One of the newspapers I like to read http://www.spiegel.de/ just initiated an adblocker defence and so I was trying to follow the advice on how to allow ads on this site. I am using ublocko on FF and Chrome and noscript on Palemoon and nothing on IE but still could not get the pages to show normally. Then I realised that it was my hostfile (Mvps) that caused the issue and indeed there are three listings there for spiegel (count.spiegel.de, spiegel.ivwbox.de and c.spiegel.de) Can someone please explain how the hostfile and the extensions work together? My understanding is that the hostfile would still provide some basic protection on IE but otherwise does it improve my cover when I am using ublocko or noscript? Could I just delete these links in my hostfile and then make adjustments in Ublocko or noscript to whitelist spiegel? Apart from the fact that I am not keen on all the distractions from the ads I am also thinking that using these extensions provides protection against drive-by malware from certain ads - so if I were to whitelist spiegel or similar news sites, how much protection would I be left with?
The difference is that the Hosts file is blocking the access to domains in the hosts file for all applications. Installing uBlock Origin and enabling the MVPS Hosts file in the filter list is blocking access to those domains only for this browser. After installing both (MVPS Hosts file + [uBlock Origin + MVPS Hosts file (3rd-party filters)]) the access to for example: c.spiegel.de is blocked. Allowing it in uBlock Origin has no effect, because the installed Hosts file (C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) is always queried first (and c.spiegel.de is a blocked domain) You must comment it out in the Hosts file and now your browser can connect to the previously blocked domain. c.spiegel.de: not commented out in the Hosts file + allowed in uBlock Origin = access will always fail. not commented out in the Hosts file + (uBlock Origin is not installed) = access will always fail. Commented out in the Hosts file + allowed in uBlock Origin = access successful. Commented out in the Hosts file + (uBlock Origin is not installed) = access successful.
Mood, thank you - basically I had figured this one out though your examples make it very clear. I am still uncertain however what risks I am adding to my set up by allowing this in my browser. Knowing that most of these drive-by exposures come from ad servers and are not controlled by the website of the publisher, I can't even rely on the news publisher to do a decent job. Do you know if the whitelisting is for everything or are there settings to would allow "general ads" but prevent "nasty" stuff. At present I am only using these extensions out of the box without special changes and so far that has worked well for me.
dont use HOSTS file when using ublock - ublock uses some too and is optional to configure. hosts file is static (manually edit) spiegel.de was answered here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...chboard-successor.369601/page-28#post-2741904
Hi beethoven, About the MVPS Hosts file: Not all the three entries you posted, are correct with respect to the MVPS Hosts file. When searching in the MVPS Hosts file (both the latest one from 04 March 2018, and the previous one from 30 January 2018 ) for spiegel, I get these: c.spiegel.de count.spiegel.de spiegel.met.vgwort.de I don't know why one of the three is different in your list. Maybe you have an older one? Maybe some typos by you? Maybe something else?
I am running hostfile through hostman and updated again and I am getting yours plus the additional one of spiegel.ivwbox.de - not sure why.
thank you Brummelchen - I will have a closer look at the advice in the linked thread to adjust my settings. I sometimes disable my hostfile when I notice that things get too complicated (for me to work out the interactions) but in general I would like to still keep it going as I am not using ublocko on every browser. I also unticked mvps hosts within ublocko. I probably overcomplicate things.
against misunderstandings - i also use a hosts file, but its less updated because of mismatches to ublock. i need to check my hosts file exceptions (eg statcounter.com). this page i need for some web stats, hosts will block it (reason is valid) but for users like me its not recommended (to be blocked) when updating hosts file it took me some time to check all exceptions. my browser is still firefox or chromium which uses same ublock configuration. the hosts file offers a system wide protection, eg against adware from unknown setups. if not familiar some should use programs like sandboxie to verify unknown setups. the more you dive into security and its concepts the more of work has to be done.
