Disk Space - used to store your account settings, your web and HTML files, usage logs and email. It's the number of megabytes (MB) for storage you are allocated for your webhosting account.

User Accounts - allow the use of email, FTP and web access. With each web account, a Site Administrator may be assigned.

Bandwidth - is the the amount of data that can be sent and received over a network at one time. The greater the bandwidth, the more information that can be transferred.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Telnet (shell) - are protocols that allow the transfer of files from one computer to another, and the execution of remote commands.

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POP3 (Post Office Protocol) - the standard protocol for receiving email. it is received, held, and deleted once retrieved.

APOP3 (Advanced Post Office Protocol) - APOP email uses encryption so that your password is not sent across the Internet in plain text.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) - an alternate protocol where your email can be stored on the server after retrieval, and searched at a later date.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - a protocol used to send email. Usually used in conjunction with POP, IMAP or APOP.

Web Email - send and receive email through your account using a standard web browser. Email software is not necessary, and it can be accessed from anywhere in the world where Internet is available.

Email Aliasing - allows you to point multiple email addresses (aliases) to the same email account, ie: info@yourdomain to user@yourdomain.

Email Forwarding - allows you to re-direct email received through one email account to another. With IMAP, this can be used to "cc" (carbon copy) a copy of each email received to another email account.

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CGI (Common Gateway Interface) - CGI or Perl scripts allow you to perform various functions with your website, such as tracking hits through a counter or taking information through a form and emailing it.

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SSL (Secure Socket Layer) - SSL security provides 40, 56 or 128-bit encryption security for the transmission of private or confidential information during a web session such as credit card transactions.

SSH (Secure Shell) - SSH provides strong authentication and secure communications over unsecure channels when using Telnet to log into a remote machine and execute commands.

.htaccess - provides directory protection using an .htpasswd file. It restricts web and viewing access to authorized users or members. Most commonly used on adult websites.

Digital Certificates - a method of establishing a company's credentials when doing business or other transactions on the web. Also used to provide SSL security, they are issued by a certification authority (CA) such as Thawte or Verisign.

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Domain Names - allow you to have a unique identity on the web. The most common domain extensions are: .ca (Canadian), .com (Commercial), .net (Network) and .org (Organization). ie. www.DOMAIN_NAME.com

IP (Internet Protocol) - An IP address is the number assigned to any Internet-connected computer, and is typically assigned to 1 or more domain names.

DNS (Domain Name System) - DNS refers to a database of Internet names and addresses which translate domain names to IP addresses and vice versa.

Nameservers - contain the software and data required to resolve domain names to IP numbers, and ensure that the registered domain name may be reached. Domain names are required to have both a primary and a secondary nameserver.

Domain Forwarding (domain aliasing or re-direction) - allow you to point multiple domains to the same website, ie: yourdomain.com and yourdomain.net to yourdomain.com.

Registrars - are the official organizations designated to register domain names on behalf of individuals and companies. Each registrar is responsible for maintaining the individual WHOIS records for each domain name.

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Flash and Shockwave - are Macromedia products that allow designers to develop stylish sites or compenents for sites from animated ads to animated navigation.

Jserv (Java Servlets) - Java servlets provide a component-based, platform-independent method for building interactive web-based applications, without the performance limitations of CGI.

RealAudio/Video - is a popular format for continuous or streaming sound or video. Produced by Progressive Networks, RealAudio/Video allows live content to be broadcast and easily integrated into websites.

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ASP (Active Server Pages) - ASP pages are dynamic pages produced from information stored in a database. Each time the database is updated, so is your website.

PHP (Personal Home Page) - PHP is a server-side scripting language used for creating dynamic web pages, and offers excellent connectivity to many databases (and ODBC) and external libraries. PHP is Open Source.

MySQL (My Structured Query Language) - MySQL is a true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL (Structured Query Language) database server. SQL is the most popular database language in the world, with the main goals of speed, stability and ease of use.

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