Hosts file and USER.dat

Can you explain in plain speak, what these 2 files do?

Explaining them individually, for clarity, can you advise

(1) What is their purpose?
(2) Can they be deleted like index.dat and do they recreate each time you boot up?
(3) If, as I suspect they can't be deleted, can they be edited/reduced in size.
(4) Can they be used by others to track what sites you have been on, like INDEX.dat can.
(5) Are we stuck with them as they are and at the size they are?
(6) Are they on all versions of Windows? I am using W98SE.
(7) Any programs that may carry out step (3) above.

This query follows on from post
http://www.majorgeeks.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30659 which I have downloaded (for HOSTS)

Thanks MG 'ers. Baz

 

Here is a good write-up on the hosts file, explained in plain english better than I can:
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html
Depending on your networking setup, it may not be absolutely necessary, but it can be very useful. It can be deleted, or edited and left empty, you'll have to check yours to see what's in there - it's a text file that can be viewed/edited with notepad. Network setup routines and programs such as AVs and anti-adware/spyware can create/add entries to your hosts file, and malware proggies can mess with it too (not good). If yours is very large you should investigate why.

USER.DAT is one of the files that comprise the registry in Win9x/ME, it can't be deleted (don't even try). A good cleaner such as RegSupreme can be used to trim it as much as possible.

Neither file can be used to track your surfing history.

 

alanc, thanks for the info and links. I am on a standalone laptop, not a network. What do you consider a "very large" HOSTS file and what is the problem if it is "large"? baz

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