Just updated HOSTS in Win7; now want to add item

[rundwald]

Firstly I see that all the items listed by the Hosts file package have 0.0.0.0 by then rather than 127.0.0.1. There is one line at the top with 127.0.0.1. Why is the file now set up in that way?

I have a site that I wish to add manually. How do I go about that? For instance do I use 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1 when pasting in the site, wherein the lists of forbidden addresses should it be placed.

( It may be my elderly status but dealing with MVPS HOSTS seems to get more complicated)

 

[Callender]

Well there's an explanation on the website and it states:

"Important Note: The HOSTS file now contains a change in the prefix in the HOSTS entries to "0.0.0.0" instead of the usual "127.0.0.1".
This was done to resolve a slowdown issue that occurs with the change Microsoft made in the "TCP loopback interface" in Win8.1."

Now as I use several different sources for hosts files I can see no reason not to replace all 0.0.0.0 entries with 127.0.0.1 using your text editor. Personally I use EmEditor and set a registy entry so that any application that calls notepad.exe to open a file will use emeditor.exe instead.



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[rundwald]

I shall change all to 127.0.0.1. Really I'm at a loss as to what rule I've broken, unless we are so serious as to ban any humour or asides. God help us!

Missed AFAICS is the answer to how I add site to banned list

 

[Callender]

No rules broken! It's just that the topic of blocking sites using a Hosts file can be problematic if you start discussing anything under that rule.

 

[rundwald]

Thanks!

You mentioned use of different hosts files. Doesn't that lead to a lot of overlapping or possible conflicts? I use MVPS. Were I to use a further host source would they be installed in Windows\System32\drivers\etc as well.

 

[Callender]

Information on hosts file

Thanks!

You mentioned use of different hosts files. Doesn't that lead to a lot of overlapping or possible conflicts? I use MVPS. Were I to use a further host source would they be installed in Windows\System32\drivers\etc as well.

Well yes it does lead to overlapping (duplicates) and if you download a new hosts file it would need merging with the current one rather than letting it replace the old one. The only ways do merge that I know of are manually copying and pasting or else using a Hosts File Manager. If you use a decent one it will remove duplicates.

Re: Your original point.

Obviously the next time you download from the site you use you'll get another 0.0.0.0 hosts file. I suppose that could cause problems if you want to merge it. I guess you will have to put up with manually editing 0.0.0.0 entries for the time being.

This is what I use:

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Currently merging hosts files from eight sources and deduplicating after the merge results in almost 1.2 million entries. That takes around 15 minutes every few months to update and de=duplicate.

 

[GokAy]

Currently merging hosts files from eight sources and deduplicating after the merge results in almost 1.2 million entries. That takes around 15 minutes every few months to update and de=duplicate.

Hey Callender, what are you using the HOSTS file for? Job reasons?

 

[Callender]

Mostly anti-malware , anti-exploit and privacy concerns is the reason.