In an effort to better help all our many users, we make this FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) section available. You will find answers to some of the questions that
we get the most often. If you need further support, please
contact us today.
Question:
When can I expect being able to view my new website, provided I have all the
necessary files ready to upload to your servers?
Answer:
Our tech support department
begins setting up your new Windows Web hosting account upon receipt of a payment
confirmation sent to us from your credit card company. This process normally takes
only about 2 to 3 minutes. In order for you to be able to see your website, the
following five conditions must be met:
1 - Your Internet domain name ( www.yourcompany.com ) either has to be newly registered
by us, or transfered to our servers if it already exists. If you are getting a
new domain name, this will normally take about 24 hours or less to resolve on our servers
and to insure it is correctly registered into the Internet's DNS (Domain Name System).
If you are transfering your domain name to our servers from a prior Web hosting company,
this process will again take approximately 24 hours or less to resolve itself.
2 - DNS has to assign an IP address to your domain name. This is the normal process
of converting a domain name into a series of numbers that only Web servers understand.
3 - Web server space needs to be allocated to your account - This is where we assign disk space
and setup your domain on our servers.
4 - FTP user names and passwords are setup - This gives you permissions to upload,
maintain and perform your necessary updates on your website, without any limits, 24
hours a day.
5 - E-mail accounts - email administrative (admin) access is set up on our email
servers. This will allow you to set up your own POP 3 account using any standard
email program such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora (or any other standard
email client), unless you elect to use Webmail (Horde).
All the above steps take place within an hour of placing your order with us. You
can start uploading your web pages, pictures, graphics and files as soon as you receive
your "Windows Web Hosting.ca Welcome Letter" with all the necessary FTP information. Your site will
be active as soon as you upload any index.htm or index.html file on our servers.
In fact, as soon as your account is completed and your domain name resolves to
our servers, you will automatically see the usual 'Plesk Default Administrator Page'
which our servers create dynamically, letting you know that all is OK on our end.
Question:
Does your Linux hosting plans support ASP or .NET pages?
Answer:
No. Running ASP pages or sites developed using Microsoft's .Net on Linux is
very limited in its use and we don't recommend it. Therefore, we will only fully support
ASP applications and .NET on our Windows plans only.
Question:
What is the difference between Unix/Linux and a Windows hosting plan?
Answer:
Unix/Linux supports CGI, Perl, PHP and MySQL natively. Windows will allow you to
publish in ASP and .NET pages, and has support for MS SQL and MS Access databases.
Both our Unix/Linux hosting plans, as well as our Windows hosting plans run on
Plesk™ and
is today's industry leader in server remote control software.
Question:
I have never used Linux before so I don't know if I can manage my website
with your Linux plans. Does this mean I have to pay an extra for a Windows plan?
Answer:
No. Any of our hosting plans, Linux included, do not require you to have any
knowledge of that specific operating system. For the most part, our Web servers are
fully transparent to the user.
Our Plesk™ Control Panel
will help you manage things like email creation, password
modifications, creation of new users, FTP parameter modifications, and a few other
things. If you know how to use a mouse and keyboard, you will be able to easily
manage your website with our easy-to-use Plesk control panel.
(Important note: However, this does not mean that our control panel will
create your website. You will still need to have knowledge of how to create and
design your site, write it in HTML, upload it to our servers, using FTP, etc.
If you don't have any knowledge of HTML, or don't have the time or the will
to learn programming, then we suggest you buy a hosting plan on
Online Site Builder,
which is an easy-to-use, all-in-one site editor, upload program and hosting
package. All you need is an Internet connection and a browser. If you know
how to use a mouse,
Online Site Builder
is for you.
If you prefer outsourcing all of this to a professional Web design firm, one we
recommend is Montreal Web Design, based
in Montreal, Quebec. They should be able to help you.
Question:
Where can I get more information on the various topics of Web hosting?
We are happy to introduce you to the
Web Hosting Tech Support Forum.
As its name implies, the
Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
is the answer to the growing number of the many technical questions we constantly get
from our customers, our affiliates, our partners and an increasingly large
number of site owners, webmasters and small business managers that face daily
challenges with their web sites or that need a quick answer to a specific
Web hosting-related question.
The Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
covers all topics of Web hosting currently in use today:
1) Windows-related questions or topics
2) Linux-related questions or topics
3) Unix-related questions or topics
4) BSD-related questions or topics
5) Internet security-related questions or topics
6) PHP and MySQL-related questions or topics
7) PostGre database-related questions
8) Any general questions related to Web hosting
Plus a whole lot more. Additionally, the
Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
features a full chart of the most-frequently-used Linux and Unix SSH commands
in use today.
Use of the Web Hosting Tech Support Forum
is absolutely free to anyone, and can be used by anybody, whether they are a client of our company or not.
Question:
What are MIME types?
Answer:
MIME Types allows you to set certain programs to be used for specific extensions.
In easier-to-understand terms, MIME Types help your web server to identify what
type of file is being requested by your browsers. For instance, when the web server
gets a request from a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, for a file
that ends in .html, the web server knows that it is an html document because that
extension is stored in the MIME Types.
If the web server gets a request from a browser for a file that ends in .gif,
the web server knows that it is an image because that too is stored in the MIME
Types. This applies to every file, image, application, etc. that may be requested
by a web browser. If the extension is not stored within the MIME Types, the web
server will not recognize it and will not be able to assist the browser and that
particular file type will not be viewable by the user.
MIME types are identified by the server by the following format:
subtype/type extension
For example, adding the following two MIME Types will allow users to view ipx
images on your web pages:
application/x-ipscript .ips
application/x-ipix .ipx
Where "application" identifies the subtype, "x-ipscript" identifies the application,
and .ips identifies the extension used for that application.
Question:
Can I use the MIME types feature if I'm using FrontPage?
Answer:
No. This feature is not available for FrontPage users. If any MIME types are
needed, FrontPage users will have to add them using FrontPage or else your web files
may not be accessible online.
Question:
Which is the best way to choose the right Web hosting plan that is just right for our
needs? There seems to be so many different plans to choose from. Why are there so
many?
Answer:
We are making available different types of hosting plans, simply because there are many
different needs, from one Web site to another. Depending on the number and range
of features that are designed into your website, you may or may not need all the
features that some of our plans have to offer.
Our hosting plans start at a low $ 3.95 a month. Our sales representatives
have the experience and the tools to carefully evaluate with you which hosting
plan would be best for your specific needs. Once you have made a selection of the hosting plan
that meets your needs, the same day (or at a future date), you can order
additional services, such as domain name redirections, higher disk space, extra
email addresses, an SSL certificate, etc.
We can provide you with different Web hosting plans for various user levels and
needs to choose from, and your choice should be based largely on the following three
factors:
Your needed disk space.
Your data transfer requirements.
Your website's general content (including graphics).
Your needed disk space refers to the actual amount of space (data storage) that
your website or Web applications will actually occupy on our servers. Disk space is
always measured in MB (Megabytes). Your data transfer requirements are also measured
in MB and are generated every time someone visits a page (or downloads a file) on
your site. It is therefore a cumulative statistic. Data transfer depends on the actual
number of people that visit your site and the size of the files on your site that are
being viewed. The more viewers, the higher the transfer. The more content on your site,
the more transfer per viewer.
Question
If I choose to get a virtual server with you, do I get SSH (shell access) to
my virtual server?
SSH or shell access cannot be obtained with any of our virtual servers. In
order to get such permissions, you need to choose a dedicated server from us.
We offer dedicated servers in both the Windows as well as the Linux operating
systems. Prices are available upon request.
Question:
We are in a real hurry and we want to get our site setup as soon as possible. How
long does it take to have our site 'up and running'?
Answer:
A new client account generally takes only a few minutes to setup. All orders
placed between 8.30 AM to 5.30 PM EST on weekdays are processed the same day. Note
however that it normally takes about 24 hours (or less) for a domain name to resolve to our
servers, once it has been instructed to do so (the DNS transfer). Once your account
is activated, you will automatically get a confirmation email from us, with your
detailed account information and all necessary technical information for your new
Web hosting plan.
Note: We cannot activate your account until payment is received by credit card.
All payments from our users are normally done through credit cards and represent the
fastest and safest way to settle your account with us. Still, if you prefer paying for
your hosting with a company (or personal) check, please
contact us by email and our
accounting department will indicate to you the right way to proceed.
Question:
When people are surfing the Web, how will people and prospective clients find
our new website? What can we do to get some visibility? We launched our site
about three months ago but we're not getting much traffic, other than the mailing
we did last month.
Answer:
That is a very good question. Internet users are utilizing search engines more and more
today than ever to find what they're looking for. You can submit your website to several search engines
such as Google, Yahoo, MSN Windows Live, etc. and also directories like the
Open Directory Project (DMOZ), to help new and existing
customers find your site. You can also help prospective customers find your new Web site if you have it
optimized by a professional SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) firm. Depending on the exact model of SEO program that you choose,
(in a perfect world), ideally it will place your website at the top of the search engine results
pages, over and above your competitors.
Marketing and promoting your online business through these and other tools will help you reach
new prospects & customers and hopefully increase your business.
We also recommend that you list your site in
Global Business Listing,
a paid-inclusion search engine that yields positive results and that will increase your
search engine visibility in the major search engines.
Another great way to increase the visibility of your new (or old) website in today's search
engines is to acquire links from a reputable
links broker. That will really help you,
since we did it for our site and it works. We're now getting more visibility and traffic, and
our sales have been steadily increasing since June 2005 when we started to acquire those links.
For more information on search engine marketing, search engine optimization and search engines
in general, visit the free SEO Help Forum.
Or you can learn more by reading some SEO and SEM articles.
To keep current with all of what's going on with Google, Yahoo, MSN Windows Live and other search engines,
visit Search Engines Today. We read it often and it keeps us posted.
Search engines are advancing at a very fast rate and if you're serious about your online business,
you will have to keep up with all the changes happening.
Question:
Exactly what kind of technical support do you offer your clients?
Answer:
Our email technical support is recognized to be the very best in the industry. We
have full-time dedicated tech support representatives on duty 24 hours a day. Once a
trouble ticket (or trouble email) is received, we start working on it immediately in
98% of the time. Additionally, from all of the continental United States and from any
Canadian province, you can easily reach our help desk by our toll free
1-800 number. Our technical support
desk is always open for email or phone support from 7.30 AM to 10.30 PM EST, seven
days a week.
As a rule, we always encourage all our customers in need of assistance to send us an
email or trouble ticket with questions or concerns about their websites or our various hosting plans, as
email is still today the fastest way to answer any of your technical inquiries, and
it also provides us and yourself with valid records of all communications, which a phone
call can never do. At all times, email tech support is around-the-clock. Technical
emergencies will be addressed first, and support issues are handled in the order they
are received.
Question:
Is there any reason why I cannot see my website using my IP address? When will I be
able to see it? Is this normal, since it's the first time I'm doing this?
Answer:
Unless you clearly and specifically request a unique, static IP address when you place
your order with us, we always make use of virtual Internet IP addresses for all
our users. For that reason, until you transfer your domain name to our servers, you
won't be able to see your website. (Please note that there is an extra fee for static
and unique (permanent) IP addresses).
