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Our Mission To provide a concise accurate comparison and ranking of the best web hosting companies that enable individuals, webmasters, and businesses to quickly select the best partner for their web presence. Our Criteria Recommendations are based on in depth analysis and testing of dozens of the top web hosting providers. The overall ranking is based on each company's ranking in the following categories: 1. Uptime/Reliability - The single most important factor because you never want your site to be down. 2. Performance - The speed of the providers servers and network that enable your pages to be loaded quickly. 3. Features - Nothing else matters if the hosting company doesn't support all of the technologies utilized in your site. 4. Customer Service - Knowledgeable 24/7 technical support is key to keeping your site up and running in case of a problem. 5. Price - Always an important factor. About Us DRH Systems, Inc. is a software consulting company founded in 1993 specializing in the development of advanced network performance monitoring/diagnostic software and web based solutions. Our client list includes fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, and Fluke Corporation. |
Web Hosting Comparison > Overview |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > Ranking |
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Our overall ranking on a 1 to
5 scale, 5 being the best and 1 the worst. The ranking
takes into account up time, performance, features, customer
service, and price. The analysis is based on first
hand experience acquired developing and deploying web
solutions for our clients over the past 14 years. You
can benefit from our experience and the experience of our
clients. We have experienced the good and the bad.
Here we focus on the best of the best.
Each of the web hosting companies included here rank very high in uptime and performance. The four highest rated hosting companies have top notch customer service which includes 24/7 live phone support. The variables remaining for your evaluation are price and features. The competitiveness in the web hosting arena has brought prices down to a point where you will spend less than $100/year hosting your web site. Thus, price variations between the web hosting companies are not very significant. Our advice, select the highest rated web hosting company that provides all of the technology features required by your web site. Start on the left side of the matrix and move to the right side. Once you find a hosting company that includes all of the features your site requires click on the hosting company banner to visit their web site. |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > Price/Month |
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| The price you pay per month for your web hosting service. This price generally requires that you pay for your service in one or two year increments. The price per month decreases as you select longer billing cycles. Generally there is no setup fee if you choose to pay for at least one year at a time. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > Uptime Guarantee |
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| The percentage of uptime promised by the web hosting company. This is the percentage of time that your web site is accessible by users on the internet. For example, if the uptime guarantee is 99.9% then you can expect your website to be down an average of 1 minute and 26.4 seconds per day. While 100% uptime is most desirable, it is simply not attainable in the real world. Web site uptime is the highest priority issue once your site is complete. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > Disk Storage |
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| Disk storage is the amount of disk space you are allocated for storage of your files on the web hosting company's server. This includes your web site files as well as data stored in databases. Now days most web hosting companies provide either unlimited disk space or a very high limit. You can estimate the space you will require for your site by checking the total size of all the files included in your site. The size of your database may more difficult to estimate since it's size can dynamically grow. Choose a plan with unlimited disk space and this will never be an issue. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > Bandwidth |
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Monthly bandwidth allowance
is determined by the total number of bytes that visitors are
allowed to download from your site per month. For
example, if a relatively small web page including graphics
can average around 250 KB. So each time a user hits
your page, it will use up 250 KB of your monthly bandwidth
allowance. One thousand hits/month on this page would
translate into 250 MB of transfer. If each visitor to
your site actually hits 4 pages during the visit, the
thousand visits would translate to 1 GB of transfer.
Bottom line, if your site becomes very popular then you
could end up using a lot of bandwidth capacity per month. In the past some hosting companies have been known to simply shutdown a web site for the balance of the month if it exceeds the account's bandwidth capacity. This is a situation you never want. Choose a plan with unlimited bandwidth capacity and this will never be an issue. |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > 24/7 Live Phone Support |
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| In this day and age we have become accustomed to dealing with businesses only on an electronic basis. Maybe it's a bit old fashioned to require a hosting company to have 24/7 live phone support. But then again if your site is down it is nice to be able to pick up the phone at any time, contact technical support, and resolve the issue. Playing email tag with it's inherit slow turn around is simply not an option when your site is down. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Overview > Specials |
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| Competition is king for the consumer. The web hosting companies are always trying to come up with perks to attract new customers. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > Free Domain For Life |
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| A free domain for the life of your account is a very nice perk. This refers to the fees associated with registering and maintaining the registration of your domain name (i.e. XyzCorporation.com). If you register your domain with Network Solutions you will pay about $35/year on an annual basis or around $10/year if you pay for ten years up front. Most web hosting companies will handle the domain registration for you for around $10/year. If the web hosting company includes a "free domain for life" then you will never have to pay the registration fees as long as you host the domain with that company. This perk is generally only available with the first new domain registration in the web hosting account. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > Free Domain Transfer |
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| Web hosting companies will generally help you transfer your domain (i.e. XyzCorporation.com) from another hosting company to their company. If you have become dissatisfied with your current web hosting company there are plenty of companies out there that want to make it as easy as possible for you to transfer you to their service. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > Multiple Domain Hosting |
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| The number of domains you can host under a single account without an additional fee. If you have more than one domain name/web site (i.e. XyzGadgets.com, XyzGadgets.org, and XyzWidgets.com), you can host add the second and third domains to your account with no additional fee. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > Subdomains |
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| A subdomain is a domain using another existing domain as it's base. For example, let's say you have XyzCorpration.com as your main domain. You decide that to create a domain specifically for your support department. Your subdomain would use support as the prefix and XyzCorpration.com as the domain. Visitors to your site can access the support subdomain directly via support.XyzCorpration.com. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > Add-on Domains |
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| An add-on domain functions as it's own website although it is still part of the same hosting account as your primary domain. For example, you could host both AbcCorporation.com and XyzCorporation.com as two completely separate web sites under the same web hosting account. Most web hosting companies automatically create subdomain when adding an add-on domain to an account. Thus, XyzCorporation.com could also be accessed as XyzCorporation.,com or XyzCorporation.AbcCorporation.com. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > Parked Domains |
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| A parked domain is a domain name set up to point visitors to the same content as your primary domain. For example, you could setup XyzCorporation.com as your primary domain and XyzCorporation.org as a parked domain. Visitors to either XyzCorporation.com or XyzCorporation.org will be directed to the same web site content. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Domains > International Domain Names |
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| International domain names include country codes. For example, XyzCorporation.co.uk is an international domain name for a company from the UK. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Email |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Email > POP3/POP3 Secure |
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| The application layer protocol used to retrieve email from the web hosting company's mail server to your local email client (i.e. Microsoft Outlook). POP3 allows users to retrieve email while connected to the server and manipulate it locally when not connected to the server. The messages are generally automatically deleted from the server after they are downloaded locally. Virtually all email client software supports POP3. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Email > IMAP/Secure IMAP |
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| The application layer protocol used to retrieve email from the web hosting company's mail server to your local email client (i.e. Microsoft Outlook). With IMAP the messages are generally not deleted from the server until the user explicitly deletes them. This allows the user to use multiple email clients (i.e. Microsoft Outlook and Safari on their IPOD Touch) and not have to worry about synchronizing the email between the clients since they can leave the messages on the server. Virtually all email client software supports IMAP. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Email > Forwarding Accounts |
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| Email forwarding accounts provide the ability to forward all mail from multiple accounts to a single account. This is helpful when a single user, joe@xyz.com, also processes incoming email from other accounts such as webmaster@xzy.com and, info@xyz.com. The second and third accounts can be setup to automatically forward incoming mail to Joe's main account so he only has to check one email account. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Email > Auto Responder |
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| Email auto responders provide the ability to automatically reply to incoming email. It may be useful to automatically send a reply to incoming emails when you are out of town on vacation. Another good use for email auto responders is to send out a stock email for a customer inquiry. For example, you could set up an email address called pricelist@xyz.com which will automatically send a price list to your potential customer. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Email > Web Based Email |
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| Web based email allows you to send, receive, and manage your email via your web browser as opposed to utilizing an email client application such as Microsoft Outlook. A great feature if you are on the road and don't have your computer (email client software) with you. Find a computer with internet access and you have full access to your email. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Email > Spam Assassin Protection |
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| If you don't like spam email then this is a nice feature. It is basically a spam filter that runs on the web hosting company's server and filters spam before you retrieve you email. You can still run a local spam filter on your computer, but this should greatly reduce the spam before you ever see it locally. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Database |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Database > MySQL Databases |
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| An SQL database management system that is very popular for use behind the scenes of many web sites. Great for storing product and customer information for an e-commerce store web site. Not all web sites use MySQL. If your web site uses MySQL be sure that it is supported by the web hosting company. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Database > PostgreSQL Databases |
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| An object relational database management system. Like MySQL it is used to store behind the scenes information for your web site. Not all web sites use PostgreSQL. If your web site uses PostgreSQL be sure that it is supported by the web hosting company. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > FTP |
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Web Hosting Comparison > FTP > FTP Access |
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FTP stands for file transfer
protocol. This is the protocol utilized to transfer
the files that make up your web site between your computer
and the web hosting company's server. This is a
process you will go through when you initially publish your
site and each time you update it. There are two options for transferring files. First, utilize a FTP program on your local computer. Many FTP programs are available for free or at a low cost. Just Google "FTP software" to find many FTP programs such as FTP Voyager. Second, you can utilize a web file manager provided by the hosting company. |
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Web Hosting Comparison > FTP > Anonymous FTP |
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| A type of FTP account that doesn't require authentication (password). This may be useful if you have files that you want to allow all users to download and don't require any authentication. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > FTP > Additional FTP Accounts |
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| Allows you to setup additional FTP accounts beyond the base FTP account used to update the files on your web site. This may be usefully if you provide files for download for visitors of your site. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > FTP > Web File Manager |
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| An application included in the control panel of your web hosting account enabling transfer of files between you local computer and the server at the web hosting company. The web file manager alleviates the need for a FTP program running on your local computer. Thus, you won't have to find, download, and/or purchase one. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > FTP > Shell Access (SSH) |
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| SSH is typically used to log into a remote machine and execute commands from a command line (as opposed to a graphical user interface). SSH can be utilized to transfer files. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce |
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Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > SSL Secure Server |
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| SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. SSL encrypts data when it travels from your computer to your hosting server. Without SSL all the computers that the information goes through would be able to view confidential information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, or any other information entered into a web site. SSL activates the secure lock in the web browser so you and your clients can feel safe. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > osCommerce Shopping Cart |
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| osCommerce is a free, open source online shop software. osCommerce shopping cart allows you to add multiple products on your site, organize them in categories, set discounts and special promotions. osCommerce allows you to set your prices in different currencies and accept all popular payment methods: PayPal, credit cards, checks. osCommerce has a built-in shipping and tax functionalities. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > AgoraCart Shopping Cart |
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| AgoraCart is a powerful e-Commerce shopping cart software solution that offers a very wide range of out-of-the-box features that allow you to setup an online e-Commerce solution ranging from a simple template based store to the integration of a complex visual design concept containing all the creative magic of your web designer. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > CubeCart Shopping Cart |
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| CubeCart is an e-Commerce script written in PHP & MySQL. With CubeCart you can setup a powerful online store as long as you have hosting supporting PHP and one MySQL database. CubeCart is very powerful and easy to connect to various payment gateways. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > ZenCart Shopping Cart |
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| ZenCart is a famous open source shopping cart management system. It has been developed for everyone who wants a user-friendly and though powerful e-Commerce solution. ZenCart can be installed and set-up easily and has a variety of useful features: flexible payment capabilities, web site security, customer relationship tools, and a customizable template system. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > Shared SSL |
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An SSL certificate is a
digital certificate verifying your identity. Without an SSL
certificate your visitors will get a warning message in
their web browser. Shared SSL provides the benefits of SSL without the costs that are usually associated with setting up private SSL. When utilizing shared SSL you use your web hosting company's SSL certificate. With shared SSL you usually get a secure URL such as https://secure.XyzCorporation.tld/~username. |
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Web Hosting Comparison > e-Commerce > Private SSL |
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An SSL certificate is a
digital certificate verifying your identity. Without an SSL
certificate your visitors will get a warning message in
their web browser. Private SSL requires purchasing your own SSL certificate and a dedicated IP address. With private SSL you get a secure URL such as https://secure.XyzCorporation.com/ and your web hosting companies name is not included in the URL. Private SSL is more costly because private SSL requires you to purchase an SSL certificate and have a dedicated IP address. The hosting company will generally charge around $30/year for a private IP address. The advantage is that your URL only includes your company domain name. |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia > Streaming Audio & Video |
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| Streaming video/audio is a sequence of "moving images" that are sent in compressed form over the internet and displayed by the viewer as they arrive. Streaming media is streaming video with sound. With streaming video or streaming media, a web user does not have to wait to download a large file before seeing the video or hearing the sound. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous stream and is played as it arrives. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia > Real Audio & Video |
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| Real audio & video is a proprietary format developed by Real Networks. It uses a variety of audio and video codecs, ranging from low-bit rate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music. It can also be used as a streaming audio format, that is played at the same time as it is downloaded. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia > Flash |
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| Adobe Flash (previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash) is a set of multimedia technologies developed and distributed by Adobe Systems and earlier by Macromedia. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich internet applications. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia > Macromedia Shockwave |
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| Adobe Shockwave (formerly Macromedia Shockwave) was Macromedia's first and most successful multimedia player prior to the introduction of Macromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash). It allows Adobe Director applications to be published on the Internet and viewed in a web browser by anyone who has the Shockwave plug-in installed. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia > MIDI File Support |
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| MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is an industry-standard protocol that enables electronic musical instruments, computers, and other equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other. MIDI allows computers, synthesizers, MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines to control one another, and to exchange system data. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Multimedia > Add own MIME Types |
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| Mime types tell browsers how to handle specific file extensions. For example, the text/html mime type equates to .htm, .html, and .shtml extensions on most servers, and this tells your browser to interpret all files with those extensions as HTML files. You can add new mime types specifically for your site if they are not already configured on the web server. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > CGI-BIN |
[back to Technology] |
| Web servers often have a cgi-bin directory at the base of the directory tree to hold executable files called with CGI. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > CGI Library |
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| Most hosting providers include a library of pre-installed CGI scripts that you can utilize in your web site. These scripts often include features such as support for email forms, guest book, visitor counter, real time clock, etc. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Server Side Includes (SSI) |
[back to Technology] |
| Server Side Includes (SSI) is a simple server-side scripting language used almost exclusively for the web. It's primary use is including the contents of one file into another one dynamically when the latter is served by a web server. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > PHP |
[back to Technology] |
| PHP 4 (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a computer scripting language, originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. It is primarily used for server-side scripting. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Perl |
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| Perl is a general-purpose programming language originally developed for text manipulation and now used for a wide range of tasks including system administration, web development, network programming, and GUI development. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Python |
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| Python is a general-purpose, very high-level programming language. Python's core syntax and semantics are minimalist, while the standard library is large and comprehensive. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Ruby On Rails |
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| Ruby on Rails is a free web application framework designed to make web development faster, simpler and more efficient. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Javascript/DHTML |
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| JavaScript is a scripting language most often used for client-side web development. JavaScript, despite the name, is essentially unrelated to the Java programming language. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Front Page |
[back to Technology] |
| Microsoft Front Page is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor and web site administration tool from Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Front Page 2000/2002 Extensions |
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| A set of extensions for Microsoft Front Page released in the 2000 and 2002 versions of the product. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Active Server Pages (ASP) |
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| Active Server Pages (ASP) is Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated web pages. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Java Server Pages (JSP) |
[back to Technology] |
| Java Server Pages (JSP) is a Java technology that allows software developers to dynamically generate HTML, XML or other types of documents in response to a web client request. The technology allows Java code and certain pre-defined actions to be embedded into static content. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Technology > Fantastico Scripts |
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| Fantastico is a commercial script library which automates the installation of web applications to a website. Fantastico scripts are executed from the administration area of a website control panel such as cPanel. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Utility |
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Web Hosting Comparison > Utility > Site Statistics |
[back to Utility] |
| The graphs and tables of data you need to analyze the traffic on your web site. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Utility > Log Files |
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| Log files include detailed information on each visitor to your site. They include information such as who referred a visitor so you can determine which search engines are generating a lot of traffic for your site. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Utility > Customizable Error Pages |
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| Customizing error pages allows you to guide visitors to specific pages when an error occurs. For example, you can force the user to your home page if they request a page that has been removed from your site. This keeps them from seeing a generic error page generated by their browser. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Utility > Password Protected Directories |
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| The ability to password protect individual directories to secure selected information on the web hosting company's server. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Utility > Override .htaccess |
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| .htaccess (hypertext access) is the default name of Apache's directory-level configuration file. .htaccess is placed in a particular directory, and the directives in the .htaccess file apply to that directory, and all subdirectories thereof. It provides the ability to customize configuration for requests to the particular directory. The file name starts with a dot because dot-files are by convention hidden files on Unix-like operating systems. | |
Web Hosting Comparison > Utility > Custom Cron Jobs |
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| Cron is a time-based scheduling service. Cron is driven by a crontab, a configuration file that specifies shell commands to run periodically on a given schedule. | |
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