Tarun
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Posts posted by Tarun
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Are you trying to tell me that you've submitted to the Mastertech school of computing.
No seriously though his site is about the only one that I can find that dosen't recommend the host file.
But I guess if we are going to go buy the "prefetch cleaning is good thing," then I can say that I notice no difference wether I clean my prefetch or not. But I do notice a difference when I open up IE on a computer that I stuck the host file on.
Well, if you've looked over his pages recently, most of his information is actually correct.
Large Hosts Files also cause Internet related slowdowns. Oh, was what Microsoft said not enough fact for you? Apparently not. Time to enroll in tech school kiddo.
The Hosts file is an archaic part of networking setups that was originally meant to be used on a LAN; it tells a PC the fixed numeric address of the internal server(s)--the LAN Host(s)--so the PC doesn't have to go looking for them through all possible addresses. It can save time when "discovering" a LAN.
But the Hosts file can be used for other purposes, too. For example, some less-than-stellar Internet speed-up software tries to shave a few fractions of a second off an Internet connection by placing the numeric address of external Web sites in the Hosts file so a Web browser won't have to look up the addresses externally. This works--as long as the site's numeric IP address never changes.
But IP addresses do change--and they're supposed to be able to. The Web operates via "dynamic" naming, where a human-friendly name (e.g., "informationweek.com") is actually an alias for the real address, which is numeric (in this example, 66.77.24.10). The numeric address can and will change from time to time as a site or server is moved or reconfigured.
People with out-of-date addresses hardwired into their hosts file will no longer be able to connect to any site whose numeric address has changed--the hosts entry will permanently point them to a dead location!
In fact, the hosts file is sometimes abused this way by hijacking software that writes a new, fake hosts file onto a system, substituting a bad numeric address (such as a porn site) for common locations such as Microsoft.com, Yahoo.com, Google.com, and so on: When a user tries to access any of the sites in the fake host file, they're redirected to the new site, such as the porn page.
Some "security" software tries to hijack the Hosts file in a benign way; and users can do it on their own as well: You use the Hosts file to associate a known-safe, numeric address with the names of sites you want to block. When the user or any process on the PC then tries to access a blocked site, it is instead directed to the safe location.
This works, but runs into the same problem as mentioned previously: A Hosts file is static, and the Web is extremely dynamic. It's almost impossible to update a Hosts file frequently enough to guard against all threats; and even if you did, you'd probably also run into problems in accidentally blocking good sites that happened to move to new numeric addresses.
There's lots more information on Hosts file abuse here, but I don't recommend its use for anything other than the original, and now archaic, purpose for which it was intended. Anything else is a misuse of the Hosts files, and runs a high risk of causing unnecessary service calls in the future when the user can't connect to some valid site they want to get to.
Source...
Does it make sense yet?
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
It's not made to block ads. So don't be stupid when it comes to the HOSTS file. Use it sparingly, only to block certain websites that ABSOLUTELY HAVE to be blocked. Why are HOSTS files being used to block ads all over the net? Because uneducated people with no technical experience at all go around propagating that it's a good thing, but it is not. Even Microsoft has said how the misuse of the HOSTS file can and will slow down your computer AND increase network traffic.
As for prefetch, it actually does alter boot time and application load times. If you have it enabled for Boot and App Launch, you get applications loading much, much faster.
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Go to your Control Panel. Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components > Accessories & Utilities > Accessories > Put a check beside Paint and WordPad.
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For one, use a gif, jpg or png format. Bitmap's are way too bloated.
And you wanted access to other people's computers? Wow...
Looks to me like you were playing with ResHack and screwed up your explorer.exe
You can also try actually researching things like how to make proper backups before you modify any files on your computer. Try a System Restore, then go read about how to work your computer.
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So what is the word on this?
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Nope, almost every major pc/security site endorses the idea of using a host file for protection and adblocking. I don't know why exactly your against it but it does work. If its the DNS Client debate that exclusivly makes you not like the idea then fine but I don't think that most users care about that. The first time they open IE and no longer see ads all over the place will outweigh the extra .5 seconds it might take to load a page.
It's another "prefetch cleaning is good" thing.
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Here's a couple of recommended things from the Opera website.
Download this file and save it as urlfilter.ini in the Opera profile directory. On a windows XP machine, that will most probably be at C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Opera\Opera\Profile
Leave the HOSTS file alone. It is NOT meant to block ads.
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If you're running PeerGuardian2, Allow HTTP or shut off PG2.
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Haha good job...
Another way to "fix" ur keyboard is to smash it on ur concrete garage floor, stomp on it, and swear loudly while doing it.
Wondering where I got this from? Go to Google Video and type "fps doug" and watch..
AJ
Pure Pwnage, Episode 5. 10 minutes in the fun starts. 10:55 it gets better.
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Its DRM free, but you have to pay more to not get the DRM. The music itself isn't free.
Ah, the title was poorly worded. RIAA has screwed music forever.
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Yahoo. Sony BMG to Offer DRM Free Music, For a price
Free? For a price? If it's for a price it isn't free.
Jessica Simpson's A Public Affair.No wonder it's free. It'd get more hits that way than any other way.
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I'll buy one AFTER Final Fantasy 7's remake comes out, or FF12 (if it's Ps3).
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Click the Emoticon button.
Click "more..."
Look under "My emoticons" for anything that says "k". If you find it, highlight it and click remove.
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Well, a few advantages I can think of are you'll get a bit of extra space back by cleaning out those folders. Also, if you have a virus or malware that tends to hide in the temp files, you have better odds of it getting removed.
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if you keep that checked, pages will load faster.
its mostly images and such and when you delete those, windows just puts them back on when you go back to a website.
if your just viewing the same pages and not surfing the web, i would leave this option checked.
Uh. No. Do research before you attempt to give an answer. It has nothing at all to do with loading webpages.
Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 48 hours - This will only remove files in the temp folder older than 48 hours
In other words, files found in the C:\Windows\Temp\ will be deleted only if they are 48 hours old or older. If you uncheck this option it will delete all files in C:\Windows\Temp\ regardless of age.
Woody, you can learn more about CCleaner in TwistedMetal's Beginners Guide.
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The point is, this has nothing to do with speeding up your computer or assisting privacy (which I thought were CCleaner's points of interest), and deleting "old" prefetch entries (which XP would delete to make room for more anyway) really does nothing except free one or two hundred KB.
Yeah. With today's hard drives that amount really means nothing.
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It doesn't hurt your performance at all. It removes old unused prefetch files that over over 2 months old (I believe).
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Glad to hear you got it fixed. Proof to avoid toolbars.
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Try using Process Explorer.
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I didn't download it because I don't use IM that much, but I don't get the point. Is this like a chat program preloader? Most chat programs put a icon in the system tray anyway so why would I want to have another program running to launch my IM program from the system tray when it would be there anyway? Maybe I'm just missing the point.
May want to re-read everything. It tells you it loads, opens your selected applications, then exits quickly. So the app doesn't stay running.
"After it loads the selected IM clients, it exits quickly."
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What is it?
TurboChat is a way to quickly load your IM chat clients with a simple double click (or single click if in the Quick Launch bar!
What IM clients does it support?
Currently it will support AIM, WLM (formerly MSN), YIM, XFire, GAIM and Trillian!
Why did you make this?
I made this application because I used to run a few IM clients and one day I was tired of going to Start > Programs > {IM Client Shortcut). With this application, I could load whichever I wanted with one or two clicks.
What does this application do?
On your first run it will ask you which IM clients you want to load. After it loads the selected IM clients, it exits quickly. It takes a matter of nanoseconds to load your IM programs.
What do I do if I mess up?
A very small ini file will be created so that should anything go wrong, you simply delete the ini and restart the program.
TurboChat (166KB, *.exe) - FREEWARE
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ROFLMAO....You never told me that worked for you. But the numbers that you PMd me were fine. What did you change the numbers to?
temporarily hijacking my own thread
You either let Windows manage it, or set it according to how much RAM you have.
If you have 256MB or 512MB of RAM, set it to 1024 min / 2048 max.
If you have 1024MB or higher, set it to at least 512 min/max or use a sliding size (512 / 1024).
taskbar icons only show pictures
in The Lounge
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Riiiight. It's obvious you used a program (malicious or not) that changed, replaced or modified your explorer.exe
Start > Run > sfc /scannow