Comments for What are these 127.0.0.1 entries in my system hosts file?

Comment from Jimmy Han on 2009-08-11

2009-08-12T03:14:09Z

Hi, Leo. Excellent article.
I have a Q.
My hosts file has 2 lines after comment:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost

What's the effect of second line (::1 localhost)?
What happens if I get rid of both of those lines and replace it with a host name that I want to block? Should I save those lines and just another host that I want to block?
Your answer will be very appreciated.

Leave them both in, and add whatever you want to block underneat. 127.0.0.0 means "this computer", i.e. the computer itself more commonly known as localhost. ::1 is the same thing in IPv6 - a newer addressing scheme that may (or may not) eventually replace the current IPv4.

12-Aug-2009

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Comment from miaka on 2009-07-20

2009-07-20T17:17:54Z

what if my hosts file does not contain a 127.0.0.1 number or a 0.000...etc number? i am trying to block a website on google chrome and i have no idea how to do it.....please help....

As the article outlines, just add the lines you want.

- Leo
21-Jul-2009

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A comment on: What are these 127.0.0.1 entries in my system hosts file?

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Comment from Erasto Fernandez on 2008-09-12

2008-09-13T05:36:59Z

I've gone throuh this article and also the comments and found it very enlightening. Thanks - EFernandez

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Comment from Ziggie on 2008-09-10

2008-09-10T15:34:49Z

The routing tables use 0.0.0.0 to signify the default network connection in XP. I would think specifying this in your host file would just cause your computer to time out and get confused.

Definitely cause slow downs...

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Comment from Jeff on 2008-09-09

2008-09-09T22:09:01Z

Ok now what if you dont have anything in that file is that good or bad. When I follow the path "\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" hosts shows it as being a file and no files in it. Ok so some of us only know how to turn it on...

An empty or mostly empty hosts file is common, and in fact how Windows comes by default.

-Leo

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A comment on: What are these 127.0.0.1 entries in my system hosts file?

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Comment from Paul Higgins on 2008-09-09

2008-09-09T16:31:58Z

When I first started using the hosts file and did dome reading about it, the advice for blocking sites was to use 0.0.0.0 which would do the same thing as 127.0.0.1
The problem was that on some XP machines (and I’ve never heard a satisfactory reason for why) it would cause the machine to respond slowly or crash. This happened to me and I used the alternative instead. Maybe the advent of the XP problem has led to 0.0.0.0 never being suggested anymore.

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Comment from dheikoop on 2008-09-08

2008-09-08T08:57:41Z

No Leo, it's not an incorrect attempt to do the same thing as 127.0.0.1 I think, because there are hundreds of 0.0.0.0-entries and they come from the RogueRemoverPro application.

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Comment from Steve Myers on 2008-09-06

2008-09-06T20:46:51Z

The anti-spyware program I use puts blocked sites into the hosts list. I use spybot. If you are using that program then that is where that long list of sites came from.

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Comment from Just J on 2008-09-05

2008-09-05T17:15:43Z

What a fantastic article! I've been trying to get my head-around the hosts file for a while, this explained it perfectly.

Now, the path to it! ....\etc\ Is that pronounced 'et cetera' or is it an acronym? Or neither?

Just wondered, because I occasionally direct someone to this location & wonder if I'm saying *ETC* (The letters), or 'Et Cetera'.

Just for reference!.....

Great article though, now I understand!

ETC is short for et cetera. It's actually goes back to the originally developed Unix systems many years ago. Certain folders were defined to hold certain things, but they needed a place to put random stuff or "everything else" ... hence "et cetera" or /etc/. It's used in various ways to similar effect to this day.

-Leo

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Comment from Ken B on 2008-09-05

2008-09-05T15:48:47Z

In addition to routing anti-malware sites to 127.0.0.1, I have seen malware actually direct it to their own sites.

Imagine what would happen if your hosts file pointed www.google.com to an IP address owned by a "bad guy", and instead of searching via Google, you were searching using a paid advertising site. Even if it did nothing else to your system, it would make money for the "bad guy".

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Comment from dheikoop on 2008-09-05

2008-09-05T14:28:30Z

What are these 0.0.0.0 entries in my system hosts file?

I believe that it's an incorrect attempt to do the same thing as 127.0.0.1 - block certain web sites.

-Leo

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A comment on: What are these 127.0.0.1 entries in my system hosts file?

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