HOSTS again

[tarsins]

After having evaluated and bought OA, I've decided that I'm not gojng to use the HOSTS blocking trick any more. I've restored my HOSTS file to the default (just 127.0.0.1 localhost) but the HOSTS page on OA still brings up quite a list. Do I need to do anything else?

[MikeNash]

After having evaluated and bought OA, I've decided that I'm not gojng to use the HOSTS blocking trick any more. I've restored my HOSTS file to the default (just 127.0.0.1 localhost) but the HOSTS page on OA still brings up quite a list. Do I need to do anything else?

Hi, and welcome to the Online Armor forums.

The short answer - no - if you have deleted the entries from your hosts file, no further action is needed.

The HOSTS page in OA basically a list of rules - literally "Is this entry allowed to exist, or not?"

If the rule is set to allow, then each time a program tries to write that exact host entry - it will be allowed. If a program removes it - also allowed.

If the rule is set to block, the reverse happens - the entry is not allowed to be written.

It's up to you if you want to clear out the hosts list inside the OA window. Personally, I would - just to make it easier to see what rules you have created.

Related to hosts - the list of sites at MVPS HOSTS file will be included in an upcoming version of Online Armor as blacklisted sites. Once we get the GUI sorted so you can opt-in/out, we will release it.

We have had permission to include this in OA for a while, but now we're going to do something about it :)


Mike

[tarsins]

Thanks for the reply, Mike. So, what you are saying is that the entries I see in OA's hosts page are rules which were created when I did use the HOSTS blocking thing. Is there a quick way to delete all the rules?

Good news about the MVPS hosts file. OA goes from strength to strength and pretty soon will be challenging my other favourite Australian software for my top spot (Directory Opus).

Oh, a mild annoyance: when I click on history it often brings up a blank list with "loading data..". I have to click refresh, and even then it brings up a "squashed" list. Clicking Refresh about another 8765 times (OK, 2 or 3) eventually sorts it out.

Didn't the blank space below the "About" button display a mini-help at some point?

Enogh questions. I'll let you get back to your Sunday relaxation!