Theoretically both. The files in question are listed as plain links on a page that are located in a dedicated folder in my main directory where IPS is installed. I have had embedded images hotlinked on me in he past a well. 

I went into my cPanel and found Hotlink Protection which I thought I had enabled but it was turned off. It is set up for all of my domains and the file types I want to protect. I just turned it back on... is there a way to test it?

My main concern is protecting pdf files that I offer which may be downloaded and I really do not care what becomes of them from there. I just want to prevent other websites from directly linking to them and stealing bandwidth. I want to resurrect a page that I disabled some time ago for this reason.

Let's say you write an article or have a page where you have a list of documents that readers can download. In this case PDF files but it could be image files just the same. How do you prevent outside websites from linking directly to your files on your server?

UPDATE:  The last ERROR 500 error was caused when I re-enabled my plugins. For me it was "Back To Top" plugin.

At this point my site is back on line and I will see how it goes for the next day or so and check back with y'all!

49 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

If IPB is reporting 7.4.3, it's what PHP is actually running for the site.  Your host is running multiple versions of PHP and needs to properly switch your specific instance to 8.0.

 

I am certain I was still running 7.4.33 on my domain - I rechecked using the ips4.php file and confirmed. Now, I used the MultiPHP Manager in my CP to change my domains php version and it shows 8.0. Since I have multiple domains (4 with subdomains) in my hosting account requiring different php versions I manage them separately. I just tried setting all of them to php 8.0 at once and now it shows 8.0...  and now I have the error 500 again.

I changed php back to 8.0. No change AND my CP Support page is still reporting that it's pp 7.4.33. I am afraid to clear my caches again and totally take the site down. I have no idea why that happens. It never used to.

I changed my database tables to InnoDB yesterday and had no issues this time. My site was running on php 8 when I began the upgrade and as soon as the upgrade completed my site went dead - ERROR 500. I contacted my host and revisited the .htaccess problem that occurs when I make changes or clear my caches. Bluehost support fixed the .htaccess concern and had to revert php back to 7.4.33 because I am getting errors when going to my gallery or going to forum posts and that is where we left it because they said I need to check my scripts. (?) This is now over my head. One note if it matters - my site is located in a subdirectory in my root directory where it has been for years without any issues. Here is what I am getting when I go to my gallery and forum posts:

https://www.forddoctorsdts.com/gallery/

ParseError: syntax error, unexpected '|', expecting variable (T_VARIABLE) (0)
#0 [internal function]: IPS\IPS::autoloader('IPS\\Content\\Con...')
#1 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/applications/gallery/modules/front/gallery/browse.php(24): spl_autoload_call('IPS\\Content\\Con...')
#2 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/init.php(749): require_once('/home1/forddoct...')
#3 [internal function]: IPS\IPS::autoloader('IPS\\gallery\\mod...')
#4 [internal function]: spl_autoload_call('IPS\\gallery\\mod...')
#5 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/system/Dispatcher/Dispatcher.php(142): class_exists('IPS\\gallery\\mod...')
#6 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/index.php(13): IPS\_Dispatcher->run()
#7 {main}

And in my forums (membership required to view)

ParseError: syntax error, unexpected '|', expecting variable (T_VARIABLE) (0)
#0 [internal function]: IPS\IPS::autoloader('IPS\\Content\\Con...')
#1 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/applications/forums/modules/front/forums/topic.php(24): spl_autoload_call('IPS\\Content\\Con...')
#2 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/init.php(749): require_once('/home1/forddoct...')
#3 [internal function]: IPS\IPS::autoloader('IPS\\forums\\modu...')
#4 [internal function]: spl_autoload_call('IPS\\forums\\modu...')
#5 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/system/Dispatcher/Dispatcher.php(142): class_exists('IPS\\forums\\modu...')
#6 /home1/forddoct/public_html/forddoctorsdts/index.php(13): IPS\_Dispatcher->run()
#7 {main}

So when Bluehost support corrected whatever they did with the 500 error and we changed php to 8.0 the site was functioning correctly. Then I tried resetting my caches from my IPS conrol panel to see if things went wrong again, and the ERROR 500 came back. We corrected the ERROR 500 and reset php back to 7.4.33 and now I am stuck with the above parse errors. All of my plugins are disabled - no change. Need advice AND HELP PLEASE.

56 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

It's odd that a DB change would be impacted by .htaccess.  However I'm glad you got to the bottom of the problem!  

I agree HOWEVER my suite installation is in a subfolder despite being the main domain for my hosting account. That is accomplished with an edit to my .htaccess file which should not have been affected by the database changes that were made. 

BTW I forgot to mention I contacted my hosting support in my last reply...

UPDATE: 

I once again reset my cache to see what would happen and I was able to recreate the error 500 which then became a 403. After a bit of investigation, it was determined there was an error with an .htaccess file.  I have no clue as to why or how, but they corrected it and my site is back at 100%. I also got some advice on converting the database tables as well. Thank you for the direction! 

The database and file versions were not changed. And it looks like all 241 tables are present.

1 hour ago, Jim M said:

Please be advised that this is where you submit a support ticket now 🙂 . However, it is the weekend so support responses from our team may be delayed. You should have received an email last year explaining the shift to our community for support. With that said, the only thing that has changed about our support is the method where you start it, all the same great support that you know and love previously is still here. Our technicians still have secure access to your access details for your community in our Client Area, we can escalate things to a ticket if needed, etc... We found that a large percentage of support requests were similar in nature so that having a large, searchable forum to contain those in would benefit everybody. Plus, you can now receive input from other community administrators who encountered similar issues. We have been saying for years that communities are great for support but have never really been enacting that, so this was also a large push for us to "eat our own dog food" so to speak.

Could you please clarify where you're at with your support issue? It sounds like you have restored your community back so it would be a little hard for us to investigate the issue unless there are further information about the error encountered. Additionally, if you were performing database changes, it would be advisable to reach out to your hosting provider/sever administrator to see what exactly happened. As this is a server management action, they would be your first contact and if you are not familiar with these tasks, I would suggest working with them to ensure they are done accurately.

Thank you for the explanation on how support now works. My confusion comes from the "Create a support ticket" showing in my control panel as well as in my Client Area here. I did receive an automated response advising me of what you laid out here.  No worries now! 

As for clarification:

In preparation to upgrading my version from 4.6.6 to the current release I heeded some of the warnings I encountered about my PHP level, non InnoDB tables and some tables not being "dynamic." My thinking was to tackle all of that before upgrading. Here is how it went:

1. Changed PHP to 8.0 a week ago - no issues detected. 
2. 11/12 - backed up my files and my database.
3. 11/12 - successfully changed MyISAM tables to InnoDB - checked site and no issues detected.
4. 11/12 - successfully changed the 25 tables from compact to dynamic - checked site and no issues detected.
5. Verified the warnings were cleared in my Control Panel and was going to disable my plugins and perform my upgrade to the current release but decided to first clear my cache. As soon as I did that my main site as well as my Admin CP would not load - ERROR 500 appeared when loading the website. Checked and verified my database information and settings in conf_global.php and everything looked good. 
6. 11/12 - renamed the just modified database
7. 11/12 - restored the database with the backup I created earlier in the day - the site came back however I noticed a lot of my theme changes were now gone and there are some blocks no longer functioning. Took a break and looked into it later in the day and noticed my error logs were spiking. Looked deeper into it and I can't make any sense of it. 

At this point I do not believe my host will be of any assistance. What I need is the Invision Community Team to look into this and simply correct whatever is happening (now) and return the site to proper operation. Once completed I will then upgrade and clean up my theme and tackle the database in the future as it seems it will be necessary in the future. I will likely have someone who is better qualified than myself take care of it...

23 minutes ago, Ford Doctor said:

Meanwhile, the cost of a license has gone up and now I cannot submit a support ticket for assistance? ☹️

And it looks as though my credit card information had expired! My last two license purchases were never paid and expired so that answers THAT! 

Meanwhile, the cost of a license has gone up and now I cannot submit a support ticket for assistance? ☹️

A faster site would be a benefit however it is the Control Panel warning that has me going at this. Since the error took the whole thing down completely out there is no way of knowing... at least with I am capable of looking at unless there is an error log that might show something. 

As for the approach - I was doing the change all in one shot 225 tables or so then I had to change 25 to dynamic, one at a time. I too thought of doing this a few tables at a time. 

So now that it's been running a few hours I have errors in my logs, and I lost a lot of customization.

Alrightie!  It's been so long since I had to restore a database from a backup that I forgot how to do it properly. With that said I restored my website successfully. Always happens after asking for help. 

I still have no idea as to what happened after clearing cache. Do I REALLY need to be concerned with the database recommendations? 

I tried going to my client area and it says my license does not include email assistance???

I was getting the DB table warnings about changing from MyISAM to InnoDB and then table configuration not being dynamic in my control panel. I followed instructions on changing the tables to InnoDB and was successful. Checked my site and all was well. Found 25 tables that were "compact" and followed instructions to convert them to "dynamic" and checked my site and all was working. Was in my admin CP and rechecking for problems before updating my suite and decided to clear my cache.  Now NOTHING is working, and I get an error screen when accessing the site.  https://www.forddoctorsdts.com

I did back up my DB but for some reason I can't get it to complete so for now I have left it alone.  How do I get assistance from support to look into this? 

Is there a way to show the latest/new forum posts? Something that can configure the number of topics to list at the very least. I would love a block that ban be placed at the top of my forums or in a new page dedicated to new topics. None of the blocks I have will allow me to do this. 

Thank you Jim - I don't think I would have found it there.  I updated the settings and waiting for a registration and hopefully a notification. 

I could swear that at one point I had been receiving emails notifying me when someone had registered for my forums. (I require admin approval) I can't seem to find any setting for this, am I missing it? And yes, my email system is working otherwise. 

I resolved the concern by simply recreating the page and then switching that to be my home page.  But I do thank you for offering help. 

I set my home page to use the Page Builder for content. I just put an embed code in a text widget and it broke the page - some content won't load, sidebar is gone but most importantly the page builder button is missing so I cannot see the box to determine if the code is partially missing or to delete the content outright. If I go to the control panel I am only given the option of going to the page to edit. Is there a workaround for this? I don't mind diving into the database but I don't know where to look.  I suppose if all fails I could delete the page and create anew one if all else fails. The rest of the site is not affected.

I love this widget and rely on it but what is with the 15 video limit? Can this be bypassed?

So I just upgraded from IPS v4.4.9 to IPS v4.5.4.2  and I expected some plugins to no longer function or require updating. I removed this plugin and reinstalled the latest available download. The widget boxes show up and I can place them in a page and edit them... once all is saved and the page is refreshed - the output is missing.  Any suggestions? I really find this plugin useful and kinda need it not... I'm hooked!

Yes, that is my setting but it says nothing about sending an email to the administrator. Only the person registering.

I cannot find this setting anywhere. If I read this correctly it's ACP--> Members--> Notifications?

I use the setting requiring Admin Approval but I see no setting for me to receive an email when someone registers. I am currently still using version 4.4.10

Fixed it, but I still would like to know if there is a setting or back-end workaround for situations like this one.

What I did was to add "NoScript" plugin to Firefox and then disabled the script that was causing the issue... it helped to know what script it was but the plugin enabled you to disable all scripts it detects so if you are not sure, that capability gives you the power to eliminate them one by one until identified.

Hope this helps someone that finds them self in the same predicament. 😉