Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Spokane Public Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind

In computer news this week 02/24/2010 Internet scavengers are always after you ... Not only has the internet – or specifically the WWW – changed our multinational way of life, but it has created whole new industries, and negatively affected existing ones. Many traditional stores – known as brick&mortar – are now being replaced by online or E-stores. And hundreds of thousands of businesses and individuals now have their own websites; and websites are now a target of Internet bottom feeders. Many people who have a website don’t know much about it. If you own a website, you should know: What your domain name or website name is, who your registrar is, and when it expires. You’d be surprised at the number of business who don’t know this. Where your website is hosted, and who your host is and when your hosting package expires. Again you’d be surprised at the number of business who don’t know this. Website hosting is like renting a storefront in a mall; it’s a place to put your website online,. You also should know what is the renewal cost of your domain name, and the renewal cost of your hosting package. If you go to any internet registrar, Network Solutions or Godaddy for example, on their main page you’ll see they have a Whois button you click on, and the purpose of that is to enable anyone to see who is the owner of a particular website. This whois function, which is available to anyone, also shows when your website expires, along with your name and address, email address, and other information. There are now many companies that prey on internet ignorance who gather this information about websites, and then send letters or emails to website owners trying to get them to renew their websites or hosting at much higher prices that what the person is currently paying. Obviously it is profitable for these companies, as they prey on website owners who don’t know what they should. I have several websites, and I received a letter from a company named Domain Registry of America – displaying an American flag in their logo and looking very official – notifying me that one of my websites was expiring, and that I could go to their website and renew my domain for supposed great savings. For one year it would only be $ 30, and for 5 years it would only be $ 95. Such a deal ... The problem with this is that this is 2 to 3 times higher than what I am currently paying: The renewal price at Godaddy where this website is hosted is $ 9.88 for a year, and would be $ 49.40 for 5 years. The domain registry price for the same renewal periods would be either $ 30 or $ 95; two to three times higher. So if I followed what this letter is trying to get me to do, I’d pay two to three times as much for the same item, and I’d be switching registrars. Obviously I’m not doing this, and probably you shouldn’t either. Another common practice by Internet bottom feeders is to try to get you to switch your website hosting to them, and often it is again much more expensive than what you might currently be paying. But if you don’t know the basic information about your domain name and website hosting – you won’t know that what looks like a good deal – isn’t. I currently had a client who thought they were getting a good hosting deal at $ 20 per month, and we switched to Godaddy economy hosting for 3 years, which cost $ 153 as opposed to $ 720.00 for the same period, and had much more capacity. So when a letter comes in the mail about your website – caveat emptor – it might be from a scavenger.

For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2009 MTA Micro Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 mailto:frank@mtamicro.com