The host file is a small but extremely important document that takes up only 1 KB of disk space by default. Its appearance was the result of the desire of wrapper developers to improve PC performance. Considering this file and its principle of operation, we can draw an analogy with using a notebook for a better understanding.
So, what is a host file? Every computer connected to the Internet makes a connection using a simple algorithm. The user's access to any of the sites is checked by the browser to find the ip-address of this resource in the host file. There are two possible scenarios for the development of the event.
1. If such an address is not found, then the computer makes an appropriate request from the provider and only after receiving it opens the selected Internet resource. This takes time.
2. If the host file contains the specified ip-address, then the browser immediately opens the desired site, which significantly speeds up the work, since the above procedure is skipped.
Obviously, keeping records of the most visited IP addressessites - this is very useful, but there is one "but" here. Quite often, the host file stores information about advertising and just random unnecessary sites. In addition, it is a potential victim for the actions of some viruses, which usually redirect the user from social networking sites to special phishing resources in order to extort money from the user.
Thus, it is very important to periodically check and clean up the contents of this file. But how to find a host? It should be noted right away that the mode of displaying hidden files is not useful, but you can find it at: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc. To access its contents, you need to right-click on the file icon and apply "open with", where you should select one of the standard Windows programs - Notepad.
After having access to the file, you should know how to clean up the host to prevent unnecessary traffic consumption or protect your computer from malicious programs. Having opened it, you should pay special attention to the entries that are contained after "127.0.0.1 localhost". If this entry is not visible, you need to move down using the slider located on the right. All ip-addresses below the specified one should be carefully analyzed. It should be immediately noted that in the original host file there is nothing below the entry "127.0.0.1 localhost".
Sometimes there are some difficulties when opening or editing. The most common when the file cannot be opened or savedchanges. There are two ways to solve this situation.
1. Open using administrator rights.
2. Download or copy the original file and replace it with the one located on the user's computer.
The described solutions may not help if a virus program remains in the system, as it will periodically check and change the content of the host itself. Therefore, it must first be identified and neutralized, and then the contents of the file must be checked and corrected again.
By applying this knowledge, surfing the web will become faster and safer.
