Just wanted to add my 2cents
When you use a host file over 135kb it will slow down the browser. To overcome this you need to disable DNS Client Service.
-max
Howdy,
Hello Max,
This may well be just for XP. Because I have a hosts file of 368 Kb on a 98SE, no sweat at all, FF browser speed normal, nothing wrong. Where have you read this? Maybe you are better off with dns kong. I know inconnu here on the forum, this guy is not bad with hosts files, maybe he has the answer for us. he gave me some very good tips for the hostess.exe program, works fine, Max. As long as it works for me I stay with the long hosts file, check the checksum to see it was not altered by malware, and miss every ad and pop-up.
Greets,
polonus
Max is correct. You can bring your computer to a grinding halt with Large hosts files.
Thats sounds advice MAx, worth more than 2 cents 
Hi Max M. Wachtel the Third,
Maybe you are right there, twice I experienced in Firefox that I had to wait for a connection to the site, the desktop froze, and a spontaneous reboot occured. Is this caused through the problem you so aptly described. If yes, you have rare and very valuable postings, and are the owner of the true “Sabra” brain. I hope you are right for me and my comp.
Kindest regards,
polonus
If you play around with 1 or 2+ meg hosts files - It can be hard to even launch firefox with the dnsclient running. It can take quite a while to recover from that (replace your hosts file) - to get back to normal. :
Hi toadbee,
You can disinstall DNS services on a stand-alone XP machine, because it is only consuming resources, and CPU. See this link:
http://www.simpledns.com/tutor/dnsclientsvc.asp
greets,
polonus
New beta Hostman program available with hosts file download feature:
Hi FreewheelinFrank,
Thank you for the link, I certainly will look into it. How are things there for you? We are enjoying the good weather. Funny thing to-day was my neighbour asking me: “Do you know a good free AV solution for me, because my Norton subscription time is ending the 28th of this month?” I said that before downloading AVAST he had to clear all bits and pieces of Norton from his machine. He asked for a fayavoll (so Russians pronounce this) advice too. I said Kerio would be a good combination for AVAST. Was I right, my friend? I think so. Enjoy your evening.
Keep up the good work,
All the best from,
friend polonus
It works fine for me! It just needs a bit of care when setting up in advanced mode. Simple mode is, well, simple, but in advanced mode the program doesn’t give as much information as Zone Alarm about which connections to accept or deny. Tell your friend to visit ShieldUp! after installing and choose ‘deny’ for any incoming connection and make this a permanent rule if possible. (Your friend will have to allow connections to accept instant messenger files, or he/she wants to host a web server or games, but that just requires a bit of fiddling with the rules later- I’m sure you can help with that if necessary.)
Once set up, Kerio is bug free (unlike Zone Alarm) is 100% compatible with avast! and the free version includes the intrusion detection feature. All in all, pretty good for a free program.
I even think the blue Kerio shield looks good next to the blue avast! globe in my notification area!
6 July 2005
New hosts file from http://www.hosts-file.net (6 July 2005)
Download here: http://venus.walagata.com/w/xistenz/hosts-file.net-06.07.zip (Windows XP - 220KB)
Please read here about disabling your “DNS Client” service to increase performance: http://www.simpledns.com/tutor/dnsclientsvc.asp