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LINK protection type

This is the most comprehensive protection method. It is based on a link signing and expiration. We strongly recommend you to use this protection method everywhere it is possible.

Using this method will require some additional installation steps. You will need to edit every link to the protected files on the site to include one of the following templates: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ or xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_ - 16 letters 'x' ending with a slash or underline.

Example imagine you are protecting files in /images directory. So links to the images now will look like the following:
/images/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/picture.jpg or images/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/picture.jpg or images/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_picture.jpg

Every time HotlinkBlocker find this template in the code it will fill it on a fly by a special signature that include cilent IP and timestamp. All requests to the protected content without this signature or with expired timestamp or from invalid IP address will be rejected. By default expiration time is 1800 seconds witch is equal to the 30 minutes. So it becomes impossible to hotlink protected content because links are bounded to the client IP and every direct link to the file become invalid in 30 minutes. Also it is impossible to fake link signature using script or other server tools because links are signed using strong cryptographic algorithm.

Please note that /xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ is not a physical folder name. You need to add this template to every link while leaving your real files in the same location as before. HotlinkBlocker then remove this part from the URL when the file is requested.

If you will use /images/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/picture.jpg syntax (i.e. when a directory name stores a template) you can use one trick to manage with your website desing environment. If you create a physical folder with the name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and move images there using your IDE tools, most popular website studios support automatic link update and therefore will automatically update your page links to include /xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ template. With this trick you will also see all images in your design environment as before, but on the live server all images and other protected files should be left in it's original location.