Need ideas on how to protect .exe file from direct download on other sites

We have our application stored on our server, it is开发者_如何学编程 an .exe file. The download page is only accessible from our site - using cookie authentication in PHP. I know there are better methods but there is a long story behind this...so I'm moving on. The issue is that the actual url of the .exe has been leaked and is appearing on other websites. What is the best method to protect a link to a file, not the page itself. That is where I'm having issues. I can make it difficult to get to the download page (with the link) but don't know where to begin to make sure the link is only accessible from our site... Is .htaccess (preventing hotlinking) the best way to go?

Yes, .htaccess is probably best. Find any online post about protecting images from hotlinking, the first in my google search looks like a nice and easy auto-generator you can use. Just change the image extensions to exe, or keep them if you want them protected too.