How long until my hosting account is activated?
Web hosting accounts are provisioned automatically in less than 10 minutes after signup. Every order is checked for fraud and there may be delays if our system requires we manually verify your account before accepting your order.

Can I upgrade/downgrade my hosting package any time? Are there any fees?
Yes, you can upgrade/downgrade your account to a similar product e.g. home package to business package, automatically via our biling system. There are no upgrade fees or additional charges to upgrade. There is a $15.00 administration fee to downgrade to a lower package. You will be charged the difference in package price only, calculated by our billing system.

What happens if I require more features than the highest plan available?
We do offer custom plans once you exceed the limits of the highest package we offer. Keep in mind, all our packages have been designed with very generous limits. If a custom plan is required, please contact our sales team.

Are there any hidden costs, or setup fees or contracts with web hosting packages?
There are no setup fees, hidden costs or lock-in contracts.

What happens if I exceed my monthly data transfer for the month?
We do not charge for additional monthly data transfer. Our system will email you when you have reached approx. 80% of your monthly data transfer usage. At this point, we recommend you upgrade to a more suitable package to suit your hosting requirements. If you decide not to upgrade, and your monthly data transfer reaches more than allowed limit of your hosting package, your web site will not be able to deliver your web site. The monthly data transfer limits are reset to zero on the first of each month.

How do I upload my web site? Do I provide it to MD on a disk?
No, you do not need to provide your web site to MD on a disk. You simply need to upload it using FTP. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the standard way of transferring files on the Internet. You can use an FTP program to upload your existing web site to your web space. FTP is built into many programs including Frontpage, Dreamweaver and Windows Explorer. You can also download any FTP program from the Internet to transfer your files.

FTP Programs:

Core FTP Lite (windows, free): http://www.coreftp.com
WS FTP (windows): http://www.wsftp.com
Smart FTP (windows): http://www.smartftp.com
Cute FTP (windows and mac): http://www.cuteftp.com
Captain FTP (mac): http://www.captainftp.com

We have tutorial movies available to show you how to use some of the above FTP programs available here. If your program is not listed, you can still watch the movies, as the general process is the same in all programs.

Do you allow sites to advertise for money on their web site with banners, ads, etc?
Yes, we allow sites to have commercial advertisements and banners. We do not place our own banners or advertisements on your web site.

Do you have a large download file I can test your speed with?
Yes, we have a large file available for download here.

Do you have any examples of sites that you host?
Yes, we have a list of sites we host on different servers available here.

What operating systems do your servers use?
Our servers currently run Windows Server 2003 (Web, Standard and Enterprise), Redhat Linux Enterprise Version 3, 4 and CentOS 4 (Linux).

Do you host pornographic web sites?
No, we do not allow pornographic web sites, mainly because it lowers the overall security of our servers for all users. We do however allow web sites with legal, adult content e.g. erotic stories, online stores, etc.

Is GST (goods and sales tax) included in the advertised price?
GST is included in the advertised price. Our order form will charge GST for Australian customers as required by law.

Can I host my friends on my hosting?
Yes, you can host your friends.

Do you offer SSH (shell access) or terminal services (remote desktop)?
MD does not offer SSH or terminal services access on our shared hosting plans, as it lowers the security of our servers for all users. MD has provided many alternatives to using these protocols, such as PHPMyAdmin for editing your databases and a File Manager to give you complete control over your files. In a modern hosting environment these tools are very rarely required.

If you require SSH and/or terminal services, we recommend a dedicated server from MD, which provides full server control and access.

Can I password protect directories?
Yes you can password protect directorys with multiple usernames and passwords, from within your web hosting control panel. We have tutorial movies to assist you available here.

What are sub-domains?
Sub domains are domain names which point to a subdirectory within your main hosting account and can be accessed by http://subdomain.maindomain.com. Sub domains are available to create through your control panel (check to see if your hosting package includes them). Subdomains are useful if you want to create a sub-web site, like a 'Customer Support web site', with its very own web address. Sub domains are created through your control panel.

You are only limited by web space for the number of web pages you wish to host. The business package for example includes 3000MB of web space, which is a lot of pages, movies, etc.

Can I host multiple domain names? What are the add-on domains?
Selected hosting packages can support multiple domain name hosting at no additional cost. (The budget and email hosting packages do not support multiple domain name hosting). Addon domains allow you to host multiple domain names from one hosting account, utilising the extra space and bandwidth available on your main hosting account. Addon domains point to a subdirectory within your main hosting account. From a web user's perspective, an add-on domain functions just like any other domain name, and the user will not know the site is hosted from your main account. The browser's address bar will show 'http://www.add-on-domain.com' (no reference to your main domain name). Addon domains are created through your control panel (check to see if your hosting package includes them).