General FAQ
- What is Web Hosting?Web hosting is the act of renting space and Bandwidth through a company so that you may publish your web site online.
- Do I have to change my domain if I get a new host?You do not have to change your domain if you get a new Host. If your domain is registered in your name, all you need to do is update your namservers (from where you manage your domain names) to that of your new host.
- How Do I Register a Domain Name?Registering a Domain Name is very easy.
To register a new domain, visit AVHoster at WWW.avhoster.com. Type the domain you would like to buy into the search bar and press enter. If the domain is available, you can purchase it directly from AVHoster. - How do I upload my site online?Uploading your site can be done in many ways, but the most popular is FTP.
When your hosting account was created, you should open CPanel and create an FTP account. Using software such as CuteFTP or WS_FTP, you can log into your Host. Then, using the program like a normal windows program, you can drag and drop files onto your Web host. These files become live online instantaneously. - I am using too much bandwidth! Is there anyway for me to make it less?In most cases, yes.
You should first try to optimize the graphics on your website. Many GIFs look just as good with fewer colors, and many JPEGs look just as good with a higher compression level. NetMechanic offers an image optimizer program online.
You should also analyze the HTML of your site. Make sure you use relative paths, so that images are not downloaded more than one time. Remove any extra spacing and when linking to other pages, use relative paths and not absolute links.
While many hosts already have it, you could also see if your Host has mod_gzip installed. This can save you a lot of Bandwidth.
Best of all, optimizing your page like this makes the user experience better as your site will load faster for them! - What are PHP, ASP, perl, etc?
- What are subdomains?
- What do I need to do to put Flash on my website?
- What exactly is space and bandwidth/data transfer?Diskspace is the size your website can be. Every single letter on your website has to be stored somewhere on your web Host's Server. Each letter is one byte, and a megabyte is roughly one million bytes. HTML pages are usually very small, but it is the extra images, scripts, and even databases that can take up large amounts of disk space.
Bandwidth/Transfer is the amount of data the server will allow your site to send in a month. Transfer is usually measured in gigabytes - billions of bytes. Once you go over your monthly limit, we may either shut your site down for the remainder of the month or it can charge you 'overage.' This overcharge is usually about $2.00-$5.00 per extra gigabyte of transfer. - What is a Domain Name?A Domain Name is a word along with a TLD that uniquely identifies your website.
- What is MySQL, MS SQL, etc?
- What is PayPal?PayPal is an account-based system that lets anyone with an email Address securely send and receive online payments using their credit card or bank account.
Each user signs up with PayPal and then enters their necessary banking and credit card information. Once registration is completed, your email address is all you need to send and receive money. - What is uptime?Uptime is literally what it means - it is the amount of time your site is online throughout the entire month.
The best uptime would be 100%, but because things can break, many hosts offer 99.9% uptime guarantees. - What is Virtual Hosting?Also known as shared hosting, this form of web hosting should suffice for most everyone.
Virtual hosting simple refers to the fact that your site is on one Server, and that this server hosts mulitple sites. You are virtually shared - your site will not be the only one on this specific server.
Very few sites would actually need the power of a dedicated server, so this option provides to be a reliable and cheap solution. - Why don't I just go with the cheapest hosting?A Host has to make a profit to continue operating. Some hosts do not properly understand the market, and may be pricing themselves too cheap.
- Why would I need a dedicated IP?For most people, a dedicated IP is not required. But for people that want to provide anonymous FTP or a website using SSL, a dedicated IP can make that easier.
- Will there be forced advertising on my site - things like banner ads or popup ads?Not at all. You are paying for webspace that is only yours - no one may put ads on your site except you.





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