Hi Billyray:

The Windows HOSTS file was originally designed to
speed up DNS lookups.

When you type "www.google.com" in your browser
address bar, your computer first goes to a DNS
lookup server to get the actual address of
Google, which in my case (Google has several) is
"72.14.209.104", which my browser then connects
to.  So, when you type "www.google.com", your
computer has to make two calls, one to the DNS
server, then a second one to 72.14.209.104, before
you actually are presented with the Google page.

In the old days of slow computers, the HOSTS file
allowed you to speed up this process by keeping a
list, locally on your own computer, of Internet
addresses ("72.14.209.104") that you used
frequently.  The HOSTS file is just a text file
that is checked whenever you type an address in
your browser.  When you type "www.google.com",
your computer first checks your local HOSTS file
to see if you have a listing for "www.google.com"
and an Internet address number it can use without
going out on the Internet to use a DNS lookup
server.

Most people don't use this list for speeding up
their Internet connections anymore, but the
infrastructure is all still in place, and the
HOSTS file can be used to block unwanted sites.
It works like this:

It's unlikely that you're going to type
"www.badsite.com" in your browser yourself, but
what happens if a web page you visit makes a call
on its own to "www.badsite.com" (for an
advertisement, for example)?

A "managed HOSTS file" will have a listing
(contibuted by the members and users) for
"www.badsite.com", and there will be a listing in
the HOSTS file for it pointing all calls for that
site back to your local computer ("127.0.0.1"),
which, of course, has no advertisements to
display.

If you've got your HOSTS file installed properly,
your should find a file in
C:\WINDOWS
called "HOSTS" (with no extension).  If you used
the HOSTS file I recommended,
http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download
you will get it as a file called HOSTS.TXT, and
you will have to change the name to "HOSTS"
(without an extension).

You can open the HOSTS file with a text editor.
If you're using Windows 95, and you're trying to
use the HOSTS file I recommended, you won't be
able to open it with NOTEPAD, because it's too
large.  However, it should open in WORDPAD all
right.

To test to see if your HOSTS file is working,
try this:

Rename your HOSTS file to "hosts.off".
Open your browser, and type "www.dot.tk" in the
address bar.  (I guarantee this won't hurt your
computer -- "dot.tk" has gotten itself blacklisted
because a lot of its customers host "questionable"
sites there -- but the main dot.tk site is benign.
You should see a simple HTML page that says
"Renaming the Internet."

Now, close your browser completely (not just that
one page) -- shut down Internet Explorer (or
Firefox or Opera) completely.  Change the name of
the HOSTS file from "hosts.off" to "hosts".

Start your browser, and type "www.dot.tk" again.
This time you should get a "Page Not Found" error
message.  This is because your HOSTS file is
pointing calls for "www.dot.tk" at your own
computer, rather than at the DOT.TK server.

You can turn your HOSTS file on and off by
renaming it (hiding it) anytime you want to surf
without its protection.  I use a cute little
application called HOSTS TOGGLE that puts a little
icon in my system tray.  Clicking on the icon
does all this renaming automatically, so the HOSTS
file can be turned on and off easily.  You can
get HOSTS TOGGLE for free here:
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/HostsToggle/

Jerry

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