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Wired Routers for Win98


JorgeA

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Blocking Ad-Servers and click-trackers with a hosts file does more than just make the browsing experience more enjoyable. Increasingly it also functions to protect PC's from unnecessary exposure to potentially malicious code.

Quite true. And the best independent HOSTS file for this use is findable here.

dencorso,

Would this be used in addition to, or instead of, the two resident functions in Spybot (Immunization & TeaTimer)?

In other words, since I no longer do manual scans with Spybot (and you know why ;) ), I'm looking for a way to replicate those two functions that doesn't involve using that resource hog.

--JorgeA

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I think, JorgeA, that it would replace the HOSTS file created by SSD during Immunization.

Right now I'm not quite sure whether Immunization only creates a HOSTS file or if it does more things in addition to it.

However, I, myself, do not swap HOSTS files. I make a backup of my current one (which I know is working well), then merge the new URLs to the old file, a time-consuming task I perform using Beyond Compare, so I don't do it as often as I'd like to. :}

Then, I substitute the new one for the old one, keeping my eyes wide-open to hunt down any URL that may prevent my accessing places I trust (it's rare, but has happened in the past). As always, YMMV.

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@dencorso: Doesn't using such a giant hosts file give a serious performance hit in name resolving actions? I don't think the name resolving system on W9x is designed to cope with such a database.   

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Guest wsxedcrfv

@dencorso: Doesn't using such a giant hosts file give a serious performance hit in name resolving actions? I don't think the name resolving system on W9x is designed to cope with such a database.

It's my experience that win-98 shows no performance loss when using large hosts files. And unless my recollection is hazy, I think I read somewhere that it might be that XP that has a problem with large hosts files. As for Spybot, it's best to download the hosts file of your choice (ie MVPS, etc) first before you run spybot. Spybot adds entries to your existing hosts file during it's inoculation process.

I have found on occasion that I have to temporarily deactivate my hosts file to make particular web sites work correctly. To deactivate your hosts file, simply rename it, and then open a new instance of your browser. Any browser window that's already open when you rename your hosts file will behave as if your hosts file is still there. I find that I can't properly post to kijiji unless I deactivate my hosts file. Don't know which entries are responsible.

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Yo Dencorso;

You are a gentleman and a scholar. I had been tinkering

with Hosts file for a couple weeks with limited success.

That download you listed did everything I was attempting

and a whole lot more including be able to use IE6 again

here on MSFN. :thumbup

No more page obliterating, dancing crap on Yahoo!

Also, a quote from the included readme file ...

"[important Notice - 2K/XP/Vista/Win7 Users]

In most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs

in 2K/XP/Vista. Windows 98 and Windows ME are not affected"

Thanks

Jake

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No more page obliterating, dancing crap on Yahoo!

triger49,

I hear you about Yahoo! All that animation was distracting, and it took forever to finish loading on my Win98. That's why I switched search engines to Google a few years ago. Much cleaner look and faster page loading.

Then I found out that Google doesn't exactly have a stellar record when it comes to privacy, so now I'm using Ixquick for my Web searches.

--JorgeA

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No more page obliterating, dancing crap on Yahoo!

triger49,

I hear you about Yahoo!

--JorgeA

Actually, there is a method to my madness...so to speak...

[Rant]

My wife's penchant for hording recipes may possibly be

without rival. I mean we're talking no dust on the book

shelves because dust could not find the shelves. Of course

this spilled over to Internet recipe sites and daily recipe

emails. Saving grace arrived in the form of Yahoo's unlimited

email accounts. Hence the regular visits to Yahoo.

While Google's reputation over privacy is a gray area, I

sometimes find myself thinking it would be cool to let

Google index this apartment...maybe I would find some stuff

that's been missing for years .. :blink:

[/Rant]

Jake

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Actually, there is a method to my madness...so to speak...

[Rant]

My wife's penchant for hording recipes may possibly be

without rival. I mean we're talking no dust on the book

shelves because dust could not find the shelves. Of course

this spilled over to Internet recipe sites and daily recipe

emails. Saving grace arrived in the form of Yahoo's unlimited

email accounts. Hence the regular visits to Yahoo.

While Google's reputation over privacy is a gray area, I

sometimes find myself thinking it would be cool to let

Google index this apartment...maybe I would find some stuff

that's been missing for years .. :blink:

[/Rant]

Jake

Jake,

That's terrible... and funny!!! :lol:

--JorgeA

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It's just as possible to use a large hosts file with 2K/XP as it is with 9x/Me, with no slowdown. My 2K box has a hosts file of about 4.5 megs, the identical file on 98 is about 3.7 megs. (Win2K uses 127.0.0.1, and 98 uses 0 or 0.0.0.0)

I'm using MDgx 's hosts file merged with an old hosts file I've been using for 10+ years.

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It's just as possible to use a large hosts file with 2K/XP as it is with 9x/Me, with no slowdown. My 2K box has a hosts file of about 4.5 megs, the identical file on 98 is about 3.7 megs. (Win2K uses 127.0.0.1, and 98 uses 0 or 0.0.0.0)

I'm using MDgx 's hosts file merged with an old hosts file I've been using for 10+ years.

Hi;

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think

127.0.0.1 has been the standard loop back address ever

since the days of Dos....

post-236065-127666852763_thumb.jpg

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Just about every answer to every question you could ask about hosts files including the pro and cons of using 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 on all OS's is discussed MDGx at http://www.mdgx.com/hosts.php

I was about to post just this, when I read your post! Way to go!

I must add, however, that I don't actually use MDGx's HOSTS files myself, because I find them way too much restrictive. I prefer the one I linked to some posts above, as the basis of my HOSTS file, and have been adding to it more addresses slowly. But for the in-depth explanation, MDGx's page is the best resource on the web, for sure.

@wsxedcrfv: one sure way of determining which cookies' URL's are needed for a specific site is to disable the HOSTS file, then use NirSoft's IECookesView to destroy all cookies, then access the desired site and do whatever you want to do there, and then return to IECookesView and jot down what was added. Then comment out those url's in the hosts file, enable it back again, test, and finally uncomment each url alone, to find out which are really needed. With patience you can determine precisely which urls are needed for that site and decide whether to leave them commented-out or not. I'm not sure whether IECookesView works with 9x/ME, because I've been doing this in XP, so this procedure needs to be tested under 9x/ME.

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Just about every answer to every question you could ask about hosts files including the pro and cons of using 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1 on all OS's is discussed MDGx at http://www.mdgx.com/hosts.php

I was about to post just this, when I read your post! Way to go!

I must add, however, that I don't actually use MDGx's HOSTS files myself, because I find them way too much restrictive. I prefer the one I linked to some posts above, as the basis of my HOSTS file, and have been adding to it more addresses slowly. But for the in-depth explanation, MDGx's page is the best resource on the web, for sure.

@wsxedcrfv: one sure way of determining which cookies' URL's are needed for a specific site is to disable the HOSTS file, then use NirSoft's IECookesView to destroy all cookies, then access the desired site and do whatever you want to do there, and then return to IECookesView and jot down what was added. Then comment out those url's in the hosts file, enable it back again, test, and finally uncomment each url alone, to find out which are really needed. With patience you can determine precisely which urls are needed for that site and decide whether to leave them commented-out or not. I'm not sure whether IECookesView works with 9x/ME, because I've been doing this in XP, so this procedure needs to be tested under 9x/ME.

Just checking the Cookies generated by a site may not be sufficient to determine what Sites have to be unblocked. Necessary pages may not leave any Cookies.

I use a DNS logger to track activity and to adjust my Hosts File.

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