HostsXpert disables HOSTS files - Go figure

Growing tired of editing my HOSTS file by hand I started using HostsXpert.

http://majorgeeks.com/HostsXpert_d4626.html

This program is bad, and taken me a long time to pin point the problem;
It will replace all spaces with tabs.

To see what HostsXpert will do:

Download a HOSTS file if you don't have one
My seed HOSTS file was from http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

Open it with Notepad ++ or your text editor of choice
Notepad ++ go to: view > Show Symbols > show white space and Tabs;
your editor, set it to view tabs. - notice the HOSTS file is good.

Place the HOSTS file in it's proper location (X:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc).

Open HostXpert 4.4 go to any entry, right click and "toggle comment".

Open the HOSTS file with Notepad++ notice it's no longer any good
as all of the spaces have changed to tabs. Tabs have no place in a HOSTS file.

Doesn't have to be "toggle comment" but that edit works 100% of the time. I've tested this
with XP and Win7, on two different computers. Ticks me off a HOSTS file program actually disables it.

I use UltraEdit as my text editor and made a macro that replaces tabs with spaces; when I found
the HOSTS file full of tabs I'd run the macro. HostsXpert was the last thing I expected to be the problem
finding it by accident after many days of searching for an answer, and a lot of time without
the protection of the HOSTS file.

BTW
If you don't use a HOSTS file you really should start, but steer clear of HostXpert.

 

Welcome to the forum BadActor.

I don't know how large your hosts file is but if you have noticed a pause in your browsing, disable the Windows DNS Client service. It will speed things up.

I also use a hosts file but I have not observed that tabs are not allowed. I always tab right after the 127.0.0.1 to put the domains in a straight column and tab again to include # plus any comments.

Could you give an example line from your hosts file that does not work?

 

Size doesn't matter, I keep telling her the same thing...

MY HOSTS file is a few lines shy of 20500 (huge). I don't have
problems, pauses yes. I expect them as I'm blocking trackers
which come into play well before a page loads. Sometimes those
need to time out; I use TCPview to view this.

The DNS Client service is disabled, as well as other needless services.

----

I started over, downloaded HostsXpert from the link given (authors address)
unzipped it to D:\MISGPRGS\HostsXpert_Win7_C_Drive.

If you start HostsXpert and don't have a HOSTS file it will create one for you
this is the last 6 lines of a 19 line file it creates:

# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
#
127.0.0.1 localhost

That's created and HostsXpert closed.

----

This is the same thing created but "toggle comment" used on the localHost

# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
#
# 127.0.0.1 localhost

Preview doesn't show the tabs, in fact it replaces the tabs with 9 spaces then removes excessive spaces.

I noticed also that if I were to add to that created file:
127.0.0.1 facebook.com, both space and tab it will block facebook.com

But if my hosts file is tabbed out, it will not work.

Anytime I started accessing blocked sites or the first hit on google
I know my HOSTS file is tabbed, and run my UltraEdit macro on it.
But not anymore as I've quit using HostsXpert.

She maybe right, but I'll stick to what I've got.

 

I guess I don't know what you mean by "tabbed out". Try using [ ]with the word "code" between them to put your exact example in an then close it with [/] with the word "code" after the /.

Code:

# For example:
#
#102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com        # source server
#38.25.63.10      x.acme.com              # x client host
#
127.0.0.1      localhost
127.0.0.1      facebook.com            #Block all of Facebook

 

I keep what I post, here's the keeper using the code tag.

Code:

Size doesn't matter, I keep telling her the same thing...

MY HOSTS file is a few lines shy of 20500 (huge). I don't have
problems, pauses yes. I expect them as I'm blocking trackers
which come into play well before a page loads. Sometimes those
need to time out I use TCPview to view this. I collect new
HOSTS file entries from my cookies before deleteing them.

The DNS Client service is disabled, as well as other needless services.

----

I started over, downloaded HostsXpert from the link given (authors address)
unzipped it to D:\MISGPRGS\HostsXpert_Win7_C_Drive.

If you start HostsXpert and don't have a HOSTS file it will create one for you
this is the last 6 lines of a 19 line file it creates:

# For example:
#  
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost

That's created and HostsXpert closed.

----

This is the same thing created but "toggle comment" used on the localHost

#	For example:
#	
#	102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
#	38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
#	
#127.0.0.1	localhost

That worked, used to the Newsgroups and text only.