Red Humpy

I’ve had clients lose their WordPress blog password before, but they have been able to use the WordPress ‘lost password’ form to have a link sent to their email where they can then reset it.

Recently, though, I had a client who took control of a business page that was created in WordPress and the login and password information that they provided was not working. The client knew very little about the site, only that a previous developer had set it up and was able to get in and make changes.

After trying all combinations of information they sent, as well as attempting the password reset method from the WordPress login screen, I turned to the internet for help. I was able to find a handy script called emergency.php that solved my problem.

Some advanced FTP knowledge required

The instructions are posted on Village-Idiot.org, as well as the link to download the file. (Scroll to the bottom of the article on the Village-Idiot page and you will find the download link, or click here to download the file.) In order to install the script and successfully reset the password, you will need to at least know the correct user name for the blog. Usually, this is simply ‘admin’. You will also need enough knowledge to access the blog files via FTP so you can upload the emergency.php file to the blog directory*. (See info at end of this article for more info.)

Once the emergency.php file is uploaded to your blog directory, open a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) and type in www.YourDomainName.com/emergency.php. A text page will appear with a place for you to enter your user name and desired password.

Confirmation if password reset was successful.

If your user name is incorrect, you will get a message saying so. I recommend you try admin if the user name you think is right isn’t working. When the script is successful, you will get a confirmation message. Write down the new password you selected, and BE SURE TO DELETE THE EMERGENCY.PHP FILE YOU UPLOADED.

Return to your wp-admin WordPress control panel and use the password that you just set. You should be good to go!

Many thanks to Village-Idiot.org for providing such a useful script. It certainly came in handy for my client.

Download the zip file: emergency.php

Specific Instructions from Village-Idiot.org website:

1. Unpack the zip.
2. Upload emergency.php to the root of your WordPress install (the same directory that contains wp-config.php)
3. Open http://www.yourdomain.com/emergency.php in your favorite browser.
4. Follow the simple instructions.
5. When you are done, delete emergency.php off your server. Do not leave it up for someone else to come along and use.

*additional FTP upload information:

I use Windows Explorer to upload files via FTP because the screen available by right-mouse-clicking on the Windows START button and choosing ‘Open Windows Explorer’ or ‘explore’ depending on what version of Windows you are running. Once the Explorer window is open, clear out any text that is in the address bar and type: ftp://yourDomainName.com.  (Use YOUR actual domain name, not what I typed!) Press Enter.

You should see a login box pop up where you can enter your hosting username and password. This is NOT the same as your WordPress username and password. The hosting login info would have been created when you set up your hosting account.

 First, a disclaimer: I am not a soccer mom. I am, however, a track mom, a cross-country mom, a Daisy mom, etc. None of my three kids play soccer, but I am that mom that shows up on field trips and attends numerous after-school and weekend events that go along with having school-age kids.

That being said, I finally decided to jump into the world of smart phones earlier this year. I am the type who, after lengthy research, chooses a phone that I keep for years. (I  had two cell phones in the last 5 years.) When my two year contract is up, I am inundated with offers to upgrade and sent phenomenal deals on a new phone. What usually convinces me to upgrade is the need for a new battery! After almost three years with the same phone, the battery is the weak point and needs to be charged every evening. But when I price a decent battery (NOT a cheap aftermarket one that gets hot and doesn’t last) the battery alone is more than the offer of a brand new phone with cutting-edge technology.

But what exactly IS this cutting edge technology, why do I need it, and why should I consider paying an extra $30 per month to use these new Smart Phone services?

In 2009, my sister in Denver bought the iPhone. It was sleek and pretty and did a lot, but she basically used it for making calls and getting on the internet once in a while. Where I live, an AT&T contract is unavailable and if you go out of the area to purchase one, the service is spotty. When I saw advertisements for the new Android operating system that was released late last year, I was excited. I drooled for the Motorola Droid because having an actual keyboard, rather than a touch screen one, was important to me. I loved my Samsung SCH-U740 and its unique design that flipped open like a normal phone and also horizontally to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard.

But my excitement over the Motorola Droid was short-lived when I got to play with a friend’s and I realized it was just too big and bulky for my little purse. It was heavy – a ‘man phone’ I call it, but it had a lot of great features that I knew were practical for me. For instance: Google Sky. I am an amateur astronomer and enjoy learning about the constellations, how they move in the sky, where the planets are, and being able to identify what it is I’m looking at. I live in the mountains and the skies are dark, really dark, and there are a lot of stars to look at. With the Google Sky app, you can hold the phone up to a portion of the sky that you are looking at and the device uses your GPS coordinates and knows which direction you are holding the phone, revealing a detailed and accurate depiction of the night sky right in front of your eyes. Now that I have had it for a while, I use it to test myself. Is that Cassiopeia? Is that bright star really a planet? Is it Mars?

Another app that I was shown at the Verizon store was a barcode scanner. The rep said he doesn’t show it much to the customers in the retail electronics part of the store because it is a powerful shopper’s tool. Basically, you use the phone’s camera and the barcode app to scan a product barcode. Immediately, you are connected to the internet with a list of product reviews and prices so you become a savvy shopper. Pretty cool, but I haven’t used it yet.

I had an advantage when picking out my smartphone because I tutor clients with their electronic devices. I like electronics and technology and am good at figuring things out. I was able to help clients set up iPhones, Blackberries of different models, LG’s, Samsungs and other phones that had touch screens. Some were frustrating, some were intuitive, but none was perfect.

A rep at another Verizon store told me about the Droid Eris, made by a company called HTC. I hadn’t heard of the phone, but was interested because it had the Android operating system on it. The first thing that appealed to me was the size and weight. It is more of a ‘girl phone’ than the Motorola Droid. The touch screen is the best I have tried, and having seven screens (the Motorola Droid has just 3) that I can customize with my apps to make them accessible is one of the best parts of the phone.

There is a Market where I can download from thousands of free apps, and the better ones that are very useful are free. There are GPS programs that act like a pedometer when I go on walks and hikes and record my speed and distance, I can listen to Pandora internet radio in my car via a tape player adapter and customize my stations, which saves me from subscribing to XM satellite radio, and I can use Google Maps to get exact directions to my location via text or map directions. When I was visiting San Diego last month, I needed (yes, NEEDED) to find an In-N-Out location. I loaded the browser on my Eris, went to the In-N-Out page and pulled up their map of locations, found an address to type into Google Maps, and instantly I had directions to where I wanted to go. After a grilled cheese, fresh cut fries and delicious chocolate shake, the kids were as happy as I was!

One of my most used features is the Visual Voice mail that Verizon offers.  (See my Voice Mail Made Easier post.) Having the ability to see my voice mail organized by caller and being able to play them in any order I want, while pausing and skipping to any part of the message, is a huge timesaver and avoids the dread I used to feel when having to check a dozen messages after a busy afternoon.

And one final thought: when I was still on the fence about spending the extra money each month to have the smartphone, a main reason was because I work online all day and didn’t want to get a device to keep me on the internet more. But one of my colleagues told me that her Blackberry saved her computer time because she could accomplish many tasks like checking and replying to emails or looking something up without gettting lost in all the other distractions that occur when you get on your computer.

She was right, and now I keep my laptop closed much more because I can simply check my Eris to see if my client okayed a design and know I can get back to them during business hours. Sweet.

This mom is very happy with her smartphone purchase. And the best part is – it was free! (Free after rebate, certain restrictions apply. Void where prohibited…)