do u ppl use 95 as ur main pc? just wondring

---thou shal not screw up fourms with bad signatures---

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It does everything I expect from an operating system while not being obtrusive or annoying.

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---nor shalt thou screw up forums with bad spelling & text speak--- ;)

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That's interesting! I have this old Gateway 2000 upgraded with Win 95b but I wonder how to surf the web safely? I use Site Advisor on my XP computer, and I'm afraid to go to websites without knowing in advance what they might be like. Is there a way to surf the web without too much worry in Windows 95?


On Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 7:55 am, Benoit wrote:
>It does everything I expect from an operating system while not being obtrusive or
>annoying.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi Billyray:

I use a managed HOSTS file.  There are several
around.  I like this one best:

http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download

Jerry

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks Jerry! I've installed it, but nothing looks any different. How do I know if or when it's working? What does HOSTS do?


On Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 9:19 pm, Jerry wrote:
>Hi Billyray:
>
>I use a managed HOSTS file. There are several
>around. I like this one best:
>
> >href="http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download">http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download
>
>Jerry

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Use a (mostly) secure web browser like SeaMonkey, Opera, K-Meleon or anything else than IE that's still being updated (Firefox 2 crashes, 1.5 works though). That should take care of most of the nasty stuff, together with common sense. That is, don't download executables or other files from places you don't trust. For maximum security place your computer behind a router that has a hardware firewall turned on.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

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

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Actually, the hosts file exists because many years back we didn't have DNS servers. You'd have to download an updated hosts file from your ISP about every month.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

That's good to hear Benoit. I use Firefox 2.0 on my XP machine. I didn't think Firefox would work with Windows 95. I'll see if I can find a 1.5 version to download. I have no great love for IE 5.5. It is too vulnerable, and doesn't have tabs etc. I tried Opera 6.6 which is supposedly the last version that works with Windows 95, but I seemed to be having problems.


On Thursday, May 3, 2007 at 12:39 pm, Benoit wrote:
>Use a (mostly) secure web browser like SeaMonkey, Opera, K-Meleon or anything else
>than IE that's still being updated (Firefox 2 crashes, 1.5 works though).
>
>That should take care of most of the nasty stuff, together with common sense. That
>is, don't download executables or other files from places you don't trust.
>
>For maximum security place your computer behind a router that has a hardware firewall
>turned on.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks for the great write up Jerry! It was very helpful. Sorry it took a while for me to reply. I've been upgrading some other stuff on this Win 95 computer and have been distracted with that. But I am still playing around with the Hosts idea.


On Thursday, May 3, 2007 at 12:51 pm, Jerry wrote:
>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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You're welcome!

If you think of other HOSTS file questions as you play around with it, let us know.

Jerry

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All versions of OPERA "should" run OK on Win95. 
I'm running v8.54 right now.  I tried v9.20, but I
didn't like the new features, so I went back to
v8.54.  But, v9.20 seemed to run OK on Win95.  I
suppose if I'd take some time to mess around with
it, I could tweak v9.20 so it wouldn't annoy me,
but I just didn't feel like messing around with
it.

The best thing OPERA has going for it is that it
extremely tweakable if you dig into it far enough.
A lot of things that don't appear as changeable in
the interface can be changed by editing INI files.

Jerry

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I've added Spybot search and destroy as well as SpywareBlaster to my system, so I wonder if they are just as good? I usually try to do safe browsing, but some websites can be very deceptive. It's too bad we can't get a version of the Site Advisor for Windows 95... oh well.


On Sunday, May 6, 2007 at 6:49 pm, Jerry wrote:
>You're welcome!
>
>If you think of other HOSTS file questions as you play around with it, let us know.
>
>Jerry

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