Hazard Software PC Download

How to Do Ping Test on PC

2016-09-27T09:58:00.000+08:00

How to Ping Test On PC

PING PC - MODEM

Step 1:
First you must be sure whether customer using PPOA or PPOE account.

Step 2:
Open DOS Prompt window.
Go to Start > Run > type in "cmd" . Then click "OK".

Step 3:
You’ll get DOS window . Type "ipconfig" then press Enter.

For PPOE Users
If the Users is able to login, they should get a screen similar to the one shown below:-

You’ll get 2 sets of adapters;

1. LAN Connection
2. Adapter for PPP session (Streamyx connection/Modem)

Basically if the customer cannot login, they will get 4 different types of results from the "ipconfig" command.

CASE 1 – media disconnected

General cause:

connection problem between modem and PC.

To do:

Step 1:
Ask to check connection between modem and PC including UTP cable

Step 2:
Make sure modem is ON.

Step 3:
If router is used in between modem and PC, make sure connection is ok and router is ON.

CASE 2 – Private IP address obtained (192.168.1.1)

To do:

Step 1:
Ping modem (IP address 192.168.1.1).

Step 2:
If failed/ request time out, ping NIC (192.168.1.4).

Diagnosis:
1. if get reply from NIC, we can conclude that customer cannot login is due to modem faulty
2. if no reply from NIC, the problem is actually due to NIC faulty.

Conclusion:
Both problems are clearly due to CPE (either modem or NIC).

CASE 3 – IP address blank/partial blank/0.0.0.0

To do:

Step 1:
Redo ipconfig command.

Step 2:
If still get the same result, reset modem (OFF/ON)

Diagnosis:
If still get 0.0.0.0 or blank for default gateway, its due to modem faulty.

Conclusion:
This problem also due to CPE.

CASE 4 - Other IP address appeared.

To do :

Step 1:
Check IP address configuration in NIC. Make sure IP address is set to obtain automatically.

Step 2:
Make sure whether private IP address for the modem has been changed from default setting.

Step 3:
Make sure that customer is not PPOA customer.
FoR PPOA Customers
Like PPOE, if customer cannot login, they will get 4 different type of results of ‘ipconfig’ command.

CASE 1 – media disconnected

Refer to CASE 1 of PPOE.

CASE 2 – Public IP address obtained.

The modem should be configured with Static Public IP address allocated for the customer.

Generally IP address gateway should be (210.x.x.x) , (218.x.x.x), (219.x.x.x), (60.x.x.x)

Follow step for CASE 2 of PPOE.

CASE 3 – IP address blank/partial blank/0.0.0.0

Refer to CASE 3 of PPOE.

CASE 4 – Private IP address obtained. (192.x.x.x) or ( 10.x.x.x)

Possible cause :

The PC is connected through LAN.

To do: Make sure tested PC is connected direct to the modem and bypass all the
routers.

Thank You

Zulmiri88

Resolve The Dreaded Network Cable

2014-09-18T06:27:00.000+08:00

9 Quick And Easy Steps You Can Take To Resolve The Dreaded Network Cable Is Unplugged Error

I am sure you have gotten one of the most annoying errors in existence which is the Network Cable is unplugged error. I will cover the reasons for this error as well as how to quickly solve it in 9 easy steps. I will be as descriptive as possible. That’s just the way I roll.

The most common home configuration is a home router with your computer plugged into it. A router is the little box your internet service provider gave you when you subscribed to their internet service.

A router has ports in it which resemble telephone ports only they are bigger. A network cable can also be called an RJ-45 cable, LAN cable, Cat5 cable, or straight through cable. So next time you pick one of these puppies you will know what to ask for.

Fix for about 75% of the Network Cable is Unplugged error messages.

Make certain that your network cable is plugged into a port on the router securely. Often I unplug it and replug it in until I hear a little click then I know I am good to go. You would be amazed at how many times that fixes your problem. The next thing to do is reboot the computer.

If this does not fix it just follow the 9 steps below.

9 Troubleshooting Steps to Resolve the network cable is unplugged error.

9 troubleshooting steps I go through to determine the source of the problem and resolve it, often within minutes.

1.Make sure you can see two lights on around the network cable.

On the computer side follow the network cable into your network card which is usually on the back of your computer. The port looks like an oversized telephone port. Notice there are 2 lights on either side of the port. If it is functioning correctly you will see the lights around the cable. The color of the lights will vary but you will definitely be able to notice when it lights up, trust me.

2. Make certain the network cable is plugged in securely to the computer.

If there are no flashing lights there is a problem. But before we go any further make certain the cable is plugged in securely. Just unplug the network cable and plug it in until you hear a click. Did the lights around the cable on the network card come on? If so reboot and you should be good to go. If not read on.

3. Check the router side.

Remember the router is the device that the internet service provider gave you when they setup your account. If you are not sure what the router looks like or where it is contact your service provider. There should be a light on the router where your network cable plugs into it. Check to determine if the network cable from your computer is plugged into the router? If not plug it in. Does the light where the network cable connects come on? If so rejoice and reboot your computer. You should be good to go.

4. Make certain there is power going to the router.

If it is plugged in and there are no lights check and make certain the router is powered up.You should see at the very least a power light. If there is no power then power it up. Does the light where the network cable connects come on? If so reboot and you should be good to go. If the light where the network cable connects doesn’t come on check the cable to make sure it is in securely. Once again just unplug the network cable and plug it back in until you hear a click. Does the light where the network cable connects come on? If so reboot and you should be good to go.

5. Try to get the internet.

If the network card lights are on and the router light where the network cable connects is on try to go to a web page. If you cannot get there then contact your service provider. The service provider is the person who you get your internet service from. Just get an old bill, look them up in the phone book or get on the internet. Tell them what is going on and what you have done to troubleshoot the problem. Also make certain they are not going to charge you for anything prior to talking to them. They shouldn’t especially because in this circumstance it is most likely a result of their equipment or network. Although service providers almost never will admit fault.

6. Make sure both devices are powered up.

If neither light is on. Try a new network cable. If you need to go to the store ask for a Category 5 straight through network cable (most folks just call them Cat 5 cables). Reboot the computer and the router. Believe it or not sometimes that solves everything.

7. Contact the service provider.

If it still doesn't work call your service provider and have them check the router remotely to see if they can fix it. Once again make sure they are not going to charge you.

8. Make certain your network card is functioning.

If the service provider checks your connection and they claim the router is fine the only thing left is a broken network card or a broken router. Since the router is tested by the ISP they will probably send someone out if they cannot see it. Make sure they don't charge you for this service though.

9. Replace the network card.

If your computer is under warranty call the computer manufacturer and tell them what troubleshooting you did and that you think it is a network card. If you are not covered under warranty you can crack open the case in the pc or laptop and replace or add a card. If you are not comfortable you can buy RJ45 interfaces that fit into a usb slot or pcmcia slot.

Anyway I think I covered everything you need to know to fix the network cable is unplugged error. If you have any additional questions please contact me. Thanks.

A Comprehensive Mini-Guide To Web Hosting

2014-07-27T12:43:00.000+08:00

What is web hosting: In the simplest words, web hosting is putting up your website or domain on the World Wide Web (www) Network. ‘Putting up’ is termed as hosting. Web hosting is done in order to give access to the world to your site (your page or the contents). Web hosting is done with the help of a server, which is connected to the internet.

In order to have your page/site connected to the web, you will have first to name it. The page/site name is called domain name. There are free domains where you need not pay for hosting, but here you have very restricted services. Hence, it is good if you have a low cost domain hosting if you have a low budget, but paid is preferable to the free services. Domain names usually end with .com. However, there are other suffixes like .org, .edu, .info, .in, .net and so on, which are as popular. Some suffixes indicate the business they are in like .edu will definitely be educational; .au is from Australia, .ro from Romania, and so on. When you choose a domain name, you must keep in mind that it will represent you on the web. So, choose a simple and concise name, preferably one that reflects or is your brand name. Simplicity is as important as accuracy as people will need to remember it to get back to you. It should not be too difficult to remember.

Once you decide on the domain name, you will have to turn your attention to the other factors required for a good web hosting decision, i.e. capacity of storage for your domain, traffic transfer capacity, customer support services, and reliability of the servers.

For storage capacity, you will need a minimum of 500 MB, which will be up gradable by your web host when you feel you need it. This usually involves a hike in the web-hosting price as well. With regard to traffic transfer or bandwidth, most web hosts offer about 100 GB traffic transfer per month which is okay for a small to medium website. Please take care that this is included as without the traffic to your website, your site will be dead. Some web hosts who charge very less for hosting will have additional prices for traffic transfer. Be sure you know about it and agree to it. Once you are with a web host, changing is cumbersome.

The most critical factor is service support. In order to have a good traffic and build good rapport your website should be always functional. In case there are some problem in accessing, opening of pages, or downloading, the web host should be able to settle the problem as fast as possible as time will cost you money and business rapport. Ideally, they should provide you with round the clock, seven-days-a-week service for paid services.

Last but not the least; their server’s reliability is synonymous with the reliability of your site in the eyes of your customers. If your site throws up ‘server not available’ all the time, your customers will shift their business elsewhere. Hence, you have to ensure that your web hosting is done by reliable and up-to-date servers, which can and will provide round the clock service with adequate back up in case of any interruption. They have to assure you to deliver 99.5% uptime, and their backup plans.

3 Options For Hosting Multiple Websites

2014-07-23T19:15:00.000+08:00

The prices of domain name registration and web hosting have dropped to the point that it's possible to own multiple websites without going broke. If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.

The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.

If you are happy with the hosting company you're using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.

They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.

On the other hand, if you choose a different host you'll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you're currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you'll have an alternative. It's wise not to "put all your eggs in one basket" as the saying goes.

Another advantage of using a different host is that you'll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.

Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.

If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices - separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.

Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let's look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company - a middleman between them and the end user.

The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don't have to resell this hosting however - you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially "reselling" the hosting to yourself.

A reseller account is nice because all your websites are "under one roof" and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.

Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.

The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren't familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.

Dedicated server are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.

A Career In Webinar Hosting? Why Not?

2014-07-18T21:40:00.000+08:00

If you're still marinating the thought of a second income generating project, how about a career in webinar hosting? Your ebullience and charisma will carry the whole thing, even if you failed a screen test at Fox Pictures. How about trying it?

What is Webinar Hosting?

If you're beginning to be confused about all that jargon calling a webinar by many names then stick to this definition - a webinar is just like your face-to-face seminar but it's on the web. A palette of software tools make it possible to use webinar hosting features like sharing files and exchanging ideas on real time.

What actually goes on during a webinar? During the web based activity, participants or presenters can use audio conferencing just using their computer speakers, show off their computer screen for product live demos and use the recording mode for playback.

Webinar hosting becomes easier when the tools allow for registration and presentation of survey polls and animation. In the workplace, knowledge about the variegated features of web hosting can earn you the admiration and envy of techno-phobics. You can shop around for small and medium businesses needing techies to manage their webinars. See the potential?

For starters, you can tell your potential customers that they need to have a computer, Internet access, and a phone line just for the webinars. Suggest headphones so they can free their hands during the live discussions. At this point, you can also encourage them to avail of promotional discounts on gadgets to save them money - if there are offers flooding the market.

Starting Your Career

Don't be intimidated by the big companies providing hosting services for webinars. Not that you are going to invent a software, you'll just provide technical service for those starting out or testing the viability of web conferencing.

You can smuggle a slice of the pie into your own plate. But how? Enterprising people have great ideas. First, you'll market yourself after you've mastered the software, then sell your ability to small and medium businesses struggling in the technical fog.

You can serve as the webinar facilitator to relieve workers from having add-ons to their already long list of to-dos. Talk to the company head about the advantages of having you around. You can help them reach a larger audience, help them reduce travel cost, and spruce up their PowerPoint presentations.

You can also walk them through the maze to show how they can efficiently streaming files on their desktops and much more. By just showing them around, you'll gain their approval to handle their webinar hosting. By adjusting your schedule you can have that extra income by just staying at home too.

Sometimes business ideas are hard to come by and if you've hit on something it should be new and relevant to the times. Being your own business is appealing but opportunities are far and in-between. Why not strike when the iron is hot?

If the idea of a career in web hosting on the side is appealing, start brushing up on the etiquettes of web conferencing. Go web hopping and look for more great ideas and tips to develop your expertise. You're selling yourself as a consultant and an expert; you can't afford to slip on your first outing.

How To Choose The Web Site Hosting Service Thats Right For You

2014-07-15T18:58:00.000+08:00

There are few things as vulnerable to your e-business flowering as having a reputable web hosting service ...

Here's How To Choose The Right Web Host To Guarantee Your Web distance Stays Up And Running!

Whether your heart is align marketing or extra changed online business, now more than markedly - as the Internet grows by leaps and reasoning - the exceptional of a plain Web city hosting provider is absolutely critical.

Cheapest ... biggest ... smartest ... newest ... oldest - with thousands of mesh residence hosting companies vying for your attention, it's not burdensome to bring about confused. And, departure forbid, if you prepare the injurious choice, it could market price you dearly in time, intention and money. Transferring a hamlet from one host to another host is nightmarish at best - if it's even do-able. So ...

How adjust you throng the BEST hotelkeeper for your web region and online bag needs -- the ever top run out?

You can lay foundation by movement now the nearest checklist:

Pricing, of course, is a key ground in ballot a lacework publician that's right for your needs. Just remember, as with concern and in life, you're operation to get what you wad for. There are 3 general categories of web hosting providers readily available, ranging from $0 to $75 per month. (More expensive solutions are for really big companies and beyond the scope of this article). Let's take a look:

FREE Web Hosting

Tempting as it sounds, $0 expense hosting is first courteous for prevalent worth - for a moment or peculiar individual doer not jibing to making money on the Internet. Among the disadvantages: Low bandwidth, poor technical and customer support, excessive downtime, slow connection times, poor or no search engine positioning.

The Search Engines may not conjecture evaluating your net country if it has a sub-domain quote not as example of your admit http://dot.com name, especially if the sub-domain is prototype of a free lunch netting host domain name.

If, for module reason, you're absorbed in game this route, acquire a question on Google. For example, scout for "Free lattice hosting" and construct additional that 1.5 million references. For this reason, I can not round up any favorites, being unable to verify how reputable they are. Good luck with your search. Compare features, over and over. It is the best way to narrow the field of candidates.

CHEAP Web Hosting

Low equivalent net hosting bequeath process for you if your budget is hardly any and you don't appetite to spend importance for sophisticated disk time and other options that might not be necessary for you at the moment.

Most providers in this club onrush from $3 to $10 a month. Many of them reach not instance you a Control Panel and a encompass of divergent appropriate meat relish tracking, autoresponders, sub domains, etc.

If you don't solicitude the storage good fortune or more features, flashy mesh hosting is a functioning solution, especially if your needs are not for e-business.

For some examples... nah, tune out it, I don't need to allot you examples of what I don't considerably surmise

in.

PROFESSIONAL Web Hosting

When you're in it for the long haul, it really pays to conceive Pro.

As you run on to enclose intoxicated to your site, you consign wish fresh disk space. As your traffic increases, thence does your ravenousness for supplementary bandwidth. You'll wish that sophisticated control panel with all the bells and whistles -- unlimited autoresponders, unlimited email addresses, unlimited sub domains, detailed website statistics, website promotional tools, topnotch support and so on.

Prices for finest despoil hosting range from $20 to $49 a second or more. Granted, it's not comp or cheap. But it's the BEST bigger for remote a lucky online business. Time is prominence especially on the Internet, and you hankering a web host that has enough power to assure that your website will load fast.

And before you side with on the dotted business ...

Don't be content about forbearance some picture checking. Send some emails and acknowledge how rapidly the company's customer abetment responds. Get feedback from assorted authentic customers on how they bonanza the service.

3 Types Of Online Events You Can Host

2014-07-11T01:08:00.000+08:00

There are a few different types of online events one can host and it will depend on the online event host’s purpose for hosting the event. Below are 3 of the more common types of online events.

1. Online Event showcasing exhibitors - This type on online event is where exhibitors showcase products that they are offering. They can offer discounts during the online event. The online event host has exhibitor booths available during this event. The FOCUS of this kind of events is EXHIBITORS.

2. Online Event showcasing guest speakers and exhibitors – In this type of online event, all participants benefit from learning some information from guest speakers. Exhibitors are also there to offer products and specials. There is a schedule of events as far as seminars/workshops being offered and there are exhibitor booths available during the event. The FOCUS on this kind of events is providing information via GUEST SPEAKERS and EXHIBITORS.

3. Online Event showcasing the host’s expertise. – For this type of online event, the host can look for sponsors for the event to help cover the costs of holding the event. There is a schedule of events for the workshops being offered by the host but there are NO exhibitor booths available during the event. Exposure is offered to sponsors of the event via text link on the online event site. The online event host is giving sponsors exposure to the audience that she is marketing the online event to.

Before you decide to host an online event, decide on what type of online event you would like to have. Once you figure that out, you will have an easier time planning out your event. You will know what your online event focuses on and you will have an idea on how much to charge your sponsors or exhibitors.

4 Factors In Choosing A Hosting Company Web Hosting

2014-07-06T02:57:00.000+08:00

When poll a lacework hosting company skillful are a whole-hog covey of contrastive factors that should pursuit regard your verdict making process. One of the biggest factors should be:

1) Phone support. Email sustain is nice, but email occasionally deluge in between the virtual cracks. Getting someone on the phone when your venue goes left can share a congregation of question out of the unabbreviated process. A cartel of the preferable web hosting companies offer toll free support and weekend hours to boot. Phone support is a great benefit for any web hosting client.

2) Another aspect to perk in deciding whether to gravy train a fixed lacework hosting corporation is their history. How decided has this matter been in business? Web hosting companies that have been in patience for less than a year knack not be the best choice. A hosting company with a proven track record and a ton of happy clients is certainly a good sign and might work well for you.

3) How about the company's software? This varies widely between lacework hosting companies. I am quite familiar of Cpanel merely due to I am used to it, presume where the buttons are and what the drift do. It's indeed easier to baton with exceptional you feel certain than switching to a new User Interface. Some web hosts offer Frontpage features and others don't. Another specific area you might want to research are the statistics programs. What sort of web statistics software is included with your web hosting account? Is Awstats included? This is one area you definitely want to heavily research before signing up.

4) Fees. I'd reasonably finances a smooth supplementary to execute all the make-up than altercation it out with a sub par lacework hosting establishment who I can't get if my site goes down. I've found decent web hosting for as cheap as $4 per month but generally pay around $15 per month if I want all the bells and whistles that I'll need to host a larger site. A lot of people worry about hosting fees, but I've had the experience that I generally get what I pay for. Finally, I'd look carefully at the web hosting company's refund policy. Most offer a full refund if you aren't happy with your service. If you are paying for a full year of web hosting up front, you might want to examine the company's refund policy in detail.

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4 Tips to Find the Web Host That's Right for You

2014-07-01T13:00:00.000+08:00

So you have finally planned to invade the magical world of Internet. All captions ready, all information gathered, all details penned down. What next?

Your next important step is finding the Web Host for your site, The Right One..

A web host is a service provider that places your web site on a computer that is connected to Internet. This then gives people who surf Internet a way to access your website.

Finding the best host for your company's Web site is one of the most important steps when taking your business online. Not only will your host be responsible for placing your company's site on the Internet; it will also be responsible for keeping it there and being available to potential customers.

Now, let us take a look at the steps to be followed when choosing the right web host:

1. Create an online plan for your site. What you are going to sell, number of items, methods of payment and the features of your site. Then determine the possibilities for your site's expansion over the next six months, the next year and the next five years. Look into these factors before short-listing your probable host.

Disk Space/Storage refers to the amount of space given by a web-hosting plan for your web site's pages, images, and any additional files. Take this into consideration when determining the total number of files you will be using for your website and their sizes. If you are planning on creating a website with a lot of video or audio files, you will need a lot of disk space. Check whether your host can meet this requirement.

Programming Languages such as ASP, PHP, Perl/CGI, JSP and ColdFusion are used to create a lot of popular scripts (software) to help your website function. Make sure your web host supports the language used by you. Also, if you are planning on selling services or products from your website, make sure the web hosting plan you choose offers some type of ecommerce solution.

2. Now that you have checked out all your requirements, pick your top five responses. Surprisingly, many of the hosts you submit a request for a proposal to won't respond by your set deadline. Ignore them and look at the responses you receive and pick the five best.

3. Ask for references. Take your short list of hosts and ask them for the names of some of their clients -- then pick up the phone and see what the host's clients have to say. Be sure to inquire how good the host is at making the site available online.

4. Test their customer service. Pick up the phone and call customer support at 2 a.m. Drop customer support an e-mail to see how fast they respond to you. Do what it takes to feel comfortable with your service provider before you enter into any type of business relationship.

Choosing the right Web host is easier if you approach it the way you would approach any other major purchase for your business. It can mean the difference between success and failure for your online venture.

A Best Web Hosting Company

2014-06-26T19:35:00.000+08:00

When you're selling goods or services, it's imperative that you treasure trove ecommerce netting hosting that supports purchases and soaring amounts of traffic that you'll hopefully begin for your site.

Finding a useful mesh hosting occupation depends on your characteristic needs and the expectations you have for your company's payoff forecast. If you visualize slow and level growth, and so you may not craving the bells and whistles other hosting companies and plans offer - at least not in the beginning.

But if you agility to found a assembly of whack getting your region a friendly part of online traffic, and feel sales to explode at an breathtaking rate, then you might want to find an ecommerce web hosting plan that will easily evolve with your needs from a basic package to an expanded one.

Some mesh hosting providers mention a handout sphere with the mastery of a hosting plan. While crown names are not relevant in their bear right, it's a radiant free to gain just for finding the right host for your upcoming website.

You'll besides want to pride out how plain it is to betray your void to their server. Even the gaudy web hosting providers should name convenient uploads to their servers. You may or may not use a service to help you publish your pages - and if you're new to the game, you'll want a system that works fast and doesn't leave you frustrated in the process.

Depending on your needs you may be capable to gem affordable web hosting that offers antsy servers to their clients. This is gainful now you don't need someone else's section to create a server to contact - leaving your site inoperable for an unknown amount of time.

Another important instrument to lap up when poll a pertinent web hosting provider is the charge of succour they present for their services. Do they have an 800 insert and fully staffed office 24 hours a day - or are you on your own, missing out on sales until 8 AM the next morning?

Good lacework hosting should name notably of support without the further cost. Your online storefront is initiate 24/7, and inasmuch as the succour should adequately ensure your enterprise at all times.

Find out how others sensation about a symptomatic web hosting provider. Have they won part bays for their services? Do customers frequently cancel their compensation with this task since of a insufficience of support? Do your homework hence that you don't have to stop everything and deal with a disruption - because it usually happens at the most inconvenient time.

If you monthly your sway on your own, be conclusive you gun for a registrar who meets all of your needs. Domains arise at a highly magnanimous standard - but you longing to drive sure you get email forwarding, account management tools, and easy transfer to your chosen web hosting provider.

Before you risk putting your lattice nook activity the hands of a net hosting burden without a proven pathway record, you rapaciousness to be conscious that every dinky your site is down (and you may not know), you could be losing thousands of dollars in online income.

A Basic Web Hosting Walkthrough

2014-06-22T23:43:00.000+08:00

If you are relatively new to the concept of having your very own place on the web this article may help fill you in on some of the basics.

There are two main categories of web hosting that I am going to cover in this article. The first is dedicated hosting and the second is shared hosting. The second type ,shared hosting, I usually break down into paid and free. Normally, unless you are a very special person, you can't get dedicated hosting for free.

Before I break down the hosting types, however, let's clear up some terminology...

Bandwidth is the amount of data your site can transer in a given period of time. This is sometimes referred to as transfer. When people view your site on the internet they are downloading it from the server and this uses up your bandwidth.

Storage is basically the measure of hard drive space your web site is allowed to take up on a server.

OK, now on to the rest of it...

Dedicated hosting , or more like dedicated server, is where your web site gets one entire server to itself. You are pretty much entitled to all of the resources this server has to offer. The entire bandwith and hard drive capacity is yours including memory for processing and whatever else. With larger, traffic intensive web sites dedicated hosting is pretty much a must but shared hosting is usually more than sufficient for individuals and small to smallish medium businesses.

Shared hosting is basically when a hosting company puts your web site on a server with web sites from other customers. Your hosting provider will usually give you monthly limits for bandwidth, storage, email accounts and such. Depending on what server you were put on and how good your hosting provider is sometimes things can get a little crowded on a server and cause your site to be slow and unresponsive.

Free hosting is shared hosting you get from a free service like geocities or another. It is usually incredibly limited. Sometimes you can "earn" a decent free hosting account by posting in forums and such but in my opinion paid hosting and a real domain name are much better.

Paid hosting is actually inexpensive these days. You can get good solid hosting that will support a small business for under $100 per year. Usually hosting providers include a free domain name and free setup as well as a money back garantee.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you decide to buy hosting make sure to be incredibly picky. The last thing you want is to end up with the wrong web host. Read some articles on picking the right domain name and hunt down reviews of web hosting companies.

I wouldn't go with companies that aren't huge and well established. I've known many people who have lost web sites when unstable hosting companies went under.

Be vigilant and have fun. Getting a web site is the cheapest way to start a business.

6 Important Rules in Website Design and Hosting

2014-06-19T21:33:00.000+08:00

Article Body:

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.

6) The most important - Host only with a Reliable Hosting Provider.

Before Chosing a Web Hosting provider, read its reviews and always check the top 10 hosting providers. A good resource to research hosting providers is at Top10DedicatedHosting.com

A Beginner’s Guide To Web Hosting

2014-06-15T11:31:00.000+08:00

For many people using the internet is a daily occurrence, whether it be for work or leisure, shopping or gaining information. While many of these people are confident in how to use the internet, and what it can do for them, there are also many people who have no idea of how it works, or what they would need to do to get their own website.

Every single website on the internet, be it the one page site of an individual or a huge, multi-page website of an international company, has the same principle behind them. In order for their website to be visible to the millions of internet users it must be displayed through the services of a web hosting company. Web hosting is basically the process of providing a service which enables your website to be viewed online. This can only be done by these service providers as it is only them who have computers, much like your own, which are directly connected to the internet. These computers are used solely to serve up websites onto the internet, lending them their official name of “servers”.

The web host will generally host many thousands of web sites and as such they require a very fast connection to the internet. They have a set amount of access to the internet, which they rent out to people who want their own online web site. As the internet has grown in popularity, the renting of space has become financially rewarding. As such, more companies are trying to get involved in it. You may find that you are dealing with the company that owns that main server directly, or you may find you are renting your space from a company who, in turn, are renting their space from a larger web hosting company. In this case, the server of the smaller company is linked to the server of the larger company, so it is the larger company who actually enable your website to be viewed online. It is really inconsequential to the website owner whether they are dealing with the main company directly or a smaller subsidiary as the end result is the same.

This information is just the basics of how the internet and web sites work. In order to have your own web site you need to do more than just rent space from a web hosting company. For example, you will need to create the site itself, either personally or by hiring the services of a professional. However, whatever you do to make your web site vibrant, attractive or interesting will be totally useless without ensuring you have paid a web hosting company to actually put it online for you.

40 Million Web Hosting Providers To Choose From

2014-06-10T20:25:00.000+08:00

There is more then 40 Million web hoisting provider to choose from and all of them are thirsty for adding your business to their portfolio, in this situation how do you identify and distinguish the best from the worse web hosting providers. Below I have highlighted some key point to Consider When Choosing a Web Hosting Provider.

Security

The security of your website is the most important thing to consider once your site goes live, you should be 100% confident that the technology that brings your web project to life is of the highest caliber and extremely secure. If you set your website to process customer details and collect payments via the internet then you should consider a hosting provider who can provide you with a server which has encryption capabilities and the ability to set up a dedicated secure server if and when requested by you.

Server Space

Before you commit your self to a hosting provider, first consider the amount of disk space you will need to host your website, a reasonable amount is around 500 MB, to 1 GB disk space, which is sufficient enough for any small business, unless you are planning on running a software repository or an image gallery or a file sharing website. Web hosting providers offer their customers several hosting packages and many of the packages comes with un-necessary disk space for a very reasonable price in attempt to out perform their competitors in many cases I found hosting providers are cutting corners to bring it customers an excellent hosting package which only looks good on paper.

Reliability

The reliability of the hosting provider is crucial. The length of time they have been in business, their percent of uptime, reasonable uptime you should expect is at least 99.5% and their backup and data retrieval practices and policies. Some hosting providers have multiple data centres, and some might even give you a choice of where your server will be at. Ideally, the closer the server is to you the better, as file transfers and interaction with the server will be at faster speeds. This might be a good question to ask the company on the phone call above.

Support

Technical support is something that should definitely be a part of a web hosting plan. Professional web hosting providers offer customers a support ticket system, this support system track all queries made by you and will automatically notify you via e-mail or SMS when your query get updated. The support system also give you access to review the status of any tickets you have raised, set priorities and check response times.

PHP/CGI-Bin

No matter what type of site you are planning on running, chances are you will eventually need to install some type of CGI script. Whether it be a mailing list management script, contact form processor, or maybe even a fancy credit card processing script, your hosting account will need to allow you to install and run them. This requires access to a special folder on your server called "CGI-Bin". Some hosting accounts will only allow you to use "pre-installed" scripts as a security measure. These are scripts that the owners of the company have installed and configured so that they know that they will work properly and not adversely affect their server's performance. That may be all you need, but if you have the knowledge, it's always nice to have the ability to install your own scripts and configure them to suit your individual needs. You should also be sure that the account you choose supports the language in which your scripts are written, such as PHP, Perl, etc.

A Guide For Choosing The Best Web Site Hosting Service

2014-06-06T07:54:00.000+08:00

There are a million of options available with the few thousands of hosting companies that exist today and that makes choice all the more difficult, or let’s say, confusing. Fact remains that people often tend to overlook a few simple facts that not only helps one to choose the best web site hosting service but also to gain the much desired peace of mind.

General Introduction:

There are certain factors, which, put together, enables people to choose few thousands of hosting companies that exist today and that makes choice all the more difficult, or let’s say, confusing. Fact remains that people often tend to overlook a few simple facts that not only helps one to choose the best web site hosting service but also to gain the much desired peace of mind.

General Introduction:

There are certain factors, which, put together, enables people to choose the best web host from a plethora of other similar service providers. As per the industry standards, the best web host should beat others in terms of both service and options as well as should be able to solve any problem immediately that their clients may face. Apart from these, the best web host must have the courtesy to communicate and keep the client updated on the current status regarding solving their problems.

Choosing the best web site hosting service:

Quality of Service is the first criteria that a person must look for while shopping for the best web host; since the current trend is to go online, therefore, it is easy to fall into the traps set by the $4.00 hosting companies offering 1000 Mb of server space along with 24/7 technical support. People often consider such a company to be the best web host making excellent services available and do not recognize the truth, which could be just letters and numbers. So, before making a decision on signing up with the best web host, it is always advisable to find out the most intricate matters in detail; like the claim 24/7 technical support can be a subject to a lot of interpretation and may mean that a person needs to wait for 48 to 72 hours before the problem is solved. 24/7 means that the customer shall be able to reach a live person when he/she calls the support number, so this is something to be found out while selecting the best web host. A good service provider should take around one hour to respond back if communication is established through e-mail.

Analyzing the billing process of the provider’s hosting service plans is another method to find out whether the service provider can qualify as the best web host. So, if the answers come positive (at least, satisfactory) for enquiries regarding handling the billing process (whether it’s done by an outside company or the same company selling the hosting service), the process for resolving the billing issues (either through a support number or by mail), the payment modes, online account management platforms and credits for referrals, expect to reach a level of comfort with the service provider, whom you now know to be the best web host that you can find.

10 Most Important Questions To Ask Your Web Host NOW!

2014-06-03T07:14:00.000+08:00

So, you’re looking to build a web site or so fed up with your current web host that you are desperate to transfer your site elsewhere? You may not even be aware of your current host’s vulnerabilities in an industry where each week there is news about a host going down for one reason or another. Your first problem is narrowing the thousands of choices down to a few that you can research further. Seek friends or associates that have a web site and ask for their advice. Visit one of the many forums about web hosting, ask the members for advice or search threads from those that have asked before you. Once you’ve located a few hosts to research, the ten questions below will take you a long way towards making an informed decision. You may be able to find many of the answers to these questions on the hosts’ web sites, but always feel free to call the host and quiz them about their operations. The quality of the answers and degree of professionalism you get from a potential host often transfers to the type of support you’ll receive once you become a customer. Without further ado, the ten question to ask your web host:

1. How long has the web host been in business?

2. Does the web host own its data center?

3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?

4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?

5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 phone and email support?

6. What levels of redundancy does the web host’s architecture provide?

7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?

8. What is the web host’s billing policy?

9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?

10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?

1. How long has the web host been in business?

The length of time that a host has been in business can be related to their ability to provide a quality, reliable product. If your host can satisfy its customers, then those customers are likely to stick with the host’s service. Therefore, stay in business. There are, of course, situations where this is not applicable or becomes a bit hazy. Be sure to also inquire about whether a host has recently been involved in a merger, acquired what was once a well-known brand name, or launched a new brand. If any of these apply, then delve deeper into the story behind what has happened and determine whether quality resources are still with the company.

• Complete a domain name “whois” lookup on the web host: http://www.internic.net/whois.html. Type in the web host’s domain name and determine what year the domain was registered. If only registered in the recent past, ask the host about it. If the domain name was recently registered this is not necessarily a red flag. Simply inquire with the host about it. They may have recently launched an affinity-based brand to cater to your market.

• Type the host’s name into a search engine and check out the results that you get, other than those from the host itself. You may run across reviews, interviews, or industry articles about the host.

2. Does the web host own its data center?

A data center is the foundation from which all products and services are built upon. If your host owns its own data center, then they are likely quite entrenched in the hosting business. They also have an experienced staff and knowledge base from which to draw from when supporting your web site and building new products. In other words, if a host owns its own facility, then it controls more of the variables that can make or break your web presence.

3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?

Your web site performance is not just a measure of your web server's speed. The ability of your web host to route traffic through the cleanest Internet connections is also of great importance. It is crucial that your provider have multiple connections to the Internet. Accidental fiber cuts in construction or telecom work and data center equipment failure can cause your site to go offline for an extended amount of time. This can be avoided if your web host has other connections to the Internet that will reroute traffic that would have normally been carried on the failed circuit. Yes, this means your host must also have extra capacity on hand to handle normal traffic levels when one connection is lost; which is another area where a host can attempt to cut cost. This is much like when driving your car, there are several streets that you can take to get to your desired destination. Sometimes you will encounter construction or an accident that will require you to take an alternative street. Well, the Internet works the same way. There are several routes that traffic can take to a destination. Your host should be able to choose the cleanest, or most efficient, route to your web site visitor. In fact, your host should be able to continually tune these routes to find the best path to your visitors. Another way to achieve this is by minimizing the number of different networks traffic will pass through before reaching its destination. It is extremely important for your host to have direct connections to networks that have lots of eyeballs. In other words, your web site will be served better if your web host is using connections with networks that facilitate Internet access to large volumes of subscribers.

4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?

There are a couple of factors that can influence the answer to this question. Does the host own its own data center? If not, then they are physically removed from their servers and likely paying a co-location company to provide monitoring for them. When another company controls the environmental systems that provide the home for the host, one can argue that you’ve created another potential point of failure; that being the communication of an issue from the data center to the web host. That point of failure can increase the latency between an issue and its resolution, resulting in increased downtime for your web site. Second, if your web host has an issue with its own infrastructure, then there may be travel time associated with their engineers getting to the data center to resolve it or, once again, increased latency by trying to remotely resolve an issue.

5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 toll free phone and email support?

You might be surprised at how many web hosts don’t provide 24/7/365 support. The industry’s hosts run the gamut from only email support to providing phone and email support 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. The best way to eliminate not having support when you need it, is to choose a host that can assist you whenever you need it. When an idea wakes you from a slumber at 3 A.M., it’s nice to have your host on the other end of the phone to discuss it. When your site malfunctions due to a programming glitch the night before your store is to open, it’s wonderful to have your web host on the phone to decipher the issue with you. When your cat accidentally deletes some important files, know that your host is there to help recover them. Also make sure that your host is providing support over the major holidays. Many web hosts will close their support center, decrease their support to only email, or send their support team home with a pager to be called in case of emergency. All of these decreases can create latency if your web site goes offline. And, holidays are often days which persons will spend time on the Internet after they’ve completed all of their social plans. Matter of fact, word-of-mouth business is one of the most effective means to customer acquisition. When people get together, they exchange ideas.

6. What levels of redundancy does the web host provide?

Failures that cause your site to lose connection can happen. Therefore, it's crucial to find a provider whose hosting architecture provides the least-risk of failure. Redundancy is necessary. Single points of failure are very bad, but many hosts attempt to cut costs by risking single points of failure. Ask your web host about their redundancy in server architecture (web, email, and DNS servers), load-balancing, and file storage.

A web server is the hardware and software combination that serves requested web pages, files, or other information. Servers answer requests from web browsers to provide information from web sites, email, and databases. They then send that information to the requesting browser. Load balancing divides the amount of work that a server has to do between multiple servers, which also adds redundancy, so that more work gets done in the same amount of time and, in general, all web sites requests within the network get served faster. The load balancers stay in constant contact with the servers to determine how busy they are and/or if one of them has failed. It may sound like a no-brainer, but having your site connected to the Internet is the whole reason for having a web site and a load-balanced, redundant network is vital to that endeavor.

Has your email server ever been down? Redundancy is also vital for email and DNS servers. A Domain Name System (DNS) server translates requests to locate a web site. As you can imagine, keeping email and DNS servers online is a mission-critical task for a web host. For file storage, seek a host that uses a reliable storage solution with multiple auto-fail over and hot-swappable drives to ensure continuous delivery of your web site.

7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?

Backing up web sites should be a routine part of your web host’s operation. Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or any other catastrophe.

8. What is the web host’s billing policy?

Look for a web host that provides a money-back guarantee. This will allow you to try out the host’s service. Should you find that the service is sub-par in site performance, reliability, or lacking the features that you seek, the ability to request your money back, within the parameters of the guarantee, is priceless and liable to save you from later trouble. It is always a good to idea to inquire about the web host’s cancellation procedures. There are many out there who require you to send them an email or make a phone call to cancel, which can extend the time frame to cancellation. A host who is confident in their service will have a cancellation form or online avenue within their control panel. Now, they will likely also have a retention program, so don’t be surprised when they call or email you to ask why you are leaving. After all, your feedback helps them to evaluate their service.

9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?

Sometimes people choose a host because it has the exact feature set that they need, but later find that feature set means nothing when access to those features is unreliable. Make sure that a host has your desired features and is also reliable. To make sure that the host you are evaluating has everything you need, use the following list:

• A domain name, but be sure to look for hidden registration fees or renewal fees

• An ample amount of versatile email accounts including web-based, POP3, and IMAP

• Email spam filtering and virus protection are a must these days, unless you are providing this on your own

• Enough disk space to meet your site’s needs

• Monthly bandwidth allotments that will cover your traffic and the ability to increase that allotment based on your site’s success

• Site building tools such as extensions for FrontPage or other online/downloadable site building programs

• Ease of upload to your site via FTP or other means

• Access to a robust traffic analysis program or the raw logs for you to process yourself

• Programming languages, including CGI, PHP, MIVA (if needed)

• Ecommerce shopping cart alternatives

• Database capability, dependant upon your application preference

10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?

You might be surprised how many sites that once started for fun or as a hobby have grown into some of the most popular sites on the Internet. Hence, you never know when you’ll outgrow your current product or service and need to move up the ladder to the next rung. Make sure that your web host can meet your anticipated growth, not only within the product range of shared hosting, but should you ever need a dedicated server or co-location solution, your host is there to discuss and provide the best solution.

Do your homework by using the above questions as a template and you will likely save yourself some major headaches down the road. If you’ve gathered information about multiple hosts, you can now compare apples to apples and decide on the best host for your needs. Hopefully, the work that you’ve done will avoid forcing you to use your gut, but rather make an informed decision based on the facts. Perhaps, the best piece advice that you will find in any article or forum about choosing a host is, if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

5 Things To Look For In A Promising Web Host

2014-05-29T18:02:00.000+08:00

Finding a promising web hosting company for your internet based business is an essential piece to the puzzle. This is the company that has control of your server space, web services and file maintenance, so you want to make sure you are protected. Here are 5 things to look for in a promising web host.

1. Reliability

There is nothing more important than reliability when it comes to selecting a web hosting company. There are a number of things that can go wrong within an internet based business and it is assuring to know that your web host is there for you. Prior to selecting a company, take the time to look at the percentage of time their server is working properly. If the server tends to be down 15% of the time or more, this kills valuable time that you could be working.

2. Contact info

Part of a web hosting company being reliable is also them being available. If your server goes down, you want to know that you can get a hold of the company as soon as possible. The best way to check on the support personnel is to call them up prior to agreeing to anything to test them out.

3. Domain name

With thousands of internet based businesses on the web and millions of web addresses already taken, it can be difficult coming up with an original domain name. However, every web host should be able to provide you with one for a reasonable price. Check into the support they give you for finding a quality domain name and the prices each company charges for a domain name.

4. CGI access

Depending on the type of internet based business you have, you may want to or need to run your own programs. In order to do this, you must have CGI access. Not every web host offers this, and not every company offers the same capabilities for their CGI access. When researching into a web hosting company, check to make sure they offer CGI access that allows you to read, write, and execute on your server.

5. POP account

Having a POP account is vital for your business because of the protection that it offers. A POP account gives you password-protected access to mail that is sent through your website email address.

There are several things you want to look into prior to selecting a web hosting company. The more questions you can come up with to ask the company and the more research you put into your decision, the better off you will be.

WATCH DOGS-RELOADED

2014-05-27T18:25:00.002+08:00

All it takes is the swipe of a finger. We connect with friends. We buy the latest gadgets and gear. We find out what's happening in the world. But with that same simple swipe, we cast an increasingly expansive shadow. With each connection, we leave a digital trail that tracks our every move and milestone, our every like and dislike. And it's not just people. Today, all major cities are networked. Urban infrastructures are monitored and controlled by complex operating systems

In Watch_Dogs, this system is called the Central Operating System (CTOS) and it controls almost every piece of the city's technology and holds key information on all of the city's residents

You play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you'll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city's network. Access omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation to stop the enemyand more

Use the city of Chicago as your ultimate weapon and exact your own style of

revenge

KEY FEATURES

HACK THE CITY

Watch_Dogs takes place in a fully simulated living city where, using your smartphone, you have real-time control over the city's infrastructure. Trap your enemy in a 30-car pileup by manipulating the traffic lights. Stop a train, and then board it to evade the authorities. Narrowly escape capture by quickly raising a drawbridge. Anything connected to the city's CTOS canbecome your weapon.

STREET JUSTICE

Living in inner city Chicago where violence is best answered by violence, you have the skills to take the fight to the streets. Take down enemies by delivering devastating blows with your baton, or experience a shoot-out like never before with a physics simulation that rivals anything in the shooter category. Use a combination of shooting and hacking to gain advantage in any given situation. The streets are designed for you to create your own plan of attack. Overall, you will have access to more than 30 traditional weapons

HIGH OCTANE DRIVING

Ubisoft Montreal has partnered with studios such as Ubisoft Reflections, the acclaimed studio behind the award-winning Driver series to bring you a game bursting with horsepower. Get behind the wheel of more than 65 vehicles, each with state of the art physics and handling, and explore the massive city

while completing missions

EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL

Disrupt, the all-new game engine dedicated to Watch_Dogs, uses advanced processing and graphics to deliver a stunning visual and an incredibly realistic experience. Disrupt gives you the power to affect the story, the city and the life of the population with your choices creating a ripple effect throughout the city

DYNAMIC NAVIGATION

Watch_Dogs gives you the ability to not only use the city's ctOS to your advantage, but the streets as well. In real-world Chicago, cut through buildings or climb to the rooftops to catch your target

SEAMLESS MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE

Discover new levels of interaction, cooperation and confrontation between players thanks to a brand new multiplayer game system that links the single and multiplayer modes into one seamless experience. That means no menus, no loading screens, just instant open world multiplayer action

STAY CONNECTED WITH A NEW WAY TO PLAY

Take your experience beyond the console with a ground breaking, real-time, companion game. This innovative mobile platform allows players to connect and compete with friends, even when away from their home console. The Watch_Dogs companion game delivers revolutionary dual-screen gameplay that enables you to play from anywhere, at any time more info vist Here

7 Simple Steps For Choosing A Great Web Host

2014-05-26T03:33:00.000+08:00

There are thousands of web hosts around today with thousands of plans to choose from making what was once a simple procedure seem like a daunting task for both newbie and pro alike.

Whether you're looking for your first host or looking to move on to a better one there are 7 simple steps you must follow to succeed in choosing a great host.

1. Platform
The first and most crucial step in choosing a web host is determining the platform the web server should run, usually a choice between Unix/Linux and Windows.

Your choice is largely determined by your website and the technologies used to create it, generally a website created with Microsoft technologies (ASP, VB) will run on Windows servers while most other sites using open source technologies (PHP, Perl, Python etc) will run on Linux based systems.

2. Features
Once you've chosen your platform the next step is determining the features you'll need from your web host. Take your time with this step as the feature lists of web hosts are getting longer and longer every day and while some plans may look similar on the surface, a good look at the feature lists may tell another story.

Only you can determine the specific features you'll need, but some key things to keep an eye on are:

Disk Space
Bandwidth
Backups
Uptime
Money Back Guarantee
Domains Allowed
Databases (Number & type)
CGI, PHP, Perl, Python, SSI
Cron
Email accounts

The list goes on and on, just remember to take your time and make sure your new web host is going to provide you with everything you need.

3. Cost
Often this is the only thing people consider when choosing their first web host, funds are usually tight and on the surface most hosts look very similar. Sometimes you get lucky and choose a good host, but more often than not it turns out to be a horror story.

I can't stress enough that choosing a web host based on price alone is asking for trouble, remember that the cost of your web hosting is more than just the monthly fee, think about the total cost of ownership. TCO includes lost sales due to downtime & slow speeds, downtime rebates, extra bandwidth charges, setup costs, extra feature costs, and your monthly fee.

Many hosts will require you to pay yearly to get the best price available though there are some that allow you to pay by the month and still get the best price, it's really a matter of personal choice as to what payment method works best for you.

4. Customer Service
Customer service is another aspect that is often forgotten about until it is too late, something breaks and you need it fixed and those wonderfully handy sales people who were more than helpful in taking your money are now nowhere to be seen, all the while you're losing out on sales every minute.

You shouldn't settle for anything less than 24/7/365 service, your website needs to be running all the time so it's no good if your hosting company doesn't work during the holidays. Don't take the web hosting companies word for it, they all claim 24/7 support but few back it up with consistent performance. Be sure to test them out at various times of the day and night via phone, email and live chat if they offer it.

5. Support
An extensive knowledge base or faq can be a real time saver as well as being an indication of the level of customer service support and expertise you can expect to receive. Spend some time browsing the support sections of the website and see for yourself the level of support provided.

Are questions in the knowledge base answered thoroughly? Are real solutions provided or are they just “cut and paste” replies?

6. Longevity
Do a whois on the web host's domain name and find out the creation date, anything less than a year ago and the risk that they won't be around next year increases. They could be a great host, but considering more then 95% of new hosts go out of business within a year that really isn't something you should be taking a chance on.

7. Uptime
It's a fact of life that a web host cannot be online 100% of the time, servers need to be rebooted for security and software updates and any web host that doesn't get updated faces the increased risk of being successfully hacked.

99.9% uptime guarantees are pretty standard in the industry however a guarantee is only as good as how it is defined and the company behind it. Look for no less than a full months free hosting should they not meet their guarantee, a prorated refund based on the amount of downtime is virtually worthless. Say you pay $10 for a month of hosting and your site is down for 24 hours. They will refund you for one day of downtime which ends up being about 33 cents.

There you go, 7 simple steps for choosing a great web host. It's not rocket science, just a little research and investigating that can save a lot of heartache in the future.

Raising the bar

2014-05-22T13:39:00.000+08:00

First, I have to admit. I'm a terrible customer. I'm a demanding perfectionist who rarely feels that he is getting his money's worth. This is especially true of hosting providers. In the past four years, I've had to change providers at least six times because I felt that I was not getting what I paid for. This brief commentary is somewhat of a treat for me as I finally get to say something good about a hosting provider!

A little over two years ago I was reading up on the latest technologies in one of my favorite publications, eWeek, when I ran across a nice, full-page ad from 1and1 offering an introductory offer of free hosting for three years. Wait! What! No way! This has got to be too good to be true! Off to the trusty computer I go...

Sure enough, it was the real deal. 1and1 was indeed offering free web hosting for three years to introduce its new public sector hosting service. Well, like any good cash-strapped college student, I stepped right up and got me a piece of the pie. I've got to say, the pie was good too!

After roughly two years of hosting with 1and1, with minimal problems I should say, I started to notice that I was getting dangerously close to the bandwidth allowance my free package had to offer. No big surprise there; these things happen when you're trying to establish an online presence and you offer free downloads. It was time to upgrade my hosting.

At the time, there were no great specials going on at 1and1 so I decided to shop around. That was a tremendous mistake! What I got was a course in how *not* to run a hosting service. I will be polite, this time, and not name and companies, but let's just say stay away from cheap reseller hosting accounts! The uptime is nowhere near what they promise and every time you turn around some idiot is running a script that bogs the server down to a crawl.

After a couple months, a chunk of wasted cash, and several moves back and forth between providers, I finally conceded that 1and1 was indeed the best host I had come across thus far. As luck would have it, I had received an email from 1and1 announcing a great promotion for their free preview package holders (obvious marketing trick, but good timing in my situation). They were offering their top shared Linux package for half the price. Ok, that sounds like a good deal, and it was, but what about next year? Well, this is where it gets even better. Not only did I get the package at half price, but they guaranteed that price for three years with free upgrades!

I might not be the brightest light bulb in the box, but I know a good deal when I see one. So, as I'm sure you've already figured out, I signed up. What I got was a whole lot more than what I bargained for, and honestly, could have hoped for. Almost instantly after upgrading, I noticed that my sites were running faster. I'm assuming that paid customers are placed on less crowded servers.

Then, the first upgrade came. My space and bandwidth were doubled at no extra charge. I thought to myself, cool, I'll take it! A couple weeks later, I was browsing the 1and1 site comparing features for a potential client when I noticed that the package I have had been bumped to ridiculously high levels. Even though I was getting my money's worth at the time, I felt a little bitter that I wasn't getting the full package spec. After all, I was promised that I would get every package upgrade.

Just like any other nightmare client, I promptly dialed billing to give them a piece of my mind. Apparently, the billing agent was no stranger to difficult clients like me. Within a few minutes of talking to me, he got me defused and assured me that my package would be brought up to spec within four weeks. That was two weeks ago. He explained that it was taking more time than expected to upgrade all their current accounts to the new account specs. He really surprised me when he said that I'd actually be getting more than what was currently listed on the site. What?! Ok then! Thank you for your time! Needless to say, I was left feeling very positive about that support call.

Here's where we get into the numbers... When I logged into my account today, I was greeted by some very generous numbers for the package I have. I discovered that I now have 30,000MB of storage and 1,500 GB of transfer on a shared hosting account that normally runs $19.99/mo! Wait! That can't be right! Those are VPS specs! Yup, you read right. 30GB of storage and 1.5TB of transfer for under $20/mo. PLUS, with 1and1, I only pay $5.99 per domain, per year.

Now, let's be real here. Those numbers are great and all, but other providers offer similar specs. What sets 1and1 apart? For starters, uptime! With every other host I've used, uptime was a major issue. This is not so with 1and1. I can count on one hand how many times in the past two years my site was not available and nearly every time it was related to an ISP router, not 1and1! Also, one of the things I've really grown to appreciate is their one-of-a-kind control panel. It's a little slow, but it more than makes up for it in streamlined administration. This is especially true of the domain administration. Even complete n00bs have no problem navigating the 1and1 control panel and managing their package like a pro.

Again, I'm not the easiest person in the world to impress, especially when it comes to hosting providers. Nevertheless, 1and1 has really raised the bar of what a good hosting provider is in my mind. They are now the benchmark by which I will measure all hosting providers. If you are in the market for a good, reliable, affordable hosting provider, I cannot say enough positive about 1and1.

There is only one negative I've found with 1and1 and it's not even really a negative. They're a bit restrictive on script execution. If you think about it, in a shared hosting environment, this is a good thing, and this also explains why the only time I've noticed the server actually being down was during a scheduled hardware upgrade. Now, who's going to complain about a free upgrade in performance?

If you would like more information on 1and1 and the packages they offer, I encourage you to visit their site. Just as a point of reference, I'm running on the Developer Package. I think you'll find that it's a more than adequate package for moderate to heavy traffic sites.

7 essentials of moving to anew web host

2014-05-18T09:50:00.000+08:00

When a site has outgrown its web host on all counts or when a web host does not keep its promises, moving web hosts becomes imperative. If a web host fails to provide much needed expansion requirements or technical support you need to upgrade to one that can meet your growth needs.

The first step is to ensure that you have all legal documents and contracts with you. Then make sure you have accurate and updated copies of all content, databases, scripts, and clientele lists. A back up needs to be done as a matter of routine not just when you need to move. Trouble can rear it head in the form of hardware failure or unexplained data losses.

Research the market thoroughly before deciding on a new hosting service. List your requirements and look for a host that can exceed your needs. It is not just bandwidth that you need to look at. Consider technical support, upgrading options, as well as whether the host is keeping up with new developments in the field.

It is important to run from the two web hosts simultaneously for a period until all debugging is carried out and problems are solved. Activate your new solution and upload all your pages, databases, and scripts. Use the new IP address provided by the new company and test the site.

Once things function satisfactorily you must transfer the DNS servers from your previous host to the new one. The transition may take around two weeks so it is essential to keep both sites functional during that transition period. Check mails from both sites until such time you don’t receive any communications to the old site. Once you are sure, discontinue your old hosting service.

Be sure to:

• Select a new service that is similar to your old one as far as technology is concerned. And that you are using the latest design software and that the host has the latest server versions. This will maximize site efficacy.

• Check carefully the hosting service agreement pertaining to the new host.

• Choose a dedicated environment that will offer more capacity for dealing with online customers and provide adequate bandwidth allowances.

• Check out the benefits of an annual plan against a monthly one.

• Find out if your new web hosts are reliable, honest, and competent. The people running the web hosting service must comprehend the technology thoroughly and keep abreast of new developments.

• Check forums to see if the new host you have selected has good reviews and whether there are any valid complaints.

• The host must ensure that your site is up and running 24/7 for 365 days. The pages must load instantly; to this end the web host must have state of the art computer systems. CGI routines, autoresponders, PHP, ASP, SSI scripts, credit card gateways, and so on. All systems must function smoothly.

Be a wise and informed mover.

3 Differences between Shared and Dedicated Hosting

2014-05-14T08:14:00.000+08:00

When it comes to making the all-important choice of what web hosting method to use the choices come down to shared hosting and dedicated hosting. There are so many arguments arguing for both shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Perhaps it is time to shed a little light on this web hosting dilemma.

First of all, let's deal with the all-important question of server access. Needless to say, if you choose to use shared web hosting you will be sharing space with other businesses. Now your parents may have told you it is good to share but that is not always true in the world of web hosting. In the world of web hosting shared is synonymous with limited access.

A limited access approach to web hosting means that your access is limited through a control panel that is provided by the hosting provider. And if the web hosting provider is in charge of the control panel then they are in control of your access. A lack of control to your web hosting means a lack of control for every part of your web hosting needs.

On the other hand, a dedicated hosting server gives you complete and total access. Now doesn't that sound a lot better? Full access in the form of dedicated hosting means that you get the final say in all web hosting decisions. Dedicated hosting also gives you access to the remote desktop manager, which allows you to have access to the machines desktop.

Next we look at web hosting from the perspective of exclusive use. Getting back to the concept of shared web hosting, the question needs to be asked, how much do you like to share? With shared hosting you are sharing a server with roughly 500-1000 other websites. Wow, that's a lot of neighbors in your cyber neighborhood. With these many other websites clamoring for web hosting you may not always have access to all the server's resources. Other websites may be taking up more web hosting resources than you are.

A dedicated hosting service however, gives you exclusive access to all the resources the dedicated hosting server has to offer. Your information alone is responsible for the performance of the server.

Finally lets deal with scalability in regards to the issue of web hosting. Most shared web hosting services do not allow you to install your own applications on the web hosting service. They have a set configuration and they do not go outside the box, thereby limiting your growth.

A dedicated hosting service gives you complete control. Your IT department can install any applications that are necessary for your web hosting needs. Again more control means a more effective web hosting service.

So all in all, it would seem that dedicated hosting is a far more viable option for most businesses web hosting needs. Dedicated hosting gives you more control and, in the world of web hosting, it's all about control.
limiting your growth.

A dedicated hosting service gives you complete control. Your IT department can install any applications that are necessary for your web hosting needs. Again more control means a more effective web hosting service.

So all in all, it would seem that dedicated hosting is a far more viable option for most businesses web hosting needs. Dedicated hosting gives you more control and, in the world of web hosting, it's all about control.

Nintendo DS Game Systems: Handheld Gaming at Its Finest

2014-05-09T22:22:00.000+08:00

Nintendo DS Game Systems: Handheld Gaming at Its Finest

When people hear the word Nintendo, they will usually think of a company that manufactures quality gaming console and they will also think of great games and great entertainment.

For more than two decades now, Nintendo is still manufacturing and developing great gaming systems that everyone enjoys. The people working in Nintendo always works hard everyday to keep their customers interested and entertained and develop new forms of gaming console for people to buy.

If you remembered the NES or Nintendo Entertainment System, you know how Nintendo literally revolutionized the way the world see video game systems and are continuing to do so. Today, you will see different popular gaming console popping out of the market. You will see that the technology in the gaming world have since vastly improved in terms of graphics and sound technology. The game play has even changed. More realism in games has made it more fun to play for everyone.

Nintendo is also famous for their GameBoy, one of the most famous handheld gaming systems in the world. In the market of handheld gaming systems, Nintendo is still competitive besides the fact that many game system manufacturers are also developing and releasing famous brands of their versions of handheld gaming system.

If you are familiar with Nintendo, you will be familiar with their products, such as GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, and their latest, the GameBoy DS, which the company claims will again revolutionize the world see handheld gaming.

With today’s technology, it will seem that every bit of features that you want to find in a handheld gaming system is now possible. Now, with Nintendo DS, a successor to their previous Nintendo GameBoy Advance, many gamers will certainly want to have this new generation of handheld gaming system.

So, you may now ask what is so special about this new handheld game system called the Nintendo DS.

First of all, Nintendo DS stands for Dual Screen. It has 3D rendered graphics with ultra bright screens. Nintendo claims that it will deliver the latest technologies in handheld gaming existing today.

Another great thing about Nintendo DS is that you, as a player, can now be able to play with or against anyone wherever they are in the world as long as they have a Nintendo DS and an internet connection. This is now possible because Nintendo DS can connect wirelessly through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and you can play with or challenge players around the world.

The two bright screens of Nintendo DS can produce 3D views with great quality that can really surpass images displayed in Nintendo 64. Nintendo DS is also integrated with touch screen technology. The lower screen in the Nintendo DS is capable of touch screen technology that is never before seen in any handheld gaming system in the world.

With the touch screen technology, you will be able to navigate through menus or access different items on the game or you can even move your character with the use of a stylus or your fingertips. This means that you will no longer be dependent on the buttons to do all the actions in the game.

Not only that, another way to interact with the game is through a built in microphone port. This means that with Nintendo DS, you can tell your games what to do. This provides a greater way for you to interact with your games.

If you like your old GameBoy Advance games and you still want to play with it with Nintendo DS. Nintendo DS game system offers a separate media port for GameBoy Advance cartridges in single player mode.

So, if you need a one of a kind handheld game system that offers great features, then Nintendo DS is just right for you. With all the technologies mentioned, you can be sure that you will really get quality graphics and as well as flexibility for your games.

Just imagine what you can do with Nintendo DS. No longer will you be bound on playing single player or two player modes with your friends, but you can also play with others from all over the world through Nintendo’s latest offer.

Playing with Nintendo DS will definitely change the way you look at handheld game systems. If you try playing with Nintendo DS, you will surely want one for your own.

History of Arcade Games

2014-05-06T20:11:00.000+08:00

History of Arcade Games

The first arcade game started from Pong, but then moved on to become one of the biggest rages of the time. The games where mostly simple in design, but gave you plenty of raw game time.

With the newer arcade games, you will find that it made use of intense leaps in technology and now uses some of the best graphic technology on the market. The arcade games were designed to be played with a group of friends in pubs, malls and restaurants.

These days arcade games are more than isolated gaming sessions. Keep in mind that arcade games have plenty of followers and now have built communities and even cults that are committed to the tradition of playing.

Then the arcade game came into the home, thanks to the home console gaming units.. They started out as redemption games, pinball machines and video games.

The reason that arcades began to shut down was because they were labeled as very sinister places and they became known for being unsafe. They saw resurgence with the advent of the “two players fighting each other” games such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Killer Instinct.

But, then, again the game consoles and PC’s with 3d accelerator cards successfully dwarfed the advantage arcade games enjoyed. When it comes to the success of arcade games, you will find that it has beat the home computer game popularity and also it has become available on many systems so that you can get new games with better quality graphics and also you’ll be able to use better sound cards so that the experience of the game is better.

The steep decline ensured that they could no longer fund their technologies.

Then, the decline of the arcade hit hard in the last 1990’s, because the internet made things a bit worse. With help from the internet the competition between players got a lot more serious.

This is why most of the arcade games have been changed into PC games or home console gaming units. Today the online arcade games have a huge fan following with thousands of tournaments being held online every year.

As for the online arcade games, you will find that it is a very fast pace world that allows the arcade become more virtual and the graphics are a lot better. When you think about arcades, you have to realize that there is a new type of future for these games.

Handheld Video Game Systems: Taking Entertainment Wherever You Go

2014-05-03T06:32:00.000+08:00

Handheld Video Game Systems: Taking Entertainment Wherever You Go

Everywhere people go, they always tend to look for quality entertainment to keep them from getting bored. Some people like to watch movies, others like to watch sports, while some wants to play video games.

Since the evolution of video games, people love to get entertainment. So, when video games were first introduced, store shelves were constantly running out of systems because of the popularity of video games. Besides, who wouldn’t want to have quality entertainment right at the comforts of their own home?

Video games have come a long way since its invention. First versions of video games have simple pixilated graphics and simple sounds that really entertained people from that era. Families enjoyed playing these video games as a form of entertainment. Children and adults alike played for hours just to finish a certain video game title.

After finishing that, people still seem that they can’t get enough of video games and they simply purchased another gaming cartridge with a new game title and played with it for another hour or two.

People even loves going to the mall just to play in the arcade. Arcade games are fun and people really pay lots of money to play in the arcade.

However, you want something that you can play with in your own home. You want something that you can have access to anytime you want. And, you want a video game system that you can take with you wherever you go to keep on entertaining yourself and keep away from getting bored.

Whether you want to let time pass, or you are craving for a little entertainment, one of the best ways to do this is by purchasing handheld video gaming systems.

Surely, you can’t bring your gaming console everywhere you go. You need two things for it to work. First you need a TV; and second you need an electrical outlet (which may be different in another country). Carrying around your gaming console can also be very inconvenient whenever you travel. And, it can even get more frustrating if the countries you will be going to have voltages in their power outlet different from the voltage requirement of your gaming console. You should also consider that the plugs from different countries are different and you will need a plug adaptor for you to be able to plug in and make your gaming console work.

However, there are video gaming systems available today that are very convenient. These are called the handheld gaming systems. These devices can let you play games wherever you are. You can play games while you are riding the bus, or the car. These things are battery operated and some can even fit in your pocket.

During the early years of handheld video game systems, it originally had crude graphics with an LED screed to display the game. However, recent technologies have made it possible to get the games in color and have more stunning 3D graphics.

People from all over the world consider handheld video games as one of the best ways to pass the time or to entertain themselves while traveling. However, with all of the available handheld video game systems in the market, you could get confused on which to buy.

Choosing a handheld video game system shouldn’t be too hard if you know what to look for. Aside from the great graphics technology that people try to find in video games, you should also look for a handheld video game system that has a wide variety of games available.

With this feature, you will surely enjoy hours and hours of gaming entertainment wherever you are. Of course, you may need to purchase an extra battery pack to avoid getting your game interrupted when it goes on low power.

So, if you plan on traveling and in need of entertainment, you should consider purchasing a handheld video game system to keep you entertained. You can also share this with your friends who are traveling with you. With these, you can enjoy countless of hours of enjoyment and entertainment. Never get bored again while traveling with a handheld video game system. Just make sure to charge it.