Startup error message

[Guest]

Every time I start my computer and after Windows Defender scans, I get a
message about a file that should be removed immediately. The file is
identified as:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Below this is a link: View more information about this item online.

When I click on this link, it takes me to the general Defender page asking
if I want to download it. there is no explaination of what this file is all
about as the Windows Defender History page is telling me to check out.
Wazzup???

 

[Guest]

Hi John, see if the program is listed on this page...
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

These warnings links are fake and are a goad to have you buy the commercial
version of that software.

Еиçеl

 

[Bill Sanderson]

John - this sounds like a false positive. You are probably using one or
more other antispyware applications, or a custom hosts file from some
reputable source, such as:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Such a file, by necessity, includes the addresses of a number of malicious
sites.

You can open the hosts file by simply putting that path into notepad--the
file is named "hosts" with no suffix, but it is a plain text file.

You can read more about the function of the hosts file at the above
URL--that should help you make sense out of the lines that at first glance
look risky.

However--let me point out one problem with such a hosts file. Malware also
uses this file, and for exactly the same reason--viruses may place the
addresses of antivirus vendors in the file in an attempt to keep the users
from reaching help.

Can you be certain that among all those entries there aren't entries for
sites that are good--that you want to be able to reach?

My own preference is to keep the hosts file to the default, which is a
number of comment lines, followed by

127.0.0.1 localhost