Reg Hosts file windows

[Guest]

Hi there,

I use windows XP professional . I was checking the my hosts file i have
found a entry (static ip address ) of my remote server. Named "application"
with the concerned IP address inthe hosts file. so i am in doubt wheather
my system has been hijacked or infected ? So please help me to understand
!!! Till now i did not make any entries in the hosts file.. so i wanted how
the hosts file entry will be made automatically...?

thanks,
Rizwan

 

[Guest]

Host files, except in a few cases are not actively used. Most software
needing to statically map an IP to a name do so internally and do not alter
the host file. I use it as a work around for the IP spoofing/loop back rules
on my firewall so I can test my web servers. This entry may be for the same
purpose, are you the only administrator of the machine? If you are not then
i would check with the other admins before doing anything. But, for day to
day functions the hiost file is not necessary. Normally, I would not advise
deleting entries in anything but the host file entries are easy to replace
and their presence or absense usually will not cause configuration issues;
record the entry and then remove it, and If something breaks put it back in.
I would do a system wide scan both AV and Malware (rare but there are some
that put entries in the host file). I hope this helps.