FREE faster broadband with BT
Aug.05.2009 
BT has started handing out Broadband Accelerators to customers prepared topay the £1.20 in postage, and promises an average speed increase of half a megabit.
BT customers interested in a free boost to their broadband can apply on-line for a free Broadband Accelerator, assuming they have the right kind of BT socket, and aren’t already getting the promised bandwidth from BT.
The device is actually BT’s I-Plate, and it has been around since last year, retailing for under a tenner. It blocks the bell wire that’s prone to picking up in-home interference, as well as providing some filtering on other lines. Anyone with extensions around the house should get one, as the improvement to ADSL connections can be dramatic. This is why BT is handing them out with such enthusiasm.
The bell wire is supposed to provide a signal to make extensions ring, but modern phones don’t use it – it doesn’t even pass through the ADSL microfilters that should be fitted to every socket. So it just acts as one big antenna picking up rogue signals from around the house – such as those generated by florescent lighting – and channelling them into the ADSL line to interfere with the data connection. Simply cutting the bell wire also works, as well explained by Jarviser, though the filters in the I-Plate may improve things even more.
Recognise this socket: then you could benefit from a free I-PlateThe I-Plate won’t help those of us who’ve been pushing our speed by any means available (currently topping 288Kb/sec, thanks for asking), but if you’ve got any extensions and the right kind of BT socket, then it seems worth a try for less than the cost of a half.
WINDOWS hosting – No Extra Cost!!
So…. there we were looking at our so-called competitors, offering inferior packages for a higher cost – when we noticed that we had fallen into the same trap!
For some reason, all of us are charging a premium for Windows hosting, our initial reaction was to scrap this charge!!
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WE DID!!! – No more extra charges for windows hosting at INSTA Host. Same Great Price, Same Great Service, Same Great Hosting!!!
Free WordPress & Joomla Templates
If you want to jazz up your WordPress and Joomla installations then add a new (and free!) theme to your website, we have picked out some of our favourite ones below.
Free WordPress Themes & Templates
Easily change the look and feel of your WordPress installation by incorporating a new theme.
Below is a list of FREE WordPress Templates that you can download and install.
1. Free WordPress Themes at Fresheezy
http://www.fresheezy.com/
2. WordPress Free Themes
http://www.wpfreethemes.com/
3. WordPress Templates
http://wordpresstemplates.name/
4. WordPress Themes Archive
http://www.wpthemesarchive.com/
5. Top WordPress Themes
http://topwpthemes.com/
Plugins:
You can also install plugins to extend the functionality of your WordPress installation.
The official plugin website of WordPress contains a huge resource of add-ons that are categorised so you can find what you are looking for fast.
Official Plugin Website:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
Joomla Themes & Templates
1. Free Joomla Templates
http://joomlatp.com/
2. Theme Base Joomla Templates
http://www.themesbase.com/?category=joomla
3. Royalty-free Joomla Templates
http://joomla2u.net/
4. Best of Joomla Templates
http://www.bestofjoomla.com/
Plugins & Extensions
Extend the standard functionality of Joomla by installing add-ons. The official Joomla website offers over 3000 extensions for you to use with your Joomla installation.
Official Extension website:
http://extensions.joomla.org/
The Benefits of using a Content Management System
INSTA Host offers our customers access to an extensive library of free cgi scripts allowing them to install professional applications very quickly and with minimal effort. This article will cover the benefits of using our Content Management Systems (Joomla, Drupal, Typo3 and Nucleus) and why using them will help streamline the publishing of content online.
Quick and Easy to Update
Content Management Systems allow users to add new pages to a website with minimal effort. Your entire website is managed via your administration control panel where you can add new articles, images, polls and many other features via an intuitive interface.
Web Experience not Essential
Traditionally you would need to hire a web designer/developer to manage your website. Using a CMS eliminates the need to do this. Everything from the look and feel of your website to article management can be handled via your control panel. It is also a very cost effective way of running your own website as everything can be updated and managed by yourself. If you are ever in need of help or guidance, you can check the CMS provider’s FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of their website or try posting your problem over at their official support forums. A list of useful links can be found at the bottom of this article.
Automatic Navigation Generation
Menu’s will be created automatically when you add new pages/categories which will form the basis of your websites navigation, e.g. Homepage, Contact, Articles, etc. This eliminates the need to manually update your navigation each time you add a new section, saving you time, effort and preventing the risk of creating dead links.
Searchable
Using a CMS will allow your entire website to be searchable enabling people to find content fast. The advantages of having a search system in place on your website will save users the time of having to trawl through static pages trying to find what they need. It makes for a much better user experience and is certainly less frustrating.
Scheduled Content
With most Content Management Systems you can post date articles allowing you to publish them on a certain time or day of the week. This is especially handy if you need to publish content at certain times but you’re not available to do so – the CMS will update it for you.
Protected Content
A CMS can make certain pages viewable only to people you choose. For example, you can allow visitors to your website to view all of your basic articles but require registration for them to view premium content.
Consistent Design
Don’t worry about creating new pages for every article as a Content Management System will automatically produce them for you. The article page will be created from a single template and, no matter how much content you add, you can rest assured the look of your website will stay the same.
Extendable
Content Management Systems, such as Joomla, have an excellent resource of extensions allowing you to develop your website further and offer more functionality. There are hundreds of extensions available, including Ecommerce, Forums, Galleries, Classified Advertisements and so much more. A link to the entire database of extensions can be found below.
Remember you can easily install your own CMS from our database of scripts that come with any hosting account.
Helpful Links
Joomla Extensions
http://extensions.joomla.org/
Joomla Community Forum
http://forum.joomla.org/
Drupal Forum
http://drupal.org/forum
Typo3 Documentation
http://typo3.com/Support.1228.0.html
Nucleus Support Forum
http://forum.nucleuscms.org/
Creating & Running a Successful Forum
INSTA Host takes the strain off creating your own forum and allows its users to install phpBB 2 & 3 easily from its extensive library of scripts.
phpBB is a high-powered, fully scalable and customisable open-source bulletin board package. phpBB has a user-friendly interface, simple and straightforward administration panel and helpful FAQ.
Below are some Top Tips in helping you run your own forum and get your community off to a good start.
Start off Small
Many forums make the mistake of creating too many categories too soon. If you’re just starting out with your forum, you’re going to create a negative atmosphere if you have plenty of categories but with zero or very few posts. Plan out the minimum amount of categories your forum needs and use those for now. Once the community becomes more active with regular posts and contributing members, you can start to introduce more categories that will suit your target audience.
Make the Forum Appear Active
When you first start building your forum, it’s important to create a sense of activity, as it will be less likely that users will register to a forum which appears to lack enthusiasm and where there are no new topics being created. If you’re determined to make your forum a success then you should either get friends to sign up and post topics or create multiple accounts that you can login and post as, so inevitably you’re answering your own questions to begin with, but it makes the forum appear more active.
Creating & Running a Successful Forum
Every member that is newly registered to the forum should be sent a “Welcome to the Forum” message via the private message system. This is a really nice touch that new members will appreciate, it doesn’t have to be unique to every user, you could have a standard template that you can simply copy from and paste into a message. It’s a good idea to include links in your welcome message to the most popular categories on the forum , encouraging new members to participate. Give them the opportunity to introduce themselves to the community, add a link within the message to the “Introductions” forum on your board and make sure you greet them with a reply.
Reply to Posts as Soon as Possible
Make the right impression by subscribing to all forums so you will be alerted of new threads and posts. Login and reply as soon as you can, if you are unsure how to answer the question, it may be worth searching the internet to see if it has been answered before and use that information to help, be sure to credit the original source.
Hire Moderators
Over time you will find it harder to monitor your forum as post rates and the amount of new registrations increase. It’s almost impossible for yourself to monitor the forum 24/7 for inappropriate content, such as spam and advertising. It would be highly advisable to hire a moderator to help run your forum, approach the active members on your forum and ask if they would like to help improve and grow the community. Due to their commitments to the forum, it’s likely they will accept your request and be happy to help. It’s advisable to create a set of rules and instructions for moderators to follow so the forum is still run in exactly the way you want. Also, try to hire a moderator who is in a different time-zone so when you’re asleep, the forum is still being moderated.
Remove Spam
Nothing can turn visitors away more quickly from a forum than spam, so make sure you keep a watchful eye on members trying to sell unrelated products and remove posts that do not serve any purpose or that are offensive. It’s advised to create a forum for “General/Off Topic” posts so members can chat about other things which are not forum specific.
Send a Regular Newsletter
Send a regular newsletter to your forum members which includes the latest popular topics and encourages them to participate. It’s a great way of reminded members about your forum and also a way of generating traffic back to your boards.
Useful Links:
Support:
http://www.phpbb.com/support/
Modifications and Styles
http://www.phpbb.com/customise/
