The first thing to choose which server operating system you want to use for the web hosting. The three most popular and most common are UNIX (including all variations), Windows (NT and IIS), and Macintosh OS. Windows from Microsoft, and MacIntosh from Apple, are less secure and less stable than UNIX.

UNIX has been around the longest, and hosts the greatest number of web sites. It is a powerful multi-user, multitasking operating system originally developed by AT&T. UNIX is the most stable and secure platform for web servers available today. UNIX is an excellent choice for web servers. Unix is often less expensive than Windows.

Windows hosting means hosting of the web services that will runs on the Windows operating system.

You should choose Windows hosting if you plan to use ASP (Active Server Pages) as server scripting, or if you plan to use a database like Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server.

Windows hosting is also develop your web site using Microsoft Front Page.

Active Server Pages (ASP) is also server-side scripting technology developed by Microsoft corporation.

With ASP you can create dynamic web pages by putting script code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser. Both Visual Basic and JavaScript can be used.

Active Server pages is a standard component in Windows 95,98, 2000, and XP. It can be activated on all computers running Windows operating system.

Java Server Pages is also a server-side technology which is developed by Sun Microsystem.

Since JSP uses Java, the technology is not restricted to any server-specific platform.

Just similar to the PHP is also a server-side scripting language which allows you to create dynamic web pages by putting script code inside your HTML pages. The code is executed by the web server before the page is returned to the browser.

FrontPage is a very popular web site design tool developed by Microsoft corporation.

FrontPage allows users to develop a web site without any deep knowledge of web development. Most of the Windows hosting solutions support FrontPage server extensions for users that use FrontPage to develop their web site.

If you plan to use FrontPage, you should look for a Windows hosting solution only.