That is the reason I moved on from free hosting - they have every right to delete your stuff at will, since you're not paying for their services.
First I went with a small hosting place and got my domain from them but they went down and died a while ago... Annoying.
So I did research and tried one of the top name's in hosting Pair.com and they were helpful etc. but I couldn't get used to their panel system and database management etc... And I didn't want to have to spend the little time I have trying to work things out (a different panel system also meant complications with transferring my stuff...). But they were great people, quickly responded to my cancellation and refunded me. So I still think they're a good place, just I was really short on time so I just wanetd somewhere I could transfer my stuff quickly and get on with it...
Currently I'm with clook.net who I also researched as being a good solid place and I haven't been dissapointed.
I think I got my account in January. And I have had zero problems... No need for support because I've not had anything to say. Just good solid service. They use the same easy to use panel system that I'd gotten used to so it was a painless transfer for me. Not noticed any downtime or database downtime that I got with my first host.
As for domain, I reccomend using GoDaddy.com for that instead of wherever you might buy hosting from. They seem to be the top place to go for domain registration. Also... if you aren't someone who's keen on having your information online (which happens with domain registration using WhoIs lookup... it's so that people or companies can contact you if they want to offer money for your domain name), you can ask them for it to be private. In which case they'll just put their own information.
As you can see my personal information doesn't come up on a WhoIs lookup:
http://xwhois.com/default.asp?domain=crossrealms.net
When looking for hosting by the way, you may notice there's different types...
Shared Hosting is most likely what you want. Which is your basic hosting account.
You can also get Reseller type accounts which basically is like becoming a web-hosting company where you can actively host other websites, although some people would get such an account because of the more advanced control over things.
A good place to go for information on webhosting, and this is where I did my research, is:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com
If you find the name of a webhost and want to know more about them just use the forum Search at that place and see whetehr people have discussed it there.
Best of luck.
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Alien 9 / Alien Nine Unofficial Website - Since November 2003 --- -- -