How-to Archives - Life Beyond Tech

A Complete Guide to Installing MySQL and PHP with IIS

September 26, 2015November 8, 2024 Andrew Comeau 14 Comments

Update: A video update to this article for Windows Server 2016 / 2019 is available on YouTube. I’m leaving this version up as a general guide for issues you might encounter in this type of installation. Please take this into consideration when downloading components.

One of my latest projects was setting up WordPress, the popular content management system, on a client’s web server which was running Windows Server 2008. WordPress requires installations of MySQL for the database back-end and the PHP scripting language in order to serve up the WordPress content. On a local Windows machine, I’d probably just use a pre-configured WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack package like XAMPP which is installed quickly and includes all the necessary components. That’s not quite an option in a professional environment, though. I was also working with Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5 for the web server instead of Apache so the process is a little more involved.

Click here to read more about using XAMPP to create a local installation of WordPress.

How-to, Web Design

On the Importance of Backups and Storage Decisions

April 3, 2015November 8, 2022 Andrew Comeau

Windows 7 installation routine — Re-installing Windows 7 ….

I admit it’s a little bit of a geek thing but I’m in the habit of wiping and reloading my computer systems at least once a year to keep everything working right. I find that, even as careful as I am about what I install, I still work with some major software and Windows systems start to slow down and get a little flaky after awhile with random hiccups that take time to track down. Sometimes, it’s easier just to take a day, back everything up and re-install Windows from scratch.

Hardware, How-to, Software

Fixing the Orange (or Red) Status Icon in WampServer

March 12, 2015July 13, 2026 Andrew Comeau 24 Comments

As part of my latest project, I decided to try out WampServer, the Windows development environment for developing web applications with Apache web server, MySQL database and PHP scripting (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP – WAMP). Packages like WampServer and EasyPHP are simplified ways to create a testing environment on your PC without spending a lot of time downloading, installing and configuring the individual components. The package also includes utilities such as PHPMyAdmin and SQLBuddy for managing your MySQL databases and writing SQL queries. The software is available in 32- and 64-bit versions and the installation is pretty straightforward.

How-to, Programming, Software

Importing Meta Descriptions to Yoast SEO

January 1, 2015December 27, 2022 Andrew Comeau 9 Comments

In a recent post, I talked about using the WordPress plugin Add Meta Tags for adding meta descriptions and titles to posts and pages within my WordPress sites. It’s a simple SEO tool but works well. Nevertheless, I decided to switch my sites over to Yoast SEO for all its extra features and guidance in constructing pages. I was anticipating quite a job as this blog alone has almost 100 posts and all of those descriptions needed to be transferred from the fields created by the old plugin to Yoast’s fields. Yoast does have some import tools of its own but they didn’t include the one I’d been using and my experience with a third-party converter had not been good so I was glad to find that I could do it so simply with one query in phpMyAdmin.

How-to, Web Design

How Do I Switch to Linux?

December 31, 2014February 14, 2023 Andrew Comeau

For years, the idea of running Linux has been associated with the typing of confusing commands into terminal programs and a fairly steep learning curve that a lot of users avoided just by sticking with Windows. In the last few years, however, Linux has come a long way with many different versions (also called distributions) for users to choose from, some of which look and act very much like the previous versions of Windows that users long for after sampling Windows 8.

Read More “How Do I Switch to Linux?” »

How-to, Linux

Creating Virtual Machines with Oracle VM VirtualBox

December 18, 2014November 8, 2022 Andrew Comeau 1 Comment

What is Virtualization?

Win7-XP — Virtual machines enable the user to run multiple guest systems on the same computer. This image shows a virtual machine with Windows XP installed, , referred to as the guest system, running on a Windows 7 host machine.

Several years ago, I wrote an article for this site about Microsoft Virtual PC, Microsoft’s implementation of virtualization technology for the Windows desktop. Virtualization software enables a computer to act as a host, running multiple computer sessions with different operating systems for the purpose of testing software, isolating specific programs from the rest of the software on the host machine or maintaining older operating systems as needed after an upgrade. Virtual PC was a somewhat simplified virtualization software which officially supported various versions of DOS and Windows and made the virtualization concept a little more accessible to the average user. With the release of Windows 8, it was succeeded by Hyper-V on machines with the necessary hardware requirements and Windows 8 editions.

Oracle VM VirtualBox

How-to, Software

HDMI to VGA: Using your VGA monitor on your HDMI laptop

October 21, 2014February 14, 2023 Andrew Comeau

Looks like the trusty old VGA interface is on its way out and while you’ll still see legacy systems and devices using this 25 year old standard for monitor connections, the newer laptops and computers are starting to pass on VGA connectors in favor of HDMI which, among its other benefits, allows for thinner devices. When I bought my new laptop computer, I never even thought to check if it had a VGA monitor port on it and, sure enough, it doesn’t. Instead, it has an Active HDMI port on the side. This wasn’t a problem until I tried connecting it to a projector during a meeting a few months ago and found out that projector’s HDMI interface didn’t work.

Hardware, How-to, Reviews

Finally! Stop Facebook Videos from Playing Automatically …

October 21, 2014January 4, 2015 Andrew Comeau

A few months ago, Facebook introduced that “cool” new feature where videos your friends posted would automatically start playing as soon as you scrolled to them on your newsfeed. I don’t know why they thought this was a good idea or if it was part of their philosophy that people are incapable of choosing what…

How-to, Internet