I did do a search in here for past posts, but the only thing that keeps coming up are articles about the app Hosts Block, which I'm not looking for. I want information on how to manually modify/add entries into the hosts files, and for people here to provide good lists to use. Also, is it worthwhile to block the sites in both the Hosts File & the router? Or just one or the other? And if so, which one? I do have a list of sites I plan on blocking in my router that I gleaned from a thread in here about Win7 Telemetry & other harmful updates.
Here are instruction how to edit your hosts file: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/ I just tested HostsMan yesterday. When I added 200.000+ entries, DNS Client service didn't respond well. Svchost process started to use one whole processor core and didn't stop until I restored empty hosts file. So if you gonna use it, use small lists. If you can set it up on router, do it there instead on your computer.
I don't want to use HostsMan, as stated in my OP. I remember someone in here posting a comprehensive hosts list that they personally use... I was looking for something like that. Thanks
You don't have to use it. Instructions are for manual editing. The result with large hosts file is the same whether I set it up manually or using software.
Everybody will always have different opinions, so it totally depends on what suites your needs the best. Personally, I have always used Peter Lowe's (http://pgl.yoyo.org/as/) which comes in a huge variety of formats and is well suited for DNS level formatting since they only generally contain the main domains and not all of that numerous sub-domains. I use only this list in my OpenWrt router which is also setup to serve 1x1 transparent image in placement of any advertisements. You can also combine lists of known malicious web sites as well if you choose. I also have my OpenWrt router filter through Norton DNS (ConnectSafe) as an extra precaution. It can be a lot of work getting a router setup with OpenWrt and the scripts to get this done, but once you have it setup, it is easy to maintain at that point. Also, there is another possibility here to run your own DNS server on your system (either locally or on server) and blackhole and list of DNS entries as you wish. I've used BIND DNS (https://www.isc.org/downloads/bind/) for many years as well. If I did not have an OpenWrt compatible router, I would still be using BIND DNS today along with Peter Lowe's hosts along with my own custom list. If you are wanting to setup hosts blocking on your computer, I would second the suggestion for MVPS hosts: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm
