How to clean hosts file

[AmdUser]

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Hi,

I cannot access techarena from my destop. However I can access it from my friends laptop. I have tried 2-3 different browsers. My antivirus is up to date and did not find any virus, malware or spyware. How can I find the entry in the Hosts file which causes the problem and what problems might arise from after removing removed the Hosts file? I have windows xp running on my computer.

[Steve123]

The host file is used to block known malicious or criminal domains and servers which may contain spyware, adware, and other malware. The free utility Spybot - Search & Destroy, for example, includes a feature called "Immunize" that populates the hosts file with thousands of URLs of such websites redirected to 127.0.0.1 to block them.

The default hosts file contents typically includes a line for the localhost definition.

127.0.0.1       localhost

[Shen]

If you are having issues with accessing internet and unable to do windows update or can't open some sites. try the following step to eradicate your problem.

1. First, make a back up of the files of which you are going to do changes.
2. Just for safety create a copy of the file before making changes.
3. Go to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\
4. Then open the host with notepad.
5. And remove all entries given
6. 127.0.0.1 localhost
7. then save it and close.

[Big Fish]

You can use CCleaner to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... also comes with a comprehensive backup feature. It als removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Microsoft Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more...