I recently opened up Webroot Spysweeper and took a look at what is listed in my HOSTS file.
I see a line listed as i.i.com.com. What does this line mean? Does it mean that I am blocking everything from i.i.com.com or does it mean that I have granted access to i.i.com.com? I’m not really sure what a HOSTS file is for in the first place. I have tried reading about it, but I am still very confused.
I’m sure how this line got into my HOSTS file. I also use Spybot S&D, and it has a feature that adds a list of bad sites to your HOSTS file to be blocked or something.
Which address do you see after that one? I mean, do you see 127.0.0.1 ?
If so, you won’t be able to access that web page as the traffic will be redirected to your own computer (localhost is the same as 127.0.0.1).
But, in fact, it’s strange that only that particular site is there…
127.0.0.1 is listed before it. There are also some other sites listed after it, but they have no names and for some reason Spysweeper does not show its address
When I open up Spybot S&D, I see the entire list of sites listed in my HOSTS file. Many of those were put there by Spybot.
I just want to know what the significance of i.i.com.com being in my HOSTS file is. Does this grant permission to that site to load up whatever comes from that sites (i.e ads) to my computer, or does this address being in my HOSTS file prevent this site from loading anything to my computer?
With 127.0.0.1 before the i.i.com.com effectively stops any contact with i.i.com.com by redirecting the call to i.i.com.com to the local system. Set like this it should be denying permission.
There are also some other sites listed after it, but they have no names and for some reason Spysweeper does not show its address
Rather than try and explain it, you could post the entries you are talking about.
The aim of the hosts file (in this case) is to stop you accessing known tracking, adware, spyware or malware sites, this is usually achieved by having it redirected to 127.0.0.1 (localhost). Some malware tries the reverse of this to redirect you from legitimate sites to porn/adult, ad supported or malware sites.
Jujubee, sorry, it’s late and I mess ‘before’ with ‘late’.
David answer your other question. Maybe you can return your hosts files to the default (using SpyBot for that) and use other method (like SpywareBlaster or IE-SpyAd to block the sites.
The address is in your HOSTS file to prevent this site from loading anything to your computer.