How to easily host a perfect website on your computer

After going through the steps I am going to put you through in this article, you should be able to host your personal site on a local server on PC or computer for free. But the question now is why would you need to host your website on a local server on your computer? As matter of fact to for me such thing is done for the following purposes

1. It is a very safe way of sharing private large filled with friends and family members.
2. It is a also a great tool for hosting a small website.
3. Hosting is free.

Anyway, this is not a good idea for anyone who intends to host a big website with high traffic rate, because this type of hosting can only endure less spikes and traffic on like the paid type. Going by the simple and few steps below I strongly believe that you should be able to easily host your website by yourself on your PC or computer.

1*  first and foremost you need to download an HFS (http file server) which is available here http://www.snapfiles.com/get/hfs.html

2*  the next step after you are done downloading HFS file on your PC then double-click the hfs.exe file that you have downloaded. If the Windows Firewall  on your pc is  enabled you will be prompted with a security warning. All you need to do is to click on“Unblock” to allow HFS to pass easily through the firewall.

3* This is were the trick has to come in. HFS's default port normally port 80. But in any case if your ISP blocks port 80 then all you need to do is to change it to something else. And to do this you must turn HFS off, This is done by clicking the "on" button at the upper left corner of your computer. After you are done turn the HFS back on. Then if you are behind a router or firewall then you will have to set up what is called port forwarding. If you need any assistance about that click here to get help http://www.portforward.com/. Here you can choose the type of router you have and then choose the program you want to set up port forwarding for such as Http File Server-HFS. It will take you through all the necessary and exact steps to set up a perfect forwarding.

4*  the step to take now is to go and test your settings to verify if it correct and working fine by clicking on the“self test" button on the menu bar. If it is successful then your settings are correct. After this you can now point your web browser to your IP address to see files or pages you are sharing on it.

5* Now it is onto how assign a domain name for your website which I am going to tell below.
Since you do not have any DNS (domain name system) server running on your PC or computer, you will surely need to get DNS service from somewhere. To get this done we are going to use a service which is called DynDNS to make it possible. DynDNS offers a variety of subdomain names for you to use on your website for free. You can as well do this by going to https://www.dyndns.com/account/entrance/ to create a DynDNS account. After creating the account then login with the account you have created then click on the services button. If you have a dynamic IP address that changes, click on "Dynamic DNS" and then "Add Dynamic DNS". Here you will choose a subdomain and domain name then go ahead and add the host. By so doing you don't need to give out IP address instead you will you the domain name you have just set up. And if what you want is to  use your own domain name, DynDNS offers a custom DNS service for this as well for a yearly fee.

6* The last but not the lest step now is to download the DynDNS updater by going tohttps://www.dyndns.com/support/clients/. This helps you to automatically update your dynamic DNS account in case if your external IP address changes. By so doing you are able to host your personal website on you PC or computer. But should in case you want to change the default page that comes up when you browse your site, right click on the little icon that looks like a house in the Virtual File System. Then you click on "Default file mask…" and type the name of the file that you want to be served with whenever  someone browses to your website such as index.html. If you would like HFS to start working automatically when you log into Windows, put a shortcut to it under Start  Programs  Startup. Also be sure to save your Virtual File System settings so HFS will remember the files you are hosting next time you open it up. If you have any more questions check out HFS feel free to contact us at the contact us form or by email. Enjoy and flex your website on your computer as a host.