That one has a few thousand more lines. Do you know if it has SpyBot's hosts file additions in it? I didn't see any mention of "SpyBot" in their file: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt . I wonder what happens if there's duplicates in the hosts file. I'd like to have this one PLUS the one I already have but it's impossible to find out which domains are duplicated. -Clint God Bless Clint Hamilton, Owner http://www.OrpheusComputing.com http://www.ComputersCustomBuilt.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hugh Vandervoort" Clint is offering some very good advice here. I've been using a Hosts file for a long time, and I'm frequently surprised when I use other's computers and see the ads and pop-ups they tolerate. I use the file from here, which is updated frequently: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm There is a complete explanation and a batch file which makes installation very easy. Try it. You'll like it. Clint Hamilton-PCWorks Admin wrote: > Most of the pop-up blockers we use won't stop many kinds of > them. If you've gotten as fed up as I have with them, there's > a couple of things you can do to wipe them out, site-by-site. > I was getting infuriated with a particular "slide-ups" at some > sites I frequent. As the name implies, they slide up in some > sort of a slower animated form onto the webpage rather than a > pop-up in a separate window, (this is why the pop-up blockers > won't work on them), and always, as all of them, with some > totally useless BS on them like "Hi, my name is [....] and I'm > looking for a friend", from all those kinds of "cyber-terrorism" > dating sites for example. (I fail to see why anyone with an > otherwise legit website would want to contaminate their site > with this kind of garbage). > > This is on IE, I'm not sure how to do this in FireFox. The > first thing you can do is put the domain of the offending > pop-up/slide-up in the Restricted Sites Zone. For those of you > that don't know, as the name also implies with this it's a more > restrictive zone than the default "Internet Zone" where many > things are not allowed like various downloads, Cookies, > redirects, scripts, etc. You should use these types of formats: > > BadDomain.com > www.BadDomain.com > *.BadDomain.com > > The *. should be inclusive of the www version since that's a > wildcard, so it may tell you it's already listed in the zone, so > add the www version before the wildcard version. The reason > for the wildcard is that protects against ads.BadDomain.com, > ad.BadDomain.com, banners.BadDomain.com, etc. If you > make an error, it will tell you the correct formats it accepts. > > The other thing that works even better is to put the domain > in your "hosts" file. (I don't know if FireFox uses the same > file or not). You can search your HD for it, or it should be > at the path "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc". This is > a read-only file, so you have to right click it, Properties, > then uncheck "Read Only" > Apply > Ok. Then open it in > Notepad. The domains listed in the file are in alphabetical > order, so you have to search through it for the right spot. > Note the locations of the www versions of the domains in > the file, then do the same in the right spot with your > offending domain. Then close out of the file saving it, > and BE SURE to set it back to read-only! > > For those that don't know, the "hosts" file controls the > websites visited on the host PC by not allowing access to > them. By doing this, it also totally blocks anything that could > come from the website, including bogus IM's and these > kinds of annoying pop-ups & slide-ups. > > If anyone is not using a hosts file, or it's blank (and if so it > means you're not using SpyBot which is bad), the format is > like this: > > 127.0.0.1 www.BadDomain.com > 127.0.0.1 BadDomain.com > > After adding numerous domains to my hosts file, I'm no > longer bothered by these nuisances. > > To find the offending domain, if the whole thing is clickable > just right click the slide-up/pop-up and "Copy shortcut" > then paste it somewhere and you can see the domain. > If the whole thing is not clickable, then just do this with > a link in it. If you still can't find the domain, if "Copy > shortcut" is grayed out or not there, then you'll have to > click it. Just be sure to immediately click "Stop" to > stop the page from loading, and you can get the domain > URL from the address bar. (You don't want to give them > any traffic or risk getting malware from their site on your > PC). > > Like I mentioned above, SpyBot does a great job of > modifying your hosts file. It adds many thousands of > nefarious domains (about 4500+ so far) that protects > your PC from anything from these domains. But it does > indeed leave many out that should be added. If anyone > wants to use mine, or see it to be sure your syntax or > format is correct for anything you want to add, I've > uploaded it and I'll leave it there for a few days. > There's almost 10,000 lines in mine. > http://www.orpheuscomputing.com/computers/hosts.zip > -Clint ========================= The list's FAQ's can be seen by sending an email to PCWorks-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with FAQ in the subject line. To unsubscribe, subscribe, set Digest or Vacation to on or off, go to //www.freelists.org/list/pcworks . You can also send an email to PCWorks-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with Unsubscribe in the subject line. 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