you mean i don't own it?

when you register a domain name you don't get that for life? Are you serious. what is this that i have to pay annually for a domain name. Ithought i bought and then its mine?
Can anyone tell me at the same time what are the steps invoved in getting a domain name registered?

Thanks

Choose and ICANN certified registrar.

ie http://www.namecheap.com or http://www.godaddy.com

Signup for a free account at chosen registrar, follow simple to fill-in dialog boxes, pay your fee about $8.00 per annum.

Just a note of caution when you register a domain name your personal contact info is viewable to the world. Both the above mentioned services offer private registration. This type of whois protection adds about $9.00 to the cost of a domain but hides your "personal contact" info from the big bad world.

Hope that helps,
Chris

P.S I think namecheap is about $5.00 for the whois protection

Hence the reason to change the information after registration to something anonymous.

Yes, when you "register" a domain you are basically "renting" it for one year. If you stop paying the annual registration fee, the domain "expires" and someone else can register it and use it and there is nothing you can do about it!

If you are upset about the annual fee now (usually $8 - $10 a year), then you should have seen what we used to pay a few years ago. The normal price was $35 a year!

The Internet is DYNAMIC
If you had a domain name for perpetuity the 'Net would eventually become almost static.
Because you are actually renting your name, if you don't make use of it it lapses, and someone else can use it.

$5.00?? Really, thats low. They charge us 50 cents but then again we have a lot of domains registered through them.