There are basically two operating systems out there to choose from when you select a web hosting provider - Windows or UNIX. LINUX is a derivative of UNIX and is most commonly found in the hosting world under the RedHat label.

But which one is the best?

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Both have their supporters and detractors too. I have to admit that I am squarely in the LINUX camp. Why? Let’s look at some of the features and benefits of both.
The Windows servers integrate Microsoft programs such as FrontPage, Access and MS SQL (not to be confused with MySQL). They also offer specific programs such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic Scripts and Cold Fusion that make web hosting a breeze.

Most important, Windows servers can be easily managed and multiplexed due to .NET technology. They provide excellent levels of support, security and integration for the Microsoft family of products. But note - Microsoft is not Open Source, and almost all of the Microsoft Products have licensing requirements. There are very few ‘free lunches’ associated with Windows hosting. This does not make it a good option for small businesses.

The UNIX platform is mostly represented by LINUX in the shared hosting world. Their most important characteristic is that they can handle large volumes of traffic, are robust and capable of hosting multiple sites. Moreover, they are very flexible and webmasters can customize their services in real time from any computer. Also, unlike Windows, UNIX system is not limited to special remote administration program. Any computer connected to the Internet can access a typical UNIX system without special or costly software.

Many webmasters choose UNIX or LINUX servers because of the server uptime. It is not that Windows servers do not promise 99 per cent uptime. But to achieve it the web host has to be extremely capable and proficient in Microsoft systems. This is not a limitation in the case of UNIX servers.

In summary then, the biggest advantages of LINUX hosting as opposed to Windows hosting are the following

1. LINUX hosting is much more cost effective than Windows hosting for small to medium businesses getting into the Internet arena. This is equally valid for personal or hobby websites. You are going to have to pay licensing fees (or more expensive hosting to cover the lisence fees) if you opt for Windows Hosting.

2. There are tons more free scripts, tools and utilities available for PHP and MySQL than there are for ASP. Just as an example - on the Hotscripts site where there are thousands of free scripts available, there are over 15000 scripts available for PHP, which is the dominant software that runs on Linux hosts (where ASP runs on Windows hosts). The amount of scripts available in ASP and ASP.NET combined is just over 5000. Most of the Open Source (in other words, free to use) tools and utilities have been written in PHP and MySQL.

If you want to easily install and run shopping carts, forums or blogs - Linux hosts that offer PHP and MySQL is the answer.

Written by Christine Anderssen.

Phishing, according to Wikipedia, is “attempting to fraudulently acquire sensitive information by masquerading as a trustworthy business in an electronic communication.”

You may receive an email that looks like it came from your bank, or from eBay, or PayPal, or Amazon. They’ll tell you that your account has expired, or they suspect somebody has been trying to access your account fraudulently, or that they’re just verifying your information for security reasons, but if you don’t respond, they’ll have to “freeze” your account. They may even pose as the IRS.

Phishing scams are made up of two parts. The first part is called link manipulation. They try to make the email look like it came from the actual institution they’re impersonating. They will always include a link to a fake website. These links look like they go to the correct place, but there are technical tricks they can use to make it look like it’s going to one place while really going somewhere else.

The second part of the scam is called website forgery: the site you are sent to from the link in the email will look legitimate, but it isn’t. They may request that you “log in” with your real information, or to provide them with private financial information. What can be done? Part of the solution is technical. The people who make Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox regularly update them to close some of the technical loopholes exploited by the phishers. That’s why it’s important to make sure you are using the most recent version of your internet browser. A good spam filter for your email program will also go a long way towards eliminating many of the phishing emails before they even reach your inbox.

The best way to protect yourself is to know what to look for, and to be suspicious of any incoming email requesting that you divulge private information. There are some telltale signs to look for. Phishing email usually contains an urgent request for personal financial info. There’s almost always a link in the email. Do not use this link. If you want to contact your bank via the internet, open the browser yourself, and type in a known good internet address. You can also contact the company directly and ask them about the email.

Most phishing emails will not contain personal information. They may be addressed to “Dear Valued Customer,” for instance. In contrast, a real email from these institutions usually will contain personal information - perhaps your screen name, or the last four digits of your account. This isn’t foolproof, though. Just because personal information is present doesn’t make an email legitimate, but the lack of any personal information is a strong indicator that it is not.

What should you do if you think you’ve given information to a phishing scam? First, contact the institution concerned right away and let them know. Next, if possible, close the account and start a new one. Then be sure to monitor your bills and statements very closely for anything unusual.

Phishers are rotten, selfish, cowardly, and evil. The more educated and wary you are, the more difficult it is for these scammers to succeed.

Written by Larry Spinak.

A brief Introduction to the history of Linux and some important command prompts to get you started.

Linux, a UNIX clone, is an operating system that embodies the concept of complete transparency. One of the most important aspects of Linux is that it has been developed and supported by its users, making it relatively easy to get your hands on one of the many free Linux distributions. But although Linux is growing in popularity, there are still people who consider this operating system a toy or pet; something to play with, but not to be taken seriously. Until recently, Linux was reserved for self avowed hackers and enthusiasts. This was mainly because Linux was not very user-friendly. Now, with an intuitive graphical user interface or GUI, Linux is as user friendly as Windows. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to use Linux with the GUI. In fact, a Linux Desktop looks much like a Windows Desktop (with a few added features). Linux has at least a dozen different highly configurable graphical interfaces, which runs on top of a Xfree86.

In 1969, AT&T Bell Laboratories introduced the UNIX operating system. This was based on the C Language. Many know C as a language used in programming. Today, a wide variety of languages including C++, Java, Perl, and C Sharp are also available. Originally, UNIX was released for free to universities. UNIX is the basis for several clones, including Linux and DSB. Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project in 1984. This project was created for free distribution. This was in stark contrast to the Microsoft-style licenses that restricted distribution and modification. Richard’s ultimate goal was to create a complete UNIX-like operating system using a server set called HURD. It was not until 1989 that the GNU project released their free license. This license was to be known as the General Public Licence (GPL). Linux would eventually be released under this license.

Tim Berner-Lee, who was working as a researcher at CERN, developed hypertext Markup Language in 1990. And thus, the World Wide Web was created. One year later in 1991, an undergraduate computer Science major at the University of Helsinki, Finland, began developing a new operating system. His name: Linus Torvalds. The system would later become known as Linux. Linux kernel 0.02 was the first public release. Kernel 0.11 followed shortly and 0.95 was released soon after in 1992. Kernel 0.95 came very close to being a fully featured kernel. Two years layer, kernel 1.0 was publicly released.

KDE is a well-known graphical interface found with most Linux Systems today. The KDE project was founded in 1996. Linux was now accessible to the general computer user. Before KDE, it was very difficult to use Linux unless you were an expert. By 1997 saw the release of Linux Kernel 2.0 the GIMP version 1.0. GIMP is a graphics program that can certainly rival Adobe Photoshop. In the following two years Linux grew so rapidly Eric S. Raymond revealed in the so-called Halloween Documents that the new open source movement seriously threatened Microsoft. It is hard to believe, but GNOME 1.0 and KDE version 1.1 were only released in 1999 and Red Hat Software had only filed their preliminary papers for an initial public offering.

Today, Linux is used by both business and home-users alike. It can run on various Intel, Apple, palmtop PDA and AMD based hardware from the 386 up. Most Linux Distributions (free /not) come crammed with loads of free software. Some of the more common software that come with most Linux Packages include Graphical User Interfaces like GNOME and KDE, graphical editing facilities such as the popular GIMP (Graphics Image Manipulation Program), Development tools (Compilers and debuggers), office products and games.

Now that we have been thoroughly versed on the history of Linux, I would like to take you into the Linux System. This is no way an epic journey into Linux. That would take far too long, we will just be scraping the surface of a very complex operating system.

First and foremost, it is important to get to know a few terms that will crop up whenever Linux is discussed.

The two most popular graphical interfaces are KDE and GNOME. As I mentioned earlier, the first graphical interface introduced by Linux was KDE (Common Desktop Environment). This is the industry standard for Linux. GNOME is the latest user interface.

When exploring your Linux System through the shell (a window similar to the DOS Prompt), there are some directories and commands you will need to know. One thing you will notice about the command prompt and terms used by Linux; they are very literal. As an example consider the mount and umount commands. Mount is used literally the command to mount the disk be it the CD-ROM, Floppy or hard drive. And Umount; dismounts. So it is not difficult to decipher some of the commands.

To begin with, type “ls”. This command is the same as the “dir” command in DOS. If you type “ls –al”, you get a line for line listing of the directory with permissions, type and size. You will see the boot directory listed here (if you are in c:/) This is where your operating system will boot. The /etc directory contains all the config files. Do not mess around here. To enter the /etc directory, you would type /etc/.

When you type cd /home you will be taken back to the home directory. CD is the same as in DOS; change directory. You would treat it the same as in DOS. /Lost + Found is an interesting directory. Anything that Linux does not know what to do with lands up here. The /mnt directory contains all the mounted devices. /lib is your library, all c and c++ libraries sit here. DO NOT FIDDLE with this directory, you land up with a mess on your hands. All programs that have output can be found in either the /opt , /bin , or /usr/bin directory and process information is found in the /proc directory. /temp, holds your temporary files. This is one of the greatest features of Linux, as the temp directory is very controlled. You will find the event log at /var.

Remember to log on as “root” if you want to make any changes to your system. This includes directory permissions. Linux has a very simple, but efficient permissions system that, as root, you can easily modify.

Let us look at an example of permissions set on a directory or folder:

d rwx r-x r-x

This can be read to mean the following

D = what you are dealing with. In this case, it is a directory

The second set of permissions applies to the owner of that directory (rwx). Here the owner has Read, Write and execute permissions. The next set (r-x) applies to the group. In this case the group has only Read and Execute permissions. The final set of permissions (r-x) belongs to any other users. To help you understand how to change permissions, we will make a directory.

Type:

Mk dir test

The word test, is the name of the directory. You may give it any name you wish)

Permissions are set with an octal weight. The weights are as follows:-

READ = 4

WRITE = 2

EXECUTE = 1

That is a total weight of 7. To allow all permissions on the new directory, you would type:-

Chmod 777 test

Explanation:

CHMOD = change mode

777 = Full permission

test = directory name

You would now see the directory listed like this:- d rwx rwx rwx.

Typing 757 (instead of 777) would allow read, write and execute, read and execute, read, write and execute (rwx r-x rwx). You can modify permissions by changing these numbers. Remember that each number pertains to it’s particular user group (owner, group or other). The numbers are divided into these three groups.

Owner Group Others

7 7 7

Rwx Rwx Rwx

4 + 2 +1 4 + 2 +1 4 + 2 +1

To change permission, you would subtract the relevant octal weight.

i.e

Rwx R-x Rwx

4 + 2 +1 4 +1 4 + 2 +1

7 5 7

Therefore, the command would read chmod 757test

Now we will change the ownership of this directory:

Chown me test

Explanation:

Chown = change owner

Me = new owner’s name (this you would have to decide on)

Test = directory name

To change a group the command line would read “chgrp”, inserting the new group’s name.

Linux is full of possibilities and it is open for you to explore. If you are running the SuSE version of linux, take time to look at YAST (Yet Another Setup Tool). I am not joking; it is really called that. You can add users, install programs and change configurations. Only root has access to YAST and SAX. Sax is used to set up your display and mouse. These things should have been done on installation, but if you need to make changes or run into problems, this is where you should begin looking.

Have a great time exploring Linux: you will soon find yourself hooked.

Written by Sandra D Shirlow.