How many owners of a computer just like that, for no particular reason, begin to understand the principles of operation of applications and the operating system? Is it really necessary to know where the hosts are, and what is it all about? Configuring services, choosing the size of the paging file, optimizing the download by making changes to the configuration file ... enthusiasts find a huge number of hidden parameters, setting which can significantly speed up the system. On the other hand, most users do not want to understand what host Windows XP is, but just use the computer for its intended purpose. Yes, and why interfere in the operation of a system that successfully performs its functions? Let's try to understand this issue and find out along the way, is it really necessary to know what is hidden behind the words "hosts Windows".
Have you ever wondered why there are so many stories on the global network about the deceived users of the social networks VKontakte, Odnoklassniki? The deception is as follows: when you open your favorite resource, a message appears on the screen requiring you to send a paid SMS message to the specified number or, in the second case, bulk mailing of messages (spam) starts from the user’s account. In fact, the administration of social networks is not involved in this.
The true reason for what is happening is the infection of the computer with a virus program that not only knows where the hosts are, but also successfully modifies it for its own purposes. Surely among your friends there are those who sent SMS, "sponsoring" the virus writer. You can solve this problem if you figure out where the hosts are, and be able to work with it.
Finding the specified file is not at all difficult. To do this, follow the path "Windows \ System32 \ Drivers \ etc \". By the way, it is equally effective to use the search function in the Windows folder. Please note that the file has no extension. The second feature - its placement can be redefined through the registry. By its structure, hosts is an ordinary text file, so if necessary, you can make the necessary changes using any text editor, even the built-in WordPad or the file commander editor (Total Commander, Far) will do.
Now a little theory. Any resource (site) in the global Internet network has its own number - IP-address. And the name that we all type in the address bar of the browser is its domain name. Still, it’s much more convenient to type “fb.ru” rather than a meaningless, at first glance, combination of numbers “194.58.79.36”. A special software translating unit (DNS) translates addresses into domain names and vice versa, and for users this operation is completely transparent. When the browser receives the command to open the site, it first checks the hosts file, in which strings can be written that directly redefine the correspondence of addresses and names, so DNS is not accessed.
So, if there is a line “194.00.77.31 fb.ru” in the hosts (we entered the “left” IP address), then when you type in the browser “fb.ru” a site with the address 194.00.77.31 will open. The possibility of hard pointing allows you to speed up the loading of sites, since the need to use the DNS mechanism (search by the correspondence service on the chain of Internet servers) disappears. In addition, you can block access to unwanted resources by specifying the address of your computer 127.0.0.1. For example, if a child visits the adult site “xx.yyy”, then entering the string “127.0.0.1 xx.yyy” in the hosts, you can block access to the site.
However, since viruses know where hosts are located, they can add their own corrective lines, redirecting an unsuspecting user to a phishing phishing site. A person, having typed the address of a favorite resource (for example, Odnoklassniki), gets to the site of the virus writer, which is apparently a copy of the original. Then everything is simple: a window appears asking you to send SMS. Another option: the user, having entered his login information here, thereby informs the creator of the fake site.