Help Save your HDD with a HOSTS file

[PC_Side_Line]

Yes this post belongs here because it can help ppl to avoid bad sites which can wreak havoc with someone's hdd.

here are a few:

hacker.com
Xupiter.com
LOP.com
spysherriff.com
spytrooper.com
doubleclick.com
nitrous.exitfuel.com
exitfuel.com

these sites have downloaded rogue malware to many of our customers' hard drives without their permission and caused countless headaches to the 1000's that we see each year.

MOst of the people did not have a well configured firewall, but who knows if that contributed to their problems.

But u can stop your pc from accidentally visiting these rogue sites by making a HOSTS file.

A HOSTS file is just a text file that you can open and edit with Notepad, but it is called "HOSTS" without the .txt suffix

Each time you open any browser, it first goes to the HOSTS file and sees if any sites are posted into it with a loopback line.

for example if i wanted to keep certain family members from going to a few particular sites, i would write these lines into the HOSTS file:

127.0.0.1 www.hacker.com
127.0.0.1 www.xupiter.com
127.0.0.1 www.lop.com
127.0.0.1 www.spytrooper.com
127.0.0.1 www.spysherriff.com
127.0.0.1 www.youtube.com
127.0.0.1 www.myspace.com
127.0.0.1 www.exitfuel.com
127.0.0.1 nitrous.exitfuel.com
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.com

( please dont click on thee above links)

the 127.0.0.1 is on the same line as the rogue site u want to keep from getting to.

There should be 1 space between the 127.0.0.1 and the rogue site.
then you save it to a very special directory where your browser is pre- programmed to look first....

In default windows XP, it is at C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

my HOSTS file has about 500 entries so far

So if u want to avoid certain sites, then the HOSTS file can help protect your hdd. It is not the Silver bull_et but every lil bit helps.

PS: ur pc should be re booted after editing a HOSTS file.

 

[aBg_rOnGak]

Thanks for the info, useful to unprotected noobs and newbs alike. If some of you too lazy/ scared to edit HOSTS file, then use something like SpywareBlaster to protect your PC, along with other antispyware(s) (it's not a full-blown antispyware, just svrl useful protections)

 

[belvdr]

Each time you open any browser, it first goes to the HOSTS file and sees if any sites are posted into it with a loopback line.

Or any IP address, not just the loopback address. If you have an entry such as:

192.168.1.1 your.hostname.here

Then your machine will resolve your.hostname.here to 192.168.1.1.

There should be 1 space between the 127.0.0.1 and the rogue site. then you save it to a very special directory where your browser is pre- programmed to look first....

Actually your IP stack is configured to look there first. You can also use 0.0.0.0 also. Spaces do not matter; you can use a Tab (or mulitple tabs) if you desire to make it easier to read

PS: ur pc should be re booted after editing a HOSTS file.

Not necessary, just flush the DNS cache at the command line:

ipconfig /flushdns

Your OS is configured to look to the local cache first, then the hosts file, then DNS, by default.

 

[PC_Side_Line]

thaks for clearing that up Belvdr, have u been to www.MINASI.com and joined their Tech forum?

mark minasi is the pc helping and networking guru of all pc helping and networking guru's.

If u happen to chat with mark, pls mention that UFITG said hello n hugs

 

[qwertycopter]

Or you can install Spybot Search & Destroy and use the Immunize feature. It currently blocks over 16,000 known malicious sites by putting them in the Internet Explorer restricted sites list.

You could also do the same sort of blacklisting with the program IE-Spyad.

Or you could run Firefox with Ad-Block + FilterSet.G and NoScript running. Whitelist the sites you frequent. All other active content and ads get blocked at the door.

Make sure you're running SP2 w/latest Windows Updates. Enable the windows firewall and create exceptions for the programs you use often. Don't allow active content unless you trust the source.

Another hearty tip is to stop running your computer with a local administrator account! Create a Power Users account. It has the basic privileges except installation. Many silent spyware installs are thwarted when the installation privilage is not available.

 

[PC_Side_Line]

MOre great info there qwertycopter

i've used the spyware blaster from 2003 with limited success.

I also use Spy Sweeper from www.webroot.com

and ccleaner from cnet.com

Is the one you mentioned a 2006 or 2007 version?

 

[martyjs]

Good post, I knew how the host file worked, Ive had to clean it out when viruses had blocked anti virus sites but never thought of doing back to them.
I may do it the the new PC's we sell.

 

[aBg_rOnGak]

Win XP Pro SP2
ZoneAlarm Security Suite
SywareBlaster
SpyBot Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware PE
XoftSpySE
SuperAntiSpyware
RootKit Hook Analyzer

Firefox with exensions:
AdBlock Plus
AdBlock Filterset.G Updater
HostIP.info Geolocation Plugin
SpoofStick
WOT

 

[PC_Side_Line]

Thnx for the Thought MArty...it's very nice to see positive attitudes on a forum.

and i'm not singling out marty....u know who u are

 

[martyjs]

8)

 

[croc]

And you profess to be an IP professional, giving advice to your customers.... I pity your customers if you've just learned of this 'new' feature.

The hosts file has been part of every unix system since berkely, and dates back to as far as the first version of NT, possibly further.

This is very old news.

 

[PC_Side_Line]

Croc, ur silly, if u've been following me, i just came back to this site since leaving it 6 yrs ago.

You're rite HOSTS is not new but since we are under a deluge of hackers and rogue businesses at the moment, and no one has written a nice helpful post about it, then it bears some merit to get looked at again.