"Gladiator" wrote in message
news:au5393hr86o0m3a8a2e6b6p40ctu17kaek@4ax.com...
> Here's what I use and it's all free.
>
> MVPS Hosts File

> ...

I never use a hosts file where it redirects "bad" hostnames to the
localhost (which presumably isn't running a web server). Why? Because
it is far too easy to create placeholder hostnames at a domain that
change at-will so the hosts file will never be up to date. The MVPs
hosts file has around 52 entries just for DoubleClick when I checked a
couple months ago. That's ridiculous. Many of these spam sites are now
accepting ANY hostname at their domain so a hosts list would have to be
infinite in size (okay, not infinite but extremely huge) to encompass
every possible hostname at that domain. Rather than their DNS server
rejecting the lookup on a hostname, they simply return the IP address
for their boundary server host for all DNS requests.

A hosts file demands a fully qualified name (FQDN) for the host, like
www.domain.com or a1bfd.otherdomain.com. You cannot use wildcarding or
just specify the domain to redirect (to localhost) all connects to that
domain. A few firewalls permit wildcarding in the URL filtering. Much
easier to filter on "/*.doubleclick.*/" than on 52 different and unique
entries in a hosts file which has to be periodically updated to account
for Doubleclick adding yet another hostname.

Another problem with a hosts file is that the site to which you connect
but are trying to block their ads from these "bad" site can see that you
blocked those ads. Because the HTML code you get contains the URL to
the advertiser's site, your browser is expected to go retrieve the
content at that URL. The site you visit knows your IP address. The ad
server also knows your IP address *if* you retrieve their content. If
the web site you visit and the ad site don't see that your IP address
accesses both pages within a short interval, like a few seconds, the
visited site doesn't get an acknowledgement from the ad server showing
your IP address visited there. The visited site then refuses to show
you its content because you blocked the ads.

To be fair, it is THEIR site, not yours, and the cost of your visit and
everyone else's to allow free access to that site may rely on ad revenue
(i.e., ad space or click-throughs). Don't visit there if you don't like
seeing advertisements. Just as you believe you have a right to edit the
content of their site, they have the right to not show you that content
unless you see ALL of it. They can even screw up the formatting of
their page to make it difficult to read unless the ads are displayed in
your browser (i.e., the space for the ad is different than for the
placeholder). Blocking their ads can result in a non-sustainable web
site that disappears because of users like yourself. Not going there
eliminates their cost in resources to supply you with their web page.
It is very much like going to the store to buy a box of chocolates,
opening the box while in the store, tossing out all the ones that you
don't like, and then claiming you should only have to pay only for the
ones that you left in the box.