Andy said:
Screen freezes sometime, very slow at times, bugs me to update explorer.
I think the description might be "undefined behavior."
I am considering deleting ie 6.0 and any associated files and then see if it will reinstall it.
Or maybe ie.inf will work and allow a reinstall of Incredibly.Exhausing.
Take care,
Andy
P.S. I am trying to find another hosts file that is current other than the
M.* one.
A "hosts" file is a supplement to the DNS lookup system.
For any Internet connection, the user may enter "
www.sun.com",
but the computer needs numbers 137.254.16.113.
The computer might consult the DNS server at the ISP. In
a command prompt, you can observe this translation by
trying this...
nslookup
www.sun.com
and the dialog returned, tells you where the DNS translation came
from. On a lot of setups, it appears your home router answered
the query, but there is a whole chain of connections to the main
sources of DNS information.
OK, so what does the hosts file do ?
It provides something to consult first. You can override translations,
by entering information in the hosts file. For example,
127.0.0.1
www.sun.com
What that entry in the hosts file does, is translate a request for
www.sun.com, into the loopback address. Effectively, the web
browser "asks" my own computer, on port 80, for the web site
information. And of course, my computer is not running a web
server, so there is no response to the query. By overriding
a translation, it "prevents" the web browser from going to the
site.
The default Microsoft file (similar to the default file in fact,
on other computer platforms), has stuff like
*******
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
*******
The first couple lines, are examples of what to enter. The
"localhost" line, provides a way for the computer to make a
"request to itself" or "localhost", to the loopback address
which is 127.0.0.1. An attempt to go to 127.0.0.1, results
in the query staying on the computer, and not leaving it.
To prevent a computer from going to dodgy sites, you can
get a list of malicious web sites as a "replacement hosts file".
It might have 800 lines like
127.0.0.1 banner.ad.nu
and that line is to prevent adverts from that site
from showing up. Microsoft does not distribute the
800 line file. A third-party site does. And, the file
needs daily updating, to be effective.
Some web browsers have a "Safe Browsing" feature, where
the browser checks a list and avoids going to dodgy sites.
So the basic "hosts" mechanism, can be implemented other
ways. But "hosts" is a means of doing it, that is tool
independent. If I had an Internet tool with no protection
mechanism of its own, I could add entries to the hosts file.
I presume, at some point, adding stuff to the hosts file
becomes a performance issue. I don't know how big the file
would have to be, for that to happen.
If you "cut off the adverts" from a web site, using the
hosts mechanism, sometimes the Javascript is set up to
not work, unless the adverts are served. If a web page won't
render properly, it could be in fact that the "hosts" file
contributed to the erroneous result. You can try putting back
the short hosts file the computer came with, if that is the case.
This is the hosts file, as it came on my WinXP SP3 installer disc.
*******
# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
*******
Note that, the "hosts" file is not part of Internet Explorer.
The "hosts" file is a functional part of the OS, and is part of the
network services of that OS. The "hosts" file, gets applied
to any tool attempting to connect to the Internet. But it's
far from the primary source of protection, because the hosts
file method can never be even remotely close to being complete.
Plenty of malicious sites are never listed in a hosts file,
so it should never be your primary form of protection.
Your AV software, might give you better protection.
Basically, any method used, needs daily updating, no
matter what method it is. Because the "bad guys
never sleep".
HTH,
Paul
