Hi, > My home system on a DSL line is getting worn out by bad behavior robots. > > Awhile back, I created a .htaccess file that block countries by IP blocks. > Its 2MB in size. Do you control your home server ? If so, then .htaccess is the wrong solution, because you need to incorporate blockages in your IP Tables firewall and then use your Apache configuration file to restrict any remaining unwanted visitors. .htaccess (its possible in Apache to rename it) is inefficient and suitable as a second-rate solution when you are using a hosted service and lack full control of the server. VPSs are cheap and a better alternative to hosted mail and web. On my servers (C5 and C6) in IP Tables, I have three sets of blockages: * permanent for all ports * only for web (port 80) * only for emails (port 25) In web and emails there is a permanent table plus a monthly one (one for every month). Perpetual pests go in the permanent tables and irritants in the monthly table - otherwise the banned IPs entries would get too large. A compromised computer trying to send me junk mail or trying to wrongly access a web page or attempting to break-in to SQL (instantly identified and IP instantly blocked because I impose string size limits for the ?key=....) has its IP added to the monthly list and remains there until one month after the last access from that IP address. I am unwilling to be a passive victim of junk mail and web hackers. All home-made solutions but effective and robust. Centos made all this possible (sincere thanks to the C-Team; they are all 'A*' rated). -- Regards, Paul. England, EU. England's place is in the European Union.