The location of the hosts file , depending on the operating system that you are using, is:. In this case, you would need to open up the hosts file with a text editor and append the following line:. More detailed instructions on how to locate and edit the hosts file on different operating systems are available below:.
How to use the hosts file? And hackers have definitely taken advantage of this in the past. What they would do is point a common website like google.
This IP address could serve a site that looks just like Google's, but is actually trying to steal your sensitive information. While this was a problem in the past, most security software like the Windows Security Suite can recognize and fix problems with the hosts file automatically. That said, if you open up your hosts file and see a lot of strange entries, then you may want to revert to the default Windows hosts file. Just copy and paste the default hosts file from earlier in the article into your hosts file and save.
Note that some third-party security software uses the hosts file to block dangerous websites. If that's the case, no worries — your security software should add all those entries back to your hosts file. We'll go over how this works in the next section. Don't want friends or family to visit certain websites on your computer? Or are you like me and get distracted by all the cat photos on the internet?
Also, close the browser windows that are open and reopen them. The one downside is that this only works on one device — you could just reach for your phone and browse Reddit on that instead.
Still, it's a neat way to create some friction on your work computer. This leads nicely into the last trick, which is to use the hosts file to make your life a little bit easier. If you spend a lot of time adjusting your router's settings, or you have a cool project running on a Raspberry Pi , you'll know that typing in a long IP address is a drag.
Instead, you can use the hosts file to make connecting to other devices on your local network much faster. For example, if your router is at Otherwise your browser might not recognize. Fortunately there are a whole lot of valid TLDs nowadays. Again, the one downside to this method is that it only works on once device. You'd have to update the hosts files on your other devices to enable the same shortcuts.
And that should be just about everything you need to know about the hosts file on Windows And a lot of this knowledge should carry over to Linux and macOS.
Did you find this helpful? Are there any other hosts file tricks you know? Let me know over on Twitter. If you read this far, tweet to the author to show them you care.
Tweet a thanks. Learn to code for free. Microsoft has done it again If you upgraded recently to Windows 10 version , most likely you will be unable to make any changes to the DNS Client, as it is grayed out. Then to make things even worse To check your Windows version If you decide that you want the DNS Client service running You can make a little batch file that will flush the DNS whenever you desire.
Open Notepad and enter the following:. These instructions are intended for a single home-user PC. If your machine is part of a "Domain", check with your IT Dept.
This especially applies to Laptop users who travel or bring their work machines home. Make sure to reset the Service if needed prior to connecting reboot required to your work Domain Hostsman includes an option to turn off the DNS Service [ screenshot ].
When set to Manual you can see that the above "Service" is not needed after a little browsing - when set to Manual by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was needed it would show "Started" in that column.
Related Utilities. Once installed locate the Hostsman location, right-click on "hm. PowerShell script to automatically download, unzip and update the local host file.
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