I can't imagine anyone using this anymore. Any ad blocker would be more up to date and not cause the DNS issues this file would as the entire file gets cached at startup.
i use a HOSTS file, but its very reduced because the DNS service has to be running since Windows 10 for connections. with 500k entries any change took 2 or more minutes to revive my web, currently i use ~19k entries. changes are directly inserted to the service and need time to process. any adblocker is much faster. for Linux i dont use a HOSTS file, so ad blocker are vital.
I use Steve Black's unified HOST file, updated 27JAN25: # Title: StevenBlack/hosts with the porn extension # # This hosts file is a merged collection of hosts from reputable sources, # with a dash of crowdsourcing via GitHub # # Date: 27 January 2025 03:35:08 (UTC) # Extensions added to this file: porn # Number of unique domains: 194,786 # # Fetch the latest version of this file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/alternates/porn/hosts # Project home page: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts # Project releases: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/releases But I do NOT use it in the Windows HOSTS file - at 195k-ish entries does indeed take forever if I do. I use Acrylic DNS proxy. It has it's own AcrylicHost file that allows very fast lookups (and wild card entries). I've also set Acrylic to use DOH for Google and Cloudflare, with a fallback to DNS at my VPN provider's secure DNS server. I can have up to ten DNS/DOH servers that are used sequentially with a timeout i select in Acrylics config file. Steven's list is pasted into it, not the win11 hosts file. Acrylic was last updated in 2024, as it essentially works fine with windows thru win11, inc. 24h2 & insider builds. You do need to know what you are doing when you modify it, and your DNS/adapter settings, tho. You also need to set windows DNS settings to localhost - 0.0.0.0 and/or 127.0.0.1.
Sounds like quite a setup. Always prefer 0.0.0.0 over 127.0.0.1 as it is faster and takes less memory.
0.0.0.0 is a lock, while 127.0.0.1 is loopback/localhost https://networkengineering.stackexc...nce-between-0-0-0-0-and-a-loopback-ip-address so 0.0.0.0 is right and if you see different then you better replace it with this. too many lists on the run with this failure.
I use 127.0.0.1 as a secondary, justincase: The Steven Black list uses 0.0.0.0 for all the custom entry destination addresses. Excerpt: #===================================== # Title: Hosts contributed by Steven Black # http://stevenblack.com 0.0.0.0 ad-assets.futurecdn.net 0.0.0.0 ck.getcookiestxt.com 0.0.0.0 eu1.clevertap-prod.com 0.0.0.0 wizhumpgyros.com 0.0.0.0 coccyxwickimp.com 0.0.0.0 webmail-who-int.000webhostapp.com Acrylic config also is set to bind to 0.0.0.0. ; The local IPv4 address to which Acrylic binds. A value of 0.0.0.0 indicates that Acrylic should bind to all available ; addresses and as such it will be able to receive DNS requests coming from all of your network interfaces. A value ; corresponding to the IPv4 address of one of your network interfaces instead will allow Acrylic to receive DNS requests ; only from that specific network interface. An empty value instead indicates that no binding should occur on IPv4. ; LocalIPv4BindingAddress=0.0.0.0 ; (My service provider, British Telecom, does not use IPV6, it ignores anything ipv6-ish at the router level.)
please explain what you want to achieve with such addresses in dns resolving? as written 0.0.0.0 is a lock, its a dead end. the HOSTS file is build like this TARGET SOURCE if you want to open SOURCE address its redirected to TARGET and the host is a dead end. it does not make sense to redirect acrylic to an dead end. but if, then use 127.0.0.1 or even better the ipv4 address of that computer in LAN. to read https://obsrv.org/wiki/index.php?n=Setup.Altdns2 same as my words. i dont use my own dns resolver, but i use several computers in my network with dhcp static ip, even when gambling with ftp or http servers i never set 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1 as their address. for using a local server is also smart to access it with Code: localhost[:port][/path][/file] PS if not noted, the HOSTS file is redirecting as demonstrated above. in common its used for blocking malicious websites - redirecting to a lock.
Hmm... I turned the service off in my Windows 10 VM a long time ago via: Code: REG add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Dnscache" /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f https://i.postimg.cc/bwXcx81W/Klembord-01-31-2025-01.png And I have no issues with connections. What sort of connections do you refer to?
i beg your pardon, but i dont remember. looking again, this is what i noted inside: Code: #https://hosts-file.net/ ***DOWN*** #http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm #https://gitlab.com/curben/phishing-filter but with 19k entries plus my few one, it might a very reduced version of all. file size is 491kb unpacked. mvps is much larger
