Labs

Not many companies offer a choice of Linux or Windows hosting in the same package, so the eS Silver offering from eHosting was a pleasant surprise. It comes with 2.5GB of storage space for your website and a monthly bandwidth limit of 25GB, which can be spread over up to 10 different domains, although only one registration comes free with the package, and each additional hosted domain costs an extra £1 per month. Alternatively, you can use the five included sub-domains.

You can upload your site using the single included FTP account, from the online file manager or direct from FrontPage if you have the Windows version of the

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package. There are no website creation aids, so it's not for complete novices, and eS Silver lacks the add-on applications and tools that are commonly available with other packages. You can create up to 100 separate email accounts and access them either through webmail or from a POP3/IMAP client such as Microsoft Outlook.

The Plesk-based control panel is easy to navigate and usefully integrates your account and domain details in a system of tabs. There's also a tab for upgrades, which makes them easy to access when you need them, but it doesn't constantly prompt you to buy more services. Most of the other services could learn from this approach.

The Linux version of the package supports PHP, Perl and Python scripts, and the Windows version adds ASP and ASP.NET functionality. The Windows version also takes the lead in database capacity, providing space for two MySQL and one Microsoft SQL databases, while the Linux version of eS Silver provides only two MySQL slots.

Available in Linux or Windows versions, the eS Silver package from eHosting is one of the best in this test. It includes a range of compatibility options and enough storage space and bandwidth for expansion or significant use of subdomains.