Below is a personal list of web spiders and web crawlers that I block from crawling various sites.
This helps mitigate issues related to server load, security, and content scraping.
Carefully consider the impact on your website’s visibility and search engine ranking before applying any of my crawler blocks within this article.
You finally installed your SSL certificate, but your browser is still stubbornly shouting “Not Secure” in the address bar.
You try pulling the site up on your phone or a different browser, and it looks perfectly fine. Beautiful green padlock, completely secure. So why is your main browser gaslighting you?
If this sounds familiar, the issue usually boils down to a single moment: you accessed the site before the SSL was set up and bypassed the browser warning.
When you click “Advanced” and proceed to an insecure site, your browser creates a persistent security exception. Even after you install a pristine SSL certificate, the browser often refuses to re-verify the site, clinging instead to its cached memory of that initial insecure connection. If you are stuck in this loop, a standard page refresh won’t fix it. Here is how to break the cycle by clearing your browser’s HSTS and SSL cache.
Microsoft does not provide a way to bypass Smart App Control for individual applications; the security feature is designed with a strict enforcement model that prevents end-user overrides for specific files or programs.
However, you can turn the Smart App Control feature off.
In order to run blocked software or files, you must turn off Smart App Control entirely.
This article will show you how to do so whether you want this change permanent or just temporary.
Are your client email Restore requests are being sent to your spam folder? Chances are their domain DNS SPF record needs to be updated.
Because Avanan inserts itself into the outbound mail flow to handle these requests, those Restore request emails originate from Avanan’s cloud IPs instead of your client’s primary mail server (like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace).
If the client’s DNS doesn’t explicitly authorize Avanan, receiving servers will flag it as an SPF failure, thus sending the Restore request email to spam.
I’ve often found myself deleting files or folders I thought I no longer needed—only to realize later that I did. Sure, the Recycle Bin offers a safety net, but I like keeping it clean.
Think of it like household trash: I toss things into the outside bin, but once it’s hauled to the curb, it’s gone for good.
Sometimes, I want to clear out files that are just taking up space but I’m not 100% sure I won’t need them soon.
For this, I created a separate folder on another drive partition where I store temporary files. My goal? Automatically delete anything older than 30 days.
In this article, I’ll show you two ways to automate file cleanup in Windows 11:
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is essential in helping to protect online accounts. But as more users adopt 2FA across dozens (sometimes hundreds) of accounts, the tools we rely on to manage these codes must scale with us.
Unfortunately, Microsoft Authenticator can’t fill the need for many power users. You may recall my other article on the limitations of Google Authenticator some time ago. I really thought I had something with Microsoft Authenticator, but I was wrong.
Don’t worry, the open source, privacy-first Proton Authenticator application has come to the rescue!
The following creates a CSV file of all installed software on an endpoint.
File type: .ps1
Run as: Current User
Max run time: 10 minutes
Variables: No
To run the PowerShell commands for managing calendar permissions in Exchange Online (Microsoft 365), follow these steps:
If the Exchange Online PowerShell Module is not already installed on your PC, open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
Install-Module -Name ExchangeOnlineManagement
In today’s digital landscape, securing your website is more than just a best practice—it’s essential. One powerful tool in your web security arsenal is HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS).
This policy ensures that browsers only connect to your site using secure HTTPS connections, protecting users from threats like protocol downgrade attacks and cookie hijacking.
This tutorial walks you through implementing HSTS on your website using the .htaccess file and submitting your domain to the HSTS preload list for maximum protection.
Here are three techniques to increase your website’s security posture.
This tutorial explains how to add X-Security Headers to protect against cross-site scripting (XSS), page-framing, and content-sniffing by adding extra security headers to your sites’ resources.
