GLEN COVE COMPUTING NEWS

Welcome to the June Issue of Glen Cove Computing News. This month's feature article will discuss the options available for Creating Your Own Web Site on the Internet. In this eighth issue of Glen Cove Computing News you'll also find:

• Companies That Will Host Your Web Site
• Glossary of Terms
• GCC Tech Tips
• Internet Site of the Month
• Cartoon of the Month
• Internet Technology of the Month

In our last issue we discussed the tools and methods that are available for creating web pages. Now that you have created your web pages you'll probably want to post them on the Internet, so someone beside you and your significant other can see them. There are a number of options available for creating your own web site on the internet. You can set up your own web server and lease a fractional T1 line to connect to the Internet, or pay a company to host your web server at their site that's connected to the Internet. In my experience both of these options are extremely costly and probably not feasable for most small businesses. Instead I'll concentrate on a third option: Companies that will host your web site on their server for a fee.

Contracting with a site hosting company is by far the most cost-effective method of creating a web site. There are a number of companies of all sizes that have sprung up over the past two years that offer this service. I prefer to stick with the larger nationwide or regional companies, as they tend to provide greater network bandwidth, security, and redundancy at their sites. Smaller companies can be less expensive but often lack the necessary equipment to provide a stable site for hosting your web site. You should consider the following when you are looking for a company to host your web site:

• What is the line speed of the company's connection to the Internet? Connections for most hosting companies will range from the following:

  1. 56k Line: A digital phone-line connection (leased line) capable of carrying 56,000 bits-per-second. At this speed, a Megabyte will take about 3 minutes to transfer. This is 4 times as fast as a 14,400bps modem.

  2. T-1: A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet.

  3. T-3: A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.

  You'll want to ensure that the company you choose has a full T1 or T3 connection to the Internet. If they tell you that they have a "fract" or fractional T1 ask them what the line speed is. The line speed of a fractional T1 varies from 19.2k up to a full T1.

• How many lines to the Internet does the company have? As a general rule stay away from companies that have only one line connecting their site to the Internet. If that one line goes down you'll be left without any access to your web site. I usually recommend that you choose a company that has at least five T1 or T3 lines to the Internet. You want to ensure that the company has a certain amount of redundancy built into their network infrastructure and the more lines they have the better.

• How many sites do they typically host on their server(s)? This is an extremely important question to ask before you decide on a company. All the bandwidth and redundant lines won't help you if they have you squeezed on an underpowered web server with every other site that they host. The number of sites that should be on a server is dependent upon the hardware configuration of the server, so there is no set equation for determining if a server is overloaded. The best rule to follow is to use common sense and ask for the addresses of sites that are on their servers. Check them out during different times of the day including peak (2pm EST/11am PST) and off-peak times. It's not a foolproof method, but it will give you some idea of what to expect.

• What operating system do they use for their servers? Typically most of the larger companies choose some flavor of UNIX for their servers. HP, SUN, IBM AIX, BSD, etc.. are all stable and reliable version of UNIX that are optimized for running WWW services. Some smaller companies may use Windows NT, Macintosh, OS2, or Novell as their operating system for their WWW servers. While these operating systems are fine for smaller installations, I believe they lack the scalability and power of UNIX.

• What are their rates? Most companies offer different levels of service for a wide range of fees. The most inexpensive package usually involves having them host your site on a common or shared server with other sites. Expect to pay anywhere from $15-$25 per month for 10-20 mg of storage space. This is more than enough storage space to host a small business or personal page. HTML documents are rather small in size and you'll want to keep your graphics files small also. Remember people will avoid your site like the plague if it takes 15 minutes to download one huge graphic.

The other services offered depend upon the company. Most of them offer you the option to register your domain name with InterNIC for a fee. New domain name registrants currently pay $100 to register with InterNIC the first time, which covers a two-year period. The hosting company should not charge you any additional fee for this service. If they do you can always contact InterNIC directly to register your domain name.

Another service that is usually offered for an additional fee is access to CGI scripts that will enable you to add counters and other programs to your pages. Keep in mind that Java and animated GIFs allow you to do many of the things that CGI does and you won't be charged for using them. The downside is that not all browsers support Java or animated GIFs, while all of them support CGI scripts.

I've listed below some of the major companies that currently offer hosting services. Most of these companies will bundle in a dial-up account with their hosting services. Pricing for these services is dropping rapidly so don't sign up for anything until you've explored all the options. If you want to post a small business or personal home page, start small and choose an inexpensive personal hosting service. You can always upgrade to one of the more feature laden and expensive services at a later time. If you really want a bargain, and aren't overly concerned with performance, many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer a small amount of storage space to their dial-up users for web sites. In the next issue of the GCC News I'll discuss how to publicize your web site.

• Network Computing Review: Review of U.S. Domestic ISPs from the June 1, 1996 issue.

• BBN: Startup and monthly costs are a little high for personal or small business sites, but a good value for a medium sized business.

• GNN Hosting Service: Formerly known as Navisoft. Good company for hosting small business or personal sites.

• HoloNet: HoloNet is currently offering one FREE evaluation month of Web hosting at 56Kbps.

• PICnet: Subsidiary of Netcom.

• USWeb: Beginning service in June 1996. The first Web Presence Provider to offer franchise opportunities.

• UUNet:

• Whole Earth Networks: Regional service based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Microsoft has confirmed that the only way to uninstall Microsoft's Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) Add-In for Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 is to uninstall Internet Explorer first. Straight uninstallation results in a "ThunkConnect32 Failure!!" error message.

• If the e-mail you send with Windows 95 Exchange is in the Microsoft Exchange rich text format, it can arrive with an equal sign (=) at the end of each line. To fix the problem follow these steps.
  1. Select the Start menu.
  2. Choose Settings and then Control Panel
  3. Double-click Mail and Fax and then click on Internet Mail.
  4. Click on the Properties button and on the General tab, click the Message Format button.
  5. Click on Character Set and change the option from ISO 8859-1 to US ASCII and confirm the change. Close the Control Panel.
  6. Open Microsoft Exchange, select Tools and then Address Book.
  7. Right-click on the recipient's address. In the menu, click Properties and then disable the "Always send messages in Microsoft Exchange rich text format option.

• Here's an easy way to launch a DOS session from any folder.
  1. Open any folder and select View|Options from the menu.
  2. Click on the File Types tab in the Options windows, then scroll down the list of Registered File Types and choose Folder.
  3. Double-click on Folder and then select New.
  4. Type "Shell to DOS" in the Action line and type c:\windows\command.com /K cd" in the Application used to perform action" line.
  5. "Shell to DOS" will now appear as an option on the right-click menu for folders.

• Have you ever clicked Shutdown and remembered something else you wanted to do on your computer? You don't have to wait for the PC to power back up and go through self test. When you get the screen that says "It is now safe for you to turn off you computer" just type "win" and hit enter to restart Windows 95. If you want to be in the DOS mode type "mode co80". The Windows 95 system shutdown closes the registry, and drops you back to a DOS session, but displays a graphics message for you to turn off your computer. Behind the scenes, your PC is really sitting at the familiar C: prompt!

• Have you ever wanted to use long directory or file names at the DOS command line in Windows 95. You can enter long directory or file names, even those with spaces in them, by enclosing them in quotes (e.g. dir "Cool Windows Utilities").

The Internet Site of the month for June is BU's Interactive WWW Games. I've never been much of a computer game addict. My game addiction probably peaked with my playing Montezuma's Revenge for 14 straight hours on my roommate's Apple IIc in college. Since then I've avoided most computer games and rationalized that I work with computers so why should I play with them. This site has links to a number of Java and non-Java games that I'm sure you'll find interesting, but it was one game in particular that hooked me.

At this site you will find a link to the Java version of BattleShip! Now Battleship was my favorite game when I was a kid and playing it on the web brought back a lot of memories. Now if it only had sound effects like my old electronic BattleShip game! In addition to BattleShip you'll also find links to Tic-Tac-Toe, Pegs, Hunt the Wumpus, Minesweep, 9 Puzzle, WinFive, JavaSweeper , and the Java version of 9 Puzzle. You can't spend all day working on the computer so check these games out and have some fun. Just don't let your boss catch you!

The Internet Technology of the month for June 1996 is the PointCast Network 1.0. PointCast Network gives you online information that is easy to use and more attractive than almost any web site out there. The free service uses your Internet connection to deliver news and information directly to your desktop, 24 hours a day. PointCast's sources (including a direct Reuters news feed) are among the best, and the information is highly customizable to meet your needs and interests-- business and international news, stock quotes, weather, sports and more can be delivered to your computer.

When your computer is idle, PCN checks your customized update schedule and delivers the information you have chosen directly to you. If you have a direct connection to the Internet you can choose for PCN to update automatically when there is new information to download. A new automatic scheduler for dial-up viewers is also available with version 1.0. This lets viewers designate precisely when and how often their dialer will automatically dial onto the Internet, receive updates from PointCast's central broadcast facility, and log off the Internet. PointCast offers native support for the following dialers: CompuServe, Shiva, FTP and Windows 95.

PCN currently runs on Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, and Windows 95. Macintosh and NT versions will be available soon. You can download the software for free at http://www.pointcast.com/cgi-bin/download.pl. I've been using Pointcast Network since it was in beta and I've found it to be a great service.

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