Host A Website from Your Computer in 3 Easy Steps and Takes Less Than an Hour

By using Ghost-IP you don't have to worry about registering (and paying for) a DNS name or paying a company to host your site, often with expensive setup charges, severe size and bandwidth limitations. And by using the new "Click to Add to Your Favorites" feature you or your friends can go directly to your website, even if your IP address has changed.

If you have a dedicated Internet connection, you can have a Web site without limitations and without cost. You can have access to almost limitless storage, streaming WebCams, any type of scripting you choose, and customized usage reports. You can have all this functionality by hosting your site from your home PC.

If you want your site to be available 24 * 7, your computer has to be constantly connected to the Internet. Constant connection isn't a problem if you have DSL or a cable modem. These connections offer plenty of bandwidth, and your site might be faster than it was at a cut-rate hosting provider.

Hosting a Web site isn't as hard as you might think. In fact, if you already know how to create a Web site on someone else's Web server, you can have your own Web server running in less than an hour. Free software is available, so you won't have to spend a dime.

Getting Started

(1) Complete the installation and registration of Ghost-IP

(2) Set your router to forward port 80. This site( http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm) has excellent step by step instructions for setting up port forwarding on most routers. If you are running a software firewall like ZoneAlarm, say yes if it asks permission for your web server.

(3) Install a webserver like Apache (free) on the computer you want to use as your server. There are several packages that will automatically install a complete, fully functional webserver on your machine. My personal favorite is XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html), a free, open license installer that sets up the Apache server, php programing language and the mySql database giving you everything you need to run a quality web server.

That's it. Once you have performed these 3 easy steps you are ready to run a game server, photo sharing or file sharing library, blog server, internet radio station or TV station. See our Links section for information on all kinds of free software packages to get you running the server of your dreams.