How-To
Step-by-step fixes and how-to posts. 30 posts so far, each one paired with a free tool.
How to Tell If an Email Bounced Because of Your Server or Theirs
Read the bounce code, check the MX records, and know in five minutes whether the fault sits with your server or theirs.
How to Check If Your Website's Redirects Are Sending Visitors in Circles
Find out whether your site's redirects form a chain or a loop, and fix the two rules sending visitors in circles.
How to Run a Blacklist Check Before You Send a Big Email Campaign
Check your sending IP and domain against the major email blacklists before a big campaign, and fix any listing before you send.
How to Check Whether Your SSL Certificate Covers Both the www and Non-www Versions of Your Site
Check whether your SSL certificate covers both example.com and www.example.com, and fix it if one version is missing.
How to Tell If a Domain Is Parked, For Sale or Just Unused Before You Plan Around It
A taken domain is not always a dead end. Run four quick checks to find out whether it is parked, for sale, or simply unused before you plan around it.
How to Read the User Agent in a Customer's Bug Report and Reproduce Their Problem
A bug report's user agent string names the customer's browser, OS and device. Here is how to read it and reproduce the problem yourself.
How to Work Out the Right IP Range Before You Set a Static IP at Home
Work out the right subnet size, range and static address for your home network before you touch your router settings.
How to Check Your DNS Records Before Changing Nameservers, So Nothing Breaks
Check every DNS record before you change nameservers, so your website and email keep working after the switch.
How to Tell Whether a Closed Port Is Your Router, Your ISP or Your Host
Work out whether a closed port is your router, your ISP, or the host itself, with checks in the order that narrows it down.
How to Fix a Website That Loads on Wi-Fi but Not on Mobile Data
Your site works on Wi-Fi but fails on mobile data. Follow this diagnosis in order to tell DNS, IPv6, SSL and firewall faults apart.
How to Check a Suspicious IP Address in Your Server Logs Before You Block It
Check a suspicious IP in your logs before you block it, so you stop real abuse without locking out real visitors.
How to Fix Email That Passes SPF but Still Fails DMARC
SPF passes but DMARC still fails? The cause is usually alignment. Learn to read the headers, find the failing sender, and fix it.
How to Run a Five-Minute Monthly Health Check on Your Website
A five-minute monthly routine that checks uptime, SSL expiry and blacklist status before small problems become lost visitors and lost email.
How to Fix a Security Warning That Only Some Visitors See
Some visitors get a security warning and others do not. Learn how to pin down which cause fits your reports and fix it, step by step.
How to Set Up Email on a New Domain, in the Right Order
Set up email on a new domain without losing mail or landing in spam: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC in the order that works.
How to Fix a Blacklist Listing Caused by Someone Else on Your Server
Your mail bounces but you sent no spam. How to prove a shared-server neighbour caused the listing, and who has to fix it.
How to Trace Why a Page Takes So Long to Start Loading
Split the blank-tab pause into DNS, connection and server stages, and fix the stage that is actually slow.
How to Skip the Registrar Upsells: What to Untick at Checkout
A checkout checklist for domain buyers: keep privacy protection, untick the hosting, email and certificate boxes you did not plan to buy.
How to Fix Verification Codes That Arrive Too Late to Use
A step-by-step diagnostic for login and signup codes that arrive after they expire: inbox checks, the two-resend rule, and where the delay really happened.
How to Rescue a Domain That Is About to Expire: The 30-Day Plan
Your domain is expiring and the clock is real. Follow this 30-day plan to renew it safely, avoid the redemption fee, and never risk it again.
How to Find and Fix a Broken DNS Record
Learn how to find a broken DNS record, check what DNS returns now, and fix the right record without making the outage worse.
How to Know Your Website Is Down Before Your Customers Tell You
Set up outside uptime checks in minutes so you hear about an outage first, plus the exact checks to run when the alert fires.
How to Check 50 Domain Ideas in One Coffee Break
Check up to 50 domain ideas in one run, cut the list in a clear order, and pick a name you can register with confidence.
Fix Your Password Habits: The Rules That Actually Work in 2026
Stop reusing short, clever passwords. Use long, unique, generated passwords, a manager, and passkeys in the right order.
How to Fix a Website That Is Fast on Your Laptop but Slow on Phones
Your site flies on your laptop and crawls on phones. Run the mobile test first, then fix images, scripts and layout in this order.
How to Fix a Contact Form That Stopped Sending Email
A contact form that stops delivering is usually an authentication problem, not a form problem. Check your records and run one real test send to find it.
How to Move Your Email to a New Host Without Losing Mail
Moving email hosts only loses mail when the order is wrong: lower the TTL first, build the new mailboxes, switch MX, and keep the old host running.
How to Fix a Slow Website: The Checks to Run, in Order
A slow site is rarely slow for ten reasons. Measure first, split server faults from page faults, then fix the heaviest things the report names.
How to Read a WHOIS Record Like a Detective
Dates, registrar, status codes and nameservers: the five facts in every WHOIS record that actually tell you something.
Why Your Emails Land in Spam (and How to Check in 10 Minutes)
The five usual causes behind spam-folder delivery, and the two free checks that tell you which one is yours.