Spybot Hosts File

How does the Spybot hosts file work.

I did a little test today and I didn't get the expected result.

What I did was this. I made sure the Spybot hosts file was loaded by going to the hosts file section in the advanced tools, and made sure the list was added. So I got the long list of sites appear in the right window.

Then I decided to test it out. I picked a listed site... I decided coolwebsearch.com would do for the test... and entered it in my AOL browser... and then expected to see some sort of restriction imposed. However to my surprise, the site... a search engine appeared. I then did the same test using the IE browser but which still uses AOL for net access. Again... up it came, but this time with the red restricted site symbol in place.

I know that this site is also in the restriced zone, I think placed there by Spywareblaster, so this part is working fine, showing it has restrictions.

But I thought if a site was also in the Windows hosts file list then that meant it could not be accessed at all. Am I correct in this or have I misunderstood the way the Spybot list works.

Also could the fact I'm going via AOL be a reason for the site still loading, maybe to do with proxy servers or something, but to be honest I don't have much knowledge in this area.

Anyway... if someone knows how these lists work and what I should be seeing as a test result, or if another test can be suggested to try on another site that is known to block with the Spybot list... then I'd like to try it.

 

Spybot adds sites to your existing Hosts file if you have one....or it creates it's own using it's prepared list of websites known for bad behaviour....but it's still a normal Hosts file.

That's likely why your Hosts file is not working.

Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File

 

Thanks spanner,

I'll check that out and try it again.

 

Hi bubba,

When I looked before there was no post from you, then I replied to spanner and then your reply was there.

Thanks for that info. Yes, AOL do things different in their browser so that's probably it. I may do some more tests later to see what I can find out.

It's all very interesting how these hosts files work.

 

Mine has the readonly flag, I can update hosts with no problems