...frequently asked questions Can  I pay with credit card or do I need to issue a  check? Either is fine.  However if  you pay by check you must pay either semiannual or annual. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When you say annually, do you mean pay you all the money up front, or pay monthly for one year? You must pay the full year at  once, if you choose the annual  contract. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What does it cost to transfer a the domain name? There is no fee for  transferring your domain  name. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you charge  additional fees for using the mySQL database? No. It is included in the  package. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is a  virtual domain? A Virtual Domain means having  your own domain (http://www.your-name.com) without having to install expensive  server hardware and software. With a Virtual Domain, you utilize our server's storage space, however, you are still professionally represented via your own  personal Internet web address domain name (www.yourname.com) and by your own  personal e-mail address domain name (you@yourname.com). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What steps do  I need to take to setup a virtual domain at Pretty Good Hosting? Simply sign-up with us by  filling out our online order  form. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is the  time needed to make space on your server available? Space will be made available the same business day! Once an account is setup an activation notice will be sent to you via e-mail including your user-ID, password, and your IP address. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you offer dial-up Internet access? No, you will need local  Internet access in order to maintain your web site and retrieve e-mail addressed  to your site. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Does Pretty Good Hosting support Macintosh systems? Sure. You can use the Fetch  program to transfer files from your MAC to our system. You can also use Telnet  and the POP e-mail programs like Eudora, Claris E-mail and Netscape Mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Whom can I contact by phone or e-mail if further questions come up? For more information,  e-mail sales@prettygoodhosting.com or call (360) 273-4157. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Are your servers connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? If not, when and why are they disconnected? Yes. They are always connected and always monitored. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What web server do your servers run? (Apache, Netscape, or...?) Apache 1.3.6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What are your  server types: NT? UNIX? Both? Other? We use UNIX. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What do  Autoresponders do and are they included? How many? An autoresponder is similar to an alias, but it also will send an automatic reply back to the sender. You can have an unlimited number of Autoresponders for no additional cost. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What programs  can be used to access e-mail (pine, elm, Netscape mail, etc.)? All POP clients can be used--  any program which downloads the files from our server onto your computer. You can use mail user agents which run on our servers (such as pine), with a special configuration. You cannot use IMAP programs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can I access my domain address with or without the "www"? Yes, you will be able to access the domain address with or without the "www" in front of the domain name. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is an e-mail alias and is it unlimited? An e-mail alias means if you send mail to webmaster@prettygoodhosting.net, that address is aliased to whomever  needs to receive it. It can be one person or multiple people, however you need  it structured. It is unlimited -- you get as many as you need for no extra  charge! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you have a  database system? Cold Fusion? mSQL? Other? We use mySQL. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you have  FTP and FTP Anonymous access? Yes, we provide both FTP and FTP Anonymous access with the standard and plus  account. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you have a  limit on the FTP transfer? No. There is no limit. You can update your pages an unlimited amount of times, at any time you  wish. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Is a shell account included? Yes it is  included. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you use Netscape's SSL technology? We use Apache-SSL which is several times more secure than Netscape  SSL. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can I run two  cron tasks to update pages daily? Yes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Are your virtual servers able to work with old and text-mode browsers such as Lynx, or  will users with those browsers not find our index.html when putting in only www.ourdomain.com (in other words, are they truly virtual)? They are truly virtual -- you get your very own IP address on the web server. They will work with  Lynx. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How many client sites are put on each web server? Do you move sites to different servers  if a given server has a high load? Is this monitored? We do move clients according to demand. We keep the peak CPU load below 10% on all  machines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I would like to know if you support VRML 1.0 and 2.0 mime types wrl and mus? We support these. You can set  your own mime types with your .htaccess file. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Does each  virtual server have its own log files? Yes. You have your own log files. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you provide a CGI-BIN personal directory? Yes, a CGI-BIN is  provided. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is CGI  access? CGI scripts (Common Gateway  interface) are used to provide things like counters, form responses, guest  books, and many other things. Pretty Good Hosting gives you full CGI access for no extra  charge! You can write your own scripts, install someone else's, or use one of our preinstalled CGI scripts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Which  languages are supported in CGI (e.g. Bourne shell, Perl,  Java)? Bourne, Shell, and Perl are  all supported and available. Pretty Good Hosting does not offer Java support at this  time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How can I  manage my e-mail users (add/remove/update). How can I setup mail redirection for  my users? To add or delete POP boxes,  use the Mail Manager at http://yourdomain.com/menu You redirect mail by editing the address, un-forwarding to the POP box (which deletes it if that's  the only reference to it) and forwarding to whatever e-mail address you desire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------   Do you charge  additional fees for hosting a secure web site? No. It is a free standard  feature. ------------------------------------------------------------------------   Do you offer backward compatibility browser detection? Yes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------   Can I set up forms for secure transmission? Yes. There is no extra charge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What cgi scripts are preinstalled? pgpmail.pl,  formmail.pl and count.cgi ------------------------------------------------------------------------   Does Pretty Good Hosting offer SSI? SSI is on all of our servers. You just need to be sure that you call your files with the .shtml extension. ------------------------------------------------------------------------   What version of Perl does Pretty Good Hosting use? 5.00404 ------------------------------------------------------------------------   Can we set up  password protected areas with .htaccess? Yes you  can. ------------------------------------------------------------------------   May I promote  my Pretty Good Hosting web site with bulk e-mail? Spamming is in violation of our service agreement. There are legal and ethical issues involved in mass  mailing of unsolicited e-mail. Any user of our services who has sent a large  number of unsolicited e-mail will have their account closed within 24 hours. A  pro-rata share of their current contract will be  refunded. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you host  foreign domains? Yes we host all types of domains foreign and  domestic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Do Pretty Good Hosting servers support IMAP? Our servers are not  configured to be able to support IMAP. IMAP is possible, however, for only the  main username of the account. We cannot provide any support other than turning  on your access to IMAP. If you would like this, please let us know where you  connect from and we will make an ftp connection to the server. We have to open a  port for the locations that you can connect to the server from.