New Member Has A Question About Unecessary Files.

[Mastermind500]

I just became a member of TCH this week.

 

I played around with cPanel today and noticed the folders/directories that were already installed on my account. I'm talking about the www, public_html, private, _vti_ files, entropybanner, .htaccess, etc.

 

So what I'm trying to say here is...are those files and folders all necessary? They kind of confuse me. What happens if I were to delete ALL those files and folders so that my file manager would be blank? If I can't delete them all, what files are the necessary ones?

 

Also, does anyone know were I can read a tutorial on what all those files mean and do?

[jimzdat]

Here's a thread that helps explain the www and public_html folders:

 

Read this thread

 

As far as all the other folders, I'm sure most (if not all) of them have a purpose, I just don't know what it is

[idallen]

As far as all the other folders, I'm sure most (if not all) of them have a purpose, I just don't know what it is

Almost all the underscore folders are used by Microsoft FrontPage.

If you don't plan on using FrontPage, yes, you can remove all the

folders starting with _.

[Mastermind500]

I don't plan on using Microsoft Frontpage. So does that mean I can delete all those _vti_ files?

[borfast]

You can delete them but I'd do it from CPanel with the option of uninstalling the Frontpage extensions, otherwise some unwanted files might remain there.

[Mastermind500]

ok, thanks borfast

 

What about that .htaccess file? What purpose does it serve?

[idallen]

The .htaccess file controls how the Apache web server processes your site.

You can set options in this file that control such things as password access to directories,

whether or not you see indexes in directories that have no index.html file, redirection of

some URLs to other URLs, etc. The apache.org web site documents it fully.

 

Don't delete it unless you're prepared to live with a web site with "default" access to

all subdirectories. (Maybe this is fine for you.)

[whizzylogic]

Strange. I can't find .htaccess file via the File Manager my cPanel.

How can I see it & modify it?

[TCH-Don]

From cpanel launch file manager,

scroll down to public_html (where your site is)

click on the folder icon for public_html

then scroll down and you should see .htaccess

click on its name and on the right click on show file.

Then you will see the contents.

 

To learn more about htaccess see Using .htaccess Files with Apache

and Apache HTTP Server Configuration Files

and .htaccess Magic

 

be careful and make a backup.

[whizzylogic]

Oh no! I uploaded my own .htaccess file with the entries for using custom error pages & I seem to have inadvertently replaced the default .htaccess file without realising it. I don't have any backup of the default .htaccess file. What can I do now? Where can I get the vanilla copy of a .htaccess file for my website? Pls help!

 

The cpanel manual is not updated & there are some conflicting info in it. Nothing on .htaccess in the manual, it seems.

[Lianna]

Vanilla .htaccess file is just an empty text file saved as ".htaccess" No biggie.

 

...now the Chocolate one is another story...

[whizzylogic]

Phew! Thanks. I'm relieved. The chocolate one is yummy. U want one?

 

This forum really rocks. TCH tech support & family members also rocks.

I've been heartily recommending my friends to TCH hosting.

[Lianna]

Glad you're happy here and sending all your buddies to us.