I made the switch to Ecosia at the start of the year. Since my switch, I have planted a total of 699 trees. Well, I physically have not but Ecosia did use the profit they had earned from my web searches.
Since Ecosia’s launch in 2009 and with over 15 million active users, they plant a tree every 1.3 seconds. Bringing their total of trees planted to 129 million over 9,000 sites. Which is incredible using every day searches for an amazing cause to help the planet.
They are the leaders in proofing that it is possible to move away from fossil fuels o matter the size of your business. Ecosia are carbon negative after they built their own solar plants in 2018. So, all Ecosia searches are with 100% renewable energy.
You may not know this but about 300 million tons of CO2 are released each year by the internet. If google alone was to follow Ecosia’s lead, it would effectively remove 15% of all worldwide emissions just by itself.
Ecosia like other search engines makes money from your searches through advertisements. But the major difference is, Ecosia uses the profits to help plant trees across the 9,000 sites globally.
Ecosia uses its profits to plant trees in deforested areas, work with local communities, and restore fragile ecosystems. They also invest in firefighting in Brazil and in our own back yard Australia. So, Ecosia helps protect habitats from wild and manmade fires which is incredible after the devastating fires in 2020. So, farm Ecosia’s investments have helped to preserve an estimated 3.5 million trees since 2018.
Well, you are already searching the web using other engines, making the switch is no different. But there is another positive apart from the environmental effects.
Unlike other search engines, Ecosia respects your privacy. By encrypting your searching and allowing you to turn off all their tracking and do not use external tracking tools. They are not looking to sell your personal data to the highest bidder for advertisements.
This not only means your privacy and your data are protected, but you also always get objective and impartial search results, that is not based on your previous behaviors and clicks.
Passwords are such an important factor in all aspects of life. They are used to keeping your personal belongings locked away or a code on the security system of your home or even a password you were told to get access to an exclusive party.
The days of writing down all your passwords in an old book that you keep by your computer are gone. There are applications created to do this for you and help manage and keep safe your passwords. This way when you are searching your booking for your email password, you will not be trying to work out with the that I, is a lower-case L.
You may be thinking. But I use my browsers password manager isn’t that good enough?
All web browsers such as – Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Ecosia have integrated password managers. These are not always the safest ways to save a password. Chrome and Edge store your passwords on your computer in an unencrypted form. People could access the password files on your computer and view them. Also, these companies are always victims of hackers, compromising your password and allowing it to be used for brute force attacks.
A dedicated password manager will store your passwords in an encrypted form, help you generate secure random passwords, offer a more powerful interface, and allow you to easily access your passwords across all different computers, smartphones, and tablets you use.
So which password manager should you use?
Here is a listed of 2025.hosting-australia.com/’s top password managers to keep your passwords safe.
Dashlane uses 256-bit AES encryption, zero-knowledge architecture, and 2FA to help protect user’s data. Dashlane uses these security features to ensure that no one other than you can access your password vault or gain access to your sensitive data.
Dashlane was originally a desktop app but is now slowly transition to becoming a web-based password manager only. Dashlane is installed through browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome and its mobile app is reliable and easy to use. Dashlane consistently generates extra-strong passwords, instantly syncs data across each device, and accurately auto-fills even the most advanced web forms.
Dashlane features include:
Dashlane is a free service. However, there are also monthly subscription with additional features available.
1Password interface is bright, simple, and extremely user-friendly, which is the perfect choice for any beginners. Is similar to Dashlane as the 1Password extension can be installed on your default browser of choice, or using the desktop or mobile, tablet application.
1Password offers convenience with their automatic form fillers that allows you to sign in with a single click, look or touch, also including safety features such as:
RoboForm is known for its ability to auto-fill some of the most complex web forms with perfect accuracy in just one click. With RoboForm, you can create multiple profiles for your web forms, with 8 different categories of information, including passport, credit card, and vehicle info. This is extremely useful if know you need to fill out multiple forms requiring different information. You can easily autofill which form is required with the correct information with a simple click.
Roboform offers multi-platform support for, Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android and their respective major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Ecosia.
Roboform features include:
Unlike the other two discussed previously, RoboForm is not free but is only $1.30/Month.
With any of these 3 password managers there will be no need to keep that old book that you keep your passwords in. And never forget a password again.
Choosing a domain is such an important decision, you need to make sure it stands out from your other competitors. It must be short, smart, memorable, easily spelled it is not too long, because no one wants to type in a 13-letter domain name into their browser, plus there is a higher chance for error and the user is unable to find your website.
You may have a brilliant idea for a domain name, rush to the computer and visit the 2025.hosting-australia.com/ registration page to secure your amazing name. In your excitement, you then check your newly registered name to see......... teacherstalking.org. which isn't a good look at first glance, especially when you are only wanting to design a website to help teachers to reach out and talk about their experiences.
So, it's best to think about your domains and how the combinations of letters will look in the browser's URL. You can also look at these unfortunate names whose registers failed to check the domain before registering so, you also do not find yourself on one of these lists.
PHP is another important factor for your website. Upgrading and maintaining your current version of PHP is not just important for compatibly. But also for the security of your website. New security features are implemented with each new PHP version. While older versions reach their life cycle and are no longer supported, not receiving updates, creating security vulnerability as they are no longer patched for these new vulnerabilities.
PHP is a hypertext processor that is used with HTML to create scripts for your website. When anyone visits a website, the browser sends the site a request, and PHP scripts compile the HTML packets to send them back to the browser.
PHP version 7 alone is used by 65.4% of all the websites that use PHP. 34.1% are still using PHP version 5. It is also one of the best-maintained languages because new updates and features are constantly being pushed out, Version changes happen about once every year. So how do you know what version of PHP your current website is using, and how do you update it?
Finding out your version is simple; you can access all of PHP information by logging into your cPanel. Unsure how to access your cPanel? Its simple just follow this guide!
NOTE - The below will change the PHP version for the entire cPanel. If you have an independent site or development site, that requires a newer version of PHP than other installed sites in your cPanel, we recommend setting the newer site up as a Sub-Domain or addon domain, depending on what your scenario is. Then set the PHP version for that subdomain/addon domain as required via the MultiPHP Manager in cPanel. See THIS ARTICLE for details.
You can also check your PHP Compatibility with the WP Engine PHP Compatibility Checker. This plugin can be used by any WordPress website to check your PHP version. Once the plugin is installed follow the instructions to run a scan. The results report will help you identify any potential PHP version conflicts in your code, so you can have them fixed before upgrading.
Email Bouncebacks are a common occurrence, they happen to everyone. You maybe have received multiple bouncebacks and they sometimes can be confusing and convoluted. First, If you are unable to work out why an email is bouncing, it's important to contact our support team so can make sure all of your emails are delivered. But, it is also important to know what causing and what an email bounce message is.
An email bounce is an error message you receive when email you have sent is not delivered. Your email account will typically receive a Non-Delivery Report (NDR) instantly after sending an email or 72 hours depending on the type of bounce back, which we will get into later. These NDR also informs you what caused delivery failure of your email and are extremely important because they detail all the information for troubleshooting.
When you send out an email, the email is sent out via an SMTP server for delivery. The SMTP server checks your email with the DNS. The DNS is an address book for domain names and server IP addresses, like the yellow pages for the addresses on the internet. Once the recipient’s server is located, the SMTP server gives your message to their MTA to complete email delivery. This will allow the email to be delivered successfully.
However, sometimes the email may run into an issue during this process. This is where the bounce back messages come into play by telling yourself (the sender) what went wrong.
There a multiple reasons for email bounce backs including full inboxes, servers that are not responding, send to email addresses that no longer exist, or something as simple as misspelling the email address.
There are three types of bounce backs:
Emails soft bounce is when a server rejects an email temporality. Most email services try to resend email messages after they soft bounce. You will typically see that it will reattempt in 24 hours or 72 hours.
Mailbox full: If the recipient mailbox has reached capacity and will bounce until there is free space to deliver.
Email Size: The email attachment may exceed the server or mail client limit, or it might be bounced back if there is a filter in place.
Server is down: An unreachable server may have crashed, be overloaded, or be under maintenance.
A hard bounce happens when your email is permanently undeliverable to an email address.
Incorrect email address: This is a simple one but happens to the best of us. This the email address is spelt incorrectly you will receive the bounce back message.
Email blocked: Some domains have stricter spam filter settings. The recipient may have strict ruling in place. You will need to contact our support team regarding this issue.
You cannot fix hard bounce email issues what you can do is remove the reason behind the hard bounce, such as an incorrect email address.
Email blocklists are created by ESPs to filter harmful or exploitative content, like spam or malware. It is not created to make it harder to spend emails, it is designed to protect the recipients of the emails sent daily.
You can test your email against blacklists using helpful tools such as mxtoolbox.com.
Spam complaints: An email may become compromised by a malicious attacking causing large volumes of spam. This may find you on a blocklist.
High bounce rates: Another reason may be just too many bounce backs by the reasons mentioned before.
Bad content: If you use certain words in your subject that are typically found in a Spam. You may find yourself on this list.
With time: The block maybe removed automatically after a predetermined time.
Contact the blocklist: A request can be sent to the blocklist holder’s website to be delisted.
Contact us:If you are unsure and need help removing yourself off a block listed, contact our support team so we may look on a server level.
There are many reasons you may want to switch from your current web hosting provider to 2025.hosting-australia.com/, perhaps their pricing has changed over the years, their servers are slow or you’re finding it difficult to get in touch with their support team.
Switching your web hosting provider might seem like a daunting task, but we’re here to take the guess work and stress out of making this change.
2025.hosting-australia.com/ is 100% Australian owned and operated. Our support team are located in Australia, so you know if you are having any difficulties with your service, you can quickly get in touch with someone in our team and get the assistance you need.
So, if you’re ready to make the switch, what’s next?
First, you will need to contact us via (07) 4914 2433 or send an email to support@hosting-australia.com, informing us that you wish to migrate your services over to us.
When you contact us it's best to give us the following information so the transfer will be as smooth as possible. Providing this information upfront will help us eliminate downtime on your site.
There are pre-transfer checks you will need to make before transferring the domain across, because there are safeguards to keep individuals from taking your domain from right underneath you.
Your current hosting provider may use cPanel, if that is the case you are in luck! cPanel migrations are FREE! All we require are your cPanel username and password and our migration team can migrate your hosting files using our server migration script.
If you require a manual transfer our migration team are more than happy to do this for you as well. Manual transfers will incur a $75 manual migration fee as there are more steps taken in a manual migration.
We will require the following:
Once the migration is complete. It is important to Repoint your nameservers. 2025.hosting-australia.com/ will take care of this step if your domain has been transferred to us. However, if the domain is with another provider you will need to do this step yourself.
You want to make sure you keep your WordPress site secure, it is crucial for any site – no matter how big or small. WordPress site security is such an important factor, you can never have enough security when your site and data might be at risk, therefore 2FA is a must.
2FA (two-step verification or multi-factor authentication) adds an extra layer of protection to your site by requiring at least two types of user verification on your WordPress login page. 2FA help's against attacks like brute-force attacks.
With this said, we will discuss why two-factor authentication is important for site security and how it can limit your exposure to data loss and identity theft and the steps you can take in adding it to your WordPress website.
There are countless ways hackers may try to gain access to your WordPress site. Vulnerable plugins, Injection attacks, cookie stealing, phishing and data theft. But most commonly are brute force attacks. A brute force attack is where hackers use bots to repeatedly guesses login credentials, until they have your details.
2FA can prevent these attacks and stop them from gaining access to your site. Even if they do guess the correct password, the bot then requires an additional password which is impossible without this 2FA code. This additional password or code is randomly generated and sent to an email or phone. Once a user submits their logins associated with that account to successfully log in.
First, you will need to install the google authenticator app on your mobile device. On your mobile device simply navigate to the google play or app store, then search Google Authenticator and install.
Once you have the Google Authenticator App Downloaded to your device, the next step is to install the plugin to your WordPress site. There are multiple authenticator plugins available for WordPress.
Navigate to your WP Admin dashboard. (if you are having difficulties access your WP admin dashboard, contact HA support).
On the left-hand side Click on Plugins > Add New
Search Two Factor Authentication in the search bar found on the Add Plugins Page, then Click Install now then Active.
Once Two Factor Authentication is installed, navigate to the plugin, check the radio button, then click Save Changes.
Scan the QR code with your mobile/tablet device via the Google Authenticator app, then save changes.
Google Authenticator will create a time-based code on your applicator you will need to enter next time you log in.
Shared or VPS hosting, deciding on the most suitable hosting package for your website can seem like a confusing and difficult process. If you have found this blog post, you have already found the right hosting company. But you may be unsure of the right type of hosting for your website.
These two versions of hosting, both have the same end goal. That is to ensure you have a site live on the internet accessible by the world. But, they both have very different ways of accomplishing that goal.
In this article, we will discuss shared vs VPS hosting. The major differences and in addition to their pros and cons, so you can select the right kind of hosting for your website.
Shared hosting allows multiple websites to utilize a single server. The server is built in a way it will be able to handle multiple resources across multiple users. This sharing across the server allows overall hosting to be more affordable by splitting the cost.
A simple way to think of this is if you purchase a car, it is cheaper for each member of your family to use the car, rather than each individual member of the family to purchase a car then pay for the upkeep for each induvial car.
Each service is allocated an amount of resources depending on your hosting package. You will be able to view via your allocated usage statistics via your cPanel.
It is a known fact that shared hosting is a more affordable form of hosting that still provides you with all the features required for your website.
All shared hosting packages are preinstalled with cPanel, this is an easy-to-use hosting dashboard. cPanel allows easy manage your hosting, set up multiple domains, redirects, and manage email accounts. The cPanel also allows you to view your allocated server resources as mentioned earlier.
All the upgrades and maintenance are carried out by the 2025.hosting-australia.com/ technical team. These tasks are necessary if you want your server to continue to function. These are complex and require a wealth of knowledge if you were required to do these on your own.
As you are sharing your server with multiple users, there is a slight chance your site speeds may be lower compared to a dedicated server. Depending on the amount of traffic, you receive you may need to increase your allocated server resources.
Depending on your site growth, the server storage and bandwidth limits may not be enough. This will require you to upgrade your hosting package to provide more resources. However, with 2025.hosting-australia.com/ you can easily upgrade and downgrade your hosting packages to scale with your needs.
Shared hosting will not allow you to make direct changes to the server itself. So, if you need to make changes server side or install additional servers to your hosting, we recommend other hosting packages.
Shared hosting is perfect for beginners who are building their sites online, especially if you do not wish to be bogged down with server maintenance and the nitty-gritty of servers.
The VPS hosting provides you with a greater level of server resources. So, if you have big and bold plans and know that your site will be pushed further than shared hosting. VPS will be able to support a higher volume of users without a decline in performance.
VPS hosting offers you a higher level of security than shared hosting. Since your environment is virtualized, you will be isolated from other sites on shared hosting servers.
VPS hosting allows you access to more server customization options. The VPS will get root server access, which gives you greater server control and behaves like a dedicated server, allowing more power, freedom, and control.
The VPS is more expensive than shared hosting. Since you are getting access to more server resources they will increase as well.
Generally, the management of VPS hosting requires a higher level of technical skills to manage your server the right way. 2025.hosting-australia.com/ does not provide free support or does not maintain, upgrade, and optimize your server environment for you.
By reading this article. You will now have a better understanding of Shared and VPS hosting. Shared hosting will be a more affordable form of hosting depending on your requirements, but the benefits of the additional resources offered by VPS hosting.
Phishing, even though its spelled differently they are still trying to have the same effect. A fisherman will cast out their line not to target anything specifically, but just to hopefully get an unsuspecting victim. It might sound a bit bleak, but this is exactly what these hackers are attempting to do. They create emails using popular websites and services then legitimize these emails as much as possible for the unsuspecting eye. Hoping that they can get someone to click on a link that gives them access to private information.
Scammers use emails to trick you into giving them your personal information. They use these emails to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, if its any kind of sensitive information, they will try to take it. Unsuspecting victims can lose everything just by clicking on what they think is a legitimate and harmless link. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day. Just like a regular fisherman after casting out so multiple times, they will end up catching something no matter how big or small. Australians lost over $634 million to scams in 2019, according to the latest figures in the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report released 22/06/2020
No legitimate organization will send emails from an address that ends with - @gmail.com @yahoo.com @hotmail.com. even the actual companies that created these email addresses will not send from these emails. Therefore, it is important for a user to have their own business email to legitimize their own business. You can learn more about it in our previous blog article HERE.
For example, your inbox displays a name, like “cPanel Administration”, in the subject line. When you open the email, you already know who the message is from and jump straight into the content. When the scammers create the phishing email addresses, they often have the choice to select the display name, which does not have to relate to the email address at all.
This is just one small step they can take to create emails that look like they are from legitimate sources. Apart from creating fake email addresses they also mimic other emails sent from companies by doing the following:
Another tip you can use to workout if you have received a phishing email. Simply mouse over the link found in the email, a pop up will appear with the linking address. Usually these links will take you to a random link such as “cslsdfbpaymentlsjd.com/askdfmcs” which is a dead give away that it is not from a legitimate source.
First of all you should cancel any cards or accounts with the information you had supplied via the email. Report scams to the ACCC via the Scamwatch report a scam page. Your report helps to warn people about current scams, monitor trends and disrupts scams where possible.
You are also able to contact IDCare on 1800 595 160 or via www.idcare.org for support if you believe your personal information has been put at risk.
Notify 2025.hosting-australia.com/, as soon as we are notified the support staff will take measures to secure your account with us.
Archiving has become an important tool, with the businesses moving towards a more electronic and digital world, you will have noticed more emails are being sent out regularly. These emails include junk and important email documents. It becomes overwhelming trying to organize, what to keep and what to delete. Like a physical mailbox, you can only fit a certain amount inside the mailbox until it the mail is sent back to the original sender (Bounce Backs)
It will reach a boiling point, where you are unsure which emails to keep and which emails to delete. This can become a problem just like a physical mailbox – once it reaches its allocated capacity you will no longer be able to receive any more emails, the email will then be sent back to the original recipient. The recipient will receive the bounce-back message we all know and love.
Before you find that your mailbox reaches capacity, you can simply archive messages by copying them to an offline location on your computer to prevent this issue in the future. This sounds like it could be a bit tricky, but it is quite easy and only takes a few minutes to set it up. This will free up lots of space within your mailbox without permanently deleting those old emails and can even speed up your email systems synchronization with the email server.
