ADWARE/SPYWARE are consistently one of the biggest problems with todays PC's. I get more phone calls from friends and family about this than anything else. I have scanned the web looking for answers to the latest adware infecting my friends computers, fixing it, then getting a call later on that month saying "I have it again". I've used numerous programs to try and get rid of spyware like AD-aware and spybot Search and Destroy to name a couple. I've gotten so familiar with registry hacking it's ridiculous. Adware removal programs are only as good as how often they're updated and with the influx of new ones coming out all the time it's hard to keep up. This particular Idea had come to my attention by a co-worker. He redirected me to the site he found and I have since used it on EVERY pc i work on and have had GREAT success. The idea here is to use the HOSTS file on the pc. The HOSTS file is a way to make webbrowsing more efficient by telling your PC the EXACT IP address to go to when going to a particular web site. For instance if you go to www.GIDforums.com you would put an entry in like 10.10.10.1 or whatever the IP address is for the site your using and it would know exactly where to go rather than "searching" for it. The site I'm going to be linking you too does nothing more than take all of those Adware/Spyware websites and links them to the LOOPBACK address of 127.0.0.1
Whata GREAT idea!!!! Something I hadn't thought of before and I know very few people that have. Check this out!! Tell me what you think
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Interesting concept, but if people can't do the basics to keep their computer clean, I don't see how we can expect people to use/understand it. I've been using computers for over a decade and have never had a virus. Naturally I have gotten spyware (cleaned out weekly) but no adware; I usually use Linux or Mac and only use Windows when I have to.

I too have never had a virus or adware and have been using PC's for over a decade. It's great that you found what works for you but I have to say MOST people don't use linux or Mac which is the exact reason why most viruses and the like are written for the windows platform. Not everyone is adept at figuring out how to cure these kinds of pc ailments. This fix is intended to help those people out. The instructions on the link are very good and gives a great understanding of how it works. Even if people don't "Understand it" I think they could still get the job done and put them one step closer to less problems and that's what this is all about.

Wow great site thanks for that!
these spywares/adwares are a hell and this is a better solution to that problem.

This is my HOSTS file when I am online.


I have a batch file to switch this file for when I am developing a site of mine locally... then everything simply points to 127.0.0.1.

I rarely have problems with adware/spyware/virii since moving my:

Browser to FireFox.
Email Client to Thunderbird.
Firewall to Zone Alarm.
AntiVirus to AVG.

Oh, I don't the IRC thingy since 2000 and I don't install anything on my PC unless I search Google about it first -- I think that helped a lot!

Hmmm thats a great Idea to search google before installing any thing!!!