Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
May 28, 2006

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Volume 1, Number 50 — Sunday, May 28, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

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Find and Repair Windows Registry Errors and Problems
Scan, Repair and Optimize your Windows Registry with XP Repair Pro
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User-Friendly License: One purchase covers all your home PC's.

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4.  Domain Names and Email Addresses

Reader and subscriber Jack Carmena wrote this week to ask about domain names and email addresses. I realized that, although I had written about domain names before, a more basic explanation and their relationship to email addresses and Internet computers could be important for many other readers.

Thank goodness that Jack asked...

Why do some email addresses end in ".com" and some in ".net'?
What dictates that?
Thanks,
Jack Carmena

Thanks for the question, Jack. Now I have an article !

The email addresses are a function of the domain name of the ISP the emailer is using or, perhaps, of the domain name registration they have purchased (such as my terryscomputertips.com).

.com and .net are two examples of the portion of the domain name that is called the "high level domain."

There are a number of high level domains. The most common, for U.S. users of the Internet, are .com, .net and .org. There are also .gov and .mil that are U.S.-specific.

Originally, .com were restricted to commercial entities, .net restricted to entities providing networking services, .org restricted to non-profit organizations, .edu to accredited educational organizations, .mil to U.S. military and .gov to U.S. government. The last three, .edu, .mil and .gov, are still restricted in this way. Anyone, even people not in the U.S., can now register .com, .net and .org addresses.

Countries, including the U.S., also have a country-specific high level domain. Most of the time, the two-letter abbreviations are the ones you would expect for the country's name -- in their language. Here are a few examples:
.us = U.S.A.
.uk = United Kingdom
.de = Germany
.fr = France
.es = Spain

Outside the US, 3-level domains are common for email -- they still like to keep the .com designation, although some abbreviate it .co. In the U.K., for example, you might have an email address that ended @googlemail.co.uk.

On the other hand, sometimes the country names conflict when they are abbreviated, so we end up with some weird high-level domains, too. Examples are:
.is = Iceland
.il = Israel

You can see the full list of country codes for internet domains at the Internet Assigned Number Authority.

I have several domains, including TerrysComputerTips.com, TerryStockdale.com, TerrysHomeTheater.com, TheNextWindow.com (my general blog), and TerrysCoffee.com.

Notice how TerrysCoffee.com simply drops the visitor to a specific page (the beginning of the coffee section) in my TerryStockdale.com domain. Depending on which domain registrar I use (I use GoDaddy.com), you can set it to do just like this or you can even

Now, what does the "www" mean? The third-level of the domain name specifies a particular computer in the domain. "www." is the accepted standard for the web server, although many web servers also answer to the domain name without the "www."

Other web servers, if the web designer wishes, may answer to other values in this third-level of the domain name. This position is called the "subdomain." Subdomains often use the same server, but that's not required. The web master (if he/she has access to the DNS records for their domain) can set the DNS of a subdomain to point to any IP address that they wish.

In other words, the "fully quallified domain name" (abbreviated FQDN) is: subdomain.domainname.highleveldomain

My computer tips blog is an example of a subdomain. My Terry's Computer Tips Blog is found at http://blog.terryscomputertips.com. My blog.terryscomputertips.com subdomain is actually running on the same computer as www.terryscomputertips.com .

Another example is the webmail server for Cox.net -- http://webmail.cox.net .

So, you may see email addresses that have any domain name, whether it has 2 parts, 3 parts, 4 parts, etc.

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5.  Domain Registrations | Register a Domain Name

One of the most important decisions for any company — or any individual — wishing to do business via the Internet is to pick and register a domain name.

Your domain name will give your prospective Internet or email client their very first impression — for better or for worse.

Whether you intend to do business through the Internet or through a "brick and mortar" store, you need to select and register your domain name.

Why you might ask?

Where is the first place many people turn in order to find information? The Internet.

Even if you don't use the Internet for a web site, you will have a much more professional email address if you have something like "sales@mybusiness.com" instead of mybusiness@aol.com, mybusiness@yahoo.com, mybusiness@hotmail.com, or whomever is your choice for a free or cheap email address.

So, how much is a domain name? It's cheap.

I buy my domain names at GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy's prices are amazingly low — usually $8.95 per year for .com. Their prices for .net, .org and .us are also extremely competitive.

As with most domain registrars, GoDaddy also offers web hosting services, although you don't need to use their web hosting services in order to use their domain registration services.

In my case, all my web sites are hosted at Powweb

Although most domain registrars will sell you an "email only" package with a limited number of email addresses, they may want a prohibitive $10 or $20 per month for the privilege of getting 10 email addresses. And, that's in addition to the cost of the domain.

On the other hand, most web hosting companies also provide huge numbers of email addresses for your domain (Powweb let's me have up to 650 addresses) as a part of their regular hosting package.

With Powweb, I have an annual charge for my whole web hosting and email package — and it is only $93.24. That's much, much better than paying $10 per month for email only!

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6.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

For your anti-virus needs (and, yes, you do have anti-virus needs!) I recommend anti-virus software from Trend Micro, Panda Software, Kaspersky or ESET.

Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 offers anti-virus, anti-spam, and firewall for your PC and PDA. TrendMicro provides an easy-to-use product that is from one of the big names in the anti-virus world.

• SAVE $9.95 when you purchase Trend Micro Anti-Spyware and PC-cillin Internet Security 2006.
• Save 60% when you Buy PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 - 3 User package.

Panda Software's Platinum 2006 Internet Security offers anti-virus, anti-spam, firewall and more.

The Kaspersky Personal Security Suite is a program package specifically developed to provide comprehensive protection from all types of malicious programs for personal computers running under the Windows operating system (Win98, WinMe, 2000, XP). This solution prevents the infiltration of viruses, worms, spyware, adware and other malicious programs via potential penetration paths, provides protection against unauthorized access attempts, and includes anti-spam components. Kaspersky claims the industry leading virus detection rates and the fastest virus updates. Kaspersky offers a 30-day free trial on its products.

Each of the above companies also offers a stand-alone anti-virus program.

I'm often asked about several large, popular anti-virus or anti-virus combination packages. Yes, I realize that they are not in my recommendation list, although I could easily use referral links for them, too.

My personal choice is the ESET's small, fast NOD32 anti-virus program, which offers a FREE 30-day evaluation license. I consider NOD32 to be the cream of the crop in anti-virus protection. Unlike some of the others, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, including updates to the program as well as to the anti-virus signatures.

Read more about anti-virus programs on my web site.

Firewall Software

If you get either the PC-cillin Internet Security or the Panda Software Internet Security package above, you are covered from a firewall point of view.

While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall, don't count on the Windows XP firewall to provide your needs. You need a much better firewall than the Windows XP firewall.

The Windows XP firewall does not control outbound communications originating from your computer -- and you should want to have control if adware/trojans/spyware or even commercial products want to talk to the Internet.

Do you want Windows Media Player to call home every time you play something? It does! Do you use the Search function in Windows Explorer to find things on your hard drive? Did you know that every time you search, Windows Explorer talks to Microsoft -- I didn't know that when I ran ZoneAlarm, but the Kerio Firewall flags that for me, and I can stop or allow it to happen.

Many other programs call home when you run them, too.

If you don't get either of the above multi-function packages, I recommend my choice for a firewall program is Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall. You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall free for 30 days -- after that, you can register it or it loses the special functions of the paid version. Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall is $19.95 for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.

You may prefer ZoneAlarm Pro or the ZoneAlarm free firewall as alternatives — I used to...

Read more about the need for firewalls in The Internet Versus You articles.

Anti-Spyware / Anti-Adware Software

CounterSpy, from Sunbelt Software, has received many kudos from the computer press for its always-running and periodic full system scans. I use CounterSpy on my notebook (my main computer!), my wife's computer and my son's computer. I highly recommend this program.

Panda Software's Platinum 2006 Internet Security also includes anti-spyware. Anti-spyware is one situation where more than one scanner actually is better. Only let one program provide the real-time, always-running protection, but doing periodic scans with two different programs are a better solution to adware & spyware than only one scanner. No one anti-spyware program catches everything. Also, different companies differ in their criteria for classifying programs as adware and/or spyware.

Anti-spam Software

In today's Internet world, the question is not "if" you will get spam, but when and how much. I'm changing my recommendation on anti-spam software. I use and now I recommend PopFile as my first choice.

PopFile uses a different approach to spam than some other programs — it does nothing to reduce spam. It is designed as an email classification tool — you train it to recognize spam and any other type of email that you want to classify. These classifications can help you sort your emails into appropriate folders in your email program.

Mailwasher Pro is my first choice to handle spam before it ever gets into your computer's Inbox. Mailwasher Pro uses on-line Realtime Black Lists mail servers sending spam recently, "training" by you of what you think is spam, and your own "friends" and "blacklist" lists. Mailwasher Pro can even bounce spam messages, as if your email address was not valid, although the usefulness and appropriateness of this is questionable. There is s free version called "Mailwasher," but it omits a lot of the functions of Mailwasher Pro that I consider essential for that purpose — such as previewing the emails safely before they ever get to your email inbox.

Cable/DSL Router

If you have a cable modem or a DSL modem, you need to have another layer of inexpensive protection between you and the Internet. A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily request your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not initiate a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.

Even if you only have one computer to connect to your cable or DSL modem, I recommend that you purchase and use a cable/DSL router because of the protection it can give you against attempts to attack through some flaws in Windows itself.

A router isolates your local network, whether it is only one computer or several, from the Internet by actually making it a separate network. The router gets the "public" IP address and handles all your outbound communications and the responses to them. But, it blocks computers on the Internet side from being able to initiate communications with your computer! This will prevent you from falling prey to many worms that try to attack security holes in Windows itself.

My pick is the Linksys WRT54G 802.11g wireless router (Amazon.com or Buy.com ). If you don't want wireless now, or at any time, the function is easily turned off in the router's menu. You may be able to find a wired (that is, non-wireless) Linksys router on sale. If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR42 wired router (Amazon.com or Buy.com). Either way, based on my experience, I recommend Linksys routers.

Read more on my Wireless Security web page.

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WinClear - Internet History Cleaner

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Volume 1, Number 50 — Sunday, May 28, 2006
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Copyright © 2006 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.