Virus Guy wrote:

> A Hosts file larger than 135 kb slows down a Windows PC regardless
> of OS.

Which we now know to be wrong because:

> That line from winhelp2002 used to read as follows:
>
> "Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb)
> tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000/
> XP/Vista. Windows 98 and ME are not affected."

The underlying reason (as siljaline alludes to) is the DNS client
present in Win-XP and higher, which caches DNS results. I can find no
Microsoft document putting an upper limit on the size of the HOSTS file
that is compatible with the DNS service - some non-microsoft sources put
the upper limit closer to 100kb.

Because win-9x/me never had anything similar to the DNS service, it
can't be limited by HOSTS file size - at least not for the same reason.