Hi Ozzy - Normally I pretty much just monitor these threads after I've
posted what I think might contribute unless I see something factually wrong
or dangerous posted, but in this case I just can't resist. What on earth do
you manage to find to put into a HOSTS file that bulks 25 MB?!!!
With
all of my 2600+ Favorites and a pretty major list of malware/adware
parasites (from
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm), mine's only 210
KB when I have it turned on. I'm really curious if you wouldn't mind
explaining. Thanks.
Sorry about the late reply. Been busy coding & patching openSSH fixes.
Well, Jim, my list has grown somewhat over the last 27+ years
Days where PDP-11, Z80's, 6502's(KIM), 6809's, etc were all the rave &
are now probably meaningless & unknown to many on these forums
I started a list back in my early days (50-300 baud) of everyone I had
any dealings with. Mostly Fido, university addresses, bbs numbers, etc
and kept it documented for my later perusal (& memory jogging) &
reference when someone else needed a contact number or address of the
best location of 'core wars' or some such abstract util.
As years passed, the file grew, for different reasons & not what the
list was originally intended for. Around the 80's I found the
proliferation of spammers & sites with embedded porn rising at an
alarming exponential rate. So did my list. It was only around ~2 MB at
that time, if memory serves me correctly. At that time, it wasn't too
hard to go back & re-verify some sites & see if they had cleaned up.
Invariably, I only found a new owner but the same garbage. I was
positive that something was going to 'give' on my computer. Surely
something would blow up or crash.... But it never did, much to my
amazement at that time.
I have been using SPEWS & other such lists for quite some time now.
Long before the general public even knew about *spam*. Some people
have been in the SPEWS list for many years & it's not easy to get
unlisted. Some say that they will have to wait till our sun goes dim
before they get unlisted
People in my list aren't that lucky. In
100 trillion years I should be up to v2.01 of my list but they will
still be listed. My list is co-shared with others & I do use the list
from
http://www.mvps.org in mine.
Yes, my list has grown & gotten out of hand... a bit. I've been
meaning to weed out the old contacts & addresses for a while now. Been
planning to re-visit each site & test for updates. Been saying that
now for 8 years
I have just too many projects, etc on the go & no
time. Some day...maybe. I average about 60-130 valid emails a day! All
referring to projects or coding that I am involved with. If I could
find a way to cram 96 hours into each day, I might be caught up by
2028.
Many have asked why I don't code a routine to do all this for me while
I sleep? (yes, I make time for that) Sounds simple but in fact it is
not. I have to physically check each website to 'see' what is on each
page & examine their TOS, AUP & privacy policies. I have several other
trusted people & sources that do a lot of this for me & their results
get added to my list. You have to remember now, Osama & Sadamm have a
better chance of becoming President of the USA than someone getting
off my list.
Others have told me that their hosts file is ~2 MB. Others tell me
they know some having GB lists. Now IMO, GB lists are truly huge. I
hope mine will never reach that size.
Hope this may shed some insight.
