Depending on which operating system to go with depends on your needs. If you need to support Microsoft products such as ASP, MS Access, or VBScript, then Windows hosting would be better. Furthermore, if you are comfortable with IIS and do not have the time to understand how UNIX works, Windows hosting would again be a better choice.

There are some things to remember.First of all, just because you use Windows at home does not mean you should use Windows hosting. The two are completely different, and having a Windows system at home will not affect your ability to communicate with a UNIX server.

Secondly, Linux is much more common with web hosts due to its superior stability and because it is free. Since it is free, Linux hosting is usually cheaper than Windows. Just because it's free does not mean it's not as good - Linux is an excellent product too.

Virtual web hosting refers to the process of running multiple "virtual" web servers on a single physical host computer. Using this technique, a single computer can host thousands of independent web sites. Commercial web hosting service providers often use this technique to allow better manageability, efficiency and scalability of their service infrastructure.

Most virtual web hosting applications rely on virtual DNS resolution, so that a specific domain name (such as a customer's own registered domain name) may be associated with each independent virtual web server. This can be achieved through either name-based or IP-based virtual web hosting.

Name-based web hosting is a technique that can be used when providing virtual web hosting services. Each web site that is hosted on a single machine shares a single public IP address.

All HTTP GET requests received by this web server are answered according to the domain name supplied by the requesting client, enabling the web server to differentiate between multiple virtual sites on the one IP address.

IP-based hosting is a technique that can be used when providing virtual web hosting services. Each web site that is hosted on a single machine is given its own separate public IP address. The HTTP GET requests are resolved by using the IP address instead of the name.

Operating system limitations may also limit the maximum number of IP addresses that can be assigned to a single machine, especially if separate log files are used.