This is a collection of useful tools and websites which can help you maintain your server, and optimise it for specific scenarios.

A domain name is like a street address on the web. It is essentially what is used by the web to find where your website, emails, etc are hosted. When you register your domain name you are creating your own unique online identity. No two parties can ever hold the same domain name simultaneously; therefore your Internet identity is totally unique. If you have a business site on the Internet your domain name is your own online brand and in a sense you can use your domain name as your online business card.

Only credit card payments for domain name registrations and renewals are accepted.

Web hosting is an additional service to Domain Name registration.

Yes. Once you have registered a domain name you can edit your DNS server information directly through the Manage Domains menu option. You then select modify "DNS details" and select the Domain Name.

When registering a Domain Name you must list a primary and secondary server.

If you do not have name servers yet or do not know what they are, you can automatically select to have our default DNS servers listed.

To update any detail of your domain name, simply login to your account using the username and password you received when you created you domain registration account.

Under the Australian Corporations Law, every company in Australia has been issued with an Australian Company Number (ACN), which must be shown on a range of documents. The purpose of the ACN is to ensure adequate identification of companies when transacting business. Non-Australian entities can ignore this field.

Australian business entities or entities carrying on a business in Australia who are registered for the goods and services tax (GST), will be assigned an ABN (Australian Business number) for taxation purposes in respect of GST charged and paid.

You will receive a confirmation email from us confirming your registration details and member ID.

After you have registered your Domain Name and paid for it, it is reserved immediately. From then on, it is attributed to you and is not available for purchase by anyone else for the term of the registration.

The Domain Name then has to be technically available. This will happen within 24 to 72 hours later, assuming you have provided the correct technical parameters such as valid DNS servers.

Yes. You don't have to have an existing web site or be a registered business to register a global Domain Name. You can register a domain name at any time and start your online identity. .au Domains require an ABN, ACN or State BN for registration, however once again, you are welcome to park the domain until you have a website to upload.

You most certainly can! By clicking on the "multi search" you can register multiple Domain Names (no limit) at once. When you register multiple domains, you are also eligible for volume discounts.

There are five (5) steps to follow to register a Domain Name:

1. Search for a Domain Name. If it is available confirm intention to register.
2. Select the registration term, and provide your contact details and DNS information.
3. Review the information for correctness.
4. Agree to the Service Agreement.
5. Provide payment information and submit your request.

Below are the steps to transfer your domain:

4. If the correct domain transfer auth info has been submitted, an email will be sent to the owner contact in the whois database. (the email address needs to be valid and accessible)

5. If an invalid domain transfer auth info has been submitted, the transfer will be rejected and you will need to retrieve this before resubmitting.

6. Once a reply has been received from the owner's email address the transfer will be confirmed the next business day and complete in 48 -72 hours.

7. If no reply is received within 7 days the transfer will be cancelled.

8. If the domain is due to expire in the next 90 Days, payment will be required to complete the transfer.

Please note that AU domains can be transferred even if they have expired, however it is advisable that you have at least 2 weeks registration remaining. Renewal prior to date of expiry will not shift your registration period, but simply append your existing registration from the existing renewal date.

searchWWW

searchWWW is a malware program that is installed by the widely-used cjb.net redirection service. As a bonus, searchWWW has a hijacker component as well adware. The adware portion, once installed, will occasionally pop up ad windows. If we let the program run for a while, a collection of different popups will appear, including one that correctly warns that "AdWare" and "SpyWare" are installed on the computer.

GAIN

One of the oldest and best known examples of malware is from the company Claria, which changed its name from Gator in 2003. Unlike most malware creators, Claria is a legitimate corporation with several big name advertisers and offices in both the United States and Europe. Claria is the maker of Gator Advertising and Information Network Publishing (or just GAIN), which actually consists of two programs that run in the background and work together. One program pops up ads while the other collects personal information. GAIN is typically bundled with other programs, including several published by Claria.

Most of us have seen it at one time or another; perhaps on our own PC, the PC of a loved one, or perhaps a PC at your place of employment. The system spends weeks or months operating in a smooth fashion, taking you to the far reaches of the wide, wibbly web, and after one particularly late evening of browsing and gaming, you shut your PC off and go to bed. Millions of people across the globe do just this every night, but a few of us have turned our PCs on the next day not to the standard Windows XP loading screen, but instead this dreaded error:

Beyond skeptical computing, there are other preventive measures you can take to secure your computer. Verify that your Internet Explorer security settings are set correctly. To do this, open up Internet Explorer and go to the Tools menu. Click on "Internet Options." Go to the Security tab and click on the globe labeled "Internet." Then click the "Custom Level" button. Make sure "Download signed ActiveX controls" is set to "Prompt" (if you think you have everything installed that you need, you can set this to "Disable" for extra security), "Download unsigned ActiveX controls" is set to "Disable," and "Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe" is set to "Disable."

The easiest way to deal with malware is to not get it in the first place. A little bit of common sense helps, but experience goes a lot farther. Experienced computer users, like it or not, hopefully possess the common sense that will let them avert potential disasters.

This edge can be acquired. The distinction is largely one of attitude, one which for lack of a better term I'll call "skeptical computing." We can examine this attitude and see how it reacts to common sources of trouble.

Along with viruses, one of the biggest threats to computer users on the Internet today is malware (malicious software). Malware can hijack your browser, redirect your search attempts, serve pop-up ads, track what web sites you visit, and generally mess things up. Malware programs are usually poorly-programmed and can cause your computer to become unbearably slow and unstable in addition to all the other havoc they wreak.

A huge virus surge of a new Storm Worm variant is flooding e-mail inboxes and evading many antivirus programs. In my tests of 31 programs, only four reported a virus.

Postini, an e-mail security company, says that over the last 24 hours it has seen about 55 million virus e-mails, about 60 times the daily average. The first e-mails had romance-themed subjects: "A kiss so gentle," or "I dream of you," for instance. The latest batch attempts to fool readers--with subjects like "Worm Alert!" or "Virus Alert!"--into thinking they are already infected and need to apply a supplied patch--an attached virus

Check out those six basic rules to keep your account safe and secure - and not part of a spam botnet.