Site blacklist

What is your email reader ?

The best solution is to add a blacklist rule in it. Simply clicking on spam while it might work isn't as reliable as adding rules manually. For example you could add a rule to send all mails containing "nirvam" to the trash, whatever the sender's email address is.

UsernameIssues said:

Several websites suggest disabling the Windows service named DNS Client if you are going to use a HOSTS file.

Could you please explain what is it and how it works?

You should also close your browser to make sure that the info that it has cached is cleared. Make sure that the browser has left RAM. This can take a minute or so after the Window has closed. Once you restart your browser, it should read the contents of your HOSTS file.

Restarting the computer (as carwiz mentioned) should clear the DNS cache too - if you opt not to disable the DNS Client service. Let's just hope that you won't be editing/restarting/testing the HOSTS file too often

If you can show us what your HOSTS file entries look like, then maybe we can spot any errors. I'm not sure how you can add/block e-mail addresses to a HOSTS file. More about that later*.

Done it but it didn't work I believe that I failed to edit the hosts file correctly.
By the way, my browser can open the web site but "ping" failed:
C:\Users\blink>ping www dot nirvam dot it (I had to edit the web address because once saved in the form it displayed the site description)

Pinging nirvam.it [89.186.92.211] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 89.186.92.211:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

jimbo45 said:

I do not think you can block e-mails via the HOSTS file or via router settings. Those blocks are meant to prevent a computer on your network from getting data from a domain (a website like facebook.com). The e-mails that you are getting are coming to you thru Google's domains/website. If you blocked Google's mail servers, you could not get any e-mails.
It might be best to get a new e-mail address.

I don't think that changing e-mail address will prevent dishonest harvesters from sending me spam.

carwiz said:

Or get a new mail handler. Windows Live Mail works. :) It allows blocking. And you can use it to gather all your email accounts to one handler. The trouble with many of the mail account servers is that you will get mail even if your account is close to a "shotgun" broadcast. This is where you might have an account called "JoeBlue" and the broadcast will go to accounts starting with J O E or J O E B L... It's just how mail servers resolve names. Also, the return address in a message may not be where it actually came from.

They found my Gmail account and it doesn't have a block option like Live Mail.

oneeyed said:

What is your email reader ?

The best solution is to add a blacklist rule in it. Simply clicking on spam while it might work isn't as reliable as adding rules manually. For example you could add a rule to send all mails containing "nirvam" to the trash, whatever the sender's email address is.

I'm using Outlook, unfortunately they send the spam to my Gmail account.
Thanks to everyone for help.

They found my Gmail account and it doesn't have a block option like Live Mail.

Google Mail DOES have a blacklist system. It's actually one of the most powerful filter system in webmails available (makes sense since it's mostly a search engine on your mails). It can sort/forward/erase/label based on things like date/year received, sender, etc... And you can even apply it too all the mails already present in your inbox.

Launch your browser and access your gmail account from there.
Click Settings > Filters > Create a New Filter

You can either create a filter on the sender address (it might miss spam if the spammer uses different addresses) :
Type nirvam@nirvam.it in the "From" field

Or you can filter any mail that contains a specific text anywhere in it (title, sender, main message) :
Type nirvam in the "Has the words" field

Click Next Step and check "Delete it"

Click on "Create Filter"


And you're done ! This will put all these mails directly into the trash folder without even being downloaded or checked by your mail reader, all the work is done by gmail.

More info :
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en

I'll answer your questions - but this will NOT help your e-mail problems. Also, (as was mentioned before) just because an e-mail says that it is from nirvam.it does not mean that the e-mail was sent from nirvam.it. E-MAIL INFO CAN LIE.


re: the Windows service named DNS Client

As I understand it (and I could be wrong):

When an app like IE wants to visit google.com...
...the app asks the DNS Client service,
"What is the IP address for google.com?"

...the DNS Client service asks the HOSTS file*,
"What is the IP address for google.com?"

If google.com IS listed in that file...
...then the DNS Client service tells IE the IP address
...and IE tries to visit that IP address.
The HOSTS file can be used to pass out false IP addresses...
...thus blocking access to the real IP addresses.



If google.com IS NOT listed in that file...
...then the DNS Client service asks a DNS server
(a set of computers on the internet)
"What is the IP address for google.com?"

Once the DNS server replies...
...the DNS Client service tells IE the IP address
...and IE tries to visit that IP address.



The next time the IE wants to know the IP address for google.com...
...IE asks the DNS Client service,
"What is the IP address for google.com?"

...the DNS Client service tells IE the IP address
(using info that it had saved/cached from the last DNS lookup)
...and IE tries to visit that IP address.

So, if you changed the HOSTS file after the DNS Client service had read it, then IE would not be told about the new info in the HOST file because the DNS Client service answered IE's query using cached/saved DNS info.


*not exactly true in all cases, but it will do for this overview.

If you disable the DNS Client service, then IE make it's queries first to the HOSTS file and then to the DNS servers on the internet. IE (and other apps) can also cache/save/remember some DNS info. That is why it is best to exit IE while changing the HOSTS file.


Not that you asked - but here is some info on disabling the DNS Client service:






Change the screen shown above to look like the screen shown below.



"OK" your way out and restart the computer.

Also attached to this post is a HOSTS file that has the website of interest blocked. There is a reason why I listed the website two ways. Let us know if you cannot figure out how to get that file uncompressed and where it needs to be.


PINGING:
Some websites do not respond to pings.


I'll let others help you with filtering out the SPAM.

oneeyed said:

Google Mail DOES have a blacklist system. It's actually one of the most powerful filter system in webmails available (makes sense since it's mostly a search engine on your mails). It can sort/forward/erase/label based on things like date/year received, sender, etc... And you can even apply it too all the mails already present in your inbox.

Launch your browser and access your gmail account from there.
Click Settings > Filters > Create a New Filter

You can either create a filter on the sender address (it might miss spam if the spammer uses different addresses) :
Type nirvam@nirvam.it in the "From" field

Or you can filter any mail that contains a specific text anywhere in it (title, sender, main message) :
Type nirvam in the "Has the words" field

Click Next Step and check "Delete it"

Click on "Create Filter"


And you're done ! This will put all these mails directly into the trash folder without even being downloaded or checked by your mail reader, all the work is done by gmail.

More info :
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en

Thanks very much oneeyed, I new about Gmail filter option and I knew you would say that Gmail indeed has it. :)
The problem is that in the past I messed with it because some spamming contained my e-mail name plus my full name so that it looked like I was the spammer.
After I applied the filter I was no more able to receive ANY e-mails from anyone so my account was rejecting everything.
Anyways, I applied the filter you suggested and thanks for help.

UsernameIssues said:

re: the Windows service named DNS Client

If you disable the DNS Client service, then IE make it's queries first to the HOSTS file and then to the DNS servers on the internet. IE (and other apps) can also cache/save/remember some DNS info. That is why it is best to exit IE while changing the HOSTS file.

Also attached to this post is a HOSTS file that has the website of interest blocked. There is a reason why I listed the website two ways. Let us know if you cannot figure out how to get that file uncompressed and where it needs to be.

Thanks very much for deep explanation although I'm still not 100% clear.
So if I disable the dns service, how will my common browsing activity behave?
Also thanks very much for the hosts file, finally my browser cannot access to that web site anymore ""server not found".

UsernameIssues said:

Sorry that I was not clear.
I can be that way at times :-(
It is a complicated topic.

If you disable the Windows service named DNS Client...
...you will probably never notice the difference.
(Try it and see. It won't hurt anything.)

If you decide to leave it running...
...you will probably never notice the difference.
...(because you have a tiny HOSTS file)
...(which you probably won't update/edit/change each day).

If you ever decide to use a bigger host file (about a million entries) [Google HostsMan], then it is best to have the DNS Client service turned off so that you can edit/update the HOSTS file without restarting the computer or manually flushing and reloading the DNS cache.

I delete my HOSTS file (via a script) when I want to visit what it blocks. All I have to do is open a new* browser to get to the website of interest. If I had the DNS Client service running, then I would have to do several more things to visit that website or restart the computer. Once I'm thru with the website, my script updates and replaces my HOSTS file.

The DNS Client service is needed in some corporate environments, but those people should be getting help from their IT staff. Not from these forums.


*new - as in a different browser than the one that told me the site was not available. e.g. If IE cannot get there - then I delete the HOSTS file - start Chrome or Pale Moon as my new browser and visit the website. That way, I can keep my many tabs open within IE. If I run out of browsers or I think that the website is dangerous, I use a browser inside a Virtual Machine.

edit: hmmm, if you Google HostsMan, you might see forum threads arguing against using HOSTS files this way. I'll not debate that here, but feel free to PM me.

Thanks that is a very interesting reading.
I sometimes do add or delete entries in the hosts file like for example when I had to block the nasty and stubborn Skype update service which still runs even if in its settings I chose NOT.
I turned off the dns service and sometimes I'll need to update the hosts file, so is this a good setup for me?
I would love to search and read more about your suggestions but unfortunately I need to keep dealing with my studying and lifestyle.

You will do just fine with the DNS Client service disabled

Some apps try to connect to things on the internet and when they fail, they try to connect to an IP address. Knowing one or more the IP addresses will cause the app to not use the HOSTS file (or the DNS Client server). That app will probably connect. The Windows firewall can be used to block connections to for a specific app. If you do not want the app to connect to anything, block it from everything.

If you want to stop the Skype update service from running, create a fresh topic (when you have the time).

If you need help with firewall settings, create a fresh topic (when you have the time).

Since you own a computer that uses the Windows OS, you are not allowed to have a life