Moonbat's Guide to the Hosts File

[Moonbat]

~Note: For Windows Users Only~
Go to the following directory on your computer

Windows 95/98/ME
%WinDir%\

Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista
%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc

There should be a few files there, click on the one that says hosts. Open this with notepad or some other text editor. These are the contents of the file:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
# For example:
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost

Now, this file can be useful, annoying, and funny at the same time.

Useful

When you enter in a website (like website.com), that domain will have to be matched to an IP address. Windows will have to look in places to find a record matching the domain to an IP. Windows searches in this order.

1. The HOSTS file
2. DNS server <- This is used most of the time when you are browsing the Internet
3. NetBios <- Rarely used

This order can be changed by going into the Registry. (Just to go along with SOP, I advise you not to make changes into the Registry unless you know exactly what you are doing, and that you should back up the Registry just in case).

Windows 95/98/ME
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSTCP\ServiceProvider

Windows NT, 2000, XP
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider

There are four keys.

HostsPriority (HOSTS file)
DnsPriority (DNS Servers)
NetbtPriority (Netbios)
LocalPriority (Computer’s local name)

Each has a value. The lower the number, the higher the priority. You can change the numbers and in effect change the order of how Windows resolves a domain to an IP.

Now that we’ve had a little lesson on DNS resolution, let’s get back to where we left off. To speed up load times to certain sites, find the IP of the site you visit alot. To do this:

Start >> Run >> type cmd in the box >> DOS prompt will come up >> type the following in bold, replacing website.com with the website you want. ping www.website.com A number looking like this xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with various numbers between 0-255 should come up, that's the IP.

Then, go back to the hosts file, and on a new line, type this in the hosts file (replace website.com with your website, and the fake IP with your website's IP)

255.255.255.255 website.com

You can also block ads by finding the website where the ads are coming from and putting the following in your hosts file

127.0.0.1 theadssite.com

Or you may have to put

0.0.0.0 theadssite.com

Annoying

Many spyware and trojan programs edit the hosts file to redirect you to their site when you go on the Internet. If you are having this kind of problem, check your hosts file to see if any additions have been made that you didn't make.

Funny

Do you have access to a friend's computer? Well, just have some fun with them, maybe they have a particular site they like going to. Well, find the IP of the site YOU want them to go to, and make a quick edit of the hosts file.

~NOTE: If a user types in the full url i.e. with the http:// and everything, it wll bypass the hosts file redirection and take them to the right website~

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've learned something!
-Moonbat

[Tito]

Thats cool I'm gona try it.
########
Now I know why I keep getting redirected to this one site. They got into that folder.

[Halla]

Thought Id step it up a notch and do my version in a video format.
Enjoy it!

http://one.revver.com/watch/273439

Aren't computers fun?

[Moonbat]

Gah! I was planning to make a Flash video of that too

Oh well, I like your video Halla, nice job

[pontispilot]

i've tried putting the site with the right address, and with an ip from a different site and they don't work. i used for example-

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
216.186.135.51 www.myspace.com
216.186.135.51 myspace.com

wich is myspace with a MISMATCHED ip address to www.poop.com (?)

i saved it and went to my browser, i tried myspace.com and www.myspace.com and both times the browser just added "http://"

am i doing something wrong?

[Moonbat]

What browser are you using? Cus if it auto-adds 'http://' then the hosts file trick may not work.

[ignorant]

were did you got this tut cuz here were i work this tut provoke us a lot of work cuz some one used it to send sutpid people from a real bank wep page to a fake one that saved all the user info and resend to an other guyhe stold a lot of money cuz this stupid rich people wanabes ccouldn´t differentiate between the real one and the fake

[Moonbat]

I wrote this tutorial.

[ignorant]

then some that guy read it or knows how to do it aaaaa i don´t care any more it wasn´t my money so
jajajaja stupid people hey did you found the emp info

[pontispilot]

ie 7 i think.
i watched halla's video his does the same thing but it still works.
that dude has hella tut videos.

tell me the quote code.

[ignorant]

i don´t know what do you want exacly but here is what we delet to solve the problem we delet whats on red
127.0.0.1 localhost
69.193.230.100 www.banamex.com
69.193.206.100 www.banamex.com.mx
69.0.0.1 localhost
69.193.230.100 www.banamex.com
69.193.206.100 www.banamex.com.mx


if this is what you want and make some cash out of it send me a few dollars now and then ok if thats no problem and i can give you some other info