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How does the average person who just set up their first website decide which web host to use? Which type of service and what disk storage and bandwidth matters? We would like to answer your questions in this following checklist and make your decision easier.

1. You need to know your needs in order to find the right host and do not stress about doing research about the best web hosts available on the internet for now.

What type of business or website do you have?

What is the size of the traffic volume?

Would you require special software?

Do you want Windows applications?

Now you have answered basic questions and according to this, you can formulate a plan for a year ahead.

2. The server uptime is equally important and your host must have a recorded uptime score above 99%.
3. Multiple Addon Domains as it is cheap and many people prefer to have more than one domain name.
4. Options to upgrade servers as you do not know how big and how fast your traffic might grow over the course of the next twelve months and if need be you want to upgrade for example from shared hosting to dedicated servers simply because it has better security, larger disk storage, more processing power, etc.
5. Check renewal prices as you do not want an unpleasant surprise when renewal time comes as many hosts might have a low sign up price, but come renewal time, it might be unaffordable for you.
6. Refund policies are also important as you might sign up for a trial period and find that the host is not quite as they advertise and make sure about cancellation charges.
7. Basic hosting features such as server side include, Htaccess, Auto script installer and cron jobs are must haves when choosing a web host.
8. E-commerce features especially when you intend to run an ecommerce site and process transactions and essentials include software for one-click shopping cart software, dedicated IP, SSL certification.
9. Email account setup with the ability to host your email, although it is not quite essential.
10. Site backup is just as important as websites do crash and your host should do regular backups for incidents like that in order to restore you.

There are several types of hosting services on the internet that could host your website and it is something, which all of us need in order to have a website up and running and visited by others. You need to understand what the types of services a host offer, your own budget, the kind of server and the service your website needs. The different hosting available are:

Free Hosting
This type of hosting is great when you start a blog, or build your first website that is not critical to your business. Free hosting has its advantages, but also disadvantages such as advertising banners that is automatically added, which might be bothersome to you and your visitors. It could be down frequently, connection speeds low and some of the free web hosts require the purchasing of a domain name, while others will give you a free name. A free domain name however is under the host company name for example you cannot choose a dot com name instead it will be yourname.webhost.com.

Shared Hosting
Here you will be sharing your website along with others on one server and although it does not sound viable, it is an affordable option as you share costs with other website owners. The downside here is that the amount of people on the same server makes it slower.

Dedicated Hosting
When you have a dedicated hosting server, it means the entire server belongs to you alone. This gives you all the resources dedicated to you with faster performance, but the downside is that the costs are higher. Large companies such as casinouzmani, which needs fast connection and continuous uptime and capable of running higher server costs, uses dedicated hosting. It is an excellent option as it gives higher security levels and all system resources belong to one website.

Collocated Hosting
Here you purchase a server and it is housed at the host facilities. You are entirely responsible for the server and you have full control over it. Any application or scripts you want or need can be installed by you as website owner.

Hacking is something that can happen to anyone who does not have adequate protection against hacker. If someone hacks you successfully, your website and server can be left with severe damage.

Why does it concern you?

You have to realize that hacking is a very real threat to anyone who owns a website and it concerns everyone and every website found on the internet. Could you imagine if your website is hacked successfully and a visitor to your website see a warning that your online business could possibly infect or harm their computer? Apart from legal consequences, which could be incredibly harmful to you, your image also, takes a serious knock. Many hackers share their convictions or spread your client’s data elsewhere on the internet and gain access to clients and your own private data.

How you should protect your website from hacking attacks

In minimizing threats your first step is to change “admin.php” filename, not saving the FTP password in locations such as FileZilla, Total Commander, etc. always change your login name and password on a regular basis, and when you use WordPress scripts and the likes, not to share the FTP account with other websites.

Use the SSL certificate in order to protect customer’s data and this is something, which you customers will be able to see, and this will let them know that your website is secure.

Thoroughly filter scripts installed and share as many hackers hack the website’s shopping cart via openings on subpages that runs on other scripts, which is easier when more than one website runs on a server.

Use all bug fixes and continuously update scripts to latest available versions.

Make sure to be using “Options – Indexes” instructions available in htaccess file.

Always use antivirus software.

Keep in mind that if you neglect regular updates of everything, it is a definite security vulnerability.

Use a web application firewall regardless of the monthly subscription fee.

Frequent back up in case everything else fails, several times a day will not only protect you against hackers, but possible hard drive failure.

Source : Alex uzelberg. IT Specialist at casinouzmani77.net