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How To Get A Good ASP Web Host

Do you have a website that relies on a database? If so, you need a good ASP web host. An ASP web host is an active serve pages that allows for the maximum of efficiency for your database. Many websites have databases such as forums and shopping carts. This allows their business to run smoothly and also allows for customers to be able to hang around the website and visit often. If you have such a website that relies on constant traffic flow, you cannot afford to be without an ASP web host.

The ASP web host will act as a director for your database. It will make sure that the input information is received correctly and will store the information in the correct place on your database.

One of the first things that you need to think about is the storage space on the website. If you are not sure how much storage space you need, you should work with an ASP web host who will be able to help you with this query. You will want to make sure that you have adequate storage space for your database and also for the potential growth.

Another thing to consider is the bandwidth. The bandwidth manages the traffic through your database. If you do not have enough bandwidth, the traffic is going to get awfully slow on your database. And that is not good for your site. If you have a website that relies on a database, you need it to run fast. Talk to the ASP web host about bandwidth and make sure you have enough to keep your site running smoothly.

Reliability is a key factor when it comes to an ASP web host. You want to go with a host that will be reliable and not have the server down all of the time. When the server is down, your customers or visitors are getting an error message. Do you really want that? Stick with an ASP web host that has been in the business for a while and is known for being reliable.

And customer service is also key. You certainly do not want to be stuck with a web host that does not have decent customer service relations with their customers. Find one that will work with your business, make sure that they give you enough storage space and bandwidth and are also reliable. Look for an ASP web host that has been in the business for a while so that you can keep your website running smoothly.

PCI DSS Guide for Beginners

Developed by the major credit card companies, PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and was designed to prevent credit card fraud when retailers and other organizations process or store credit card information. It is mandatory that a business that stores, processes, or transmits credit card data be PCI DSS compliant. If they are not, then they can lose the privileges which allow them to process these transactions or be severely fined.

Here is what PCI DSS does for an organization that processes credit card transactions:

Protects cardholder data that is being transmitted through the installation of a firewall system.

Protects cardholder data that is stored within a system.

Does not allow physical access to credit card data.

Networks through which credit card data is transmitted are encrypted.

Does not allow Business need-to-know access to cardholder data.

All merchants and organizations using PCI DSS must periodically validate their compliance with the system. This is usually done via auditors. However, smaller companies that process less than 80,000 transactions annually can simply fill out a self-assessment questionnaire.

Consumer protection

The credit card has become the primary way in which many people pay for goods and services. Consumers are concerned about the security of their accounts due to fraud and high profile security breaches reported on in the news. Consumers understandably want to protect their account information in order to prevent identity theft. They want the confidence of knowing that their information is secure and this is exactly what PCI DSS does for the customer. It secures their information so that no other parties have access to their name, address, phone number, social security number, license number, and other pieces of data that can lead to strangers taking this information and using it for their own benefit.

The consumer can feel secure that PCI DSS regulates the policies, procedures, network architecture, design of the managing software, management of the security standards, and all protective measures used to protect the consumer. It is true that PCI DSS does offer protection for the business, but it is the consumer that is the target by those who wish to steal information. As a result, businesses may be attacked by individuals wishing to steal information, but having PCI DSS in place prevents access to this information.

Business protection

A business that houses and transmits large quantities of consumer credit card data can be the target of hackers wishing to gain access to that information. Without PCI DSS in place, this information would be easy to access. However, a business must employ PCI DSS or they risk losing their credit card privileges and be forced to pay large fines. They could lose a lot of business this way since a majority of consumers use credit cards to pay for their transactions.

The business is protected by using PCI DSS because they are able to accept credit cards thus increasing their profitability while simultaneously protecting businesses from disputes if fraud is ever alleged. PCI DSS compliance is designed to prevent fraud from occurring, however if a breach were ever to occur, detailed records are kept allowing businesses to resolve any dispute quickly.

PCI DSS is put in place to benefit the consumer and regulate the business in respect to credit card use. Without it, performing a transaction via credit card would be a risky transaction and that is why the credit card companies put PCI DSS in place. The consumer and the business should be able to be confident about all phases of the transaction and that is what this security system does.

Healthy Computing Tips You Must Know

Now, you may ask, what is the big threat about working on a fast and convenient machine, reclining on my armchair all day? Well, the threat would be that while you are using your machine to the optimum use for which it is made, you are in turn switching off your body muscles that need as much work! They in turn run low on performance and finally starts wasting away. Next time you try to lift any weight, or even bend down to pick your newspaper; you can end up spraining your back or neck, no jokes.

Let us discuss various types of injuries that you might encounter while working on a computer such as carpal tunnel syndrome as well as various eye discomforts. This also includes various symptoms of these ailments and their methods of treatment. Frequent computer users are especially prone to computer related injuries. This is because users tend to forget about their sitting positions and eye strain while spending long hours on their computers.

Some of the common ailments that computer users suffer from are Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD), Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tendinosis, Bursitis, and Tendinitis. All these ailments need proper care of an orthopedic MD for the right treatment at the right time. Every computer user should know the different signs and symptoms of these disorders so that they can seek prompt medical attention while they encounter with any kind of difficulty.

Your eyes also need proper care as the other parts of the body. It is the worst affected organ in case you have to sit in front of the computer for long hours. Eyestrain and Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) are the most common disorders that the eyes encounter with.
Everybody has a tendency to put on weight in the absence of balanced diet and exercise. Therefore, it is very critical that you maintain a balanced diet if your work mode is highly sedentary.

Along with these factors, if you are a regular computer user, you are sure to gain those extra inches around your belly and many other parts of your body.. If you need to shed the extra inches that you already have, what you need to do is to increase the number and frequency of certain exercises that you find useful.

So, do take note of these critical tips in order to stay healthy while spending long hours at your computer. Do not forget to take walks every 30 minutes, and do remember to keep ideal lighting while you work.

How Does PCI DSS Help Organizations?

Being PCI DSS compliant is extremely important when a business or organization accepts credit cards for their products or services. In fact, being able to accept credit cards makes an organization more profitable in a world where credit cards and debit cards are the way to pay. Credit cards allow an organization to accept payments in many different ways. A consumer can make a payment via credit card over the internet and even over the phone. This gives organizations more ways to bring in money and PCI DSS makes accepting payments even more secure.

Being PCI DSS compliant helps organizations by:

Protecting the customers personal information in order to avoid disputes that could be costly to an organization.

- Increases customer confidence in your payment methods allowing clients to feel secure when purchasing items from you.

Protecting the organization from remediation costs and other financial losses.
The organization is provided a check on their system every so often to make sure that the system they use to store and transmit their customers data is not compromised in any way.

Increases payment security which in turn makes sharing personal information such as credit card numbers less strenuous for customers.

Another thing to point out is the fact that PCI DSS continues to evolve as credit card fraud becomes more sophisticated. It is fair to say that any business that must store or transmit credit card data is a target of those wishing to access the personal information of customers for their own benefit. Thieves then use the customer information in order to use their credit and commit fraud. However, PCI DSS stays up-to-date on the latest threats in order to keep the consumer information secure. This minimizes the risk involved with the organization accepting credit card payments and minimizes the risk to customers.

Business regulation

As stated before, PCI DSS keeps businesses up-to-date with the latest security updates and threats in order to prevent security breaches from occurring. However, different organizations may have different requirements when it comes to PCI DSS. Lets take a grocery store, for instance. A grocery store is a point-of-sale transaction where credit card information does not have to be stored. The protection that PCI DSS offers is in the transmission of the data and not in data being stored since a grocery store has no reason to store credit card data.

An online store or organization, on the other hand, may store consumer data so that the consumer does not have to enter their payment information every single time they do a transaction. What this does is allow the customer to complete the transaction with a few clicks of the mouse instead of getting in their wallet and having to enter all of the information all over again. This is where PCI DSS can become especially important. If the system were to be breached, which is very rare, there could be millions of credit card numbers accessed. However, PCI DSS stays up on the most sophisticated methods that thieves use to access these credit card numbers in order to protect both the business and the consumer.

PCI DSS for better business

When a person knows that their information is secure with your organization, they are more likely to spend their money with you. PCI DSS compliance is mandatory for any business or organization that record credit card data, however, not all consumers know this. It is especially important for those consumers who give online organizations their personal information and permission to store their credit card data for future transactions. It is very important that they know their information will not be accessed or mishandled in any way.

Does My Company Need Managed Hosting?

Managed hosting offers many benefits to a business wishing to expand their operations or make themselves accessible to their customers online. By having an online presence, a business can increase their exposure to a local, national, or worldwide audience.

Nevertheless, a business that has a website is a business that can accomplish a lot more because they are allowing customers to learn more about them and gain wider access to what it is they have to offer.

There are several definitions that describe what managed hosting is. The service that is provided really depends on the needs of the business and how they handle their managed hosting. These definitions are:
A single website hosted on a web server that is supported by a managed hosting provider.

A service in which the dedicated server is managed for the business by a managed service provider.

Managed hosting manages and maintains the dedicated server.

Managed hosting is performed by a web host in addition to providing many services for the dedicated servers that they provide.

The business doesn’t have their own dedicated server, but they are using the servers that belong to the host, which means the host is maintaining shared-servers. However, the business still maintains the privacy of its website although the servers are shared and receives all of the benefits they would have and possibly more than if they had their own dedicated server.

It is easy to see that there are many different forms of managed hosting. Depending on the needs of the business the MSP provides services to, different services can be provided. Not every business has the money to hire IT professionals and train them or train existing employees to take care of their web hosting. That is why it is feasible to outsource the jobs to managed hosting. It is actually cheaper to outsource because there is a fixed monthly rate in which the company pays that usually does not add up to the monthly salary of a single employee.

What this does is maximize profit and allows the business to focus on their customers satisfaction rather than having to spend time managing the website. If a business only had time to manage their website, they would not have time to serve their customers. In the end, there would be little impact on person-to-person sales. The idea is for the website to enhance both person-to-person sales and Internet sales, if applicable.

Other benefits

There are many more benefits of managed hosting such as security and up-time. It is very important that the website stay secure so that people with malicious intentions are unable to disrupt business on your website. Malicious activity can result in many hours of trying to bring the website back up and this also results in down-time. There is nothing more aggravating than going to a website with poor up-time either because of security breaches or issues with the server.

Managed hosting performs continuous security scans and also continually checks for issues that may interfere with the sites up-time. That is why many websites that are managed by managed hosting have 100% up-time.

So if you are not sure whether or not you need managed hosting, ask yourself these 5 questions:

How would my business benefit from a website?
Does my business have the money to operate and maintain a website?
Do I have the manpower to continually monitor a website?
Do I have the money to hire and train additional employees?
How much would managed hosting cost me compared to doing it on our own?

Asking yourself these questions will put you on the road to finding the best solution for your business.