service that’s using the SoftEther SSL-VPN protocol. SoftEther SSL-VPN is a very safe and easy VPN protocol to set up and can easily traverse firewalls making it a good choice for those of you who live in oppressive regimens.

Before we start the connection setup process, you will need to find out the following details (best have them written or printed). If you are connecting to a paid VPN service, just login and your details and settings will be there. If you are connecting via a workplace, please contact your Network Administrator and ask them for the following details:

Required Info

  • Your VPN username
  • Your VPN password
  • Server host name or IP address (ie. contoso.com or 192.101.23.309)
  • Desirable to know the Authentication type (RADIUS or standard)

Once you have this info you can then watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Connect via SoftEther SSL-VPN on Windows

  1. Download the SoftEther Windows Client from http://www.softether-download.com/en.aspx?product=softether and choose (1) SoftEther VPN Client (2) Windows (3) Intel (x86 and x64)
  2. Once downloaded, find and right-click on it, choose Run as Administrator then click Yes to the security alert to allow the program to run
  3. Follow the installation instructions leaving everything at defaults
  4. Click on the Start icon Windows 10 Start Icon bottom-left of your screen and navigate to the SoftEther app and start it up
  5. Double click on Add VPN Connection, click Yes to add a new Virtual Network Adapter, leave the name at VPN and click OK (be patient as it can take a while to complete)
  6. Double click Add VPN Connection again, the New VPN Connection window will open
  7. For Setting Name: give it a descriptive name (ie. HomeVPN or WorkVPN)
  8. For Host Name: enter the server name or IP address (ie contoso.com or 182.167.23.101)
  9. Now click on Hub Name: and the app should automatically detect and display the name, if it doesn’t just enter VPN for this option
  10. Leave everything else at defaults (unless you have been given specific instructions to enter custom values)
  11. In the right hand side section, choose either Standard Password Authetication or RADIUS Authentication, if you’re unsure, try Standard first, if it doesn’t work try RADIUS
  12. Enter your VPN Username and Password into the respective fields
  13. Finally click OK to save and close the window
  14. You should now see your new connection, to connect, simply right-click on it and choose Connect, to disconnect, right-click on it and choose Disconnect
  15. SoftEther VPN Client will recommend you if the connection was successful or not. If unsuccessful, double-check all settings again or contact your VPN service provider or Network Administrator
  16. All done!

Resize & Optimize Images in Photoshop for Websites

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hQ7jc4JAyw]

Today I will show you 2 ways to resize and optimize images in Photoshop so they’re suitable for publishing on a website. Images taken from most cameras today are far too large to publish directly to a website, so you need to firstly reduce the total image size/DPI, then optimize to a point that does not reduce the image quality.

The first way is the quickest and easiest and is suitable for when you do not need to edit the image using filters, layers, cropping etc. The second way is a little more involved and is suitable for when you do need to use filters, layers, adjustments and cropping.

Important Note: When editing images, it’s important to never ever edit the original image. Always make a copy of the image or save it in another format like Photoshop PSD. Keep all your original images in a separate folder system, then copy to a working folder to edit.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Resize & Optimize Images in Photoshop (quick way)

  1. Locate and open the image you want to resize in Photoshop
  2. Go to File > Save for Web & Devices…
  3. Ignore and click Yes to any warnings, it may take a while to load
  4. From the top drop down box, choose JPEG
  5. Choose the High preset (Quality: 60%)
  6. Down the bottom, look for the Image Size boxes
  7. Enter the Width you require (I suggest 1024px) then hit the Tab key
  8. The Height will automatically adjust relative to the Width, if it doesn’t click the chain icon
  9. Now click the Save button, choose a location and a new name for the image
  10. Close the image in Photoshop and click No to Save Changes? alert box (important!)
  11. All done!

Resize & Optimize Images in Photoshop (if editing)

  1. Locate and open the image you want to edit in Photoshop
  2. Go to File > Save As… and choose Photoshop (PSD) file format
  3. Now edit the image any way you want, when finished go to next step
  4. Go to File > Save for Web & Devices…
  5. Ignore and click Yes to any warnings, it may take a while to load
  6. From the top drop down box, choose JPEG
  7. Choose the High preset (Quality: 60%)
  8. Down the bottom, look for the Image Size boxes
  9. Enter the Width you require (I suggest 1024px) then hit the Tab key
  10. The Height will automatically adjust relative to the Width, if it doesn’t click the chain icon
  11. Now click the Save button, choose a location and a new name for the image
  12. Close the image in Photoshop and click Yes to Save Changes? alert box
  13. All done!

Change default email client on Windows 10

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v3On77NDT8]

Today I will show you how to set your default email client on Windows 10. There are a number of good alternatives to Outlook including Mozilla Thunderbird and Eudora so there’s no need to feel trapped into Microsoft products, the alternatives can offer better email management and features.

Note* This guide will only work if you have already installed the email client you want to make the default (ie. Thunderbird, Eudora). If you have not already done this you will likely only have one choice which is the default Windows 10 mail client.

Watch the video above or follow the text guide below.

Change the Default Email Client on Windows 10

  1. Click on the Start Menu Windows 10 Start Icon button bottom-left
  2. Now click on the Settings Windows 10 Settings menu item
  3. Then click the System Windows 10 Settings - System icon
  4. Now click on the Default apps menu item
  5. Look for the Email heading
  6. Click on the current default email client just below heading
  7. The Choose an app menu should now be in view
  8. Click on the email client you wish to make the default app
  9. Close the Settings window
  10. All done!