Hosts file access disabled

[twig]

A group of our WinXP Pro PCs suddenly lost network
browsing because of apparent faulty lookup to their hosts
file. Pinging to a listed host by name presents an unknown
external address as the target. The hosts file was removed
and recreated-no good. Not all PCs are affected. Has there
been a recent security patch that disrupts hosts file
access?

 

[Jack Seredyniecki]

There has never been and I hardly doubt that there will ever be a patch that
modifies your hostfile!