greyowl Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I am wondering if MVPS Hosts and HostsMan are recommended to increase security and improve internet browsing speed. I am on dialup internet. Are there any disadvantages in using these? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile360 Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645016 Share Posted February 8, 2013 They can definitely improve security of browsing as well as speed, particularly if you use the HostsServer component (which is now a separate install). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyowl Posted February 8, 2013 Author ID:645019 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Thanks for the information. So, there are no drawbacks? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile360 Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645021 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Thanks for the information. So, there are no drawbacks?Nope, none that I can think of, at least as long as you follow its recommendation to disable the DNS Client service (which it will do automatically during install as long as you allow it to). It works great for blocking ads too, not just malware.Of course, I wouldn't recommend a HOSTS file alone for blocking malicious sites. The Website Blocking component in Malwarebytes Anti-Malware PRO is still very effective and I see it block sites all the time that my HOSTS file does not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyowl Posted February 8, 2013 Author ID:645026 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Thanks again. Do you use the MVPS hosts or do you recommend another. In terms of procedure, would I install the MVPS Hosts first (do I just click on the file and it installs. Then the HostMan and Hosts Server component.I am a novice.BTW--The Post button isn't working at the bottom of the page--I have to go to MoreReplyOptions to get it to post. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645047 Share Posted February 8, 2013 They can definitely improve security of browsing as well as speed, particularly if you use the HostsServer component (which is now a separate install).Actually the use a large etc/hosts file can degrade speed as it takes an inordinate amount of time, as a function of its size, to load the table and find an entry for every name resolution the browser (or other TCP/IP compliant application) has to perform. Browsers suffer more because many web pages load numerous URLs requiring many lookups to complete the page loading.Resolution negation was never the intent of the etc/hosts file as it was designed in NFS and the TCP/IP stack for resolution in situations where there was a lack of Domain Name services. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile360 Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645086 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Thanks again. Do you use the MVPS hosts or do you recommend another. In terms of procedure, would I install the MVPS Hosts first (do I just click on the file and it installs. Then the HostMan and Hosts Server component.I am a novice.I use several. I'm running HostsMan which uses MVPS, Chameleon Ads, HPHosts, Malware Domain List and more. Just install HostsMan, it installs the HOSTS files (including MVPS) for you . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile360 Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645087 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Actually the use a large etc/hosts file can degrade speed as it takes an inordinate amount of time, as a function of its size, to load the table and find an entry for every name resolution the browser (or other TCP/IP compliant application) has to perform. Browsers suffer more because many web pages load numerous URLs requiring many lookups to complete the page loading.Resolution negation was never the intent of the etc/hosts file as it was designed in NFS and the TCP/IP stack for resolution in situations where there was a lack of Domain Name services.You may be right about that, however when using HostsServer, I have noticed that it aids in mitigating any lost performance from using a large HOSTS file. Without HostsServer, it's definitely much slower. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted February 8, 2013 ID:645091 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I can't state anything about HostsServer as I have no knowledge of it.I am making a general statement about a large etc/hosts file such as Steve's HpHosts and Mike's MVP Hosts File. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyowl Posted February 9, 2013 Author ID:645151 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Very interesting issues and discussion. Since I have an older computer and dialup internet, it might just over load the system. I sure don't want to compromise performance as I have little margin here. I don't suppose there is anyone around that still uses dialup that could advise me.I may just try it. Is it relatively easy to setup and disable if it doesn't work well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alhazred Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645152 Share Posted February 9, 2013 I was wondering whether disabling the DNS Client Service is safe from a security point of view? Can it open my PC to exploits? I have it disabled as I use MVPS and HPHosts via Hostsman and cannot access the internet at all if DNS CLient Service is enabled. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645156 Share Posted February 9, 2013 alhazredNo. Don't do that or you will effectively cut-off your Internet activity as no DNS means no name to IP resolution. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT500 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645157 Share Posted February 9, 2013 ...it takes an inordinate amount of time, as a function of its size, to load the table and find an entry for every name resolution the browser (or other TCP/IP compliant application) has to perform. Browsers suffer more because many web pages load numerous URLs requiring many lookups to complete the page loading....This is true about blocking ads in your web browser as well, regardless of whether you use a third party extension such as Adblock Plus, or a browser's built-in system such as Opera's Content Blocker. The more entries in the list, the longer it takes to check each URL content is loaded from against that list. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT500 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645158 Share Posted February 9, 2013 No. Don't do that or you will effectively cut-off your Internet activity as no DNS means no name to IP resolution.David, have you ever tried disabling the DNS Client service? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyowl Posted February 9, 2013 Author ID:645160 Share Posted February 9, 2013 I thought Exile 360 said that you have to disable DNS in order for the host file to work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT500 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645161 Share Posted February 9, 2013 (edited) I thought Exile 360 said that you have to disable DNS in order for the host file to work.No, Samuel was hinting at the fact that you don't want the DNS Client service running when using a large HOSTS file. The reason being that each time the HOSTS file is updated, your computer will be unusable for about 20-30 seconds if the DNS Client service is running. Edited February 9, 2013 by GT500 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645162 Share Posted February 9, 2013 David, have you ever tried disabling the DNS Client service?Yeah, it screws up DNS Caching.EDIT:The DNS Client service (dnscache) caches Domain Name System (DNS) names and registers the full computer name for this computer. If the service is stopped, DNS names will continue to be resolved. However, the results of DNS name queries will not be cached and the computer's name will not be registered. If the service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyowl Posted February 9, 2013 Author ID:645166 Share Posted February 9, 2013 This is great information. Now, I am wondering if AdvertBan is slowing down my browsing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT500 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645170 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Yeah, it screws up DNS Caching.I'm glad you added that edit. Now, I am wondering if AdvertBan is slowing down my browsing.It most likely is. Normally I recommend only blocking ads via a single source. Since HOSTS files cannot block all ads, an in-browser solution is usually the best. Obviously Adblock Plus is great for Firefox, and for Opera I like Fanboy's Opera Adblock list which I use with Opera's built-in Content Blocker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyowl Posted February 9, 2013 Author ID:645176 Share Posted February 9, 2013 GT500,I use Firefox with the extension AdBan 2.3.1 because it claims to be the fastest adblocker. Have you ever tried it? Do you think that AdblockPlus is better and faster? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile360 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645192 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Regarding DNS Client, I found the following quoted info here:NOTE: It is important to note that there have been complaints of system slowdowns when using a large hosts file. This is usually fixed by turning off and disabling the DNS Client in your Services control panel under Administrative Tools. The DNS client caches previous DNS requests in memory to supposedly speed this process up, but it also reads the entire HOSTS file into that cache as well which can cause a slowdown. This service is unnecessary and can be disabled.I also found this on the abelhadigital forums (they guys behind HostsMan) regarding how to use a large HOSTS file with the DNS client service enabled. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645319 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Interesting information on mitigating the problems induced by a large etc/hosts file. Of course in an AD you couldn't disable the DNS Client but within a non-AD SOHO environment I see it "could" have a benefit.Thanx Samuel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Admin AdvancedSetup Posted February 9, 2013 Root Admin ID:645492 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Any use of large hosts files in LAN/WAN network cause all sorts of delays and timing issues where some applications don't do well. Even setting up preference of which DNS lookup to use can heavily impact response times. Granted most of this is for home use and the average home user should have no real issues with it but in a large scale business it can certainly potentially cause issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT500 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645527 Share Posted February 9, 2013 I use Firefox with the extension AdBan 2.3.1 because it claims to be the fastest adblocker. Have you ever tried it? Do you think that AdblockPlus is better and faster?I don't use Firefox, so I can't tell you which is better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile360 Posted February 9, 2013 ID:645529 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Interesting information on mitigating the problems induced by a large etc/hosts file. Of course in an AD you couldn't disable the DNS Client but within a non-AD SOHO environment I see it "could" have a benefit.Thanx Samuel.Yep, using a large HOSTS file to block ads and malware (or anything for that matter) is definitely a home user only type thing. Such filtering/blocking should be handled by network hardware for any business environment or by something that works quite differently from a HOSTS file (like a firewall maybe). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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