Number 247 - December 2003

SpyBot S&D Blocks MSNBC
by Carl Tenning, Tacoma Open Group for Micromputers
After installing SpyBot S&D I found that I cannot access MSNBC. Here is what I found out.    The HOSTS file in the c:\windows folder can be used to block certain pop-up windows and spy web sites. This is done by entering the URL of the offending site in the HOSTS file with a destination of 127.0.0.1, this being your own computer. So instead of fetching the URL from the web, it looks for it on your own computer. Of course it does not find it, so it simply skips showing it in the browser.    SpyBot S&D has the option to add offending sites to the HOSTS file. After using SpyBot S&D to modify the HOSTS file, I could no longer access the MSNBC web page. However, nowhere in the HOSTS file	could I find any reference to MSNBC. In order to access MSNBC, I had to rename the HOSTS file. By trial and error, I found that modifying the following line in the HOSTS file, restored my access to MSNBC.    Change from:    127.0.0.1       10.6.87.194.dynamic.dol.ru    To    # 127.0.0.1      10.6.87.194.dynamic.dol.ru    Changing the HOSTS file has no effect on SpyBot. HOSTS could even be a null file and SpyBot could care less. Placing the "#" sign at the beginning of a line in the HOSTS file treats that line as a comment only.
Number 247 - December 2003