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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:14 am 
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For the past many years, an individual has been providing me with web hosting for my (very old) website and three of my domain email accounts. My domain name is registered with GoDaddy.

This individual is shutting down his business soon, so I may need to look elsewhere for hosting. But if I no longer have or want a personal website, do I really need web hosting? As I understand it, GoDaddy already forwards my three domain email accounts to my primary email account that I have with my ISP.

If I do need a new web host, is GoDaddy as good as any, or does anyone have a better recommendation? Thanks in advance....

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:53 am 
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I would recommend Green Geeks.
https://www.greengeeks.com/

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:11 pm 
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Thanks, Jay. Green Geeks looks good and reasonably priced. Do you have any experience with them?

But if I no longer have or want a personal website, do I really need web hosting for just my three domain emails?

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 1:23 pm 
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Green Geeks is who I use but I do the Ecosite Premium package. Keep in mind that the low price they show and free domain is if you pay a year in advance.

As long as your emails are directly through the domain without your hosting involved you should not need the hosting to maintain the emails. I'd still contact the domain registrar to be sure.

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:25 pm 
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Thanks, Jay. I think I will be OK with my emails, but I guess I will know for sure at the end of the month when my current web host stops his service.

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:38 pm 
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You are welcome. :) LOL! If it ends up that you do need hosting and you go with Green Geeks make sure to let them know that I referred. I THINK I get some sort of finder's fee or something. :mrgreen:

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:29 pm 
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I will, and you should.

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:13 pm 
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Never mind BB. I just checked it out and the referral is through a link to them on a site that they track back to me. This would equate to advertising and I won't do that.

<edit>
Dawned on me that I could write an article for the 'info' side of the site on web hosting including a referral link to Green Geeks but decided that would still, in essence, be putting up advertising as I never thought about it until I thought of the referral aspect. I MAY still do a hosting article sometime but would not include a referral link. No matter how much, and well, I could rationalize it would still be advertising.

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:31 pm 
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Who handles the email for the domain that your friend is currently hosting? The domain registrar is not usually the provider of the email service, although there are domain registrars that provide email and hosting.
EDIT -- okay, I see that your registrar is GoDaddy and the domain MX records are apparently pointing to your ISPs email server. It is not likely, but possible, that GoDaddy is actually forwarding email addressed to your domain. If you plan to continue using GoDaddy as your domain registrar, you will want to contact them to remove the A record that currently points to the server where your website exists. In essence, www.(your domain) will no longer exist, but email to (name)@(your domain) will end up at your ISP due to the existence of an MX record.
-steve

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:15 pm 
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Steve, thanks for your response. Unfortunately, I don't know what you mean by A record and MX record. I do plan on continuing to use GoDaddy as my domain registrar because my NET domain name registration and private registration services are paid thru 4/6/21.

Now, if I go to the GoDaddy website I see this statement:
"We are taking email sent to (domain name.net)@domainsbyproxy.com and delivering it to bb@mytel.com".

And mytel is my ISP. So doesn't it look like they are forwarding my email?

As regards my old website, I don't ever plan on using it again, and I'm not even sure it still exists. So do I really need to worry about contacting GoDaddy to remove my A record?

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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:28 am 
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Yes, they are forwarding your email. Apparently one of the exceptions that I mentioned. :-)
Sorry to introduce confusion with the terminology. The A record and MX record are part of your domain registration along with a bunch of other records. This information is what is used to route requests to the proper address. The A record would direct a web browser's request for a web site to the proper IP address of the web site's host. An MX record identifies the email provider. There are other kinds of records. This article explains them if you are interested -- https://www.techopedia.com/2/28806/inte ... -explained

In your case, your domain's A record points to the IP address of the hosting provider. If that web site no longer exists, anyone trying to reach it will simply get an error. Since it would appear that your mail is indeed being forwarded, the MX record is pointing to "domainsbyproxy.com" (apparently a partner of GoDaddy that provides security/privacy for your registration data) and that service (or GoDaddy) is doing to forwarding.

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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:23 pm 
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Thanks, Steve. I think I understand a little better about the records. Hopefully my emails will be forwarded by GoDaddy as stated. I did find my old website and may move it to a new web host if I decide to go that way.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:49 pm 
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Jay & Steve - I will soon be selecting a new Web Host and, per Jay's recommendation, I am considering Green Geeks. Since I will want to transfer my existing website, I have been studying how best to do that. In fact, using the cPanel backup capability I have already generated and downloaded to my computer my website in GZ zipped file format.

But then when I went to the Green Geeks website to see what I needed to do next, I encountered the following statement:
If you built your website using Microsoft FrontPage we recommend publishing your website using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) rather than FrontPage Server Extensions. Your website will still work without FrontPage Server Extensions, and you can continue to use and manage your site using FrontPage, however, some features of your website, such as contact forms, will no longer work.

I know I used FrontPage, but I can't remember whether I used FTP or FrontPage Extensions. How can I find out and is this really going to be a problem for me?

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:15 pm 
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FTP is a transfer protocol and has nothing to do with the site code. I use FileZilla and Steve uses Ws_FTP as an FTP client. Your compressed version of the site will do you no good. You would uncompress the site then upload via an FTP client.
FileZilla:
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php
Ws_FTP:
Never mind on Ws_FTP. I just went to get a link and the free version is no longer available and I doubt that you want to spend $50.00.

I can't say whether or not your site may have issues if you used Front Page Extensions. Do you have a contact form? Even if so you can replace it as there is a lot of free contact form code around. Also Green Geeks offers form tools and guestbooks for free. I believe that the potential problem is that Front Page Extensions rely on a Windows server and Green Geeks uses Linux.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:27 pm 
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If you look at the file structure of your zipped site, if you see folders called _vti_cnf, _vti_pvt, and _fpclass, among other similarly named folders, it is a FrontPage Extensions site.
The FrontPage extensions would typically be for the site's theme and navigation features. If the server does not support FrontPage extensions and the site was built using FrontPage and it's features, your site won't work without some major editing.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:29 pm 
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Well Jay, embarrassingly I am as confused as ever (easy to do). I'm sure you & Steve know all about FTP clients, but what I might have known I have now forgotten. My current web host told be to create/download the compressed version to later facilitate the transfer of my site to a new host. But you say the compressed version will do me no good. If I am to uncompress the site and then upload via an FTP client, doesn't that imply that it would need to have been compressed to begin that process?

And if I used FrontPage Extensions back when I created my website, are you saying it is now possible to upload my site via FTP and not Extensions? In other words, the site code is still good?

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:42 pm 
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BB, since you are Computer Haven staff, email me the site as an attachment and I'll put up on my hosting through Green Geeks and test. If the zipped file is over 25 MB in size we MAY have to come up with another method to get the site to me.

Sigh, I was typing while you posted BB. I don't think that you really follow what FTP happens to be. Think of Windows File Explorer. If you copy a folder from one location to another on your hard drive all is well but, if you compress the source folder then copy you have nothing in the destination that is really useful. FTP is just a program that lets you copy or move files back and forth between your local system and the hosting server just like File Explorer allows you to move/copy stuff between drives and folders.

Let's take one step at a time and find out if your site will work on a Linux server. We do this by you sending me the site files and my putting on my hosting to test. If everything is fine all is good. If the site fails you may need to find hosting with a Windows server.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:55 pm 
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sboots wrote:
If you look at the file structure of your zipped site, if you see folders called _vti_cnf, _vti_pvt, and _fpclass, among other similarly named folders, it is a FrontPage Extensions site.
The FrontPage extensions would typically be for the site's theme and navigation features. If the server does not support FrontPage extensions and the site was built using FrontPage and it's features, your site won't work without some major editing.

Steve, the only way I know how to look at the file structure of my zipped site was to unzip it, so that's what I did. I didn't see any folders like you mentioned. And now I'm not sure if I messed up my zipped site that I might need to transfer to a new web host. So I think I will start from square one again and re-zip my site.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:06 pm 
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BB, like I said, send me the zipped file and I'l test.

Another important thing to consider is your domain name. If it is through your current hosting you will need to, also, transfer the domain name to your new hosting just like I did with the computerhaven.com domain name. One of the important things in this process is that you will need to get what is call an EPP code from the former hosting which gives the new hosting access to transfer the domain name.

Since you did not see any of the folders that Steve mentioned it is probable that Front Page Extensions were not used. That is a good thing. :) Personally I hated Front Page as it tended to extremely bloat site code.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:14 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
BB, since you are Computer Haven staff, email me the site as an attachment and I'll put up on my hosting through Green Geeks and test. If the zipped file is over 25 MB in size we MAY have to come up with another method to get the site to me.

Jay, I think I messed up my zipped site trying to look for the folders that Steve cited. So I will probably need to re-zip my site. I'll do that in the morning and try to attach it in an email to you. I'm brain dead at this point...it's tough trying to stay up with you and Steve.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:16 pm 
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I'd like to take a look at your site as it is. I thought it was http://barrypatch.com but apparently not as I get nothing on that attempt other than an error.

Ahh, just went back through old emails and found that your domain is barrypatch.net, not barrypatch.com. I see no contact form nor does a peek at the main page source code show anything that I'd expect to cause an issue.

If your zipped file contains the files as hotelinfo.htm, localinfo.htm,prizecontributors.htm, 2004photos.htm, 2004attendees.htm and an index.htm file it is all good and all that you need. There should also be several image files.

Your current hosting should be providing FTP access. I suggest that you look at your site control panel to get the FTP access and install FileZilla. Then use FileZilla to download everything to a specific folder. Zip that folder and send to me. You don't install FileZilla on your hosting. Install on your local system and enter the FTP log in provided by your current hosting.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:18 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
BB, like I said, send me the zipped file and I'l test.

Another important thing to consider is your domain name. If it is through your current hosting you will need to, also, transfer the domain name to your new hosting just like I did with the computerhaven.com domain name. One of the important things in this process is that you will need to get what is call an EPP code from the former hosting which gives the new hosting access to transfer the domain name.

Since you did not see any of the folders that Steve mentioned it is probable that Front Page Extensions were not used. That is a good thing. :) Personally I hated Front Page as it tended to extremely bloat site code.

Jay, Front Page was the only program available to me back then. And yes, I struggled to learn how to use it.

As regards my domain name, it is registered with GoDaddy and I plan on leaving it there (paid for thru 2021).

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:20 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
I'd like to take a look at your site as it is. I thought it was http://barrypatch.com but apparently not as I get nothing on that attempt other than an error.

Jay, my site is at barrypatch.net

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:48 pm 
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Ya, I looked through old emails and found that it was .net, not .com.

Looks like you made several posts while I was editing my last. Please go back up and read again.

As a note you will have to go to your GoDaddy account and change the domain name servers (DNS) addresses to that of the new hosting. I've never dealt with GoDaddy but there should be an entry for the DNS entries. Your new hosting should be able to supply you with the DNS names, there are usually two.

OH! If you downloaded everything from your current hosting you are likely to see a folder named something like 'public_html'. All of your actual site files would probably be within this folder. If that is the case that folder is all that you need to send to me to test. To be honest I could get all the files for your site, including images, on my own but it would be extremely tedious.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:10 am 
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Jay, I went back to some old notes (circa 2004) for when I developed my current website. Turns out I did use FTP and not FrontPage Extenders (because my ISP at the time was not a FrontPage-extended server).

I also did another cPanel backup of my website this morning; unfortunately, the zip file is almost 29MB, too large to email to you. But that's OK, as I don't really want to mess with the old website anymore....it is very outdated and some of the info is now missing (e.g., prize contributors). So after I get signed up with a new web host, I want to develop another website. Perhaps you can advise me as to best program for doing this.

And thanks for the reminder to change the domain name servers (DNS) addresses to that of the new hosting. I know how to do that on GoDaddy.

Thanks again to you and Steve for all your help on this issue. Although I'm choosing to forego my old website, I did learn a lot from my "administrators". :mrgreen:

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