Robin Technologies Blog

The letters FTP stand for File Transfer Protocol.  This is the most common way people transfer files from computer to computer over the internet.

It’s possible to connect to an FTP site using a browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.  All you have to do is enter ftp:// instead of http:// followed by the address:

Example: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com

 If the site requires a login name and password, it will prompt you.

FTP Client Software 

An FTP client is designed to help you transfer files between two computers over the Internet. Most FTP programs use a “split-window” layout. The window on the left displays files on your computer and the window on the right displays the remote computer. Transferring files can be as easy as dragging-and-dropping files from one window to the next.

Suggested Software

There are several FTP Client programs to choose from. Some free, some not.  As with most software, generally speaking the more it cost, the easier it is to use.

CuteFTP by Globalscape

My personal favorite.  At time of this writing, the home version costs $39.99 and the Pro version costs $59.99

FileZilla

A free FTP client program that is actually quite good.

What is a drive?

 A drive is where information is stored on the computer.  Years ago it was much simpler as there were only a few types of drives. We had hard drives and floppy drives. Today there are many more options such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Thumb Drives, etc.

 A hard drive or “hard disk” drive is is typically inside the computer. Almost every computer today has at least one hard drive and one CD drive.  The hard drive is usually referred to as the C:\ drive and the CD is drive D:\.  This can get confusing though since computers with more than one hard drive might cause the CD drive to have a different letter designation.

If the computer has a floppy drive, it’s usually referred to as drive A:\.  When you select “My Computer”, you might see a window open similar to below:

To open a drive, double click on its icon.

What is a folder? 

Folders (sometimes called directories) are used to organize the information on a drive. An easy way to visualize how folders work is to think of them like a tree with branches.  The beginning of the drive is often referred to as the “root”.  You might hear terms like “look on the root of drive C:\”.  Each folder or directory is a branch under the root.  A typical tree view of folders might look like this:

To expand a tree branch, click the “+” symbol to the left of the folder icon.

When starting a new business, one of the first things you must do is choose a title. The same holds true for websites. The title or “domain name” will become an important part of the company brand. Here are some tips for selecting a good domain name:

A. The name should be as short as possible.

thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com may be a witty name, but it’s not easy to read, not easy to say, and likely not easy to remember. It’s also not likely that you’ll find anything under 5 characters.

B. The name should be hard to misspell.

Try to find a name that only has one correct spelling. Visitors looking for the online training website “lynda.com” may mistakenly enter “linda.com”. Also avoid names that include common spelling or grammatical errors (”ie” vs “er”, “there, their, they’re”, etc.).

C. The name should be easy to remember

You may not be able to get the domain name that most closely matches your business. In some cases you might be better off to pick an oddball name. That’s worked pretty well for google and yahoo.

D. The name should not have multiple meanings.

Some interesting examples are:
• Speed of Art (speedofart.com)
• IP Anywhere (ipanywhere.com)
• Via Graphics (viagrafix.com)
• Experts Exchange (expertsexchange.com)

E. Make sure the name is not trademarked or copyrighted.

If you were lucky enough to land a domain name like generalmotors.com, it’s not likely you’ll get to keep it. The governing body of domain names (ICAAN) has what’s called the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy.

http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm

It basically means if you register a domain name and another company disputes your right to it, you might lose the domain name unless you can provide a valid use for it.

F. The name should not include dashes.

G. Always try to register the .com extension, or “Top Level Domain”

1. What is a Top Level Domain
The top level domain is the last part of an Internet domain name. These are the letters that follow the last dot of any domain name. For example, the TLD for Robintek.com is “.com”

Different kinds of TLD’s
Country code top-level domain: Generally reserved for a country or independent territory

Generic top-level domains:

.com	Commercial	Open to any person or entity to register.
.net	Network	Open to any person or entity to register.
.org	Organization	Open to any person or entity to register.
.info	Information	Open to any person or entity to register.
.mobi	Mobile	Must be used for mobile-compatible sites.
.biz	Business	Registration may be challenged if not a commercial entity.
.name	Individuals	Registrations may be challenged if not a individual.
.edu	Educational	Limited to institutions of learning (mostly US colleges, etc.).
.gov	Governmental	Limited to governmental entities and agencies. (mostly Federal Level)

How do you find out if a domain name is available?
You can search for and register domain names using various Domain Name Registrars. These are companies accredited to register domain names. Until 1999, the only company available to register .com, .net, and .org domain names was Network Solutions (http://www.networksolutions.com). Their standard fee was $35/year to register .com. .net, or .org domain names. After 1998, domain name registrations were opened up to several companies, which drove down registration prices. Currently you can register domain names for as little as a few dollars per year. The following is a list of some popular domain name registrars:

• http://www.domain.com
• http://www.1and1.com
• http://www.yahoo.com
• http://www.godaddy.com
• http://www.dotster.com
• http://www.us2.net (formerly stargate.com)
• http://domains.robintek.com (we are a reseller through us2.net)

A. What about deleted domains?

If a domain name is allowed to expire, following a brief grace period, it is released back into public domain and can be registered by anyone. There are several websites that provide a search function for deleted domain names. One such website is http://whois.net.

Website Hosting
Once the domain name is registered, the next step is to establish a hosting account. One analogy could be to compare registration/hosting to a library card index system. Suppose you’re the author of a book and you’d like it to be available to the public. You go to the library and ask to place your books “registration” in the card index. That index tells visitors your book name and where it’s located. The index doesn’t however guarantee that your book will be on the shelf. Purchasing a hosting account would be similar to having the librarian assign you a particular spot on the bookshelf. With a website, the hosting account is the actual computer server that where the website is located.

Many domain name registrars also provide hosting. In most cases, when you attempt to register a domain name, the registrar will attempt to sell hosting services as well. It is not necessary to host your website at the same company where you registered the domain name.

We have several processes in place on the server to filter spam emails.  By default, we do not block these emails.  What our server does is insert text into the message header to indicate which emails failed the spam tests.  We have two levels of testing, Sniffer, and X-RBL Warnings.  To take advantage of these filters,  you’ll need to add email rules in Outlook.  Following are instructions for Outlook Version 2002.

Note: This only applies to customers having email accounts with us.

Click on the Tools menu at the top of the screen, then select Rules Wizard:

You should see the following screen:

Click on the New button.  You should see the following screen:

Select the option to Start from blank rule.

On the next screen, check the option to “Check messages when they arrive”

Click on the Next button.

This screen allows you to select one more conditions your rule applies to.  Scroll down this list and check the box next the option “with specific words in the message header”.  The rule description will appear in the white box below.

Click on the “specific words” link to add a rule:

In the box above, add the word “SN1FFER”, click the Add button, then click the OK button.

On the screen above, you can either choose the option to “move it to a specified folder, delete it, or permanently delete it. If you choose the option to delete it, the system will re-route the messages into the “Deleted Items” folder.  Choosing to permanently delete will delete them immediately.

If you’ve created a special folder to hold the spam emails, select this folder. Click the OK button.

The screen above is for exceptions. No changes need to be made here so click the Next button.

The final screen allows you to give your rule a name. If you’d like to run this rule on messages already in your inbox, check the box labled “Run this rule now on messages already in Inbox.”

When you’ve selected the desired options, click the “Finish” button.

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