I've been using Hosts Block for a while now and rate it highly. I keep getting the most persistent tracking cookie I've ever encountered , from adnxs.com It comes from Skype and of all the on-demand scanners I've tried , only Super AntiSpyware finds it . I've added adnxs.com ( and its variants ) to the hosts file in a variety of different ways , but to no avail. Any tips on how to deal with this ? .... Have I missed something obvious or are there some types of tracking cookie that are just unstoppable ?
Program Update: Hosts Block 1.7.5 Bug fix - Found by user, When settings in options "Disable Auto update of Hosts file" was selected. Hosts Block didn't check to see if that option was selected when options was closing and would update the hosts file. Removed - Facebook Button. Facebook page is still up. Download: bitly.com/HostsBlockSetup
Did you add the entries like this? 0.0.0.0 adnxs.com You will still need to add those entries into Custom Entries so they don't get over wrote on updates. Entries>Custom Entries. thank you Brock
Yes , that's the way I was adding entries. I updated the program to the latest version and added 127.0.0.1 adnxs.com and that seems to be blocking it now. Many thanks for your reply , and keep up the excellent work !
Sorry .... I spoke too soon ! Tried it with 127.0.0.1 adnxs.com and then 0.0.0.0 adnxs.com . same for sess1adnxs.com and ib.adnxs.com The cookie is blocked the next time Skype is started but NOT after that .... ( ie second time ) .....very strange ! -------- Each time a text document is placed here :- AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies Here are some recent examples 5ER32990 and it contains - sess1adnxs.com/2147492864303049369630489099232579596130488898* uuid26151309800769098322adnxs.com/2147492864193602611230507003232586596530488* and 2W3AOM96 sess1adnxs.com/2147492864418481804830489537346870251130489336*uuid2485689107523716411adnxs.com/2147492864309035046430507441346880251130489336* NB - these strings contain return characters
https://gist.github.com/eyecatchup/ba7dc7a50d90cbf6377d Try this and add all these to custom entries. Make sure you flush your dns.
Program Update: Hosts Block 1.8.1 New in options Added - Option to Remove desktop icon after each update. (Feature Request) Added - Facebook button back Added - Disable Auto Program Updates New in GUI clicking Updates: Weekly, etc will show you a count down clock until next update. Other GUI Tweaks Download: bitly.com/HostsBlockSetup
Program Update: Hosts Block 1.8.2 Added - Check to see if hosts file is in use by other apps or Security Programs. The user will be alert by a popup stating Hosts Block couldn't update the hosts file. Download: bitly.com/HostsBlockSetup http://hostsblock.boards.net/thread/45/hosts-block-1-8-released
Please take a few minutes to take a very short survey on Hosts Block http://goo.gl/forms/cOqwvAvRy7 thank you Brock
Program Update: Hosts Block 1.8.3 Bug fix - Option to delete desktop icon at program update wasn't working is now fixed. (Reported by users) Download: bitly.com/HostsBlockSetup
New Website for Hosts Block! http://www.hostsblock.com/ Nothing fancy just something for users to find Hosts Block. thank you Brock
Thanks for the reply Brocke , that is quite a long list of URLs there . I'll try copying them into the hosts file soon and report back. For now I've blocked the cookie by changing the cookie handling in IE ( even though IE is supposedly "disabled" on my machine ) Setting it to " Max " stops skype from working , but one step lower is OK .
Hi Brock! I have to say that its about time someone made hosts file securable! I just have one question, if I decide for whatever reason that I want to uninstall this program is there anything I need to know before running the uninstaller - say disabling the active protection(can that be done?), @ using Revo Uninstaller? I just like to cover all my bases before I install any program. Thanks Brock for your time @ consideration. Darrin
Hello, For uninstalling all you really need to make sure of is you shutdown Hosts Block. that's really it. You can disable Active Protection by going into the options and Active Protection tab. Also note that Active Protection is defaulted to "Silent" which mean Hosts Block will not tell you if the hosts file has been changed or not and will fix any issue with out prompting. so if you use say notepad to edit the hosts file and not Hosts Block it will overwrite notepad's changes because it will think something harmful has changed the host file. To change this behaver you need set Active Protection to "Alert" this will allow you to use other programs to edit the hosts file not just Hosts Block. thank you for looking at Hosts Block Brock
Hi Brock, Just had one more question - if I wanted to just use the Active Protection and not update or add any lists to my hosts is this possible, re; does this program automatically update the hosts file upon/during install? Is there a manual update for hosts, for program updates or both at the same time? To clarify, can you update the program without updating your hosts file? Also will the program write over itself on update?
Yes you can use only the Active Protection, but you will have to go into options and disable auto updating of hosts file. Its in the Updates tab. Also at first instill Hosts Block will auto apply the MVPS Hosts file on to your computer but before it does that it will backup the existing hosts file which is encrypted. To restore just select "Backup" and then "Restore from backup" this is found on the main interface at the top. thank you Brock
Hi Brocke may i ask 2 questions? 1) is the last version full portable? 2) how can i protect my host file ? i have noticed many software (not malware ) can delete it and change it under w10 how can it does it? thanks
Hosts block right now isn't portable. Hosts block active protection checks the hash and if it's changed it will delete the new entries. Deletion can happen but you have to take ownership most software can't or won't do that. Thank you Brock
Use custom entries. If you don't add them there hosts block will remove them at updates. Use exclusions if you want to remove hosts from the hosts file at each update.
