-=PCTechTalk=- Re: host files

Hi Cris,
yes all sites you want blocked.

See; Use the Hosts 
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,600736,00.asp
Whenever your computer connects to a resource on the Internet, it 
uses a Domain Name System (DNS) server to convert the human-friendly 
host name (such as \\Mailserver) or URL (such as www.pcmag.com) into 
an IP address. A little-known feature (lifted directly from Unix) in 
Windows 98 SE or later lets you keep a table of host names and IP 
addresses on your own computer. If this file =97called the Hosts file=97
is present, Windows uses the IP address from the file without 
consulting a DNS server.

The Windows Hosts file can be found in 
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc
 (In Windows 98 SE, the Hosts file is located in \Windows\.) 
The plain-text Hosts file contains one line for each entry.

Even if you haven't created the Hosts file, it's there=97with one 
lonely entry that defines localhost. (Localhost is an alias used for 
testing, and it always refers to 127.0.0.1, the IP standard loopback 
address.)

You can add your own entries to the Hosts file using any text editor, 
such as Notepad. The first (and less useful) way you might use this 
is to add the names and IP addresses of commonly used Internet hosts, 
so that Windows does not have to look up the address each time it 
connects to a given host. But most DNS lookups are so fast that you 
won't notice any performance increase.

The second, more useful way to use Hosts is to create a dead-end 
address, known as a hacker IP address, for ad servers or for Web 
sites that you want to block. For example, the entry 127.0.0.1 
adserver .annoying.com tells Windows to use 127.0.0.1 to connect to 
Adserver.annoying.com. Since that address doesn't exist, you'll never 
see the ad. You can use the Hosts file as a cheap and dirty content 
filter in the same way: Simply create an entry for each host you want 
to block, using the address 127.0.0.1.


See also; http://www.smartin-designs.com/

Mike ~ one of the Moderators
It is a good day if I learned something new.
Editor MikesWhatsNews http://www.mwn.ca/ 

******* Mike's  REPLY SEPARATOR *********

On 6/14/2005 at 8:21 PM Cris wrote:

Should we all have things listed in our hosts file?
Cris



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