Whois is a resource for discovering who owns a particular domain. One would just need to enter the name of the domain into the search box on the page and they will find the information they are looking for.
There are several places on the internet where someone can check for domain name availability. Some good places to check are Instant Domain Search, and Go Daddy Domain Name Search.
To lock a domain name: Log in to your account with your hosting company. Look for the option to lock one or more of your domain names. Some hosts don't have that option visible or available for customers. In that case, you'd have to contact them and ask for them to lock the domain(s) for you. Locking a domain name helps prevent someone else from transferring it to a different hosting company or changing the 'administrative contact' information and taking control of it (stealing it from you).
One can get information on purchasing a domain name from Godaddy, Onlydomains, Domaintools, Websitedotcom,Netmechanic and Chillingeffects which has some interesting information(recommended).
Yes, your business web site needs a domain name. Fortunately, it is very easy to get one. Many sites offer domain names and you can look and see which ones are available.
If someone has a domain dossier then it is possible to look up the different domains or IP addresses that are being used by computers. This can give information on what company actually owns a business or who is actually contacting someone.
If someone were to register their domain name it's basically equivalent to them branding their sitename. Thus, no one else can register that same site name while the other is already registered. It provides security.
You can get a Canadian domain name registration at the Cira website under the Canadian domain name. You can also register one on Go Daddy's Canadian domain.
If an owner of a website does not have a fully functioning site, there is a possibility that someone else can buy that domain name if the owner agrees to sell it. Depending on the situation, one can use several tactics to try to attain the domain. The tactics may be to make a casual inquiry about the site, suggest a low offer or attractive offer, or wait and see if the domain will expire.
There are plenty of places on the internet offering checking website name availability. However, one might want to check out the website instandomainsearch, or a free service like uk-webnames.
You can register a free domain name by going to any one of a number of websites that provide registration for free domain names. They will guide you through the process of registering your domain name.
If you want to find out if a specific domain name is taken, I would suggest simply typing it in to your browser, and seeing what loads up. You could also look for other web pages that have a similar domain, or a website that checks domains.