myhosting.com Blog

ALERT: “Here you have” Email Worm virus

Jeremy Adams — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:53:01 +0000

Hello myhosting.com users, readers and all. We wanted to provide you all a heads up on a virus threat that’s very recently been discovered. It’s a rather nasty one so we’re providing the details below so you can protect yourself.

Details can be found on symantec’s site: http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/new-round-email-worm-here-you-have

Security Response has confirmed reports of a worm spreading through email under the subject “Here you have”. The mail to the unsuspecting recipient claims to be providing a document available through a URL. The URL is spoofed and actually points to a malicious program being hosted on a different server.

The email will appear similar to the following:

In this instance, the actual file downloaded would be named ‘PDF_Document21_025542010_pdf.scr’ and is housed on the domain ‘members.multimania.co.uk’. This file is a minor variation of W32.Imsolk.A@mm. The main characteristics of the worm’s functionality are as follows:

Spread through mapped drives through autorun
Spread through email by taking contacts from the address book
Spread through instant messenger
Disables various security related programs

Symantec users will be protected from this threat under the name “Trojan Horse”, if virus definitions version 20100909.023 or later are applied.

VPS Hosting 101

Melissa Smich — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:06:32 +0000

There are many things one should know before diving into the world of website hosting. You have to determine what your websites will need. You have to ask yourself if your traffic is sufficient that you would need to expand beyond a shared server or if it is so large you would have need of a dedicated server specifically for your website.

A virtual private server (VPS) can provide you with the proper amount of RAM capabilities as well as disk space and processor capacity. A VPS can provide you with a package that is versatile enough to handle the occasional stresses of high traffic while not requiring you to invest into an expensive dedicated server.

A VPS will allow you to finely tune and manage your website with more ease than a shared server, but with relatively less access than a dedicated server. Since a VPS is a virtual private server, you have access to changing nearly everything you need to on your own personal server.

With a VPS the level of support varies. If you are not technologically sound and using a shared server you are not granted access to the hardware, network or the software. With the use of a VPS host you are granted access to the software, hardware and network issues, though the core issues are taken care of by the hosting company. You (as the user) are responsible for all of the performance and software issues. With some options you are designated to handle the custom software. But with a shared server the host handles all of the installation of custom software.

Virtual private servers also offer you the option to have access to the root of the server. This allows you to alter modes of the site for easier use. VPS offers you the option of customization of your server. With VPS you are able to customize server level software such as your SQL files, Apache and PHP. This will allow you the versatility to make a virtual private server truly yours. This manageability is nearly comparable to the dedicated server without the huge price tag.

Take a good look at the kind of support that is offered by your VPS host. Your support system will usually have the typical offerings of basic website maintenance on the physical server end. If you are more comfortable with technical support you may not need as much help when it comes to the problem resolution of your site. However, if you are less technologicaly inclined your VPS host should be able to pick up the slack for you.

Speeding up Search With Google’s New “Instant Results”

Melissa Smich — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:53:58 +0000

Have you heard Google is speeding up the search process with their new “instant results”?

Not that Google wasn’t fast enough, now it begins to show results — not just suggestions — as you type in your search query. It begins predicting what you’re looking for, before it fully knows, shaving an average of 2-5 seconds off your searches.

Imagining the future of search, the idea of being able to search for partial queries or provide some interactive feedback while searching has come up more than a few times. Along the way, we’ve even built quite a few demos. Our search-as-you-type demos were thought-provoking—fun, fast and interactive—but fundamentally flawed. Why? Because you don’t really want search-as-you-type (no one wants search results for [bike h] in the process of searching for [bike helmets]). You really want search-before-you-type—that is, you want results for the most likely search given what you have already typed.

As you can imagine, searching even before someone types isn’t easy—which is why we are so excited today to be unveiling Google Instant. Google Instant is search-before-you-type. Instant takes what you have typed already, predicts the most likely completion and streams results in real-time for those predictions—yielding a smarter and faster search that is interactive, predictive and powerful. — Official Google Blog

Interesting to see how they are linking meta data to make search more intuitive. Are we one step closer to a semantic web?

What is a virtual private server?

Tim Attwood — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:36:35 +0000

A virtual private server is a method of splitting a server. Splitting a server allows each individual split of the server to have its own operating system and each split can be independently rebooted. The splitting of single servers has been around for a while when dealing with mainframe computers. But the practice has come back with the development of virtualization software and technologies.

But what is virtualization? Basically that is the creation of network addressing space inside the individual server as it has been split. This is what happens if you were to make your own personal website from an established website provider. The difference with the virtual private server is that these splits are made to appear as if they are still a part of the single server.

With the physical server, the administrator will typically run a hypervisor (also called a virtual machine monitor) which will be instructed to create, destroy and manage the resources of guest operating systems (also called virtual machines). The guest operating systems are given a share of the memory from the physical server and the guest is not made aware of other physical resources except for those given by the hypervisor.

The guest system may be virtualized, paravirtualized or a mixture of the two.

If the guest is fully virtualized, it is presented with emulated hardware and not made aware that the hardware is not strictly physical. In this instance, the hypervisor translates, maps and converts the requests made by the guest system into corresponding resource requests provided by the host. This results in significant overhead. Virtualization requires no modification of the original operating system. A CPU supporting virtualization is required for the hypervisors to perform the full virtualization processes.

In paravirtualization, the guest knows about the hypervisor and interacts with the physical system resources. The hypervisor provides real time access and resource access to the guest. The guest is able to see the same hardware as the host and can communicate with the host directly. UNIX systems like Linux or variations of BSD, Plan9 and OpenSolaris use paravirtualization. Paravirtualization generally requires the guests to have more knowledge about the operating systems. This is due to the special hypervisor devices.

With a mixture of hybrid of virtualization and paravirtualization, the guest uses a full virtualization emulated hardware with the paravirtualized drivers with the key components. These components are the networking drivers and Disk I/O. This results in increased I/O performance. This is also a solution for systems that be modified to support paravirtualization.

Get Going With Windows VPS

Melissa Smich — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:18:14 +0000

A lot of talk is done concerning Windows Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and the advantages and strengths they have over the less popular, but probably more technically advanced, Linux VPS. Aside from obvious compatibility advantages, the Windows VPS offers extensively developed software in contrast to the open source nature of Linux.

One of the biggest strengths of Windows VPS is the support they offer for ASP and ASP.NET. This reason alone is often the deciding factor for businesses whether they will use Windows or Linux.ASP.NET was developed by Microsoft to add versatility and dynamic-ness to web building capabilities.

If the hosting service uses ASP.NET the VPS must in turn be a Windows VPS because Linux simply is not as compatible with it. Some web host providers claim that their Linux VPS is compatible with ASP.NET, but in the end the only way to be completely sure if your site will be compatible is to use Windows VPS. Also if you need support for this site on ASP you are less likely to find a Linux support team than you are a Windows support team.

Another huge advantage to Windows VPS is the Remote Desktop Access. Remote Desktop Access basically allows you (the user) to have access to the graphic user interface (GUI) of your Windows VPS. This access is extendable to any secure computer so you do not necessarily need to be on the server computer to use it.

Comparing it to a Linux VPS you can only update the information on a Linux VPS by using a text based interface and you have to be on the main server computer to do it. The Remote Desktop Access of GUI makes your Windows VPS updating easy to decipher and allows you to know exactly how your updates have affected your website.

In conjunction with the use of classic ASP and ASP.NET Windows VPS also provides support for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Access software. If you choose to make use of Microsoft SQL Server database or Microsoft Access database your only choice is to use Windows VPS.

The compatibility with Linux is little to any unfortunately. When deciding between using SQL or Access you should keep in mind your budget. You can pay for a license to use Standard or Enterprise edition of SQL or you can use the free Express version. If you do not want to use any of those, Access is the way to go. Unfortunately Access is not nearly as customizable or versatile as SQL.

VPS Hosting: Why It’s Better Than Shared Hosting

Tim Attwood — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:09:57 +0000

For budding webmasters, there are a lot of choices you need to make when deciding on how to best present your product online.

Two options you can choose from are using a shared server or using a virtual private server (VPS). They are starkly contrasted from each other, both with their own strengths and weaknesses. However, VPS is the better way to go if you want to really serve your customers.

A shared server website shares its Random Access Memory (RAM), its central processing unit (CPU) and its disk space with other sites on the same server. This can lead to slower loading times for your website as well as a general unpleasant experience for your potential clients. If you have a smaller site without a lot of visitors this could turn out just fine for you. This is especially if you are not as concerned about the price of your server.

Shared servers are not nearly as expensive as virtual private servers. However, if you have a potential for a larger customer base, this simply will not do, especially if you have a more than a few hundred visitors a day.

A virtual private server on the other hand is more expensive than a shared server. However, in contrast to a shared server a VPS provides you with your own disk space and RAM to use for your site. The only thing you share with other sites on your node (your node is the other sites on your part of the server) is the CPU.

Another great option for your VPS site is burstable RAM. This is RAM available to you in the event of a spike in your traffic. It is usually enough RAM to handle the sudden increase in traffic and keep your website up and working long enough for you to upgrade your RAM capacity or the traffic dies back down.

VPS hosting gives you access to the customization of your site. This allows you to add or take away the inner working applications of your virtual private server. A virtual private server allows you full control of everything on your server. The host simply keeps the server intact on their node.

If you are not as technologically advanced you might even enlist the aid of the tech support provided by the host. Different VPS hosting providers offer different options to choose from, but in the end all are quite capable of handling your website to its fullest potential.

How To Transfer a Domain With myhosting.com

Melissa Smich — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:12:31 +0000

We are dedicated to bringing you the best, original content possible and have expanded that dedication to also include original video tutorials and interviews from industry-leading experts.

Here’s our tutorial on how to transfer a domain with myhosting.com

For more videos, please check out and subscribe to our web hosting Youtube channel
Was this helpful? Do you have any ideas you would like to share for future videos? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

How To Sign Up With myhosting.com

Melissa Smich — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:52:29 +0000

We have been working hard to provide you with as much helpful video content as possible by ways of tutorials and interviews with leading industry experts. Today’s video is a simple tutorial on how to sign up with myhosting.com

If you have any video ideas you would like to suggest, please let us know in the comment area below.

For more videos, please check out our web hosting youtube channel

Collaboration Made Easy: Microsoft Exchange

Tim Attwood — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:07:47 +0000

The Microsoft Exchange server is one of the most popular collaborative and messaging servers in the world. It is used by businesses and organizations utilizing Microsoft infrastructure solutions. The Exchange is basically the power behind all the amazing features of Microsoft Outlook.

Microsoft Exchange server was developed in 1993 when XENIX system was changed into Exchange server. The next edition came out in 1997 and was called the Exchange Server 5.0. Since then editions such as Exchange server 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2010 have come out each better than its predecessor.

Today, the Microsoft exchange has the following two jobs:

The exchange supports IMAP, POP and web email clients including Microsoft Outlook.
The exchange lets users share information using either Outlook Web Access or Outlook.

Let’s have a look at some of the features of Microsoft Exchange:

Assistant: Allows users to schedule messages by fixing the start and endpoints. Separate messages for people inside and outside the organization can be created.

Search feature: The search lets you find information from any corner of the inbox using keywords.

Features: RSS feed supporter, email scheduler, better preview pane and an option to view attachment.

The best advantage of using Microsoft Exchange server is the high-level of security features of the software package. The server neutralizes security threats and thus, the users are protected against viruses, spam and hackers. The emails are also protected against outside sources. The security feature allows users to use the system to its maximum potential. Employees of companies that use the Microsoft Exchange server can access their email from any location in the world. They can communicate irrespective of whether they are in an office or on the go. Microsoft exchange server is compatible with additional features such as voice mail storage, calendar, and contact organizing application and scheduling. Microsoft Exchange uses the Microsoft Office Outlook as its email platform.

With so many applications, Microsoft Exchange makes businesses very efficient. It is also very easy to fix problems. In addition, it has enhanced monitoring abilities. Thus, a fault can be detected before it turns into a big problem. Several essential processes that are required for the smooth operation of Microsoft Exchange have been automated. Thus, the administrators have more free time to deal with more important issues.

With its various advantages, more and more companies are realizing the importance of using Microsoft Exchange.