Archive for Windows
Lunar Picks – Favorite Programs and Web Sites
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Nosing around the digital realm that is known as Lunarpages, I decided to start investigating what everybody’s favorite web site or program might be. I know there are several of both that I could not live without. How about you?
Here are the favorite programs and web sites of our impeccable Lunarpages crew:
Monty says Firefox – “It is my tag team partner, helps during any hardship!”
Richard says Thunderbird – “When picking software to use for various reasons (web browser, email client, ftp client, notes program, SVN, etc), I try to always use software that is available across multiple platforms.”
Katrina says GSAK (Geocaching Swiss Army Knife) – “GSAK combines several tools into one to make it easy to manage waypoints and get info needed for Geocaching, my favorite sport.”
Nicole says Google Earth – “It is an important program for me, really helps with traveling and finding tourist attractions.”
Joe says Microsoft Word – “It is one of my favorite programs out of the Microsoft Office suite. I use it for creating reports, taking notes, and even creating greeting cards, for special occasions.”
Michael says VASSAL – “I’m an old school board gamer and live in a pretty remote area so being able to play some of my all time favorite board games with old friends is great.”
Daniel T says Any and All Linux Distros – “We all need to get away from the insanity that is Windows. After 15 years of using Linux, no plans on stopping any time soon.”
Flora says VLC Media Player - “This is one of the best players that I’ve come across; it’s very lightweight and plays just about anything. It also handles incomplete or corrupted files quite well, ensuring me that a specific codec is not missing on the system.”
Katie says Google – “It is always there to give me the information I’m looking for.”
Kris says TomTom GPS – “I have a long and complicated commute to the office, so the TomTom and my iPhone keep me from getting lost.”
Orlando says FileZilla – “It makes my life easier!”
Randy says Adobe Photoshop – “I take a lot of pictures and could not live without a way to edit them.”
Aon says MSN Messenger – “I can keep in touch with many friends at the same time for free.”
David says Google Toolbar – “It provides an easy way to check out a web site’s PageRank, get to Gmail, search and more!”
Deb says Kaspersky Internet Suite – “Since I am pretty much always online, one can never be too safe.”
Mitch says Google Reader - “It allows me to stay up to date on all my favorite blogs and web sites.”
Daniel M says AppCleaner – “Helps clean those files that may possibly be left behind during a regular program removal. (for Mac lovers only!)”
Now it is YOUR Turn to Share!
So, how is that for a selection of unique and useful software? Have your own favorite web site of software you could not live without? Be sure to leave your own favorites in the comments.
Parallel’s Plesk: Flexibility and Functionality
Posted by: | CommentsPlesk is quickly becoming recognized as a competitor to cPanel due to it’s compatibility and simplicity, being one of the only control panels compatible with both Windows and Linux. Plesk is also compatible with virtually any hosting environment, making it a suitable solution for many online business owners looking to expand in the near future. Learning to use a control panel efficiently can be difficult, so many users would rather stick with one control panel when they transfer to a new web host. Plesk gives users the ability to do so, saving them the time and frustration of learning to use a new control panel. Due to this flexibility, Plesk is being adopted by many web hosts as their default control panel.
The Simplicity of Plesk
Plesk is suitable solution for the shared hosting environment because it incorporates the functionality of a mutli-tiered administrative interface with the simplicity of a single module. Web hosts find these features particularly useful because they can manage the demands of infinite domains within a single management interface. Even the most novice administrators can create and manage accounts on the server with ease, which decreases the need for customer service on behalf of the web hosting provider. Both the user and the host benefit from this simplicity, as the user can also perform administrative tasks without the aid of a server administrator. Plesk’s expandability and unlimited control make it a perfect solution for the shared hosting environment.
The Complexity of Plesk
A simple installation and segregated modular interface make Plesk an easy to use software that can be used form the start by users with absolutely no experience. With such an incredible design, one would assume that the price of Plesk would exceed the budget of most small businesses. However, the affordability of Plesk is another reason why it is suitable for users of the dedicated hosting environment. Dedicated hosting is typically more expensive than other hosting services, so it is relieving to find an affordable control panel that can accommodate the administrative needs of a dedicated server. Plesk also lets you put all of your server space to use, by giving you the ability to expand the software through the simple installation of unlimited third party applications. Although Plesk does not cost an exuberant amount, it does provide a plethora of features for high end users and large corporations.
The Flexibility of Plesk
Users of Virtual Private Servers also see Plesk as a viable solution because it is a compact software that doesn’t use a lot of system resources. Plesk also gives you the ability to change the design of the control panel itself with a software called Vitruozzo. This software lets users incorporate unlimited design templates into Plesk’s administrative interface, making the control panel completely customizable. Many users find that this visual adaptability decreases Plesk’s learning curve substantially.
It’s customizable nature, combined with it’s supreme compatibility with multiple operating systems and hosting environments, make Plesk a capable server management solution for almost any company.
A Closer Look into APS Hosting
Posted by: | CommentsAPS is a unique hosting solution that offers some very unique features to the domain owner. APS (Active Server Pages) technology allows the design and creation of an interactive website to be completed via server-side scripting. Examples of interactive websites and/or features would be: forums, blogs, search bars, calendars, newsletters, email, surveys, polls, and hit counters. Unlike HTML scripting, APS scripting will allow your website to be displayed equally on any web browser. The overall compatibility of APS hosting stems from the fact that the APS server decodes and translates the .aps info into .html info before it is received by the browser. This is the primary reason why it is called APS hosting, as it is more than just a type of scripting. In order to use .aps scripts, your hosting company must have APS servers available.
Finding an APS Web Hosting Service Provider
Even though most web hosts claim to support the majority of scripts out there, this doesn’t mean that they all support ASP scripting. ASP scripting is relatively new so it is important that you find a web hosting company that specializes in this area of expertise. Many times you can find out all you need to know form a companies FAQ page, however if you still have questions it may be best to call their customer support number for further inquiries.
ASP Server Details
ASP servers are Windows based virtual servers, much like Microsoft’s Personal Web Server. While Windows Vista carries support for ASP servers, XP Home Edition and Windows ME unfortunately do not support ASP scripts. However if your operating system does not support ASP hosting then it is still possible to take advantages of this kind of hosting, thanks to a program known as “Chili” made by Sun Microsystems. Chili allows users to enjoy the benefits of ASP hosting even if they are using operating systems like Linux, AIX or Solaris, or even if you are using an incompatible server such as Secure Server, Red Hat, and Apache.
The Ease of Transition to ASP Hosting
ASP scripting is also strikingly similar to HTML scripting, so anyone who is familiar with writing code in HTML will have no problem making the transition to ASP scripting. In fact, ASP hosting is just as easy to learn as HTML, so even if you have no experience in scripting, ASP is still an option for you as long as you have a little bit of motivation and the right guide. In fact there are many tools available online that will help even the most inexperienced programmers in building interactive web pages for their website. If your web hosting company does not currently offer support for ASP hosting, then you can rest assured that they will within the next few years, possibly even months. Due to it’s seemingly unlimited compatibility with web browsers, ASP hosting is quickly becoming the industry standard in web hosting. Switching to an ASP hosting service as soon as possible will ensure that your website is viewable to more users, and more enjoyable to your visitors.
Top Three Control Panels to Consider When Choosing a Web Host
Posted by: | CommentsSelecting the right control panel for your web hosting account is imperative. This decision will affect the overall productivity of your online business. Depending on your goals, you’ll want to choose a control panel that is both user-friendly and feature packed, to ensure you get the most out of your web hosting experience. Choosing the wrong control panel can result in countless hours of frustration and confusion, so it is important that one reviews their options carefully before making a final decision.
This article will allow one to make the most informed decision possible, by providing a detailed summary of the top three web hosting control panels .
cPanel
cPanel is likely the most common control panel used today. It’s popularity can be attributed to its user-friendly interface and wide array of features. The standard cPanel account comes equipped with two different hosting interfaces that make it ideal for managing an online business. These two interfaces are the WHM and cPanel itself. WHM (Web Host Manager), is the software used to create new hosting accounts and packages. The WHM is used to perform various management functions, such as adding/spending customer accounts, monitoring resource usage, changing passwords, parking domains, and installing SSL certificates . One of the biggest advantages of a cPanel account is the included third-party application “Fantastico” that allows one to enhance their site’s overall quality by incorporating a wide array of useful add-on applications.
H-Sphere
H-Sphere is a highly versatile control panel that supports both Windows and Linux platforms. This control panel lets administrators manage several different servers from one computer. H-Sphere behaves much like a server itself, offering a variety of turn-key features like payment processing, account configuration, domain name registration and email notification. It also includes support for more than twenty payment gateways, and it even comes with a built-in billing module. Since H-sphere is equipped with so many useful features it is often considered much less user-friendly than most of the other control panels available. Although the overall design of H-sphere gives it a steep learning curve, this control panel can still be mastered with very little foreknown knowledge in PHP, HTML, or FTP.
Plesk
Plesk is well-renowned as one of the most secure and stable control panels on the market today. Many of it’s users appreciate it’s easy-to-learn navigation, well designed interface, and overall appearance in general. Plesk offers a variety of beneficial features, including an automated application installer that is much like Fantastico. Plesk also comes equipped with a site builder and a powerful spam filter, Spam Assassin. This particular control panel also works well with other solutions offered by its developer; SWsoft. The most notable application that Plesk integrates well with is HSP. HSP fully automates the process of administrative tasks such as payment processing and email notification.
Regardless of which control panel you decide to use, all of the control panels mentioned here are a viable solutions for all of your web hosting tasks.
Xen Power Added to Lunarpages VPS Hosting
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Lunarpages now provides top-of-the-line Xen® Virtual Private Servers. Not only are they stable, reliable and resilient, they also give to you a great new server-side technology that will help your web sites out perform the competitors.
What makes Xen VPS hosting so great? Xen-powered VPS are completely independent from the hardware node, and each other. This means that you are able to run updates independently of the hardware node. This also means that one customer can’t crash a service or the server. If one front end server ceases to work, the VPS’ that were running on that server can be restarted on other Xen servers, almost instantly.
Here are the three newest family members to the Lunarpages VPS hosting family. All three are Xen-powered bulls, ready to out work any other VPS hosting plan you can put against them.
Linux Starter Virtual Private Server
- Free domain name
- 256 MB Memory
- 10 GB Disk Space
- 500 GB Bandwidth
- 1 IP Address
- Centos 4.2
- 24/7/365 Award Winning Support
- Only $27.95 per month!
Linux Pro Virtual Private Server
- Free domain name
- 1 GB Memory
- 20 GB Disk Space
- 1000 GB Bandwidth
- 1 IP Address
- Centos 4.2
- 24/7/365 Award Winning Support
- Only $62.95 per month!
Windows Pro Virtual Private Server
- Free domain name
- 1 GB Memory
- 20 GB Disk Space
- 1000 GB Bandwidth
- 1 IP Address
- Windows Server 2003 Enterprise
- 24/7/365 Award Winning Support
- Only $77.95 per month!
Planning for the Future?
A Xen VPS can be upgraded for CPU (Up to 4 cores), Memory (Up to 2GB), Hard Drive (Up to 40GB) and Bandwidth. Upgrading with the Xen VPS only requires we change the values for the VPS, and restart. (With the exception of hard drive space. Another Virtual Hard drive will need to be added, but can be done very quickly.) No migration is needed for upgrading as long as you stays on Xen.
Now you might look elsewhere, and maybe even see cheaper prices. However, with out new line of Xen powered VPS hosting plans, you will see no competitor that can deliver the same performance.