John K Mitchell's Misc Blog

John Mitchell
September on the Forest Software Blog: Websites, Security, Monitoring and Running a Small Business


September has been a fairly varied month on the Forest Software blog, although there is a bit of a theme running through the articles.

A lot of them come back to the same basic question:

How do you keep a small business running when so much of it depends on technology?

That covers everything from the website customers see, to the server quietly handling it, to the security of your premises and the health of the people using the computers.

There have also been a few articles looking at some of the less obvious problems that can catch a small business out, such as customers abandoning online shopping baskets or discovering that someone has added their email address to a marketing database.

So, rather than simply listing September's articles in date order, here are the subjects we've been looking at.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/september-on-the-forest-software-blog-websites-security-monitoring-and-running-a-small-business/ https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/september-on-the-forest-software-blog-websites-security-monitoring-and-running-a-small-business/

John Mitchell
You Had Your Website Built by AI – Who Is Going to Maintain It in Six Months?


TL;DR: AI can now build a surprisingly good website. It can write the pages, create the layout, suggest images and even produce the code. But a website is not a one-off purchase. It needs updating, checking, securing and improving. Before you ask AI to build your business website, ask yourself a much more important question: who is going to maintain it in six months' time?

If you run a small business, the arrival of AI website builders can look like very good news.

Why spend thousands of pounds having a website designed and built when you can describe what you want, click a few buttons and have something online in an afternoon?

And, to be fair, some of the results can be impressive.

AI can produce attractive layouts. It can write reasonable website copy.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/you-had-your-website-built-by-ai-who-is-going-to-maintain-it-in-six-months/ https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/you-had-your-website-built-by-ai-who-is-going-to-maintain-it-in-six-months/

John Mitchell
How to Monitor a Linux Server with Munin and a Raspberry Pi


Running your own Linux server gives you a huge amount of control, but it also means that you are responsible for knowing when something goes wrong.

A website can stop responding. A service can fail. Disk space can gradually disappear. Memory usage can increase. A server can become slower without actually going offline. Or, occasionally, the entire machine can simply stop responding.

The good news is that you do not have to sit in front of the server all day watching it.

A combination of Munin and a Raspberry Pi can provide a surprisingly capable server monitoring system, with one system keeping track of what is happening inside the server and the other checking that the server is actually available from the outside.

This approach has another useful advantage: it does not require expensive enterprise monitoring hardware or a complicated infrastructure.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3211 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3211

John Mitchell
Using Munin to Monitor a Linux Server


If you run your own Linux server, it is useful to know whether it is working.

It is even more useful to know how it has been working over the last few hours, days, weeks or months.

That is where Munin comes in.

Munin is a server monitoring and graphing system that collects information about a computer and turns it into graphs. Rather than simply telling you that a server is currently using 42% of its memory, for example, Munin can show you how memory usage has changed over time.

That difference is important.

A single measurement tells you what is happening now. A graph can tell you what has been happening.

This article is based on some recent work developing and refining server monitoring, including using Munin to collect performance information and turn it into a useful visual history of what is happening on a Linux server.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3207 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3207

John Mitchell
The Truth About "Free" Website Designers: A Word of Caution for Small Businesses


As a small business owner, you've probably seen the offers floating around social media and local business groups, I know I have seen several of them in recently.


"Free website design!" they say. "Just let me build my portfolio," or "No cost to get you started." It sounds brilliant, doesn't it? You're busy running your business. The thought of getting a professional-looking website without spending a penny is understandably tempting.


But as the old saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.


While there are genuine, kind-hearted individuals out there offering to help friends and family, the "free website" model often comes with hidden strings attached that can cause serious problems for your business down the line.


Let's look at the reality behind these offers and why paying a fair price—or at least understanding the terms—is usually the safer bet.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/the-truth-about-free-website-designers/ https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/the-truth-about-free-website-designers/

John Mitchell
Using a Raspberry Pi for Server Monitoring: An Always-On Server Monitor


If you run your own Linux server, one of the most useful things you can build is a way of keeping an eye on it when you are not actually sitting at the keyboard.

Servers are supposed to run quietly in the background. Ideally, you configure them, switch them on and then leave them to get on with the job.

Unfortunately, servers do occasionally have a bad day.

A service can stop. A website can become unavailable. Disk space can gradually disappear. Memory usage can creep upwards. An application can start responding slowly. Or, in the worst case, the entire server can simply disappear from the network.

This is where Raspberry Pi server monitoring can be particularly useful.

A Raspberry Pi makes an excellent always-on monitoring computer because it is small, inexpensive, relatively low-power and capable of running Linux and a wide range of monitoring software.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3200 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3200

John Mitchell
Someone Has Harvested Your Email Address – What Can You Do?


Imagine receiving an email telling you something rather unsettling.

Someone has found your email address.

They have added it to a commercial database.

And that database is available for businesses to use when looking for potential customers.

You might reasonably ask:

How did they get my email address?

More importantly:

Why do they think they have the right to use it?

And perhaps the question that really matters:

What can I do about it?

This is becoming an increasingly interesting issue for anyone who has an online presence, particularly business owners and people whose professional contact details are publicly available.

It is also an issue that can be surprisingly difficult to understand because there is a big difference between an email address being publicly visible, an email address being collected into a database, and a company actually using that address to send you marketing.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/email-address-harvested-marketing-database/ https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/2026/09/email-address-harvested-marketing-database/

John Mitchell
Shopping Cart Abandonment: Why Customers Leave Without Buying


TL;DR: Shopping cart abandonment is a normal part of online selling, but too much of it can cost your small business a lot of money. Customers may leave because checkout is too complicated, they have changed their mind, the website feels unsafe, or the final price is higher than expected. Before changing your online shop, try something simple: shop on your own website as if you were a customer. Then compare that experience with the way you use other online shops. The differences can reveal problems you may never notice when you are used to your own website.


How Many Customers Are Abandoning Their Shopping Carts?


If you run an online shop, you probably already know that not everyone who adds something to their shopping cart will buy it. In fact, shopping cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges faced by online retailers.

More at https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3192 https://www.forestsoftware.co.uk/blog/?p=3192