The reason that web hosting costs money is because the data that flows through the Web servers is not free to move. The companies that own Web servers are charged a certain amount for data usage, and they pass that cost on to the customer. However, most professional web hosting companies will also provide maintenance and upgrades to your web hosting experience so that you do not have to worry about any of the technical aspects of hosting a website on the Internet. After all, the physical hosting server is not in your possession. If they did not take care of the maintenance, there would be no one to fix your website if something happened to the physical server or the data within it.

If you have the proper expertise, you can actually purchase your own Web server and host your own websites. The only criteria for having a website is that you have a server that is capable of connecting to the Internet backbone. Barring this, you will most likely want to invest in a Web server with the appropriate amount of webspace and the proper expertise in hosting a website efficiently.

Uptime with Htop

You should look for a web hosting service that is familiar with all types of files. You should invest only in a web hosting service that is able to translate your website onto all different sorts of mediums, including desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets. You should also invest in a hosting service that guarantees your “uptime,” or the amount of time that your website will be online out of the time that it has its data on the server. Ideally, your uptime should be 100%, and web hosts can ensure that this happens by what is known as a “redundant server.”

Online Pagerank and Social Signals Checker

A domain registration and a website form the basis of an online presence, and at one point those two components and an e-mail address were the sole foundations of Internet properties. Now that online social networking has become the center of Internet activity, websites are expected to establish a social media presence as well. There are several options, starting with the wildly popular Facebook and its rival Google Plus.

Online social networks come and go, as evidenced by MySpace and Friendster, and many webmasters choose to establish a presence in several of them at once. The typical trilogy involves Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Other webmasters prefer to narrow their social media presence to trendy and burgeoning networks like tumblr or Pinterest.

Using Google Plus for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If the motive behind joining a social network is to boost SERP ranking, webmasters should strongly consider Google Plus – but only if they are willing to follow a certain strategy that goes far beyond setting up a Google Plus profile.

With regard to the effect that a Google+ profile has on organic search results, the company claims that search ads with social annotations will have an improved click-through rate between 5 and 10 percent. This is due to the increased traffic that a strong social footprint brings, but it must be cultivated. This is not limited to Google+; in fact, any Internet property with a strong social media presence can increase traffic to a website, which in the long run is an influential factor for organic search and SERP ranking.

Google will also reward popular profiles with higher SERP placement, and to this end it is vital for webmasters to try to be in as many Google Plus social circles as possible.

Internet users flock to online social networks to find fresh content and to be engaged. A webmaster who decides to set up a Google+ profile must frequently provide followers with appealing, and must also engage followers by answering questions, providing recommendations and responding to comments. This will eventually translate into more followers and a higher rate of +1 clicks – the Google equivalent to Facebook’s “Like” button.

If you are a webmaster and you want to get a quick overview about all the social signals of your own domain like f.e. Google +1′s, Facebook Shares and Twitter Counts you can use serveral special services. One of those is PagerankChecker.com which allows you to get all kind of social signals for your website.

Linux Wiki has fundamental content, designed and implemented by interested editors or perhaps a founder. Centered on the home page is a large table showing Popular Linux Software and Top Ten Distros (Linux distributions). Anyone visiting the site and seeking to add Linux to a computer can click on one of the Distro links, and proceed to download a version of Linux. These include Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Debian, PCLinuxOS, and others. Launching upon Linux use for the first time on a desktop is a thrilling process, even if one wishes later to delete the operating system and revert purely to Windows.

As for Linux software, Linux Wiki lists almost forty different software releases for Linux. These include the graphical user interfaces or desktop environments of Gnome, KDE, and others. They are found at the heart of Linux desktop releases. There are also Linux programs for media editing and playback and artistic design. These might be less frequently used by everyday computer users than would the Internet releases of Firefox, Chromium (Chrome), and Opera, along with the Office releases of Open Office, and the communications releases of Pidgin and Skype. The great thing about this software, and all Linux software, is that it is free!

Linux Wiki is a fun place to visit for anyone who has ever used Linux, and even those who haven’t, but who still might some day. Linux and Linux software are all free, and all readily available for quick download from an abundance of websites. Easy to install and use, too, just as the Linux Wiki shows. All in all, Linux Wiki is a great and useful resource.

Linux is not the name of a universal operating system like Windows or Mac OS. The name Linux actually refers only to the kernel, or the most basic part of the operating system. Different versions of Linux, called distributions or distros, all share this kernel, but many of them will have a separate Linux tutorial, because the extra features can vary quite a bit from distro to distro.

Mac OS users may have an advantage in learning to use Linux, because Mac OS uses similar file structures and terminology, but a Linux tutorial will still be of help.

A typical MS Windows user would be more likely to benefit from a Linux tutorial, because the differences are so great between Windows and Linux in general. Finding a good, distro specific Linux tutorial will be invaluable in learning the ins and outs of your news OS.

As a rule of thumb, you probably need a Linux tutorial if you are the kind of user who needs extra help when you are trying new things on your computer. After all, a tutorial is an easier way to learn compared to reading pages of documentation or forum posts.

On the other hand, if you are the kind of computer user who is comfortable with things like command line interfaces, kernel hacking, or programming languages, a Linux tutorial might not be for you. But if your experience in Linux is out of date, or if you have only used one flavor, then consider a Linux tutorial before you jump into your next new distro.

For most Windows and Mac OS users, regardless of level of experience with computers, a Linux tutorial is the first step in knowing how to do things the right way, and that will make your transition into Linux go much more smoothly and easily.

My experimentation with several Linux Distributions began in a local coffee shop. I visited a site that unexpectedly started to do a fake virus scan on my laptop. Even though I closed my browser and turned off my computer, it got infected. I couldn’t launch my anti-virus program or get online. It was the second time in a month that I’d gotten a Trojan. I was using the most popular operating system, which will be unnamed, but I’m sure everyone knows which one I mean.

Before the Trojan struck, I’d visited a site that had a program to put Linux Distributions onto a flash drive. I installed one of the most user-friendly Linux Distributions on a spare flash drive, tossed it into my computer bag, and forgot about it. Desperate to fix my laptop, I put the flash drive in a usb port and booted into Linux. I was able to get online to learn how to remove the Trojan. I also learned that Linux was easy to use, and that the Trojan that infected my computer twice wouldn’t have been able to do so if I’d been using one of the many Linux Distributions instead of the popular operating system.

Ever since, I’ve been using flash drives with various Linux Distributions whenever I’m online. I’ve also started using some of the free programs, such as OpenOffice or LibreOffice, included with many Linux Distributions. I even installed OpenOffice on my mother’s new computer with the popular operating system, but no productivity programs. She’s had no problems using OpenOffice; she’s happy she didn’t have to spend additional money to have a full-featured word processor. I like several of the Linux Distributions so much that if I wasn’t required to have the popular operating system for some of my work, I would use Linux exclusively.

• What is Linux Ubuntu and how much does it cost?
• Will Linux Ubuntu work on my computer?
• Are there many programs available for it?
• Will Ubuntu work with my hardware, such as printers and scanners?

The Linux Ubuntu operating system is based on the Linux kernel or code. The name actually comes from a word in the African Swahili language meaning community. The name was chosen because Linux Ubuntu is an open source software program. This means that a community of programmers collaborates on the system instead of one company. The open source license allows the program to be offered free to anyone who wants to use it. Therefore, Ubuntu won’t cost anything to use, either for personal or business use.

Ubuntu will run on most Windows-based PCs. However, if you want to try it before making any changes, the OS is available as a download that can be burned as a bootable CD or DVD. You can boot to the disk and run the program from there, checking for compatibility. Additionally, you can install the operating system so that it will run in conjunction with Windows in a dual boot environment. Linux Ubuntu has been used on computers running Windows 98 through Windows 7.

There are well over 30,000 programs that run on Linux Ubuntu, including office productivity suites, graphics programs and music players and recorders. Most of the programs available are free. OpenOffice and LibreOffice are two of the office suites available. Google has a version of its Chrome browser designed for Ubuntu as well.

Linux Ubuntu supports most, if not all of the peripheral hardware that a computer uses. Most printers and scanners will merely need to be plugged in to the computer. In most cases the computer will not need to be rebooted to use the hardware. Some hardware manufacturers provide programs designed specifically for Ubuntu.

Before you start a Linux download, keep a few things in mind:

1) Which distro do you want? Examples are Red Hat, Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, etc. By and large, the core features are the same. Read blog posts or articles about different distros, and find one you like. There are also forums for most of them where you can research the distro you are interested in, and ask questions of people who already use it.

2) On what kind of computer will you install Linux? If you have a laptop that you want to use you might need one version, or a different one for a desktop or a server. Most distros come with at least 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and many of them offer special laptop, netbook or server versions. Many modern machines can run the 64-bit version, but check your specific machine first, or you could be doing your Linux download twice!

Special note for laptop and newer hardware users: It is possible, even likely, that there will not be drivers available for your specific hardware right away. Do a search for your PC and the name of the Linux download you want, or look through the forums. Someone probably tried to run Linux on it already, and you can see if they were able to get it to work with hardware like yours.

Once you decide on a distro, you can start your Linux download. Normally the Linux download will come in an .iso format, which simply means it can be written directly to a CD, DVD, or other media. After you create your media, you can use it to install Linux.

Finally, put aside any concerns you have about legality and security. Most distros are free in any case, and if you do your Linux download directly from the publisher’s site, you should have no security issues at all.