Protecting files with PHP

Hi there! I'm developing an application to which you can upload files. Right now the destination folder of those files is at /public_html/files which makes them visible from the internet. I thought of putting that ./files/ folder outside the ./public_html/ folder and make those files be only accessible via PHP pages (if the pages doesn't display a link to that folder there's no way to download the file). But, there's any way to keep on having the ./files/ folder inside ./public_html/ and have those files protected? Right now to identify users (authenticate them) I use session variables... it should be a protection that could be used together with session variables.... Thanks a lot. Kisses, Maria __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com