Host file

[Rex A. Butcher]

What ho ho ho one and all,

Having a search of my XP -sp3 OS and found the Host file. It has thousands of entries, most of which seem to relate to gambling / sex / porn / and god knows what else.

Although I have been Googling the host file, I have no better understanding of what it actually does. Can I delete all the crap and / or restore the back-up version which was probably from the original os install?

If I get rid of all this c**p, what effect can (or will) it have on the computer?

Toodle pip and may all your baubles hang vertically.

Rex

[Steve R Jones]

The entries are probably BLOCKING the gambling - sex and porn stuff.... If you need access to that - remove the entries.

[General Winters]

The hosts file protects you.

Those entries are GOOD....

Whenever a site or advert tries to call up a dubious site, if it is referenced in the host file, the call up fails, thus no annoying banner ad for Asian hookers, or malware from your friends in the Russian Mafia..

I suppose if you never allowed your browser to display images, or run scripts, etc you could be safe ...

Otherwise just download an updated Hosts file with updated lists of ad servers, spam sites, malware links etc every month or so to be safe.

[fink]

As said above the hosts file is a good thing. It had to have been created by an antimalware or adblocking program you installed or still have on your computer.

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

[Rex A. Butcher]

Gentlemen,

Thanks. I have just started at Z and randomly selected various entries. All come up with 'Problem loading page.'

Certainly I use Ad blocking software so I guess it has slowly filled up from years of blocking. But every entry has the same IP address (127.0.0.1) and it is not 0.0.0.0 Is that right?

Reading the link above, it XP is reading every line, presumably that takes time and slows the page loading speed? Replacing the Host with the original, with no entries just means that the Ad Blocker will start from zero again? Is that an issue or not?

Additionally, the Host file at http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt says 'updated Dec 10, 2016' Should I copy and paste?

[Train]

Use uBlock origin ad blocker, it does better and does NOT slow you computer as much as the HOST file does. Nor eat up as much ram.
That slow down in XP using the host file really irritated me. And yes, I see the same thing in Linux. But the browser can take of it faster and that I like.

As for the addresses
http://www.howtogeek.com/225487/what...1-and-0.0.0.0/

[fink]

All come up with 'Problem loading page.'

That's what is supposed to happen. All of the sites listed are blocked from your computer accessing it.

Replacing the Host with the original, with no entries just means that the Ad Blocker will start from zero again? Is that an issue or not?

Whatever program created that hosts file will not know that it's been altered and it will remain blank if you delete entries.

Additionally, the Host file at http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt says 'updated Dec 10, 2016' Should I copy and paste?

I would not add to the hosts file. Either use the existing one or delete it and create a new one using the instructions from that link. Copy/pasting that much data will probably freeze your computer anyway.

Or as Train suggests use ublock origin and forget the hosts file completely... pretty much what I do too. I have about 10 custom entries in my hosts file but rely on uBlock to do all that for me.

To reset hosts file for different versions of Windows:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/972034

[Rex A. Butcher]

Gentlemen,

As usual, many thanks for your expertise.

I am using uBlock Origin and have been for quiet some time. There is a good chance that the last entry to my Host file was when I started using uBlock, because the file date is about one year ago.

Will reset the host and continue using uBlock.

But, I have just had another look at it before deleting all the entries, and I see the line near the top, "# Start of entries inserted by Spybot - Search & Destroy" that probably explains it.

Rex

[fink]

inserted by Spybot - Search & Destroy

It does explain it and it also tells us it's as out of date as that program is.. well past it's prime.

[Train]

"# Start of entries inserted by Spybot - Search & Destroy" that probably explains it.

Talk about antique.

[Rex A. Butcher]

What does 'well psst its prime' mean? I know it was probably designed for pre-XP, but since I am using XP, it frequently finds a few bits and pieces, albeit, slowly. And if it adds items to the exclude list in Host, surely that can only be a good thing?

[fink]

Past it's prime means it's no longer a useful anti-malware/anti-adware tool. The people who designed it sold it many years ago and it is no longer being updated with relevant methods to keep a computer safe no matter which Windows version is installed. The only thing it finds these days are tracking cookies which in the big scheme of things are quite benign. Plus the hosts file it creates is likely just as out of date as the program itself.