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What is it with Hosting Companies?

mrmarkus1981
Grafter
Posts: 647
Registered: ‎26-02-2008

What is it with Hosting Companies?

What is it with hosting companies making in impossible to retrieve your hosting settings, i recently had to re-install windows and whilst i know i should have written them down, i didnt.
Being going round and round and round and round in circle on the godaddy website, JUST GIVE ME MY SETTINGS, im so frustrated.
Same thing happened to a friend when she tried to get her hosting settings from 123-reg.
Additionally, for domain and hosting websites - they are pretty badly designed and not easy to navigate.
Is there a Web and Internet RANT section? No, there should be.
aaaaaaaaaah
8 REPLIES 8
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

I would have to tell you not to dispair as not all companies are the same. What settings are you looking for? I personally left 123-reg a few years ago for a different reason.
I know this will not help you now but for future reference I would offer 2 tips:
First of all, use a hosting company that offers cPanel. That way all the info you would usually need is your cPanel username, password and web address. You would also quickly remember the cPanel port number as 2082.
Second tip which is invaluable is to partition your hard disk next time you reinstall Windows. Then store everything important, documents, media, settings etc on 😧 as this acts as a completely seperate hard disk and will not be affected by future reinstalls. You can even set "My Documents" to automatically store everything there. If you have a brand name PC recovery disc the option to partition may not be abailable. If so and asuming you have Windows XP home you can get a generic copy. This would be easily available using your imagination. You can then use the COA sticker on your PC during install and activate as normal. Some drivers would probably need to be installed so get all available drivers first from the PC manufatuures website.
Hope this can be of help in the future.
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

I'm sort of with Sean on the cpanel thing BUT that doesn't solve your domain issues with your registrar - EG 123-reg. You'll still need a seperate login for them so be sure to make a note somewhere. Also I would highly advise you not to keep login details in a text file that anyone could open. Instead put them in a file, encrypt it and delete the original. If you're really security conscious then go one further and use stenography to hide the encrypted file inside another file (eg picture or sound file).
Also with cpanel you can access your account from /cpanel not just port 2082. The same goes for cpanel webmail at /webmail.
Consider buying an external usb hard drive too for backing up. As Sean says partitions are a good idea but they can sometimes become corrupt if you accidentally select a wrong option (and believe me from personal experience - it isn't nice when you loose 17GB!)
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

Keep all your passwords in an encrypted file which can be copied to a USB key etc.
http://keepass.info/
Quote
What is KeePass?
Today you need to remember many passwords. You need a password for the Windows network logon, your e-mail account, your homepage's FTP password, online passwords (like website member account), etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Also, you should use different passwords for each account. Because if you use only one password everywhere and someone gets this password you have a problem... A serious problem. The thief would have access to your e-mail account, homepage, etc. Unimaginable.
KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). For more information, see the features page.

Is it really free?

Yes, KeePass is really free, and more than that: it is open source (OSI certified). You can have a look at its full source and check whether the encryption algorithms are implemented correctly.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
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seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

Quote from: okrzynska
Consider buying an external usb hard drive too for backing up. As Sean says partitions are a good idea but they can sometimes become corrupt if you accidentally select a wrong option

Never had an isue with a disk partition but as for external hard disks, I would not have one near me. Hard disks spinning at 7200rpm are much too fragile to store in anything other than a large, heavy metal box (computer). As a duty manager in Maplin for a time I lost count of how many external hard drives came back with that familiar clicking sound. "It just broke all by itself" Yeak right or maybe the kids or the dog knocked it over while it was on.
VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

Since they are hosting your data, you could always include a heavily encrypted file with your details...
At least you would know where to find it.  Smiley

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

Quote from: jelv
Keep all your passwords in an encrypted file which can be copied to a USB key etc.

I keep all of mine in my head, the only safe place I can think off but I am lucky and have a good memory for things like that.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

A lot of the passwords I use could not be remembered. Keepass has an option to generate passwords - here's a sample of the sort of password I use: aFMt,fmB`W$SSFD+
The advantage of KeePass is that you never have to remember or key the password, you can drag and drop it straight from KeePass to the application/browser.
If you can remember the passwords they will not be as secure as passwords generated using techniques such as entropy collection.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: What is it with Hosting Companies?

Quote from: Sean
Quote from: okrzynska
Consider buying an external usb hard drive too for backing up. As Sean says partitions are a good idea but they can sometimes become corrupt if you accidentally select a wrong option

Never had an isue with a disk partition but as for external hard disks, I would not have one near me. Hard disks spinning at 7200rpm are much too fragile to store in anything other than a large, heavy metal box (computer). As a duty manager in Maplin for a time I lost count of how many external hard drives came back with that familiar clicking sound. "It just broke all by itself" Yeak right or maybe the kids or the dog knocked it over while it was on.

I've had a few partition incidents! XOSL (eXtended Operating System Loader) is a boot manager with a windows looking GUI to it. Great booter it really is but the installer can be a bit hit and miss. Several times it has destroyed partitions for me hence my advice to create a backup else where. I know the average user doesn't play with partitions but you can never backup data too many times.
With regards to external hard drives.. they can be taken apart and the drives mounted inside the PC. From the cases I've heard about with these external drives failing its normally the actual driver board inside which the HDD is connected to. Also they do indeed fail pretty quick (you said about kids etc). I've got a 500GB external here now on my desk. Less than 1 year old and every day without fail it makes a nasty clicking sound while beeping at me. It's never moved, had no jolts or knocks but sounds like its giving me some sort of warning beeps. Buffalos website mentions nothing about this so I'm now just waiting for the click of death before installing the drive into a machine in a normal manner. I certainly wouldn't pre-emptively jump to conclusions about peoples kids being responsible - external hard drives are well known for failing pretty fast.
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!