Free and reliable PHP and MySQL web hosting

 

 

I have tried a lot of free web hosts when I was learning WordPress and other open source CMS applications.  From year 2005 to till date I have tested more than 15 free web hosts.  Free web hosts normally put their advertisements on top of the site to cover the costs they incur on free web hosting, which makes the site appear somewhat ugly.  The ads occupy the large space.  Another disadvantage using free hosts is that we cannot question them if it goes down.  Some free hosts go down even for weeks.

 

After testing these free hosts for more than six months, I chose FreeHostia as the best free web host.  I have been using it for more than three years without a problem.  I have been building mini websites and blogs for my customers using FreeHostia.  FreeHostia offers an ad-free Linux hosting for free.  It has the following features:

• Apache, PHP, MySQL, PHPMyAdmin, and Perl
• Hosting for 2 domain and 10 subdomains
• Data storage of 250 MB
• Monthly bandwidth of 5 GB
• 1 MySQL database (10 MB DB space)
• 1 FTP account & web-based file manager
• 3 POP3 accounts with SpamAssassin protection & Webmail
• FrontPage Extensions
• Free 24/7 technical support and ticketing system

Review and sign up for the free hosting here.

The downside of FreeHostia is 10 MB limit of MySQL DB.  When you reach that limit, you can either move to their paid hosting plan, which costs $1.95 per month and upgrades your MySQL database size to 25 MB or to a better and cheap paid web hosting like DraemHost, which removes all limits.  If you are planning to install WordPress on it, don’t forget to install the plug-in Revision Control, else your database will be filled up too fast because of the new feature called “Post Revisions.”

CutePDF – Add a PDF printer

CutePDF is a free software to create PDFs from any Windows application. It installs a printer driver and shows up as a virtual printer when you print from any application. While giving the Print command (Ctrl+P), select the “CreatePDF Writer” as printer and it will create a professional quality PDF. I have been using it for years and helps me a lot.  It has endless possibilities.   I downloaded a free invoice template from Microsoft Office Templates.  I use it to prepare invoices entering all the details of customer, particulars, and bill amount and export it as PDF just clicking the “Print” button and selecting the “CutePDF Writer” as printer.  I can export the Wikipedia pages from browser as PDF files for storing.  I can print PDF from any application let it be Excel, Power Point, Firefox, medical dictionary, etc. etc. and it goes on.

CutePDF supports Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 (x86/x64). It requires PS2PDF converter such as Ghostscript.

Read more about it: http://cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/Writer.asp and get it at: http://download.cutepdf.com/download/CuteWriter.zip

Online Free SMS Applications – With Address Book & Reminders

I used to use Krify SMS for all my free SMS needs, but as the time is passing on, new SMS sites have been coming up with lot of features. So, here is the review of two best applications I have been using for sometime. They also offer address book facility, so that you can store all your friends and family’s mobile numbers and just by typing few words, you can retrieve just like what you do while sending SMS on your mobile.

1. 160by2.com

This is really a nice fast-loading site with Ajax touch. It offers address book as well as reminder facility. It also comes with predefined quick SMS templates. It sends the message within few seconds. It allows the users to send message up to 80 characters and they append an ad to the message sent using the rest of 80 characters. That is why, they chose 160by2 as their site’s name. 160 characters shared by user and the site.

They also offer features like address book and alerts. By using alerts, you can set reminders to be sent to your mobile. You can separate the alerts into three different predefined sections Birthday Alerts, Reminders, and Anniversary Alerts. This is my favorite option is 160by2. You can also create groups and send message at one click via web access or by sending from your mobile to a designated 160by2 member, which is available in the section >Contacts>My Groups

2. SMS Me – Orkut Application

 

SMS Me is also a free SMS application which is available as an application in Orkut. To start sending free SMS using this application, first you need to add this application in your profile. Click on the “Add Apps” on the left side right below your avatar. It will show a number of applications available to add. If your browsing Orkut in India, then the application will be in the second place right below the Slapster.

It also has address book facility and if your friend is also using this application in Orkut, then you can send SMS at one click without needing to remember his/her number.