Hi

Got a site and 2 files on my server. One is the htacess file that has been corrupted by hackers and the second one is the index file. Can I just go ahead and delete the htacess file and keep the index file or will this result in me being shut out of my control panel and unable to upload other files?

Thanks

The .HTACCESS file is what tells your browser which file to use as the default when opening your web site. It is only a text file and can be left blank. This will then open the site to the default index.htm or index.html file.

It can be useful if you want to name a file as something else and use that as the entry page of your site.

However, if it has been hacked, thus sending people to a different site instead of yours, it is probably best to just open it and delete any text written.

Great stuff. Thanks!

Odds are that there is other code in other pages on your site and if someone has hacked it and you dont know how they got in then it is better to do a clean install and upload files again. The htaccess is easy to find and delete the rogue code, but I'll bet it comes back again. Are you using Wordpress or a CMS? If so you might have fake jpg's in your Images folders or check the cgi bin folder, if you have one, and see what's in there.

( I've had this happen to me before)

Odds are that there is other code in other pages on your site and if someone has hacked it and you dont know how they got in then it is better to do a clean install and upload files again. The htaccess is easy to find and delete the rogue code, but I'll bet it comes back again. Are you using Wordpress or a CMS? If so you might have fake jpg's in your Images folders or check the cgi bin folder, if you have one, and see what's in there.

( I've had this happen to me before)

In the original post he wrote that there is only two files, index + htaccess.

The servers I have a lot to do with had a huge problem a year or so ago. Many sites were hijacked, all the server space used, no mailboxes working etc. Not an individual site's problem but it affected many sites.

I forgot to suggest the the OP change his FTP and CP password to something really strong.

I forgot to suggest the the OP change his FTP and CP password to something really strong.

This is more then likely the issue, change your FTP password to something really secure as suggested. Also check permissions as you build your site.

.htaccess is extremely useful, some sites can't function without it especially if your thinking of using a CMS.

Before googlebot comes visiting the first thing I do once I register a new domain is upload a robots.txt file then edit my .htaccess from non www to www in mod_rewrite.

Critical SEO, first thing everyone should do. Don't just delete things, learn what they are for and how they can benefit your website.