HOSTS file
- Thread starter moonshine
- Start date
- Mar 15, 2011
- 13,070
- Mar 15, 2011
- 13,070
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bogdan
Level 1
- Jan 7, 2011
- 1,362
You might want to have a look at HostsMan (if you don't use it already), a good software tool that can help you manage your HOSTS file.
Features:
I am using MVPS Hosts and I have no trouble accessing avast.com. So you might want to check your HOSTS file.
In HostsMan click the Open Hosts button -> Find -> and in the search box on the bottom type in "avast.com". If any results turn out Delete the lines. There are some links containing the word "avast" that MVPS Hosts is blocking but those aren't the legit avast site.
Features:
- Automatic update of hosts file
- uses MVPS Hosts, hpHosts, and others - you can add more if you want, like the one provided by malwaredomainlist
- You can use more that one of these hosts file services it you want
- Enable/Disable hosts file
- Built-in hosts editor
- And more...
I am using MVPS Hosts and I have no trouble accessing avast.com. So you might want to check your HOSTS file.
In HostsMan click the Open Hosts button -> Find -> and in the search box on the bottom type in "avast.com". If any results turn out Delete the lines. There are some links containing the word "avast" that MVPS Hosts is blocking but those aren't the legit avast site.
Just be aware that a large HOSTS file will affect your system performance. How large an effect is dependent on how powerful your system is.
The HOSTS file is not indexed, so each domain lookup will cause the file to be scanned from the beginning of the file each time. This is a very inefficient method of blocking domains, not to mention resource intensive on some systems. You're basically asking your system to sift through potentially several MB's of data each time a URL is resolved...
HOSTS file sites generally state that if you do experience performance issues, disable your dnscache service. Of course, this is not a great idea because now your web browsing will be a tad slower because each URL will now require a DNS lookup instead of only requiring a lookup for unique URL's because you've just killed your local resolver list. This will likely not be a huge slowdown and depending on the performance of your DNS service, you may not even notice it. But again, this is a very inefficient thing to do.
I never recommend large HOSTS files as a method of domain blocking.
The HOSTS file is not indexed, so each domain lookup will cause the file to be scanned from the beginning of the file each time. This is a very inefficient method of blocking domains, not to mention resource intensive on some systems. You're basically asking your system to sift through potentially several MB's of data each time a URL is resolved...
HOSTS file sites generally state that if you do experience performance issues, disable your dnscache service. Of course, this is not a great idea because now your web browsing will be a tad slower because each URL will now require a DNS lookup instead of only requiring a lookup for unique URL's because you've just killed your local resolver list. This will likely not be a huge slowdown and depending on the performance of your DNS service, you may not even notice it. But again, this is a very inefficient thing to do.
I never recommend large HOSTS files as a method of domain blocking.
