Actually I'm not sure. I'm using Geocities at the moment (nei), but backed up my site and am preparing to move ASAP. I just have to scrape together a little more money. I forget how to check the server type. I thought Geocities.com stopped direct linking, but my site has been down all day, (this has happened before) and not gotten any visitors to any pages. Forgive me if I lack knowledge on the topic, but I'm not really very experienced.
that is something that geocities should have a handle on. i am not too familiar with their setup. if they use .htaccess files (excellent if they do), there is a very simple method to stop all bandwidth thieves, that is you have the server make sure that all requests for files are coming from the server itself. here is an excellent article on the subject: [url=http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/bandwidththeft.shtml]Bandwidth Thief[/url]
Many thanks for the help, this article is on images, what about downloads (ie. games etc). Before I implement it will it work on those? Thanks so much for your time!
the same technique will work for any type of file. you just need to specifiy their extensions in the rules you define.
thank you! Ill try it asap. Gotta go now though.
if you have a server, you can use either iptable command on ssh or you can install a free firewall either bastille or apf
I found that geocities was just messed up.... I moved! I am now at freewebs, and I'm paying. It's so many millions of times better!
A lot of times, you get what you pay for :) Glad to hear you are having good results with the new host.
Good luck with your new host.