What does trailing ?i=1 at the end of my URL mean?

When you register a new account and go to the website URL, you may see a trailing parameter, such as: ?i=1.

What does it Do?

This parameter is actually a security measure to ensure that your website is accessible only through regular web browsers.

When your URL is first accessed, it is redirected to ?i=1 which means that it is the first attempt the validate the browser in which case a cookie is setup to check if challenge is passed. When it is showing ?i=2, this means that the security system has not found the cookie on your browser and it is trying for the second time.

If the counter reaches ?i=3 and browser is still not validate, you will be redirected to a page with instruction on how to enable the cookies in your browser. This prevents the browser from stucking in the loop.

Can you Remove This Parameter?

Because Profreehost provides a free service, we must ensure that our system is not abused, therefore we disable the programmatic access to our servers. However, the security mechanism that is responsible for ?i=1 is mandatory and cannot be turned off. This prevents the parameter to be removed.