I'm cross-posting this to 5 newsgroups with follow-ups set to
alt.privacy.spyware. Feel free to override the follow-up if you don't
visit alt.privacy.spyware...
Within the last few days, my ad-blocking Hosts file has been mentioned
in these newsgroups--hence why I'm posting now. I've recently updated
it, and you can find the new version (September 1, 2003) at
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/get_hosts.html
In the July version, there were entries which prevented WindowsUpdate
from functioning properly--those have been removed since the August 15
update. I've also been spending a LOT of time weeding out other "false
positives." Using the Hosts file at
http://asp.flaaten.dk/proxo/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=20 as a reference, I've
kept all entries that both my Hosts file and the Proxo Hosts file had in
common... everything else I've been double-checking by hand, even
removing some false positives that were also in the Proxo Hosts file
(namely, stats.distributed.net and many foreign MSN addresses). It's a
very time-consuming and boring process (I only manage to check about 100
addresses per hour, using a very quick Google search) but I hope now
that my Hosts file is of much better quality and less hassle for all
those that use it. For those people that had trouble with WindowsUpdate
during the Blaster worm, I sincerely apologize.
If you suspect that the Hosts file is preventing a site that you visit
from working properly, you can verify it by "turning off" (renaming) the
Hosts file manually or by using HostsToggle
(http://accs-net.com/hosts/HostsToggle/) If you can visit the site
while the Hosts file is turned "off" but not while it's "on", please
email me at mjmeyer@myrealbox.com with the URL you're trying to access,
so I can figure out which Hosts entry is causing the problem and remove
it. Also: if you are using a large Hosts file on Windows 2000/XP, you
should turn off the DNS Client service, otherwise your Internet surfing
will be slowed down, rather than sped up!
I've also seen people mention on these newsgroups over the last couple
weeks that HostsToggle somehow "corrupted" their Hosts file. I don't
know what could be causing that... Some people claim that the Hosts
file must be named "HOSTS" (in call caps) in order to work, and
HostsToggle doesn't keep the case. While I have a hard time believing
this rumor, the next version of HostsToggle will make sure that HOSTS is
capitalized correctly. Other than that, the only thing which might make
HostsToggle give you grief is if you run it on Windows NT/2000/XP
without having write permission to the %windir%\System32\Drivers\Etc
folder. If you know how to modify NTFS permissions, you can change
them; otherwise you need to run HostsToggle as a local administrator.
If anyone has problems with HostsToggle, please let me know, with as
much detail as possible. I can't fix what I don't know!
Thank you,
Mike Meyer
mjmeyer@myrealbox.com
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