Technology for Startups - Part 2: Your Website

It’s likely that you will begin your journey as a startup with a website. This is a natural starting point. We often get calls from startup’s with the question “How much does it cost to create a website for my new company?” This is normally in response to a web developer that is selling a packaged website at a premium price. The buyer does not realize that they are going to do 90% of the work on the website since they need to write the content. The web developer will spend about an hour setting up the domain and hosting plans and will will likely mark up these services 100% or more! (sometimes on a recurring basis!) To make this even worse they often keep ownership of your domain name (www.MyCorp.com) and will hold you hostage when you later want to hire someone else.

Instead of hiring someone to do this you should register your own domain and buy your own hosting plan. This should take less than an hour. If you don’t have complex need you can even setup your own site. Building a website in 2019 is far easier then it seems. The steps below will walk you through the basics of getting your domain setup and a website installed.

Step 1: Register a Domain

We like GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com) for domain hosting with Hover (www.hover.com) as an alternative choice. The trickiest part of setting up a domain is finding a good domain name. It’s hard to find a good name and you will likely need to make it longer if you want to have a “dot com” extension. GoDaddy will allow you to search and show you alternatives. Once you find a good name you should register it immediately. Make sure that you do this yourself and that you have ownership of the domain. DO NOT EVER allow a web developer register your domain and take control of the account. They will likely be the legal owner of the account and getting control will be a nightmare at some point in the future.

PITFALL: Never let anyone else register your company domain name or maintain ownership of your domain!

You should be sure that the domain is registered in your name or the name of your company and that you control not only the account but the credit card where it is being charged. If a payment is missed on the domain you may loose your name and it will likely be be immediately bought up by someone else and they will charge you a fortune to get it back!

PITFALL: make sure you are in control of the username and password of the account your domain is registered under as well as the credit card being charged.

Step 2: Decide of you need a private domain name

Domain information is publicly available in order to keep the owners honest. This allows people to verify the owner of a website and lodge a complaint if the site has malicious material or is misbehaving. This data is also used by companies to identify other businesses for various reasons. There are companies that will be the middle man so that your name and address are kept obscured. My rule of thumb is that you should only use this sort of service if you are running a startup out of your home. This will allow you to keep your home address off the internet and separate your personal address from your business. If you are going to have an office there is no reason to pay for a private domain. It costs extra money and it hides your business. As a new business owner you want to world to know about your business and find you. Why would you hide your address and phone number?

Private domains are often used by web developers since they are trying to hide the fact they they really own your domain. They will tell you that you need domain privacy and charge you for this service. They will then register in their own name as the owner and use what you paid for to keep you in the dark. Beware of this practice.

PITFALL: Beware of web developers and companies that setup your domain using a private domain. If you cannot see that you are the owner they are likely hiding the fact that they are the real owner of your web domain!!

Step 3: Choose a platform

The web platform you use is the software that runs your website. Gone are the days of web developers who write thousands of lines of code to build a website. Today a website is built using tools that look more like power point than code. We suggest one of two options for your website.

Option 1 - All in 1 solution: Square Space (www.squarespace.com). Square Space is the perfect solution for most startups if there is not a need for a complex website. If you have an insurance agency, law firm or another business that does not need any complex add-ins we suggest Square Space. Square Space sites are easy to build any you just select a template and start pasting your content into the website.

The beauty of Square Space is that they take care of everything for you. They provide the hosting, software and maintenance. Once you build your site you are done. The only thing you ever need to do is make updates to the content if something changes. You don’t need IT staff to install updates and the interface is so simple you will likely not need the help of a web developer. It’s free to try out Square Space so there is no reason not to give it 30 minutes of your time to try it out.

Alternative: WIX (www.wix.com): If you like the squarespace idea but must have a different option then WIX is your alternative. Do not get tricked by the “Free” option from WIX since they will put ad’s on your site that no business should have. Instead look at it as an alternative to Square Space. The plus to WIX is that it’s a bit more configurable than Square Space. The negative is that the site setup process is more complex and the sites never seem to be as aesthetically pleasing as those build on Square Space. That said, WIX is a solid product and our second choice for an all-in-1 solution.

Option 2 - Content Management System: A content Management System or CMS is a software system that your website runs on. The big boy in the space is WordPress and we would not suggest any other platform. You should be looking at a CMS only if your website will need to be complex. A few examples of reasons to stop up to a CMS over an all-in-1 solution would be:

• Integrations with other software systems

• Ability to have your customers login to your website

• You are going to be running a large online store

• You will be providing web based applications

If you need a more complex website then Wordpress is the platform of choice. With 34% of all websites running on WordPress there is nothing that comes close to this platform when it comes to support. This means you can be assured that security patches will be timely and you will have a large choice of developers to help you when you need website work.

PITFALL: Do not get talked into using a content management system other than WordPress. This is a typical move by developers who want to lock you into expensive services and you will have limited options when you look to change developers.

Other platforms will likely leave you with a limited pool of talent when you need help and this means you will either pay higher rates or possibly be stuck without help down the road. DO NOT let a developer talk you into using another CMS without getting MANY second opinions. In most cases developers want to sell you another solution because they either have huge markups or they know you will not be able to easily choose to go somewhere else.

Alternative: None. Get Wordpress!

Step 4 - Choose your Hosting Provider

If you chose Square Space or WIX in the previous step you can skip this step since the hosting is provided with you service. If you chose to use WordPress you will need to setup hosting. We generally suggest the you never use the same company where you registered your website for hosting. This is because there are times when your site may be compromised or you may have a disagreement with your hosting provider. If you have a problem you will be glad that you do not need to move your domain to change providers. If you have separate providers the process is far easier and you cannot be held hostage by the hosting provider no matter what happens.

PITFALL: Don’t ever use the same provider to register your domain and host your website. If you ever have a problem with their hosting it makes it harder to change providers!

If you are going to use WordPress for your website then the first place to look is WordPress.com. WordPress.com is a hosting provider that is directly related to the WordPress CMS. (The CMS website is WordPress.org) There are 1,000’s of hosting providers that can host a WordPress site but we believe that the first place to look is with the hosting service that is related to the CMS. WordPress.com makes it a breeze to setup a new website and they also maintain the WordPress software for you. This save you time and money since updates to WordPress are constant any it’s far easier to let them do it for you!

PITFALL: Be aware that your website will need regular updates. Choose a hosting provider like wordpress.com or squarespace.com where they do this for you. If you do not you risk being hacked and will need to either do it yourself or pay someone to do it!

WordPress.com has multiple levels of hosting and you will need to dig into the requirements to make sure you are going to purchase the right plan. The good news is that it’s super easy to move up to a bigger plan.

Step 5 - Point your domain at your hosting provider

This is the one step where you may need a little help. The process is essentially to point the visitors to your domain (like www.mycorp.com) to the address of the server that hosts your web site (like 10.20.30.40). This is setup through your domain provider (Godaddy or Hover if you followed this article) and allows them to point at your web site. In some cases this can be done through the hosting provider which makes it super easy. In order to do it this way you need to have your domain with a company that the hosting provider can interface with. When this is the case you just enter your domain into the providers page and they will take you to the login page. Once you login to your domain account the rest is automatic. You can do this with Square Space on both GoDaddy and Hover with the linked articles.

The process is similar with all hosting providers and domain registrars. If the process is not automated for your providers then it is likely that you will be able to find an article on how to make the connection on you hosting providers website. If you are totally lost you may want to look at getting some help. Capstan Services can help you with this and you can call us at (469) 312-8100 for assistance. If you choose to call another company be sure not to pay them more than an hour (maybe 2) for help with this. It is something all IT companies do on a regular basis.

Step 6- Build your Site!

You should now have a blank website up and running at your new domain! Now begins the fun part as you populate your site with content. If you are using a service like Square Space or WIX you can just login and start adding your content. If you are using Wordpress it will be a little more complex and you may build the site yourself or hire a WordPress expert to help. In either case you will need to write the content that will be on your site. This should include photos and video in order to make your site more dynamic and aesthetically pleasing. If you need to buy stock photography or stock video we would suggest www.123rf.com for their excellent quality and reasonable prices. Prices for stock photo’s can vary greatly so be sure to shop around before selecting a stock service.

PITFALL: Prices for stock photo’s can vary greatly so be sure to shop around before selecting a stock service.

Once you have your site built you should be done. You can now sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. That is until you realize that the people who find your website will need to be able to call and email you. So keep reading and we will help you get these things setup…

Getting Help

If you need help we are happy to step in. We hope that this article will guide you through these processes but there may be times you need some help. This is the shameless plug where I say I hope that you will choose Capstan Services and call (469) 312-8100. You can also call another local consultant or MSP. Just be sure to pay for the help you need and not get stuck in a high dollar contract for services that you do not need.

Next….

Technology for Startups - Part 3: Setting up Email for your small business. (Coming Soon)

Virtualization and Hypervisors for the businessperson

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization is actually a very simple concept. When we say “virtualization” in technology we are talking about something that at one time was a physical device but is now able to be replaced by software. The best example to explain this is a virtualized PC. Lets say you prefer using a Mac but you need to use an application that only runs on Windows. You could buy a second computer and run Windows for just that one application. This would be costly since you need to purchase a second computter and maintain both a Mac and a PC. The other option is to run windows on your Mac as a Virtual PC. To do this you need a piece of software which emulates the hardware needed to run Windows. Apple makes a product called Parallels that does just this and it allows you to run Windows inside of a window on your Mac. That copy of windows is sharing all the hardware on your Mac including the CPU, memory, hard drive and network connection.

The concept is not really that complex. From a virtualization perspective the copy of Windows is running on what is known as a virtual machine. This machine is given resources by the software that is also virtualized. For example, it can read and write from a virtual hard disk. This disk does not really exist and is really just a file on your mac that contains all the data on the hard disk for the windows machine. We have the same concept for other resources. Virtual memory is really just a space of memory on your Mac that has been shard with the Windows machine and a virtual CPU is configured to grab it’s share of the Mac’s processor.

The Hypervisor

If you want to understand how virtualization works in the modern business or data center you need to understand what a Hypervisor is. The concept is the same as the software you run on your Mac. A hypervisor is an emulator that runs on a computer and creates virtual resources for virtual machines that run on top of it. The big difference between a Hypervisor and a program like Parallels is the use case. Parallels is designed to allow the Mac (parent machine) to share some of it’s resources with the Windows (Child) machine in order to allow you to work on both machines. A Hypervisor is similar except for the focus. The Hypervisor runs on a server and it’s job is to give all of the hardware resources to many virtual machines. Unlike the Mac, the parent machine (Hypervisor) is not intended to be used. Instead it’s job is to effectively share the hardware resources with the child machines and allows these resources to be used effectively.

Why Virtualize?

From a business perspective there is a simple reason to virtualize… Cost savings. as with the Mac & PC example above you can use one piece of hardware to serve more than one purpose when you virtualize servers. However, the cost saving can be more dramatic in a server environment. Servers are available with multiple Processors (CPU’s) and large amounts of Memory (RAM). This allows a server to run a large number of virtual machines. (or virtual servers since it’s not a PC but a server) It’s not uncommon to see a single server running dozens of virtual machines which adds up to a lot of cost saving compared to buying separate servers.

The Economics of Virtualization

Lets take a look at how sharing hardware can save money for a business. We start by looking at a typical server. Lets set an estimate for server hardware at $5,000 for hardware and assume we re going to have a windows server running on the hardware. Windows server standard is typically around $880. Thus a new server purchase might look like this:

Single Server

Server	Hardware Cost	Software Cost	Total
Server#1	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Total	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880

Now lets look at purchasing a second server compared to using virtualization. When we buy a larger server to run multiple machines we need additional resources like more memory and a faster processor. The increase in cost is not as much as buying a second server. We are going to assume a $3,000 additional server cost to run two servers on the same hardware. There is also a cost savings for the Windows server licenses. Microsoft licensing is a complex topic that is beyond the scope of this discussion so we are going to simplify the process and say that we get to run 2 Windows Server’s on a piece of hardware for each license that is purchased. From a high level this is how the licensing of small numbers of servers works. Here is what the cost looks like for the two options:

2 Servers

2 Virtual Machines on 1 Physical Server

Server	Hardware Cost	Software Cost	Total
Server#1	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server#2	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Total	$ 10,000	$ 1,760	$ 11, 760

Server	Hardware Cost	Software Cost	Total
Server Harware	$ 8,000	$ 0	$ 8,000
Virtual Server #1	$ 0	$ 880	$ 880
Virtual Server #2	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Total	$ 8,000	$ 880	$ 8,880

The cost savings is significant when we put 2 servers on a single piece of hardware. The hardware cost is much lower and the savings from the windows license is a nice addition. This is just the start. When companies move to a virtualized environment they normally put more than 2 servers on each piece of hardware. In smalled businesses it’s common to see a dozen virtual servers on a physical machine. When you get into large companies and data center environments this can increase to 100’s or 100’s of virtual machines per physical server. We will explore a somewhat over simplified example of “scaling up” below. When we talk about scaling up we are discussing the concept of loading more virtual servers on each piece of hardware. This is where the cost savings magic really kicks in.

12 Servers

12 Virtual Machines on 1 Physical Server

Server	Hardware Cost	Software Cost	Total
Server #1	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #2	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #3	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #4	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #5	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #6	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #7	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #8	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #9	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #10	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #11	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Server #12	$ 5,000	$ 880	$ 5,880
Total	$ 60,000	$ 10,560	$ 70,560

Server	Hardware Cost	Software Cost	Total
Server Hardware	$ 20,000	$ 0	$ 20,000
Virtual Server #1	$ 0	$ 880	$ 5,880
Virtual Server #2	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Virtual Server #3	$ 0	$ 880	$ 880
Virtual Server #4	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Virtual Server #5	$ 0	$ 880	$ 880
Virtual Server #6	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Virtual Server #7	$ 0	$ 880	$ 880
Virtual Server #8	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Virtual Server #9	$ 0	$ 880	$ 880
Virtual Server #10	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Virtual Server #11	$ 0	$ 880	$ 880
Virtual Server #12	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Total	$ 20,000	$ 5,280	$ 25,280

How to make Windows 10 automatically change timezones

For those of us who travel a lot it is imperative to have your computer update the timezone automatically when you change timezones. Unfortunately it can be a bit tricky to get Windows 10 to automatically update the timezone. In this article we will walk through the common pitfalls that you need to be aware of in order to get your time to change when you travel.

Turn on ‘Set time zone Automatically’

The first and most simple setting that needs to be configured is the ‘Set time zone automatically’ setting. You can get to this setting by right clicking on the clock in your taskbar and choosing the Adjust date/time option. You will then need to turn on Set time zone automatically as seen here.

When you turn on the Set time zone automatically setting the clock will update based on the location that is being reported by location services on your computer. If location services are currently working and turned on then you should see your time zone update at this point. If not, keep reading.

Setup Location Services

Unable to delete a user in Active Directory due to insufficient Privileges

IT is not uncommon to get an error stating that you have insufficient privileges in windows, but you may get the following error even when you are an administrator:

You do not have sufficient privileges to delete CN=iPhone$ABCDEFGHIJK...

Note that the object you are attempting to delete is is a phone and not the user account that you are actually trying to delete.  You could possibly also see other object names for various other phone models.  We have see similar errors with phones like:

• SAMSUNGSMG530T
• SAMSUNGSMG550T
• SAMSUNGSMG890
• SAMSUNGSMG900A
• SAMSUNGSMG900T
• SAMSUNGSMG900V
• SAMSUNGSMG920A
• SAMSUNGSMG925
• SAMSUNGSMJ700T
• SAMSUNGSMN900T
• SAMSUNGSMN915
• SAMSUNGSMN920
• SAMSUNGSMP600
• SAMSUNGSMT800
• WindowsMail

• Android
• BlackBerry
• iPad
• iPhone
• htcbravo
• HTC6525LVW
• HTCOneM8
• HTCOneM9
• LGPhone
• LGTablet
• MotoDROIDRAZR
• MotoXT1080
• Outlook
• SAMSUNGSGHI747
• SAMSUNGSGHM919N
• SAMSUNGSGHT999

The problem is not due to your rights tot he user but rather to an object within the users Active Directory container.  In this case the sub-object is an Exchange ActiveSync object for a phone.  You must delete this object before you will be able to remove the user account.  This must be done using ADSIEDIT since the Active Directory Users and Computers tool does not give access to these objects. Here is how to clean things up:

1. Run adsiedit.msc  (This may need to be done on a Domain Controller)

2. Navigate to the OU where the user is located and then click on the user

3. Below the user account you should see CN=ExchangeActiveSyncDevices

4. If you select CN=ExchangeActiveSyncDevices in the left panel you will see the phones that have been synced in the middle pane.  Select each phone and delete them.

5. If you are unable to delete any of the phones you will need to take ownership of the object(s).  

5a. Right click the phone and click Properties

5b. On the "Properties" dialog box choose the Security tab

5c. Try to give yourself right.  If you fail follow steps 5d - 5

5d. Click the Advanced button

5e. Select the Owner tab

5f. Find your account, select it and click ok to make yourself the owner

6. You should now be able to delete the phone record in the middle panel

7. Repeat the process for all phone record.

8. Go back to Active Directory Users and Computers and you should be able to delete the user.

Cannot select multiple items in Outlook 2013

Selecting multiple items in Outlook has always been a pretty simple task.  To select a group of items you click on the first item and then hold down the Shift key while to select the last.  This will select all the items between the first and last.  You can also use the Control key to toggle on and off the selections of items one at a time.

In Outlook 2013 this can be a bit tricky.  If you use the same old selection technique in Outlook 2013 you will not successfully be able to select multiple items.  What gives?

The Solution

The solution in to click on the items not right over the middle of the email message but all the way to the left.  The correct spot can be a little tricky to find.  If you look to the left of your messages there is a line between the left hand panel and the list of emails.  If you hover over the line you will get a resize option.  Just to the right of this line is where you need to click in order to select multiple items in Outlook 2013.  The image to the right has this area highlighted in red to show where you need to select.  Be sure to hold down the Shift or Control key when you are selecting multiple items.

The Fix

This behavior appears to have surfaced in Outlook 2013 and continued in Outlook 2016.  If you are running Outlook 2016 it is likely that you no longer see this behavior since it has been fixed/changed as of build 16.0.6741.2048.  If you should happen to have an older version of Office 2016 and have this behavior you can upgrade from within Outlook 2016 by selecting:

View fullsize

- File (menu at top left)
- Office Account (from the panel on the left)
- Update Options Button (See Picture)
- Update Now

References:
1. Selecting/Deleting multiple email attachments in Outlook 2016

Dell XPS 15 Screen Troubleshooting Boot Options

This is a quick article to share a bit of knowledge about the Dell XPS 15 Laptop and some of the options that are available for troubleshooting.  We learned this after a very long call with the Dell support team to get service on an XPS 15 which has a problem with it's LCD Panel.  Here are sa few notes on options for troubleshooting.

Diagnostics

The first option available is easy to find and that is the diagnostics screen.  You enter the diagnostics screen by pressing F12 when you see the Dell Logo.  This will give the following options:

• Windows Boot Manager
• Disgnostics
• Enter Setup
• Change Boot Mode Setting

Choosing 'Diagnostics' will run the Dell diagnostic routines.  One of the features is a set of screens where is shows colored bars.  It will flash a very quick vertical bar pattern and then also show a horizontal bar pattern.  It stops at the horizontal bars which is nice for looking at any screen issues, but the vertical bars pass by quickly, so don't plan on doing any serious troubleshooting with the vertical bars.

Color Test

This is a test that we were not aware of, but is very useful for testing screen issues.  If you hold down the 'D' key while you power on the XPS 15 and hold down the 'D' key it will boot into a mode where it shows a rotation of colors on the screen.  Each screen is a solid color and the color stays on for a few seconds.  After what appears to be twice through the rotation the machine will boot to it's operating System.  The colors displayed are:

• White
• Red
• Green
• Blue
• Black

Note: You must be powered off to enter this mode.  It will not enter form sleep mode.

How to resolve the error "The program can't start because Qt5Widgets.dll is missing from your computer"

This article describes how to resolve the message at Startup:

The program can't start because Qt5Widgets.dll is missing from
your computer.  Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

Reason for the Message

This problem may occur after removing Malware Bytes due to a run key being left behind which calls programs and DLL's which have been removed.  You can resolve this error by removing the program from the run key in the registry.

Steps to Resolve on x64 Machines

1. Open the Registry Editor with the command regedit.exe

2. Navigate to the key:

    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

3. Review the key and remove any items refering to Malware Bytes or the file "BusinessMessaging.exe"

Steps to Resolve on x86 Machines

1. Open the Registry Editor with the command regedit.exe

2. Navigate to the key:

    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

3. Review the key and remove any items refering to Malware Bytes or the file "BusinessMessaging.exe"
 

Additional Information

BusinessMessaging.exe is a part of the Malware Bytes software and this run key may get left behind after removal of Malware Bytes.