ouch, I did a lot of customization... I guess I will have to put in the same dummy url every time...

This is a real problem for software that is still being developed - sorry!

I have the links installed on site. Works great, but one week after our relaunch I am noticing that downloaders are getting by the protection. It appears that they are getting the direct link from the window that pops up when you click the link. The one that states that you are being redirected. I have used this on other sites and it does not display the same way as it does on my site.

Am I missing something, or is install no good?

Please advice.

Thanks

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand the problem - are your users getting a popup which tells them the location of the file, so they then know how to bypass the system?

Several questions:
- Are the downloads coming from your site or another? Normally, files with recognised mimetypes on your site should not produce this popup.
- Have you changed the setting of force_redirect on the links admin page - if this = 1 then your users will get to see the file locations
- Are you using the local_file_root setting on the links admin page to place the downloads outside the web directories, to prevent anyone from getting at them except through the links s/w?

If these suggestions don't help, pm me with more details of your site.

Easy way would be to check out the downloads on my site: http://www.clanspy.net/forum/local_links.php?

I do not see the setting force_redirect, maybe this isn't the same hack??? I didn't install it and was told this was it :(

The files are on the local server and inside the web directories.

Thanks for your help.

It's the same hack - you are using an old version (1.21) in which the force_redirect setting did not exist - but that should not affect things.

Looking at your site, I can see a set of links that are available without logging in. If you want to stop these being copied by unregistered users (via the links hack or by using the redirection), then:
- associate each link with a VBulletin forum
- set that forum's permissions so it is only accessible to the usergroups you want

Would it be advisable to upgrade to the more recent version? If so, is it simply re-editing the files per the instructions?

I think it's a good idea to upgrade, but this has nothing to do with the problem you report.

To upgrade, you upload the latest files (local_links.php and local_links_templates.xml into you main forums dir) and local_links_install.php into your admin dir, and rerun the installation script.

OK I did the upgrade, however, as you have stated it has not changed the problem. Did you try the download? See how a window opens in the back ground that states you are being redirected, then the SAVE AS window appears. Well the pop-up window in background is still there and if you highlight the :forward to link" you see the URL.

How do I stop that?

I see that you're offering rather large zips and exes. Downloads with recognised mimetypes are handled differently than downloads with unrecognised memetypes, where the redirection window is used. Does your VB main admin have mime settings for zip and exe?

Go to VB's main admin, then attachment, then extensions and sizes. The appropriate mimetype for a zip file is . For an executable, you can just create the exe attachment type and leave the mimetype field empty.

Normally, when the file has a recognised mimetype, the download is handled transparently, so the user does not get to see where the file is stored.

*But* a big warning - if you choose this route, you are increasing the cpu load on your server. This is normally only a problem if the files are held on a third party machine, because then your server has to keep reading, then rewriting records. This is why I added the force_redirect switch on the links admin page, to force the hack always to use redirection rather than read/rewrite to user.

The link on the redirection window ("click here if you do not get redirected") is being created within the standard VB code. There may be a way to suppress it, but I'm not sure.