The Apache web server provides a feature called .htaccess, which provides commands to control a web site. This file is very obscure and extremely useful when used properly. You have to be careful when editing .htaccess files, as a small mistake can make your web site stop working. What I like to do is immediately test site to be sure it works.

Be sure not to make mistake that I made once - I browsed to my site, saw that home page came up, and went to work. Later, I found it was not working but appeared to work because home page was stored in my browser cache. Thus I learned a simple lesson hard way: always hit refresh key of browser when testing .htaccess changes.

I did a little research and testing, and added following lines to my .htaccess file.

redirect /scripts http://www.stoptheviruscold.invalid redirect /MSADC http://www.stoptheviruscold.invalid redirect /c http://www.stoptheviruscold.invalid redirect /d http://www.stoptheviruscold.invalid redirect /_mem_bin http://stoptheviruscold.invalid redirect /msadc http://stoptheviruscold.invalid RedirectMatch (.*)cmd.exe$ http://stoptheviruscold.invalid$1

These lines did exactly what I wanted them to do - they stopped virus from creating 404 errors in my log file, and they prevented my 404 error page from being triggered, thus creating lots of useless bandwidth utilization. There is still some bandwidth used, obviously, but it is far less than it would have been. The load on server is also considerably reduced, which should make my web hosting company happy.

Note that log file entries are still made by various worms as they attempt to penetrate server. These entries do now show as errors, which makes it easier to pick out real errors from logs.

So not only do they "steal" image (it is probably copyrighted and they are copying it without permission each time web site is loaded) they "steal" bandwidth!!

This is extraordinarily bad form, it's tasteless and it should be avoided like plague.

In some extreme cases, unscrupulous "webmasters" (I use term loosely) link to large zip files on other servers to give their own visitors extra features. This often occurs with sites containing downloadable software, wallpaper and desktop themes.

DO NOT do this without permission! If you do, you are a thief and you are costing someone else money and aggravation.

What do you do if someone links to your images or files without your permission and he will not stop? Replace file with something else. A picture or document stating that this person is stealing bandwidth should suffice. If you can get email address or phone number of person, you might include it for additional impact.