Hi Carol - Let me add a little to this.
First, you should understand that the original purpose of the HOSTS file
(BTW, it should always be named this way - all caps, no extension) was to
provide a local (therefore fast) translation from URLs to IP addresses for
frequently visited sites (typically your Favorites). It can still be used
this way (I do so, for example - there are utilities available such as CIP,
http://dl.winsite.com/bin/downl?500000007704 which will convert your
Favorites to IP's which you can then saveas and then copy into your HOSTS
file), but has also come to be used to block ad/malware servers. See here
for some good info about this use:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm This site also has downloads for
some utility programs which you will find useful if you decide to use a
HOSTS file such as RenHosts.bat,
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/RenHosts.bat, and lockhosts.bat and
unlockhosts.bat,
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/lockhost.bat, and
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/unlockhost.bat. The lock and unlock files
can be used to protect the HOSTS file in between UPDATES so that it doesn't
get hijacked by malware, while the rename hosts program will allow you to
easily enable or disable the HOSTS file (while keeping the correct naming
convention). As to size/performance - with any relatively modern computer
the delay added by the HOSTS lookup overhead should be negligable for even
moderately large HOSTS files (typically 250KB to 500KB) used for ad/malware
blocking. If you use it also for DNS-to-IP caching as I refered to above,
the time saved over going out to the net for DNS lookups will offset this
many times. If fact you may notice some speedup in "normal" address
browsing.
To address your specific original question - whether YOUR IP is static or
dynamic is immaterial. However, if you're using the HOSTS for URL-to-IP
address translations, then, of course whether the TARGET IP is static or
dynamic would matter unless the HOSTS file were updated for each change of a
dynamic IP. For blocking purposes, it doesn't matter, since the translation
is always to "127.0.0.1" or "localhost".
Various spyware/malware programs "attack" the HOSTS file by sustituting the
IP addresses they want you to use inplace of the correct or blocking
addresses. Consequently, a number of anti-malware programs provide means of
varying effectiveness to protect the HOSTS file from change. The best
approach I'm aware of for this is that taken by ZoneAlarm (if you happen to
use that firewall). (Contrary to something said earlier, SpywareBlaster and
the Immunize function of Spybot S&D do NOT work on the HOSTS file - they
accomplish their protection by setting "kill" bits for known bad ActiveX
components in the Registry.) As with all anti-malware programs, your HOSTS
file should be keep UPDATED.
--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP
In
