Joomla! is one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. You can install it easily on your Ausweb account using the Fantastico autoinstaller system, included with all of our cPanel hosting accounts.

This tutorial covers some of the basics for improving the performance of your Joomla site. The performance increase obtained will vary from site to site depending on variables like server hardware, type of hosting etc that you have for your Joomla site.

Upgrading 1.5 from an existing 1.5x version

From Joomla! Documentatio:

It is risky to upgrade a live site without testing the upgrade process first. So before upgrading the live site you need to set up a test site which is as close as possible to the configuration of your live site, then test the upgrade on that. When you are happy with the process you can apply it to the live site (having taken a fresh backup of the live site first, of course).

Review the release notes for the new version. When upgrading from a version that is not the most recent, review release notes for the prior releases.

JOOMLA Security - Core - Password Remind Functionality ( Date Published : 16/08/2008 09:51 )

• Project: Joomla!
• SubProject: com_user
• Severity: Critical
• Versions: 1.5.5 and all previous 1.5 releases
• Exploit type: Password Reset Forgery
• Reported Date: 2008-August-12
• Fixed Date: 2008-August-12

While installing Joomla to your Ausweb hosting account can be simply done using Fantastico Deluxe, there are some occasions where you want to transfer an existing Joomla site to your Ausweb hosting account. This may be because you already have a Joomla site hosted elsewhere and are changing hosting providers or you have a Joomla site that you have developed on a test server.

The process involves 3 steps
1. Upload your existing Joomla site files to your hosting account.
2. Export (or dump) your existing MySQL database, then create a new database and import the data.
3. Change your Joomla configuration settings.

A vulnerable extension is one that has been found to contain, or contribute to, a security vulnerability.

Vulnerable extensions are not necessarily poorly-coded extensions. As the Web evolves, technical requirements and commonly accepted coding practices also change. Active projects release new versions of their extensions as requirements change. For this reason, it is important to:

1. Know the version numbers of all installed extensions.
2. Use only the latest stable version of all extensions.
3. Completely remove all files of insecure or unused extensions.

This video will show you shipping methods in VirtueMart in Joomla.

This video will show you how to use payment methods in VirtueMart in Joomla.

This article will outline the Joomla modules that our tutorials cover. We have a wide range of video tutorials for Joomla modules, each detailing how to use administrative features and how to configure and install the module. The videos guide you step by step through each process, and are very easy to follow.

This video will show you how to use modules in VirtueMart in Joomla.

One question that comes up regularly is "How can I move my existing Joomla site to your servers?".

This can be achieved relatively easily in 3 steps:

1. Upload your existing Joomla website files to your hosting account.
2. Export (or dump) your existing MySQL database, then create a new database and import your MySQL data.
3. Change your Joomla configuration settings to reflect your new database details.

This tutorial will focus on the process of exporting/importing the MySQL data.

The most important thing anyone can do is make good decisions regarding the extensions they choose to use on a site. Once an insecure or malicious extension is installed you should consider your entire site compromised. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY to protect or stop a component from accessing database tables it should not be accessing. There is no possible way to stop a component from sending all of the information it found back to a cracker website. Once an insecure or malicious component is installed, your entire site is insecure.

This can be a very effective way to protect your Joomla! administrator directory. Any other directory in public_html can be protected in the same way. This method only works if you have a static IP address assigned to you. Anyone attempting to browse such directories using a different IP Address will get a 403 Forbidden error.

In addition to understanding the threats, and implementing general defensive strategies, it is important to know more specific details about security in Joomla, as well some specific examples of how to implement security strategies.

This video will show you how to configure VirtueMart in Joomla.

If you have lost your Joomla Super Administrator password you can reset it in the MySQL database using phpMyAdmin. Following the steps below, your Joomla Super Administrator login will be set to
Username - admin
Password - admin

This video will show you how to add a tax rate in VirtueMart in Joomla.

This video will show you how to install mambots in Joomla.

This video will show you how to install mambots manually in Joomla.

This video will show you how to install a module in Joomla.