Using the .htaccess File & .Htaccess Blocking

Using the .htaccess File

Web designers often ask how to handle redirects or to password protect directories. The .htaccess file can do these things and more. For this article Miraz Jordan has collated various tips mentioned on the Wisewomen mailing list, and from several other sources.

What the .htaccess file can do

1. If you’re reorganising your site and moving pages around, you can use the .htaccess file to redirect visitors from the old page to the new one.
2. Another function of the .htaccess file is to allow you to serve up pages which include PHP or Server Side Includes (SSI) but whose file name still uses the .htm or .html extension.
3. Allow or prevent directory browsing.
4. Because the server should check the .htaccess file before anything is delivered to the client, you can use it to password protect parts of your site.
5. You can also block various bots with the .htaccess file — for example, you can keep some spammers out, or prevent search engine spiders from indexing your images folder.

You can read the definitive information on .htaccess files at Apache.org.

.htacces/.htpasswd Files

I am trying to develop a simple script that will access my .htacces/.htpasswd files. Basically, I want a login page that comes to another page where the user can change their password.

PHP And .htpasswd?
It is possible to use PHP with htaccess and htpasswd? If not, how could I create a secure folder/area with PHP?

Or, if I used htaccess and htpasswd, is there a way to implement sessions for added security?

300,000 illegal aliens getting stimulus jobs?

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Illegal aliens in this country could wind up winning big from the recently passed economic stimulus package. The economic stimulus package could wind up creating 300,000 jobs for illegal aliens.

USA Today reports that studies by two conservative think tanks show illegal aliens could take 300,000 new construction jobs — or 15 percent of the two million jobs to be created by U.S. taxpayer dollars. The numbers of illegal workers getting jobs could be especially high in states like California. These reports blame Congress for not forcing employers to certify the status of workers.

The House of Representatives had included a provision in its version of the bill that would require employers to use a Homeland Security Program called e-Verify, but the Senate didn’t include it, and the provision wasn’t in the final bill that went to the president. So much for putting Americans first. This recession/depression isn’t that bad and unemployment is only at 8.1 percent and we’ve only lost 4.4 million jobs in the last 15 months. What’s wrong with giving a few hundred thousand jobs away to people who shouldn’t even be in the country in the first place? This is your government at work. An advocacy group for immigrants doesn’t dispute the 300,000 estimate — but says it’s impossible to know for sure since there could be many jobless immigrants leaving the country because of the recession. The group says these are fear tactics and instead we should be focusing on economic progress for all.

Protect Against Invaders by SPAM-Proofing Your Website

Despite recent improvement in tools and programs in the battle against SPAM, most of us cannot escape the menace that plagues most of our inboxes on a regular basis. Each day most of us probably receive more SPAM than actual real email, and with Spammers getting more and more creative in their ways to circumvent traditional anti-SPAM tactics, it’s vital webmasters empower themselves with some anti-SPAM tactics for their own websites.

In this article I will discuss a few ways to SPAM-proof your website against malicious SPAM robots that inevitably collect your email to be sold by the thousands to Spammers worldwide, whether it be for using your information inappropriately, or simply for no-good reasons. These tactics are so effective that within a month of implementing them, you should see a dramatic drop in the amount of SPAM that makes it through to your website email addresses, not to mention a decrease in bandwidth.

Blogger Malaysia Dipenjara Berdasarkan UU Keamanan Negara

Kuala Lumpur, (ANTARA News) – Pemerintah Malaysia menjebloskan seorang pengelola blog (blogger) ke penjara berdasarkan UU Keamanan Negara (Internal Security Act atau ISA).

Raja Petra Kamaruddin, pengelola Blog Malaysiatoday.com, menurut ISA Malaysia telah menghina Islam dan Nabi Muhammad SAW.