how does the hotlink prevention tool work?

Answer by: George Kaloyanov, Aplus.Net Knowledge Base Support.

With this tool, you can protect your images from being linked from other web sites. If an image is * hot-linked from another website, that website will use your bandwidth.

* Hot Linking - This term refers to a direct linking to non-html objects of your website (such as images, .js files, etc.) by unauthorized external websites.

Note: The Hotlink Prevention tool protects the following image formats: jpg|gif|png|bmp|jpeg

Here is how to protect your images:

Start by logging into the Aplus.Net Web Control Panel at http://cp.aplus.net using your Registration Number and Customer Password.
Select Web Hosting from the top navigation bar.
Next, select Hosted Domains and click on Manage Hosted Domains.
Now, select the hosted domain that you’d like to manage.
Click the HotLink Prevention icon.
Choose the web directory you’d like to protect.

Important: If you protect a certain web directory, all its sub directories will inherit the protection. Example: If you protect your main /html directory, your entire website will be protected from hotlinking.

Specify additional domains which will be allowed to link your images. Enter a domain name in the respective text field and click Add Domain to add it to the authorized list (optional).

Important: Your own hosted domain selected in step4 and your utility domain will be automatically added to the authorized list. Furthermore, the www. prefix will be allowed for all domains in the authorized list.

Click Protect Location. At this point, only the domains in your authorized list will be able to hotlink your image files located within the directory selected in step6.

Note: Use the Manage Protection Locations section to remove domains from the authorized list or remove entire protections.