Leeches! Who are they and why do you have to protect your downloadable content from them? If you offer any files for download from your web site, other sites have to ask your permission in order to publish your materials on their sites. All your images, audio files, documents (etc.) are protected by copyright law. But, others still can offer your files to their visitors without crediting your site by simply putting direct download links that point to the files on your server. This method is called "hot linking" and the people who do this are called "leeches". You pay for the traffic, you lose visitors, you receive less revenue from any advertisements on your site and you compete with your own content. Leeches do not infringe any laws and thus you cannot complain to their hosting providers.
There are many anti-leech solutions around. Most of them are intended for Unix servers and require you to install and configure PHP scripts. Helicontech offers HotlinkBlocker, a surprisingly powerful anti-leech solution for Windows-based hosting. It installs as an MS IIS plug-in. You can easily install it on your dedicated Windows server or under your shared hosting account.
We've already reviewed several anti-leech solutions. Normally, they simply encrypt links on your site. This is not always feasible, since you may have to make changes to a large number of static pages or edit your server-side scripts. It's OK if you have enough time for this and you are a web programmer...
HotlinkBlocker allows you to choose from three different protection methods. You can use all three methods simultaneously by choosing the most appropriate method for each folder. The program hides your downloadable files and generates temporary links for every visitor. Links are valid only for a specified amount of time and cannot be published on other sites. This can also be used as a basic user authorization scheme.
COLDLINK The ColdLink iis isapi filter or apache module transparently maps and rewrites protected urls dynamically in realtime within every page served from your site.
Anti-leech Tracker Anti-leech is an IIS plug-in that will protect your web site from bad people stealing your traffic by directly linking to the resouce on your server. If you have an image collection, video, software or document archives, Flash games is a right product for you.
MING Bandwidth Monitor 1.0 MING Bandwidth Monitor is a powerful bandwidth meter, monitor and traffic controller, which measures, displays and controls all traffic to/from your computer or on your network. MING Bandwidth Monitor can display bandwidth data in a real-time graph, a numerical display, or both. It records all network traffic and includes extensive logging (hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly). And it can alert you of dangerous or unexpected network activity.
ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter ShaPlus Bandwidth Meter remains in tray and displays the bandwidth consumed for the session, day and month. This will be useful for people with limited bandwidth/month internet connection.
Bandwidth Meter Pro Bandwidth Meter Pro is an easy-to-use network software for bandwidth usage monitoring and reporting. It monitors traffic of all network connections on your computer and displays graphical and numerical download and upload speeds in real-time.
JDSoft Bandwidth Manager By monitoring your network traffic and limiting the bandwidth, the software increases the network efficiency immediately with a reduction in your overall bandwidth requirement while allowing business-critical network applications to run smoothly.
Bandwidth Controller Standard Bandwidth management and traffic shaping software for Windows 2000 and XP. Take control of your network traffic by limiting the data rates of all traffic flowing through your server. No client software needed.
Bandwidth Monitor Bandwidth Monitor tracks all network connections traffic and displays real-time graphical and numerical data transfer rates. It can display multiple connections rates at the same time. Bandwidth Monitor works with the majority network connections.
Bandwidth Vista 1 Bandwidth Vista is a modern bandwidth meter, informative and intuitive to use. Whether you are looking for network problems or simply want to check your bandwidth speed, Bandwidth Vista is the only bandwidth meter and bandwidth tester you will need. Bandwidth Vista meters all your connected interfaces at once including adsl connections, wireless and ethernet and holds a history of transfers which can be viewed down to the last hour.
SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager is a full-featured traffic management tool for Windows that offers cost-effective bandwidth control and quality of service based on built-in prioritized rules. With this you can specify a bandwidth limit for each user.
Bandwidth Vista Bandwidth Vista is a modern bandwidth meter, informative and intuitive to use. Whether you are looking for network problems or simply want to test your bandwidth speed, Bandwidth Vista is the only bandwidth speed test software you will need.
