Tom AZ Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I am currently using the MVPS Hosts file. On a website my wife visits, "some" activity is regularly blocked or restricted. I know it's the HOSTS file, because when I disable it, everything works just fine. She can pretty well navigate around the site with no problems. However, when she tries adding an item to the shopping cart and/or attempts to check out, that's when the trouble begins. Obviously, it not the whole site that's blocked ? just some activity on the site. So... how in the world do you begin to identify the offending entry/IP address in order to either delete it or whitelist it? I'm not really sure how to go about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I would suggest turning on HostsServer and enabling the log. Then try visiting the site again and check the log. That will show you all the hosts that were just blocked, then you can narrow down the "false positive." Note that HostsServer works for all browsers except Opera for some reason. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 8, 2011 Moderators Share Posted March 8, 2011 I would suggest turning on HostsServer and enabling the log. Yes, and that's built into HostsMan (freeware). After enabling it you can find out which site it is, then in HostsMan insert to not add the site to the HOSTS file, then when it updates it will never add in the excluded/whitelist site ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Yes, and that's built into HostsMan (freeware). Good catch. For some reason I assumed he was already using HostsMan. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Thanks for the help - exactly what I needed to know. Do either of you load HostMan or HostsServer when Windows starts and run them active, or do you just launch them when you have a "special need"? Part of my reason for asking is that I'm not sure how resource intensive they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Do either of you load HostMan or HostsServer when Windows starts and run them active, or do you just launch them when you have a "special need"? Part of my reason for asking is that I'm not sure how resource intensive they are. Because I use Opera, I don't keep HostsServer running. I also never keep HostsMan running to save on system resources (I have no need for auto update checking). On my secondary (XP) machine, I use Iron more than Chrome so I do keep HostsServer running there, and it uses about 6MB of RAM and essentially no CPU. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 After enabling it you can find out which site it is, then in HostsMan insert to not add the site to the HOSTS file, then when it updates it will never add in the excluded/whitelist site ever again. Exactly, how do you do this with HostsMan? Also, once you identify an unwanted HOSTS entry(s) using the log file, do you delete the entry(s), disable it, or something else????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Exactly, how do you do this with HostsMan? Also, once you identify an unwanted HOSTS entry(s) using the log file, do you delete the entry(s), disable it, or something else????? Once you've identified the problem host, in HostsMan go to Hosts -> Exclusion List and add it there. That should be all that's necessary. HostsMan will continue to recognize that excluded site even after hosts file updates. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 9, 2011 Moderators Share Posted March 9, 2011 Part of my reason for asking is that I'm not sure how resource intensive they are. The amount of RAM they use is small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 HostMan has the option to "Optimize" the "hosts" file. I'm not exactly sure what this does, but is it something that should be done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 13, 2011 Moderators Share Posted March 13, 2011 It formats the HOSTS file very differently than say what the MVPS.org HOSTS File comes in as standard. Instead of the normal one entry per line it removes all comments and puts a bunch of sites in a role. I don't have it installed at the moment to look but it's something like this: 127.0.0.1 somereallybadsite01.com, somereallybadsite02.com, somereallybadsite03.com 127.0.0.1 anotherreallybadsite01.com, anotherreallybadsite02.com, anotherreallybadsite03.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 Very interesting. Do you advise using it or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Very interesting. Do you advise using it or not? I do. The only disadvantage is you cannot disable individual domains since there are multiple listed per line. It sounds like you want to do that, so you may not want to use the optimization. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 14, 2011 Moderators Share Posted March 14, 2011 It's a major pain if you manually add in sites on your own, so you'd have to start doing all your adding in via HostsMan. For me it wasn't because I keep my HOSTS file that I add in junk to block on a completely different disk drive then install into Windows from there, that also makes it immune to any form of manipulation/deletion/hijacking, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks again, guys, for giving me some insight on this. One other question, Andavari, in everyday real life, what's the likelihood of your hosts file being hijacked? I could easily lock mine with with my firewall, but I've never done that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted March 14, 2011 Moderators Share Posted March 14, 2011 If you get malware on your computer it could be hijacked, or if you visit a site that alters it or wipes it clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 In HostMan, what does "resolve host name" do and when should it be used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom AZ Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 How do you lock/block your hosts file to keep it from being tampered with or hijacked, and at the same time keep HostsMan active and functional? I can protect my hosts file with my firewall, but it also blocks HostsMan from accessing it and functioning properly. Also, I asked this is the previous post, but never received a reply: In HostMan, what does "resolve host name" do and when should it be used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 How do you lock/block your hosts file to keep it from being tampered with or hijacked, and at the same time keep HostsMan active and functional? I can protect my hosts file with my firewall, but it also blocks HostsMan from accessing it and functioning properly. WinPatrol can detect malicious changes to your hosts file. Dell Latitude D600 Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now