<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Untitled</TITLE>
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="HTMLIATE">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000">
<?php
function Counter($counterfile='counter.dat') {
if (file_exists($counterfile))
{
$fp = fopen($counterfile, 'r');
$num = fread($fp, 100);
$cnum = ($num + 1);
fclose($fp);
$fa = fopen($counterfile, 'w');
fwrite( $fa, $cnum, 100);
fclose($fa);
$counter = $cnum;
}
else
{
$fa = fopen($counterfile, 'w');
fwrite( $fa, 0, 100);
fclose($fa);
chmod($counterfile, 0777);
$counter = "0";
}
return($counter);
}
print Counter();
?>
</BODY>
...and an example of a link on my site is...
<a href="downloads/NK39XSetup.exe" class="linksheet">Download Note
Keeper 3 9X Edition</a>
...just a normal hyperlink obviously

any help will be great, thanks

(maybe one day ill be good enough to help others)