Learn how to correctly use the hosts file. Main Features

Did you happen that the system blocked access not only to suspicious, malicious sites, but also to popular social services (such as, for example, Facebook or Facebook), official sites of well-known companies and even to antivirus vendors' resources? The situation is really not pleasant. And most often the reason is incorrect changes made to the hosts file.

What is this file and what is it for?

If you leave aside the complex IT terminology, you can say that the hosts file is a text document that contains information about the IP of certain computers. It is thanks to this file that your system transforms the alphabetic name of the site (for example, vk.com) into a numerical combination necessary to search for information and display it.

How can I use this file? There are several main tasks for which it is necessary.

The first is, of course, blocking unwanted sites. Who needs it? Parents who do not want their children to have access to dangerous information or sites marked "18+". Owners of companies that oppose that their employees during working hours are sitting in social networks. In order to implement this, you must enter the following line:

127.0.0.1 adres.sajta (the IP address of the computer and the address of the unwanted resource). Due to this, the request to the site will remain inside the computer and will not appear in the DNS, that is, in the browser the user will receive a message about the inability to display the page.

If sites that need to be blocked, there are not a few tens or hundreds, but thousands and millions, you can use special free programs from the Internet. For example, you will be able to block all sites that the search engine finds on request "porn" once.

Another option is to use this file - to get quick access to certain pages. How it works? For example, you enter a line in the hosts file

209.85.229.147 g # google.com

Due to this, in the address bar of the browser it will be enough to enter only the letter g so that the computer can access IP 209.85.229.147 and open the main page of the search engine.

Incorrect entries in the file can cause incorrect browser operation and numerous error messages. What can you do if you have made a lot of changes to the file and do not know which of them interferes with the proper functioning of the programs?

To do this, simply download or create anew the original hosts file. In it, you need to register only one line: 127.0.0.1 localhost. For this purpose, a normal notebook is suitable. The finished file must be saved without the .txt extension to the same folder.

Never believe scammers who say that you can restore the hosts file only for a fee, offer to send SMS to suspicious numbers, transfer money to an account (electronic or bank). This is a simple operation, which even an inexperienced PC user can handle.

Where is the hosts file in Windows 7 and other operating system versions? The most common way to find it is in the Windows system files folder (Windows / System32 / drivers / etc / hosts).

Good luck, and let your hosts always be in perfect order!