Blocking ads, data miners and malware sites with the hosts file
From http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm :
What it does ...
The Hosts file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory (cache) at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local (your) machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is its ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, providing the entry exists.
You can use a HOSTS file to block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, and even most hijackers. This is accomplished by blocking the connection(s) that supplies these little gems.
Example - the following entry 127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net blocks all files supplied by that DoubleClick Server to the web page you are viewing. This also prevents the server from tracking your movements. Why? ... because in certain cases "Ad Servers" like Doubleclick (and many others) will try to open a separate connection on the webpage you are viewing.
The hosts file on that page will work, but it is better to replace 127.0.0.1 on unwanted sites with 0.0.0.0, since this makes it so that your system will make no effort to load these sites at all, and will increase the loading speed of sites greatly. The attatched file is my hosts file. Remember to not replace the text that is already there, just copy and paste. I haven't gotten a chance to put this on my wife's windows computer, but it should work just fine. On linux, simply do an alt+f2, type "gksu gedit /etc/hosts" and paste everything in there.
Happy ad-free browsing 
Last edited by Nick; 28 Nov 2009 at 06:24 PM.
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