Web Hosting

Last Updated: August 1, 2007

What is web hosting?

When you are looking for a web hosting company, it is assumed that you have your own "dot com" or other domain name.  Buy the domain yourself to avoid ownership battles.  If a web hosting company buys the domain for you, then the web hosting company owns the rights to the domain name.  This is only a problem when the web hosting company goes bankrupt and the domain is sold to someone else.

Web hosting means companies offering space on their computers for your website so that everyone on the internet can see it.  You can have the website sit on your computer, but that requires DSL or a cable modem and more technical knowledge than the average Joe.  You local internet service provider (the company you use to log on to the internet, such as AOL) may provide some hard drive space for your website for free.  Your web address might be http://www.your-isp.com/~yourname.  It's a good way to get started until your needs outgrow what your ISP can do for you.

What are the benefits of web hosting?

Web hosting companies offer several features that your local ISP just can't do.  They include:

• More hard drive space allows enough room for dozens of photo albums and video clips.
• Multiple e-mail accounts offers each family member their own e-mail address.
• Auto forwarding of e-mail forwards the e-mail to another e-mail address.
• Auto responder or “Out of the Office” auto reply for your e-mail lets people know you can’t respond right away. You can set this up at the sever instead of leaving your computer on and sending auto replies from your computer.
• Web based e-mail means you don't have to be at home to read your e-mail. You can check from work, on the road, or any other computer connected to the internet.
• A web based control panel gives you control of your website and e-mail addresses. You don’t have to go through tech support. All of the above features can be controlled using a web based control panel.
• Website usage reports show what part of you website is being used the most. This is more of a benefit for businesses than personal use, but it may be fun to see once or twice.

Who offers web hosting?

Hundreds of companies offer web hosting for $5-$20/month depending on how much hard drive space and/or bandwidth you need.  Web Host Talking is a good place to hear positive and negative feedback about web hosting companies.  Web Host Directory and Find My Hosting are search engines to find a company, plan and price that meets your needs.

How do I set up e-mail?

If you are looking for a web hosting company, it is assumed that you have your own "dot com" or other domain name.

E-mail accounts offered by a web hosting company offer more features than the e-mail that came with your internet service provider, such as AOL.  Because there are more features, you need to think about what your e-mail address will be, how you want to be able to view incoming e-mails, and how to get "@TheFuhrmans.com" attached to the e-mail address in the "from" section of the e-mail.

When you sign up with a web hosting company, they will send you instructions on how to set up multiple e-mail accounts.  Typically, the company will give you only one "real" e-mail address and an unlimited number of aliases.  An alias is a name in front of the "@yourdomain.com."  For example, I could have Husband@TheFuhrmans.com.  Husband would be the alias.  I can make an unlimited number of aliases to go with "@TheFuhrmans.com."  Set up all of the e-mail accounts that you need with your web hosting company.

The next step is to be able to receive e-mails using Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird, or Eudora.  Outlook Express and Outlook give you several ways to set up your e-mail.  I suppose the others are similar.

The first way is to have a separate identity for the husband and wife.  When Outlook Express is opened, the husband signs in as himself.  To read the wife's e-mail, you'll need click on File, Switch Identities and switch to the wife.  This way is more cumbersome since you have to log on and log off multiple times.

A second way is to have the husband and wife share the same inbox.  When Outlook is opened, you only need to log on once.  All of the e-mails from Husband@TheFuhrmans.com and Wife@TheFuhrmans.com will share the same inbox.  This may be fine for some, but the inbox isn't as organized as it could be.

When you set up an e-mail account in Outlook, or any other e-mail software, it will ask you to give the e-mail account a name, such as "Husband," and an e-mail address, such as Husband@TheFuhrmans.com.  When someone receives an e-mail from you, the name "Husband" will appear in their e-mail program as the person who sent it with an e-mail address of Husband@TheFuhrmans.com.  Read How to Set Up Multiple E-mail Accounts from Microsoft's knowledge base to learn more.

To better organize the inbox for multiple e-mail accounts, use e-mail filters.  The filters create rules for handling e-mails.  For example, a rule/filter can be created so that all e-mails from Husband@TheFuhrmans.com will go to the folder Husband instead of the inbox.  All of the e-mails from Wife@TheFuhrmans.com will go to a folder called Wife.  This keeps the inbox empty.

You can add filters so that e-mails from friends goes in a Friends folder.  E-mails from catalog companies can go in the Catalog folder.

With multiple e-mail accounts set up, how does Outlook know who to put in the "From:" line of an e-mail? Outlook will want you to choose one of the e-mail accounts to be the default account.  When a new e-mail is created it will automatically be from the person listed in the default account.  To change the person, click on the down arrow next to the "Accounts" button in the upper left corner of the screen below.  Older versions of Outlook have the down arrow on the "Send" button.

If you are replying to an e-mail, it will automatically put the correct name in the "From:" line.

How do I show an e-mail address on my website and not receive SPAM?

1. Type your e-mail in a graphic and show the graphic on the website.  Scanning programs can't read graphics files.
2. Hide the e-mail address inside a javascript (.js) file, like I've done on this website.  The drop down menu reads a javascript file that includes all of the links to the menu items.
3. Look for a web hosting company that offers anti-SPAM software such as SPAM Assassin.  It rejects e-mail at the server before you can download it into your favorite e-mail program.  Configure it to block all e-mails that are addresses to someone else.  For example, I do not have an e-mail address set up for john@thefuhrmans.com, so those e-mails are automatically deleted.
4. Purchase anti-SPAM software that will filter e-mails between a SPAM folder and the inbox.  With SPAM Assassin turned on, I don't get enough SPAM to justify the purchase.
5. Never reply to a SPAM, even if it gives instructions on how to unsubscribe to it.  That will tell the telemarketer that this e-mail address is good and someone has enough time to reply to the e-mail.  Your e-mail address just went up in value and is sold again and again.  Soon, you'll get pages and pages full of e-mail advertisements in your inbox.  Since they are almost never from the same person twice, it's difficult to block those kinds of e-mails.
6. Use a free e-mail account such as Yahoo, G-Mail or HotMail to register your own "dot com" or other domain name.  You may get SPAM in the free e-mail account, but your regular inbox will be clean.
7. Create an e-mail alias called Admin@TheFuhrmans.com or WebMaster@TheFuhrmans.com.  Only show this e-mail address on the website.  Set up this e-mail account to automatically forward the e-mail to a good e-mail address.  The automatic forwarding of e-mail is one of the features offered by web hosting companies.  The good e-mail address needs to have rules in Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird or Eudora set up to filter out e-mail addresses you don't know.  This way, all e-mails from friends, family and spammers sent to Admin@TheFuhrmans.com will sit in the Admin e-mail account.  All of the e-mail will automatically be forwarded to a good e-mail address.  The good e-mail address will reject e-mails from people it doesn't know.  At your leisure, you can view the Admin mail box to see if you have a new e-mail address from a friend or family member that you want to add to the rule/filter.  It's a bit complicated, but it allows new people to e-mail you and not have their e-mail rejected.  It also keeps your good e-mail inbox free of SPAM.