WordPress Error: The server XYZ at Magic Requires a Username and Password.

Here is a little surprise I received upon returning from vacation. I was editing a blog and when I went to save the post an error popped up reading:

• The server (our server domain, e.g. DOMAIN.COM) at Magic requires a username and password.

Well isn’t that special?

The problem is caused by the vars.php file located in the WP-INCLUDES folder. Someone did a SQL Injection (Read More Here) and added code to the file.

The fix is an easy one – 2 steps:

1. Download a new version of the vars.php file from WordPress and replace the corrupted one. Look here – Simply choose your WordPress version
2. Update WordPress to the latest version!

Normally, the files starts:

<?php
/**
 * Creates common globals for the rest of WordPress
 *
 * Sets $pagenow global which is the current page. Checks
 * for the browser to set which one is currently being used.
 *
 * Detects which user environment WordPress is being used on.
 * Only attempts to check for Apache and IIS. Two web servers
 * with known permalink capability.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 */

But after it has been “hacked” there is encrypted text reading something like:

eval(base64_decode("JGxsbD0wO2V2YWwoYmFzZT....

So once again, Look here – Simply choose your WordPress version, go to WP-INLUDES, download Vars.php and replace the one on your server. Then update WordPress for better security.

Tags: Authentication, Blog software, Data management, Hack, Magic, Password, php, PHP programming language, SQL, SQL injection, text reading, Wordpress

If you are running a WordPress website and have noticed that Firefox crashes whenever you try to add an image – here is the solution.

Just Disable Google Gears.

Go to Tools > Add-Ons, select Gears and ‘Disable’ it.

Fixed.

Tags: Closes, Crash, Firefox, Fix, Image, Wordpress

Almost all mail client program send e-mail using port 25, which is also the port used by mail servers to talk to each other. But port 25 is widely abused by malware to spread worms and spam. As a result, many ISPs are restricting its use.

Hang on – it will make sense in a second:

Most people having a setup where they are on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) like ATT and have an email address like “MyEmail@ATT.net”  You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.

But if you have your own domain email address or an email address from another ISP you may hit a snag. In these cases you are connecting to the internet through your ISP (like Comcast, SpeakEasy, ATT, etc) and trying to send email through your third party host like “MyEmail@SuperCoolWebsite.com”

Your ISP says “Hey! There is someone on my network trying to send email through someone elses address! This might be spam or malware!” You can receive mail, but you can’t send mail.

Recently ATT and Verizon both made changes that affected outgoing mail. Here’s the fix:

If you cannot SEND MAIL

1. Open OUTLOOK
2. Select TOOLS
3. Select ACCOUNT SETTINGS
4. Highlight the account in question and select CHANGE
5. Select MORE SETTINGS
6. Select ADVANCED
7. Change from PORT 25 to PORT 587
8. Save everything and restart Outlook

Other email programs will have similar settings. Look for PROPERTIES or PREFERENCES and find the outgoing mail server option.

One other option to check is that you are authenticating before sending. In other words. logging in with your username and password to both check and send email.

In Outlook the options window looks like this:

This tells Outlook to send your username and password before trying to send mail. If you have problems try enabling or disabling this setting.

The screen shots used in this how-to are my actual settings and they work just fine with SpeakEasy and ATT.

Tags: eMail, Error, Outlook, Port 25, Port 587, SENDMAIL

Sometimes when you want to upload photographs to online services or self-maintained systems like WordPress you may find yourself in the position of needing to reduce the file-size of the images. After all, your 8 mega-pixel camera takes pictures that are just that – around 8MB sometimes!

There are several programs you can use to reduce the file size of your images but if you have Microsoft Outlook installed then you have everything you need!

Here is a super-fast and easy way to reduce those image file sizes using Microsoft Outlook.

1 ) Put the original image files in one folder on your desktop.

2 ) Create another folder that will hold the set we will make. Lets name them “Start” and “Finish”

3 ) Open the “Start” Folder, and select all the images in that folder.

- Highlight them all, or select one and then CNTRL-A to select all, etc.

4 ) While all of the files are selected, Right Click and SEND TO –> MAIL RECIPIENT

5 ) The “Send Pictures via E-Mail” prompt will open. Choose “MAKE ALL MY PICTURES SMALLER”

6 ) Select the size you want, I usually use LARGE and I find this to be plenty of compression.

- In Vista the option for picture size appears as another window.
- In XP click the SHOW MORE OPTIONS link and the pop-up window will expand.

7 ) Give your computer a few seconds to work its magic. The more files you are reducing, the longer it will take. I have done over 100 at a time before – no problem.

8 ) An email message will appear with all of the reduced size files in the attachments area.

9 ) Select one of the attachments, hit CNTRL-A to select them all, and save them to the FINISH folder you created.

- You can also click once on one of the files, then right click and choose SELECT ALL
- Once all of the files are selected you can drag and drop them into the FINISH folder or cut and paste – whatever is easier for you!

Now you have a folder of images that are usually less than 100KB instead of 4-8 (or higher!) MB a piece.

How easy was that!

Tags: Camera, Filesize, Free, Image, Outlook, Photo, Reduce, Resize, Shrink

When upgrading WordPress you may receive the dreaded Error 500 – Internal Server Error:

Don’t Panic. This usually means that the files you uploaded did not completely replace their predecessors.

Check your FTP settings and tell your FTP program to OVERWRITE existing files on the server. Some thing like this:

I usually have my Uploads option set to “Overwrite if Source Newer” but I have seen this cause problems when uploading WordPress revisions like WordPress 2.7.1 so I change it to “Overwrite” when upgrading the files.

Re-upload the files, refresh your admin panel and breathe a sigh of relief.

Tags: Error 500, Internal Server Error, Wordpress, WordPress 2.7.1