Cheap Windows hosting

If you need cheap and reliable Microsoft Windows hosting, you have many, many services to choose from. How do you make your choice of a particular Windows hosting service?

To get a common misconception out of the way first, remember that the operating system you use on your desktop computer or your laptop has nothing to do with the operating system your hosting service will run. You can upload all the files you create on your Windows PC on a UNIX or Linux host, and most people do exactly this. Even files created using Microsoft Frontpage will run on UNIX servers, because they all have the extensions installed.

The reasons for going with Windows hosting are usually to do with the availability of .net, Visual Basic and ASP technologies. If you require these, you should select Windows hosting. In addition, if you need a MS-SQL database, or an Access database for your site, then a Windows hosting plan is a good idea.

When looking through the offers for cheap Windows web hosting, what are the features you should be looking for?

In addition to the normal requirements, such as reasonable disk space, high bandwidth and good support, you need to look at the uptime for the host's servers, if it is available. Windows servers traditionally have needed a lot more intervention by systems staff to keep them running smoothly, and if a cheap Windows hosting provider hides their uptime percentage, they may not have the staff needed to guarantee an acceptable uptime. Do you want to risk this?

If you definitely need Windows hosting, your technical and software requirements are likely to be very specific, and so support is critical: many cheap windows hosting services do not offer 24/7 telephone support at all. In this case, you are relying on email to get answers. Would you accept this in any other line of business?

If you need SQL, does the Windows host offer any automated backups? The cheapest may not, and you don't want to have to restore your database manually, ever.

There will be other issues specific to your own hosting requirements. Our advice: go through them all before you sign up with the first cheap windows hosting company you find.