[Help] Hosts file not working...

[jezza333]

Hello there!

I have a problem with my hosts file, and it will only work blocking some sites. It is ~12mb, and before you say "WTF have u got in it???", i will tell you. It has a list of around half a million porn sites, so they will be blocked and appear 'down'.

A hosts site said that hosts files over 135kb slow down Win2K/XP, and a solution to this would be to change the 'DNS Client' service to manual startup, as opposed to the default automatic. I did this, and so i was then able to browse the web. I discovered the the hosts file only partly did it's job, blocking some sites but not others.

Can someone pease tell me what I can do?

Thanks!

Title edited -- Please, use [TAGS] in your topic's title.

--Sonic

[net_user]

turn off the dns client service

and try that....

[Andromeda43]

turn off the dns client service

That would have been my own first comment.

Then, I would ask, where did this Hosts file come from that you're using?

I get the updated hosts file from Mike Burgess every two weeks.

It's got about 11,000+ lines to it.

But the size of the file is only 141kb.

Who are you trying to protect with your monstrous hosts file?

Just Curious,

Andromeda43

[LLXX]

Are there any blank lines, leading, or trailing spaces in the HOSTS file? Sometimes that can cause the DNS client to misread it.

[Ophiel X]

holy freakin jebus, now THAT'S a hosts file.

there's gotta be a more efficient way for you to accomplish your goal.

(also, i keep my DNS service disabled whether i use HOSTS or not, it still works fine)

[jezza333]

Haha, I knew someone would say that I want to use the hosts file because it doesnt require additional software, and usually is very quick.

I used a vb script file which i found, to download a list of pr0n sites off the internet. I then copied the list into Excel, ~65000 sites at a time, and prefixed them with 127.0.0.1, then put them into the hosts file.

Took some time...

Anyway, I will try disabling it; See how it goes. Thanks for the replies

[Ophiel X]

are the sites that it's not blocking all at the end of the HOSTS, or like in the second half?

you may have discovered the filesize limit, lol

[jezza333]

are the sites that it's not blocking all at the end of the HOSTS, or like in the second half?

you may have discovered the filesize limit, lol

lol, probably.

I'll probably have to contact a microsoft techie about it, because disabling that DNS client service didn't help. The sites ae directly after the 1st entry (127.0.0.1 localhost)

[net_user]

what type of network do you have?

are you doing this at home?

or at work with servers ect?

[Mordac85]

Two things. First why not adjust the vb script to optput the list prefixed with the loopback address to replace your hosts file. That would save you a bunch of time and eliminate any possible "extras" from the run through Excel.

Second, how do you resolve other, non-porn hosts if you aren't using DNS?

[jezza333]

@Net user: Home broadband user with router, straight connection to the internet.

@Mordac85: Ah, never thought of changing the vb script, seems a simple solution, not to me though I'm not familiar with how VB scripts work, and when I opened it to edit, i was assured I had no idea about what to change.

Would someone please be able to help me out, by editing the file below and adding "127.0.0.1" as a prefix to all site names? There needs to be at least a space or tab between them... (I think)

Gen_pornlist.zip

I just came across that problem with DNS sites not resolving; websites without 'www' as the prefix wouldn't load, and I had to change them. This was the case for some sites where a search is done, and it sees no need to the prefix. I simply changed the DNS back to normal, and everything works fine.

Thanks to anyone who has helped out, i appreciate it

Cheers