Geek Software of the Week: A MEGA HOSTS File!
This week’s Geek Software of the Week is late… but it is a big one! It is not so much software, but rather technique! I thought about this one long and hard, because it does “shoot me in the foot” as a Google Adsense participating website… but, my commitment to your computer safety outweighs my personal “gain.” Pretty small gain actually, but “gain” nonetheless! You see, when you go to a website, yes, even this website, you see adds generated by Google based on the content, and presumably, the context of the site. This is then supposed to lead to referrals off the site because if you see something interesting, and click on that link, then, I, as the web site owner gets a tiny “slice” of the ad revenue from that click.
Well, what I am about to reveal will shut that down for you, if you use it, not only on this site, but ALL web sites you visit! It will also keep you safe from madware, spyware, and even some viruses! (Not from THIS site, obviously, but others!) What am I talking about? Well, here it is!
The link above is to the mega, huge, all time, biggest, HOSTS file I have seen! Well, OK, I am sure that there are others that are good too, but this one is really good!
The idea is that if you replace your typical HOSTS file found in:
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\
(A location where you will find a file called “hosts” with no extension.)
If you replace that file with the file available at the link above, then get out of your browser and back in… poof! All those nasty ads will be no more! And, your system will not be as “trackable” either! Pretty cool! Where you once saw “Hit the Monkey” ad banners, there will be a white block with a small error, but no flashing yukkiness! Pretty cool… and really powerful! Give it a try… you can always rename your old file to “hosts.old” and copy it back if it proves to be “too much” for you!