Restoring Hosts file?

[franki]

I know this isn't related to malwarebytes but I thought I'd give it a shot. I attempted to install and use Hostsman and it worked great up until I updated the software by checking all the boxes to update it.

Now I can't access the internet at all. I am trying to restore my hosts file to the original windows settings and then remove the hostsman program.

How do I restore my computer to the original hostsfile settings? I have tried all my system restore points and it doesn't work.

Windows XP 32 bit

[franki]

Now the only way I can get on the internet from my computer is to try to update the hostsman files and then it says it fails but then I can access the internet. Something is terribly wrong here.

[gtyhfy]

Hello franki,

Maybe you may read this microsoft article and have a try to reset the hosts file...

How do I reset the Hosts file back to the default?

Please post back if you have further problems.

Thank You

PS Please use the "ADDREPLY" button instead of other ones when you start replying.

[ShyWriter]

That's good info Tony. - Thanks; I bookmarked it. (I'm not the user having trouble)

~Shy

[franki]

thanks for the link. i was able to go into my system32 directory and remove the hosts file manually by deleting the entries and saving it with notepad. i then got a "fresh" copy from the Hostsman program and imported it. All appears fine now.

I had it so screwed up that even MSE could not update. I don't know how I narfed the file up that badly but boy I sure did.

Thanks again guys

[mountaintree16]

franki,

I am late to your thread and I am very glad to see that it's been resolved with gtyhfy's excellent help .

As a fellow HostsMan user, I just wanted to ask you, did/do you choose "Merge with current hosts?"

(Picture below)

If you didn't, this could explain your problem (although I am not positive on this, but it makes sense to me).

[franki]

i very well could have not checked the merge with current hosts button. it said it was removing duplicates after it finished processing the files. i just checked the first button (mvps hosts) after i was able to get the hosts file corrected and it has been working fine since then. i think i'll just stick with mvps hosts and not use the other three since i did have a problem with them.

i like the program. next time i won't be so quick to download everything all at once

[franki]

i reread my last thread and i didn't mean to imply that something was wrong with the other three hostsfiles. i just don't know how to use them properly

[YoKenny1]

franki

This is a good read:

Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I only use hpHosts and MVPS HOSTS files.

[mountaintree16]

Franki,

Totally understandable that you would only want to use the MVPS file. However, if that goes well for a while, you might try using the other sources that come with HostsMan as well

I use them all and then a couple others too and I have never had an issue updating or with my Hosts file.

I always choose "Merge with current hosts".

If you don't want to do this its fine, but doing so would offer you more protection with your hosts file

[YoKenny1]

I have not needed any other HOSTS file than provided by hpHosts and MVPS as they are the best maintained and checked for validity the most frequent.

Current HOSTS file size is 4,201 KB

[MysteryFCM]

Just an FYI if using HostsMan, you actually need to be using Overwrite, not Merge, as Overwrite will ensure any removals from lists, are also removed from your "in use" file, merging won't

The issue you encountered could be caused by a number of factors, but the usual cause is the DNS Client not being disabled

[mountaintree16]

MysteryFCM,

If one were to overwrite current hosts, would that remove any/the exclusions that one has made within HostsMan? I have a decent sized list of exclusions in HostsMan and I thought that if I overwrote them (vs merge), that I would lose that list.

Also, what do you mean by this?

as Overwrite will ensure any removals from lists, are also removed from your "in use" file,

I am a bit confused

[MysteryFCM]

You shouldn't lose the exclusions, no.

For the confused part, sites are added and removed from hpHosts/MVPHosts etc, all the time. If "Merge" is used, unless something has changed within HostsMan itself that I'm not aware of, these removals will not be removed from your copy of the HOSTS file.

[mountaintree16]

Ohh, okay, thanks for answering that for me! I just have always been using the merge option for the 6 months or so that I've been using HostsMan, and I haven't had any issues.

If "Merge" is used, unless something has changed within HostsMan itself that I'm not aware of, these removals will not be removed from your copy of the HOSTS file.

Ah, that makes perfect sense now! Thanks for explaining it to me.

I'll do an update soon and choose "overwrite" then & prior to that take a screen shot of my exclusions JUST in case so I have a copy of them (unless you may know of an easier way to do this?) and see what happens.

I didn't realize that database removals would not happen on my machine if I didn't choose overwrite. I thought that merge should be used if you have exclusions and any updates (removals of sites, additions...) would come over no matter what choice was selected (merge/overwrite) .

Thanks again

[MysteryFCM]

I'll do an update soon and choose "overwrite" then & prior to that take a screen shot of my exclusions JUST in case so I have a copy of them (unless you may know of an easier way to do this?) and see what happens.

I can't remember where HM stores the exclusion list, but backing up the HOSTS file + HM profile folder, should ensure a backup is kept

I didn't realize that database removals would not happen on my machine if I didn't choose overwrite. I thought that merge should be used if you have exclusions and any updates (removals of sites, additions...) would come over no matter what choice was selected (merge/overwrite) .

Not unless something has changed, that I've missed. I don't have time to do testing at present unfortunately

Thanks again

No problem

[MysteryFCM]

I've asked rloureiro (HM dev) to pop over and clarify the issue for you

[mountaintree16]

I can't remember where HM stores the exclusion list, but backing up the HOSTS file + HM profile folder, should ensure a backup is kept

Thanks!

Not unless something has changed, that I've missed. I don't have time to do testing at present unfortunately

I'll check out their website when I have a chance and see if I notice any changes that have been made (prior to update & overwrite). I wouldn't ask you to do any testing for me on this. I know how busy you are!

If you do do some testing on HostsMan in the future though I would like to know what the test and the results were though, as I am a curious person, hehe.

Thanks again!

Edit: In reply to your last post,

Wow , awesome, thanks

[ShyWriter]

Just an FYI if using HostsMan, you actually need to be using Overwrite, not Merge, as Overwrite will ensure any removals from lists, are also removed from your "in use" file, merging won't

A question: If you use OVERWRITE along with AUTO-UPDATE won't the subsequent "partials-updates" write over the MAIN update... in sequence. I am like the other user; I use MERGE and OPTIMIZE with AUTO-UPDATE... and about once a month I do an manual OVERWRITE with just the new MVPs enabled; then change it to MERGE and AUTO and update with the hpHosts and partials and then OPTIMIZE.

My DNS-whatever service from M$ is stopped; I use the HostsServer instead.

Confused, as usual..

~Shy

[MysteryFCM]

Not quite, no. When an update is found, HostsMan downloads and stores it for future comparison, so it'll always merge previous updates (where no new update is found), with new updates.

For example, if MVPHosts is updated on 21st, hpHosts (main) on the 21st, but hpHosts partial on the 22nd, then HM will still merge the updates downloaded on the 21st from the 2 sources not yet updated, with those sources that are updated.

Hope that makes sense.

[ShyWriter]

Not quite, no. When an update is found, HostsMan downloads and stores it for future comparison, so it'll always merge previous updates (where no new update is found), with new updates.

For example, if MVPHosts is updated on 21st, hpHosts (main) on the 21st, but hpHosts partial on the 22nd, then HM will still merge the updates downloaded on the 21st from the 2 sources not yet updated, with those sources that are updated.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks Steven; so the correct mode no matter how many update sources is to just leave it in the OVERWRITE mode? (That sure will make it a lot easier for all of us.)

Thank you again for taking the time to 'splaine. (Off to change my settings)

~Shy

[MysteryFCM]

That's correct, yes. And my pleasure

[franki]

Just an FYI if using HostsMan, you actually need to be using Overwrite, not Merge, as Overwrite will ensure any removals from lists, are also removed from your "in use" file, merging won't

The issue you encountered could be caused by a number of factors, but the usual cause is the DNS Client not being disabled

Forgive my noobishness when it comes to this but how would i go about disabling a dns client?

[MysteryFCM]

You can disable it using;

1. Click Start

2. Type: services.msc and press return

3. Right click DNS Client

4. Click Stop

5. Change the Startup Type to Disabled

6. Restart your computer

[franki]

will stopping it cause me to lose connection to the internet? i guess i need to look up what a dns client is