Creating a hosts file xp

It just so happens that one of the first places to do a Name to Number lookup is the hosts file on your computer. What does this mean? If a malicious person wants to hijack your browser and redirect certain addresses to another site they could use the hosts file to do this. All they would need to do is add an entry to the hosts file to redirect any number of sites. So if your browser isn't going where it should be, a good place to look first is the hosts file. You need to access the Windows folder on your root drive which is usually on 'the 'C drive' and the folder is usually named 'Windows'.

Once in the Windows folder you'll need to open the 'System32' folder, then the 'drivers' folder, followed by the 'etc' folder. Once you've located the hosts file open it using Notepad.

Windows 8 Windows 8. To reset the Hosts file back to the default, follow these steps: Open Notepad. Close Notepad. To do this, follow these steps: Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Search , type run, and then tap the Run icon. Select the Hosts file, and rename it "Hosts. Need more help? Expand your skills. Get new features first. Was this information helpful? Yes No. Thank you! Any more feedback?

The more you tell us the more we can help. Can you help us improve? Hostsman includes an option to turn off the DNS Service [ screenshot ]. When set to Manual you can see that the above "Service" is not needed after a little browsing - when set to Manual by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS Client and check the "Status" column.

It should be blank, if it was needed it would show "Started" in that column. Related Utilities. Once installed locate the Hostsman location, right-click on "hm. PowerShell script to automatically download, unzip and update the local host file.

Linux and Mac Users. Although I do not use either Linux or a Mac, I often get requests for "How To" on that system, so here are a few resources:. To contribute a listing for our resources, or any other comments: Contact. Reproduction of information on this site, in any form, is prohibited without express written permission. Microsoft and or MVPS. Blocking Unwanted Connections with a Hosts File. To edit the hosts file in Windows successfully, you can follow the steps below:.

Step 1. Type notepad in the Windows search box, and then right-click the Notepad app and select Run as administrator. Step 2. In the Notepad window, click on File and select Open from the context menu. Step 3. In the File name field, paste the following path on it and click on the Open button. Step 4.

Now, you can edit the hosts file in the Notepad.