Thursday, September 16, 2010

Reset the Windows Hosts File

Windows is the most widely used Operating System available today. New versions of Windows come out regularly, and many users prefer it them over other operating systems because of their usability, high performance and attractive layout. In the words of Microsoft itself, using Windows is 'an Experience'. Windows is a complex operating system which contains a large number of different features and utilities. It also contains a certain amount of security loopholes that malware developers use to enter the system and steal information, damage files and folders and cause other forms of havoc.
The Windows Hosts File is one such Windows utility which hackers and malware use to enter the system of a user and cause damage. This file contains the details of the hosts, or servers, that the user has visited when browsing the internet. In effect, it is a mapping of IP addresses of the hosts to their web addresses. The Windows Hosts file may contain a large number of such mappings. When a malware application corrupts this file, it will affect the user's internet experience. This may cause the user's web browser to be redirected to unwanted websites whenever the user attempts to browse the internet. As this is an unwanted and dangerous occurrence, we will discuss how to reset the Windows Hosts file and prevent the browser from being redirected.
To reset the hosts file manually, open the Run Program dialog box by holding R along with the Windows Key. Here, type %system root% \system32\drivers\etc and click on OK. This will give you a folder listing of the Windows folder. Here you will find a file named hosts, rename it to hosts.bak. Now you must create a new hosts file. Create a new Text Document with the name of 'hosts' (NOT hosts.txt, just hosts) in the folder. Open the file using Notepad, and copy the following text into it:
# 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 you must save and close the file. This is how to reset the Windows Hosts file manually. If you want to do it automatically, you can download and use the Microsoft hosts reset tool which is a safe and reliable solution. Now that you have full knowledge on how to reset the Windows Hosts file, you can protect yourself from annoying browser redirects.
Its very easy to reset

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