Win 7 Pro hosts file question

Uitlander · 20 Jan 2023

I have been researching the hosts file in Win 7, and Google has failed to answer some questions, so I'll try here.

1. From this article, is appears using the hosts file to blacklist a URL only prevents your computer from reaching that site:
How To Block Websites On Windows Using The Hosts File
....but apparently does nothing to prevent that site from reaching your computer. True or false?

2. If true, what options are there to prevent a snoopy site like Fakebook from accessing your computer, other than PeerBlock, which seems to be on everyone's hiss list?

F22 Simpilot · 21 Jan 2023

I'll try to answer this as best I can so you can understand it.

Generally, websites DO NOT connect to your computer. You, that's right -- YOU connect to the website.

So Facebook connecting to your computer isn't happening. There may be programs or Apps making that connection though. They ESTABLISH the connection. Automatically in some cases. Even if something tried connecting to you from outside the WAN I'm sure you have a router that will block it because that's the nature of SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) in a router and NAT (Network Address Translation). If you have UPnP or port forwarding turned on in the router then things can get inside your network.

Now about the hosts file. The hosts file is NOT meant for blocking domains. It was intended for another purpose in a network situation. But it can be used for blocking purposes but in limited scope. If you have several hundred domains in the hosts file you'll wind up having to turn off the DNS Cache service for performance reasons. Again, the hosts file was never meant for blocking things. In a limited way it's fine and I use it in that regard to block NVIDIA telemetry and whatnot. You want to use something more applicable for the intent. Like pfSense, OPNSense, PiHole or DNS blocking services like OpenDNS et al. Also, the hosts file functionality is domain to IP resolution. So you can't do something like:

127.0.0.1 192.168.1.1

Only domain to IP resolution like this:

127.0.0.1 facebook.com

You could also use, 127.0.0.22 facebook.com

Why? Because the reserved space of 127.0.0.0/8 for localhost has over 16 MILLION possibilities. (And here we're running out of IPV4 addressees and need IPv6....

CIDR to IPv4 Address Range Utility Tool | IPAddressGuide

Win 7 Pro hosts file question-frdshg.jpg

diz · 21 Jan 2023

In order for an external computer to connect to your computer, your computer would have to have some software installed that acts as a server. Windows blocks incoming connections by default. Programs that want to act as a server generate a security notification asking you what to do with the program's incoming connections. So don't worry about incoming connections unless you have malicious programs installed.

As for outbound connections I have been using NextDNS for a couple of years now. The free version (300k queries a month) is perfectly usable by the average user.

NextDNS is an online DNS-over-TLS/DNS-over-HTTPS service, but it also offers other interesting services, such as block lists. It has dozens of filters to choose from, "No Facebook" is one of them.

The graphical client doesn't seem to work on windows 7, so to use it on windows 7 you have to use the CLI version:

1. Register on NextDNS
2. Download: NextDNS CLI client

Releases . nextdns/nextdns . GitHub

Execute:

Code:

		
C:\>downloads\nextdns.exe install
	
C:\Program Files\nextdns\nextdns.exe -config <yourconfigid_itsonthewebsite>
C:\Program Files\nextdns\nextdns.exe start
C:\Program Files\nextdns\nextdns.exe activate

And that's it, it installs as a service. It starts with windows. And apply the block to all windows programs that use the DNS service.

List of filter lists:

More screenshoots:
Setup: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Security: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Privacy: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Parental Control: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Denylist: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Allowlist: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Analytics: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Logs: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Settings: https://imgur.com/nJRdxXr