The Mysterious Windows HOSTS File
Cloudeight InfoAve - January 28, 2005

The Sample HOSTS File Looks Like This (this is the default - unedited state)

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# 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

A highjacked Hosts File May Look Like This:

206.29.192.50  msn.com
206.29.192.50  www.msn.com
206.29.192.50  search.msn.com
206.29.192.50  auto.search.msn.com
206.29.192.50  google.com
206.29.192.50  www.google.com
206.29.192.50  yahoo.com
206.29.192.50  www.yahoo.com
206.29.192.50  www.altavista.com
206.29.192.50  altavista.com

A HOSTS file like the example above would redirect any request for these sites to the IP address of the listed IP (which points to www.dogpile.com ). All of the numbers are the same. See? And regardless of the "name" you type in your browser, if your HOSTS file looks like the one above, you're going to end up on Dogpile.com.  Dogpile will never change your HOST file like this. It's just an example!

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