Anybody using this host file?

[BillW50]

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt

It blocks so many addresses that I never even ran across yet. And I have
been experimenting with it for a few weeks now and most of my experience
is very positive so far. I've been using it on XP, 7, and 8 machines.

Although it does prevent iHeart from streaming. I haven't tracked down
what address is preventing iHeart streaming yet, but it is on my todo
list. So far a temporary band aid I just rename the hosts file to
something else. Then refresh the page.

 

[Mayayana]

| http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt

Bad link. Here's one that works:

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts2.htm

Personally I think the MVPS file is overkill. There are some
4,600 addresses in there, which the browser needs to keep
checking. That's really not a time-consuming operation, but
such bloat just isn't necessary. The vast majority of ads
come from a very small group of servers, while many of the
URLs in the MVPS file are for specific sites.
Example: If you don't visit tomshardware.com then you
don't need the 5 or 6 entries in the MVPS HOSTS file that
are specific to that domain. (Assuming those are even still
valid URLs.)

I have a HOSTS file "kit" here:

http://www.jsware.net/jsware/privacytips.php5#hosts

It includes a basic HOSTS file as well as scripts that can
be used to automate adding URLs to your HOSTS file from
webpages visited.

Also, you might consider Acrylic DNS:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/acrylic/

It's a DNS proxy that runs as a service and allows for
HOSTS wildcards in its own HOSTS file. I've used it for
awhile and like it, but it does seem to have one bug:
Every once in awhile I can't get online. The Acrylic service,
inexplicably, won't start. Then I have to uninstall and
reinstall Acrylic. It's quick and easy, but still it's a bug
that shouldn't be there.

 

[BillW50]

In Mayayana typed:

Bad link. Here's one that works:

That link works fine here. You know this is just the host file and
nothing else, right?

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts2.htm

Personally I think the MVPS file is overkill. There are some
4,600 addresses in there, which the browser needs to keep
checking. That's really not a time-consuming operation, but
such bloat just isn't necessary.

Yes that is what I thought too.

The vast majority of ads come from a very small group of servers,
while many of the URLs in the MVPS file are for specific sites.
Example: If you don't visit tomshardware.com then you don't need the 5
or 6 entries in the MVPS HOSTS file that are specific to that domain.
(Assuming those are even still valid URLs.)

Yes I was thinking about going through the list and deleting things I
don't need to be blocked. Ah... but that is a big list.

I have a HOSTS file "kit" here:

http://www.jsware.net/jsware/privacytips.php5#hosts

It includes a basic HOSTS file as well as scripts that can
be used to automate adding URLs to your HOSTS file from
webpages visited.

Sounds like it is worth checking out. Was it tested with iHeart?

Also, you might consider Acrylic DNS:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/acrylic/

It's a DNS proxy that runs as a service and allows for
HOSTS wildcards in its own HOSTS file. I've used it for
awhile and like it, but it does seem to have one bug:
Every once in awhile I can't get online. The Acrylic service,
inexplicably, won't start. Then I have to uninstall and
reinstall Acrylic. It's quick and easy, but still it's a bug
that shouldn't be there.

I don't think I need anything that fancy. Not yet anyway.

 

[Mayayana]

| > It includes a basic HOSTS file as well as scripts that can
| > be used to automate adding URLs to your HOSTS file from
| > webpages visited.
|
| Sounds like it is worth checking out. Was it tested with iHeart?
|

I have no idea what iHeart means. Should I?
My version is just a basic list of the most common
ad companies and trackers. It can be edited or
added to. That's what the scripts in the download
are for. But I don't often come across new ad or
tracking URLs that I don't already have.

I put things like Facebook in my own HOSTS file
because their tracking bugs are ubiquitous and I
don't use Facebook. But I only put ad and tracking
companies in the download version.

| Acrylic.... I don't think I need anything that fancy.

It's pretty much invisible and easy to install, but
it does seem to need a bit more polish. The main
purpose is to have wild card URLs that don't require
specifying the sub-domain. For instance, there are
about 950 URLs in the MVPS file for 2o7.net alone.
(I was mistaken about the total count. There are about
15,000 entries in all!) In the Acrylic HOSTS file only
one line is needed to cover that: *.2o7.net. It's a
much more sensible method than the normal HOSTS file.

There are some big limitations with all of this, though.
It's easy to remove almost all ads. Tracking is more tricky.
A large number of sites now use Akamai to host files and
forward you to them. You can block Akamai but it won't
block those files, which means Akamai can track you
online and sell the data. You can stop it altogether by
setting Firefox or Pale Moon with network.http.redirection-limit
= 0, but a lot of sites redirect, so that will break many of the
places you might visit.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, Mayayana

online and sell the data. You can stop it altogether by
setting Firefox or Pale Moon with network.http.redirection-limit
= 0, but a lot of sites redirect, so that will break many of the
places you might visit.

I can't remember what setting achieves it, but in my Firefox I sometimes
get a "Firefox has prevented a redirection" banner, with an allow
button; isn't that a reasonable compromise?

 

[Dee]

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt

It blocks so many addresses that I never even ran across yet. And
I have been experimenting with it for a few weeks now and most of
my experience is very positive so far. I've been using it on XP,
7, and 8 machines.

Although it does prevent iHeart from streaming. I haven't tracked
down what address is preventing iHeart streaming yet, but it is on
my todo list. So far a temporary band aid I just rename the hosts
file to something else. Then refresh the page.

I've been using it for several years. I like that it is updated
regularly (approx. every 4-8 weeks).

Dee

 

[Mayayana]

| >online and sell the data. You can stop it altogether by
| >setting Firefox or Pale Moon with network.http.redirection-limit
| >= 0, but a lot of sites redirect, so that will break many of the
| >places you might visit.
| >
| I can't remember what setting achieves it, but in my Firefox I sometimes
| get a "Firefox has prevented a redirection" banner, with an allow
| button; isn't that a reasonable compromise?

I don't want Akamai tracking me, but if I block
redirects I'd have to be clicking that button constantly.
And then I'm not stopping Akamai. I don't see any way
around it. And Akamai is especially insidious because they're
not actually an ad company. Yet they're getting access to
a vast amount of traffic. But many pages just won't work if
I block the redirects. A webpage is simply not a webpage
in the way it used to be. ....And then I think, "What if Google
buys Akamai?"

 

[BillW50]

In Mayayana typed:

I have no idea what iHeart means. Should I?

IHeartRadio streams audio from 800 local Clear Channel radio stations
across the United States, as well as hundreds of other stations and
various other media.

My version is just a basic list of the most common
ad companies and trackers. It can be edited or
added to. That's what the scripts in the download
are for. But I don't often come across new ad or
tracking URLs that I don't already have.

I've been playing with your list and so far I like it. IHeartRadio
player sometimes won't play with your list. My guess is if ads are
blocked, the player won't work. It was probably designed that way. I
don't use the scripts though, I just do it manually.

I put things like Facebook in my own HOSTS file
because their tracking bugs are ubiquitous and I
don't use Facebook. But I only put ad and tracking
companies in the download version.

Yeah I am not a big Facebook fan either. Twitter is another one who
follows you around.

It's pretty much invisible and easy to install, but
it does seem to need a bit more polish. The main
purpose is to have wild card URLs that don't require
specifying the sub-domain. For instance, there are
about 950 URLs in the MVPS file for 2o7.net alone.
(I was mistaken about the total count. There are about
15,000 entries in all!) In the Acrylic HOSTS file only
one line is needed to cover that: *.2o7.net. It's a
much more sensible method than the normal HOSTS file.

Maxthon v1 had an ad blocker that allowed wildcards. There are probably
addons for other browsers to do the same.

There are some big limitations with all of this, though.
It's easy to remove almost all ads. Tracking is more tricky.
A large number of sites now use Akamai to host files and
forward you to them. You can block Akamai but it won't
block those files, which means Akamai can track you
online and sell the data. You can stop it altogether by
setting Firefox or Pale Moon with network.http.redirection-limit
= 0, but a lot of sites redirect, so that will break many of the
places you might visit.

A lot of sites won't work if you disable scripts either. I really should
look for a text only addon or browser. I could use one from time to
time. My Palm machines has a browser which is almost just text based.
But it is too outdated now to do much on modern sites. They say you can
disable script in Firefox. I seem to recall in older versions it was in
the options. Where did they move it to, about:config? I do like the
ability to disable flash in Firefox. I can't seem do that in Maxthon v3
without uninstalling or renaming flash itself. As flash isn't listed as
an extension/addon that you can disable.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, Mayayana

I have a HOSTS file "kit" here:

http://www.jsware.net/jsware/privacytips.php5#hosts

It includes a basic HOSTS file as well as scripts that can
be used to automate adding URLs to your HOSTS file from
webpages visited.

That looks useful. Pity about the need to download the page first though
- you couldn't do it as a Firefox addon/button could you (-:?
[]

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, BillW50 <[email protected]>
writes:
[]

A lot of sites won't work if you disable scripts either. I really should
look for a text only addon or browser. I could use one from time to
time. My Palm machines has a browser which is almost just text based.
But it is too outdated now to do much on modern sites. They say you can
disable script in Firefox. I seem to recall in older versions it was in
the options. Where did they move it to, about:config? I do like the

[]
That's where all things are really in Firefox; as they "develop" it,
many things move to being _only_ there, before being disabled
altogether.

In 25.0.1, there is still a GUI to disable javascript: Tools, Web
Developer (!), any of the first three options (also Ctrl+Shift+I, K, or
C), click the cogwheel. It's then near the bottom of the middle column.
I don't know if it's still there in current versions - I stopped
updating before Australis (29 I think), not because I think it is
intrinsically bad, I just don't have time to keep learning where things
have been moved to. There looks to be a _lot_ of interesting things -
most of which I don't understand (-: - under Tools | Web Developer.
(Windows versions: Linux may vary.)

 

[BillW50]

J. P. Gilliver (John) formulated the question :

A lot of sites won't work if you disable scripts either. I really should
look for a text only addon or browser. I could use one from time to
time. My Palm machines has a browser which is almost just text based.
But it is too outdated now to do much on modern sites. They say you can
disable script in Firefox. I seem to recall in older versions it was in
the options. Where did they move it to, about:config? I do like the

[]
That's where all things are really in Firefox; as they "develop" it, many
things move to being _only_ there, before being disabled altogether.

In 25.0.1, there is still a GUI to disable javascript: Tools, Web Developer
(!), any of the first three options (also Ctrl+Shift+I, K, or C), click the
cogwheel. It's then near the bottom of the middle column. I don't know if
it's still there in current versions - I stopped updating before Australis
(29 I think), not because I think it is intrinsically bad, I just don't have
time to keep learning where things have been moved to. There looks to be a
_lot_ of interesting things - most of which I don't understand (-: - under
Tools | Web Developer. (Windows versions: Linux may vary.)[/QUOTE]

Yes I have been there many times and the cogwheel is on the far left on
this FF 23.0.1, but nothing about scripts. I do use the latest beta of
Aurora on some of my machines. There is a toggle for chrome debugging
there though? What the heck? Chrome? What is Google Chrome crap doing
in my Firefox 23.0.1?

 

[Mayayana]

| I've been playing with your list and so far I like it.

I don't think of it as my list, since there can be
any number of variations. It's more like a starting point
that will remove the vast majority of ads and tracking
but can also be edtied and added to endlessly. I figured
that most people won't get further than putting the file
in the right folder, if even that, but they can get a big
benefit nonetheless.

| IHeartRadio
| player sometimes won't play with your list. My guess is if ads are
| blocked, the player won't work.

Interesting. I didn't know about sites like that.

| Yeah I am not a big Facebook fan either. Twitter is another one who
| follows you around.
|

I found a Mozilla extension called SecretAgent that allows
blocking IFRAMES. I actually just block all frames, since
very few sites use them anymore. A few sites use IFRAMES
legitimately, but for the most part they're used for spying.
If you block doubleclick and its ilk without blocking IFRAMES
you end up with lots of little 404 pages in the webpage
you're viewing. They're putting their ads into IFRAMES
so that they can set 1st-party cookies. Likewise with
Facebook buttons. A typical commercial webpage is actually
loading a dozen or more other webpages. An IFRAME
produces a separate, distinct browser window, so it's
as though you've chosen to visit those dozen URLs.

So blocking IFRAMES is one good approach to privacy
and security. Alternatively you can make them non-visible
in userContent.css by adding this:
IFRAME {display: none !important;}
That will remove all the little 404 windows.

| Maxthon v1 had an ad blocker that allowed wildcards. There are probably
| addons for other browsers to do the same.
|

The first firewall I ever had, AtGuard, was very sophisticated
that way. It came with a lot of snippets to block for known
ads and one could drag any ad to a "rubbish barrel" to have that
URL added. I guess that's not so relevant today. Back then the
ads were mostly on the websites.

| They say you can
| disable script in Firefox. I seem to recall in older versions it was in
| the options. Where did they move it to, about:config?

Mozilla just keeps getting worse and worse. I don't like using
extensions, but I find that I need them more and more. The
one that puts back script options is called SettingsSanity.
In Firefox, the browser that I keep for the rare times I
want to enable script and cookies, I have the NoScript
extension. It's a bit of a pain to use, but well designed. One
can do things like accept script on the website while still
blocking Google and other leaches whose script is also linked
from the site. (Things sure have changed. I find it amazing
that in a few short years we've gone from an Internet full
of webpages to an Internet partially hosted by Google and
populated by javascript software applets that are typically
tied into a half dozen corporate ad and spyware operations.

 

[Mayayana]

| >It includes a basic HOSTS file as well as scripts that can
| >be used to automate adding URLs to your HOSTS file from
| >webpages visited.
|
| That looks useful. Pity about the need to download the page first though
| - you couldn't do it as a Firefox addon/button could you (-:?


Sorry. I did that for IE. For Firefox I just don't
have the interest and patience to learn about
the customizing APIs. From what little I've studied
it the whole thing seems rather bloated and complex.
(Also, I don't like javascript. With IE I can use
VBScript to set up browser integration.)

I keep a copy of the script on
my Desktop, download the page, then drop it onto
the script. It's not fully automated. I just use it off
and on. Typically it's when I go to a new site that
looks very commercial. Then I run the page through
the script to see if there are new ad servers. It's
not a perfect design, but it's easier and more accurate
than downloading someone else's HOSTS updates.
It saves you from doing things like adding
ads.forbes.com when you never visit forbes.com.

 

[B00ze]

[snip]

A lot of sites won't work if you disable scripts either. I really
should look for a text only addon or browser. I could use one from
time to time. My Palm machines has a browser which is almost just text
based. But it is too outdated now to do much on modern sites. They say
you can disable script in Firefox. I seem to recall in older versions
it was in the options. Where did they move it to, about:config? I do
like the ability to disable flash in Firefox. I can't seem do that in
Maxthon v3 without uninstalling or renaming flash itself. As flash
isn't listed as an extension/addon that you can disable.

Just install NoScript, then when a site doesnt work you can just
temporarily enable scripts from the base domain, site will then work and
still all scripts from other sources are blocked. Its a must-have addOn...

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, Mayayana

I found a Mozilla extension called SecretAgent that allows
blocking IFRAMES. I actually just block all frames, since
very few sites use them anymore. A few sites use IFRAMES
legitimately, but for the most part they're used for spying.

I found it (blocking IFRAMES) broke aspects of ebay, which I _do_ use.
And in such a way (this applied to other sites it broke too) that it
wasn't obvious anything _was_ broken.

If you block doubleclick and its ilk without blocking IFRAMES
you end up with lots of little 404 pages in the webpage

Those don't worry me (-:

Actually, I rarely see them: I suspect Ghostery has something to do with
that.
[]

want to enable script and cookies, I have the NoScript
extension. It's a bit of a pain to use, but well designed. One

I have the less-well-known YesScript. (One uses a blacklist for scripts,
the other a whitelist. IIRR, not the way round you'd expect.)
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable
man. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)