For the sake of my sanity, i'm going to join in this s***ty conversation
what gave you the idea that it keeps trying to reconnect to localhost? if a URL is redirected to localhost, it will try to go there once and then stop loading. because of the fact that our home computers do not have an HTTP server running, there is nothing on Port 80 which is what it tries to connect to. when there is nothing to connect to, it stops.
I've run tests on my VPC along with a firewall to alert me to every single connection attempt made. That included to the web and to localhost. Even a page with one ad, it would sometimes attempt to connect more than once.
Same thing with websites. if you type in, let's say my IP address in the website bar, your computer will try to establish a connection on port 80 with my computer. But, if there is nothing running on Port 80, then the program will stop trying to establish a connection and display a warning after 1 or 2 seconds.
so if we have a specially made HOSTS file that can block the malware from getting to our computers, then how will the malware modify our HOSTS file? In my opinion, the HOSTS file is perfect for blocking ads, malware, and malicious sites because of the fact that it stops them BEFORE they can even get to our computers. It also works with every program on the computer so there's no point in getting expensive or resource hungy programs to do the job when we have 1 simple thing in the palm of our hands. And also if you're so worried about the HOSTS file, then get Spybot or SpywareBlaster. they supposedly have HOSTS file protection of some kind ![:mellow:]()
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As stated in my previous post, malware can still alter and even replace your HOSTS file. Malware is an executable file, just like everything else you use. It sends a command line parameter to change the state of the HOSTS file from a read-only state to writable. After that it replaces it with whatever it wants. All it does is send the ATTRIB command along with -R. See this link on DOS Command: ATTRIB for more information.
That's not very secure if it's that simple to disable the read-only attribute, is it?
For stopping malware the best thing to use are SpywareBlaster for Firefox and IE. If you need more protection, use IE-SpyAd.
For Ad-Blocking in IE you can also block ads with IE-SpyAd. This is a great utility to use, because it will block BOTH malware links AND advertisements in the IE browser! Now, do you need IE-SpyAd? Well, if you use IE and have valid concerns about malware, it would be a good idea. If you never use IE at all, or only use it for Windows Updates, then you probably won't need it. The choice is yours. Best of all, it's based off of the registry by adding domains and IP addresses to the Restricted Domains list. All of this is stored in the registry, so you won't have to worry about it slowing your connection or having any impact on your computer's performance. Awesome huh? ![:P]()
It doesn't stop there! The maker of IE-SpyAd also has a way to block ads with Agnitum Outpost Professional Firewall. It's called AGNIS. AGNIS for Outpost is a ported version (Ported in this case, is that it was for other software and then carried over for another) of AGNIS for AtGuard and Norton Internet Security (and also Norton Personal Firewall). This list will integrate into your Outpost Pro firewall to help block ads of all kinds, including Flash, Javascript, even certain image sizes. You can replace them with the text [ad] or a 1x1 pixel transparent gif image.
For Ad-Blocking in Firefox, you can use AdBlock Plus with FilterSet.G. Now, some of you are probably asking what's so great about AdBlock Plus and FilterSet.G. Well, let's look at the Google text ads, shall we? If you have the AdBlock Plus extension enabled, it actually comments out the Google text ads.
<!-- GOOGLE BANNER -->
<script type='text/javascript'>
<!–
google_ad_client = “pub-2666250944335766”;
google_ad_type = “text_image”;
google_ad_channel =“3469252430”;
google_alternate_ad_url = “www.example.com/advert/chitika_forums.htm”;
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
google_ad_format = ‘728x90_as’;
google_color_border = ‘2666B8’;
google_color_bg = ‘FFFFFF’;
google_color_link = “000099”;
google_color_url = ‘008000’;
google_color_text = ‘000000’;
//–>
</script>
<script type=‘text/javascript’
src=‘http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js’>
</script>
<!-- GOOGLE BANNER –>
</div>
Did you notice these codes above: <!-- and //--> ? Those are HTML comment tags. What those do is hide any text that is between them. That's right, it's just like programming (because HTML is just another programming language after all!)
So, how did it get there? Well, as a page loads, AdBlock Plus checks through a huge list that it has downloaded and enabled, thanks to FilterSet.G. It looks for keywords in URLs and other places within the generated page source code for any webpage. When it finds a match it comments it out. So when your page loads, you get to see the webpage without any nasty ads or bloat. Plus pages will load faster (and some quieter!). What's even cooler about AdBlock Plus is you can set it to automatically disable on certain webpages of your choice. ![:D]()
I hope you've found this informative, John. ![:)]()
To avoid that, I run a little app called eDexter. It substitutes a local image (the default is a 1 pixel, 43 byte gif) for blocked/redirected sites. I use it to avoid the "The page cannot be displayed" messages but, theoretically, it also speeds things up to load a very small local file rather than download larger files over the internet.
My firewall does the same thing Glenn. Outpost Pro will find keywords and even key image sizes. It works wonders and does it so much faster and more efficiently than ZoneAlarm Pro attempted to do. When I was working on dialup years ago and made the switch to Outpost Pro, the pages were loading so much faster it was truly amazing. Over a 75% increase in pageload times.