Congrats to our 10 winners! Please send your No-IP username to ngoguen-giveaway(at)no-ip(dot)com. Stay tuned for more fun giveaways! Also, check back to our blog weekly for helpful articles and tips!

The 10 winners are:

1. Josh Sigstad “No-IP works great for free domain redirection!”
2. Benedict Acosta “Simple service with unlimited possibilities… That’s what No-IP can provide.”
3. Mikael Eriksson “Been using No-IP for many years, I’ve yet to have a single problem with it. Works Awesome!”
4. Jesse S “No-IP is awesome! I can access my entire computer from anywhere in the world at any time, hassle free.”
5. Rajat “The services provided by No-IP are just too good.”
6. Nico Verhelst “Absolutely the best! I’ve been using it every day and never had any problems!”
7. Paul Stephens “I love the simplicity of the services that No-IP offers. My website is always available & I have backup mail redundancy….. Simply Awesome. Thanks No-IP.”
8. Sal “The fastest and easiest service. Ever.”
9. James  “No-IP is fast and no hassle.”
10. David Z “Very useful and easy to use! Thanks!”

Microsoft recently released a statement that there has been a major security exploit found in varying versions of the Remote Desktop Protocol.  This exploit allows attackers to remotely implement code execution.

Excerpt from the Microsoft release:

“The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sends a sequence of specially crafted RDP packets to an affected system.”

Since Remote Desktop isn’t automatically enabled, you are not at risk if you do not use Remote Desktop. However, if you do use Remote Desktop, you should download the necessary patches immediately to mitigate your risk.  If you have automatic update enabled, the update will automatically download and install. If you do not, take a few minutes to update now. Check out these instructions on updating your software.

Thanks for being a fan of No-IP on Facebook! We really appreciate your continued support and feedback! To win, simply leave a review of No-IP in the comments.

We will be giving away No-IP Gear including,  t-shirts, No-IP Enhanced, free domain registrations and a bunch of sweet No-IP stickers randomly. We will announce the 10 winners here, on our blog, Wednesday morning.

Enjoy and Viel Glück! (Good Luck!)

So, you have finally decided to register your very own domain. Maybe you are starting your own company, or you just want a place on the web to call your own. Follow these tips for choosing the right domain!

1. Easy to Remember. With an easy to remember domain, your customers, friends, blog readers, etc will be able to easily reach your site without much thought. For individuals, a great place to start is simply your very own name.

2. If your domain is already taken, don’t fret! You can always register other TLDs instead of the .com version… and if you really had your heart set on a .com, think of other creative names. Don’t limit yourself, the options are endless.

3. Keep it short and sweet. Domains have the ability to have up to 63 characters, but that does not mean you should. Shorter domains are easier to type and remember.

4. Be different. Don’t choice a domain that has the possibility of having a copyright infringement. (i.e. www.taco-bell.com) Check out

5. Say your domain out loud and see how it sounds. If your domain rolls off the tongue and is easily understood, you have a winner. Your domain will be the main focus of marketing and sales, so this is major. If you can’t easily pronounce it and you have yourself and others saying “what did you say? or “how do you spell that?” then choose another.

6. And last but not least, beware of the domains that read like the following:
www.amigonefuneralhome.com
www.Actionpaintballsac.com
www.childrenslaughter.com
Leave your questions and comments below! As always, share this on Facebook and Twitter!

Did you know that we are now the World’s Largest Free Dynamic DNS Provider? We are proud to say that we have been offering reliable, free dynamic DNS since 1999. Our Free Dynamic DNS  includes not just 1, but 3 entirely FREE hostnames, no commitment required. Our free hostnames even come with a bunch of cool domains to choose from like zapto.org, servebeer.com and many more! We hate to toot our own horn, but BEEP – BEEP.

What can you do with those 3 free hostnames though?

1. Love to play videogames? Play with easily with your friends by setting up your own video game server.

2. Have a pet, or someone at your home while you are at work or away? Setup a web camera and easily monitor your home remotely via the web. With DNS you will be able to point your dynamic IP address (one that changes and is not static) to an easy to remember URL to reach your camera.

3. Run your own FTP or email server from your home even if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) blocks port 80.

4. Access your computer remotely. Need to access your computer from work or while you are away? Access your computer even if your dynamic IP address has changed recently.

So, instead of spending tons of money a year on a static IP address, or paying for a bunch of extra features you don’t need with the other guys, why not just sign up for a free dynamic DNS account with No-IP? Sign Up today! Need more hostnames than 3 or would you like DNS on your very own domain? Check out our Enhanced DNS or our Plus DNS services as well!

I recently got back from the NANOG 54 (North American Network Operators’ Group) Conference in San Diego. It was a 4 day long conference filled with tons of information and collaborations for making the Internet a better place. It was a great opportunity to mingle with industry insiders and learn some new network techniques.

There was information on emerging trends on DDoS attacks, the controversial take down of Kim Dotcom, and how it had little to no effect on slowing down file sharing. (If they can’t get it one place, they will find it somewhere else) and we also got into a pretty heated debate about DNSSEC.

All in all it was a great time and it will help us improve our services we provide to you and help us stay as a leader in the DNS industry.

Cheers!

We recently got a question on Facebook about advanced records like TXT, SPF, DKIM and others. So, here you go!

TXT Records: Text records are used to describe a host or a DNS entry. You can enter anything you want as long as it is 255 characters or less.  An example of this can be found by using dig.

dig google.com TXT
that shows Googles SPF record, which is in a TXT record..

;; ANSWER SECTION:
google.com.        3600    IN    TXT    “v=spf1 include:_netblocks.google.com ip4:216.73.93.70/31 ip4:216.73.93.72/31 ~all”

The TXT record of google.com is this,”v=spf1 include:_netblocks.google.com ip4:216.73.93.70/31 ip4:216.73.93.72/31 ~all” which is actually their SPF record.

Which brings us to SPF records or(Sender Policy Framework) which are used to prevent email forgery and help identify spam. To create an SPF record on No-IP.com, just manage your TXT record and use the SPF wizard to create an entry. (Only available on Enhanced and Plus DNS)

DKIM records or domain key records are used for email to verify the identity of the sending server to help cut down on spam. Want to add a DKIM record to your host? (Only available on Enhanced and Plus DNS) From the ‘Hosts/Redirects’ tab select the host you’d like to modify and then click on the ‘DKIM’ link within the Advanced Records section.

SRV records: An SRV record describes services offered by a host. It defines the location of a server (port number and hostname).  They are commonly used in SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol protocols.

Additional questions or comments? Leave them below! As always, Click LIKE to share on Facebook.

One of the most common issues our new users have when setting up their No-IP account is port forwarding.  Port Forwarding is a very simple task, but every router manufacturer does it differently, so for the best resource of information, you should check out your router manufacturer’s website for detailed information. You can check out this article if you are still having trouble:

A Lesson on Opening and Forwarding Ports on your Router

After you have successfully forwarded your ports, you will want to check to see if they are forwarded correctly. You can use this tool to see if your ports are open correctly: www.portchecktool.com.

This tool will check for open ports and see if there are any services responding on that port. It comes in handy when troubleshooting your network.  Specifically, it helps in checking to see if your ISP blocks certain ports such as HTTP port 80 and SMTP port 25 (commonly blocked by major broadband residential ISPs).

Additionally, if those ports are blocked, No-IP has a solution that will get around this block. Users with ISPs that block the standard HTTP port can use the port 80 redirect feature available to all users. This can be found in the member section when managing your host. No-IP also offers Mail Reflector and Alternate-Port SMTP services for those with ISPs that block inbound and outbound SMTP port 25 respectively.

Keep in mind when using this tool you will need to open up the Port Check Tool website from the same WAN IP address that you wish to check for open ports.

Questions or comments? Leave them below and as always, share this post on Facebook and Twitter

At the end of the month, No-IP.com will be transitioning our managed mail services, POP3/IMAP and Mail Forwarding, to our new email infrastructure provider.  After the transition, No-IP Anti-Spam ECR will no longer be offered as an email feature.

Although Anti-Spam ECR will be no longer available, we are confident that our new email provider’s stringent spam rules will cut down on unwanted email. Our engineers will migrate your ECR black and white lists automatically in order to save you time and hassle.

We will be issuing a prorated service credit to your account for any remaining time you have left on your ECR service.

If you are an administrator for this domain and have other clients who are currently using ECR, please take this time to notify your users.

If you need any guidance or have any questions, feel free to contact us here or 775-853-1883. As always, thank you for being a valued No-IP customer. We appreciate your business.

-No-IP Mail Team