Force BITS to download WSUS updates in the foreground in Windows Server

When WSUS downloads are slow

WSUS uses BITS for downloading updates, and it does so in background mode. Unfortunately, this utilizes remaining bandwidth of the server instead of its full capacity. To speed up WSUS downloads, you can configure BITS in WSUS to use foreground priority.

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Hugo development environment in WSL 2

How to install and configure Hugo for static site development in WSL on Windows 10.

Do you find it too difficult to install Go or Hugo in Windows for your static site development? Have you tried Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2? Using a default Ubuntu 20.04, it is pretty easy to install Hugo, set up your development environment and configure Hugo to listen on your Ubuntu’s IP address instead of localhost / 127.0.0.1. This makes your Hugo development site accessible for browsers in Windows 10. Neat, right?

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How to Fix Yoast SEO for WordPress DeleteDuplicateIndexables MySQL error

In recent days, there are a number of reports about broken Yoast SEO database operations, related to the DeleteDuplicateIndexables function. The PHP function is located in the file wordpress-seo\src\config\migrations\20200507054848_DeleteDuplicateIndexables.php, and in this post I’ll provide you with a possible fix for this statement. Read on.

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Count and display number of WordPress users in your Dashboard

Show the number of registered WordPress users in At-a-Glance widget

Often when a WordPress site is compromised, the website owner doesn’t notice anything strange at first. First a lot of users are created, and it’s only later when posts filled with spam are created or existing pages/posts edited. In the time between compromise and creation of spam posts, a website owner might notice an increased number of users. If he has the means to. And that’s what this little plugin does.

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Find vulnerable WordPress plugin versions fast using PowerShell

On a daily bases, new vulnerabilities are found in WordPress plugins. And when you host thousands of WordPress sites, you can count on the fact you have some customers using that vulnerable version of that particular plugin. So you need to find those vulnerable versions on your servers fast. On Windows Server, PowerShell is a perfect tool for the job!

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Disallow direct access to PHP files in wp-content/uploads/

Secure wp-content/uploads in Linux Apache and Windows Server IIS

It’s recommended to disallow access to and execution of PHP files in wp-content/uploads folder. Preferably without the use of a security plugin. Blocking access to PHP files in WordPress wp-content/uploads folder is easily achieved with a .htaccess file on Linux Apache, or web.config accesssPolicy in Windows Server IIS, and here is how.

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Basic Authentication module for Windows Server IIS

Basic Authentication managed HTTP module for IIS with virtual users support

In my pursuit of a basic authentication alternative in IIS, other than the built-in Basic Authentication module or Helicon Ape, I came across Devbridge AzurePowerTools. It’s apparently one of few HTTP managed modules for IIS that enables HTTP Basic Authentication with support for virtual users.

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