Mario, In addition to meta tags I put in the template hosting the pages where all the media downloads listings are, I also tried using robots.txt and Google Webmaster Tools in conjunction with the robots.txt in order to exclude the entire directory and to expedite the proces of removal from the cache. When I entered a path for several individual media downloads into the Webmaster Tool, Google removed those individual  files. Good. However when I included the directory containing the pages with media download listings, it didn't have any effect. Remember I also put the meta tags in the template. So the conclusion is that by excluding the page containing the links doesn't exclude the medi downloads included on that page. It seems the crawler finds these files elsewhere. So I tried excluding the page that calls the media downloads (www.domainname/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx) into the Webmaster tool and that didn't work either. Since we don't have the path to the directrory that hosts the media downloads, we can't target the directory. Unless you can tell me what I am doing wrong and how to fix it, It appears that I need to go and exclude each individual file by pasting the path directly into the webmaster tool. I am tallking hundreds of items. I also have to do it for each media upload I add in the future. Please let me know.

Thank you.

OMG, I just realized that people can look at the entire pdf file using quick view right under the listing in Google search results. That's your secure document. This is rediculous!

I am not talking about securing an item. I am talking about preventing it from showing in search results on serch engines. Before I take other actrions to have them removed, go and type in google "Toyota Denver Napa" and you will find a bunch of PDF files showing with url starting with www.thewellingtongroup/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=  All these PDF files are Literatures items that have been placed in teh secure zone. If you click on them, it will ask you to put in the password. However, if you click on "Quick View" right there next to the link in Google, you will see the entire pdf file open right in front of you. So, to answer your question, yes it is a pdf and yes it is a literature item and yes it is secure and yes you can still see the entire document in Google. The only way to avoid this is not to have it show in the search results. Well, BC doesn't give you this option because it can't be done with meta tags or with robots.txt. It can only be done using x-robots-tag in php or by entering each file individually into the Webmaster tool. I have 354 files to enter. If you have a better way of doing it, let me know. In the meantime please send my regards to the development team and tell them they have a huge hole in their security concept.

Do I need to remove the robots.txt exclusing some files and directories as well as the meta robot  in the template requesting nofollow, noindex, noarchive in order to allow google to reindex the entire site including these folders and files I had previously excluded?

Over the last 10 days I did a lot more testing using meta tags, robots.txt and webmaster tools just to see which of all the claims above is holding up.

Here is what I found out:

- if a media downolad item was secured right away when posted, it will not show up in search engines.

- if a media download was not secured, it will show in the serach engines.

- to remove media downloads item from the Google's cache, you will first have to secure the item than use the google webmaster tools and remove it. - if you have multiple items, you will need to do that for each item individually.

- once cached by a serch engine, media files such as pdf or mov cannot not be removed it using meta tags, robots.txt, reindexing regardless what you try and how you set them up.

I am still questioning why is this not mentioned in the knowledgebase.