#Angry Hosts File - blocking unwanted hosts

This tool can produce a hosts file or a dnsmasq configuration, which will block many of "unwanted" hosts: trackers, ads, etc.

The philosophy is to block everything, even when suspicions are little. It is a paranoia tool. It is very angry in this sense.

Use whitelist to make it less angry :)

A tool to configure dnsmasq or hosts file using a merge from a number of different sources.

This is a modified version of the original Steven Black's work. The differences are:

• Hosts Tool is just a tool, we do not provide a hosts file, but the tool builds it
• This tool configures dnsmasq in addition to hosts file, it provides stronger blocking
• It contains more hosts sources, blocking more than 430K hosts
• It works with unicode domain names
• We give you the option to block or not to block subdomains of the whitelisted domains
• You have to put the whitelisted domains in the whitelist file

Currently this hosts file contains 615,582 unique entries.

Source of host data amalgamated here

Currently the hosts files from the following locations are amalgamated:

• The Adaway hosts file, updated regularly.
• MVPs.org Hosts file at http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm, updated monthly, or thereabouts.
• Dan Pollock at http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ updated regularly.
• Malware Domain List at http://www.malwaredomainlist.com/, updated regularly.
• Peter Lowe at http://pgl.yoyo.org/adservers/, updated regularly.
• Small list of Steven Black in raw form here.
• Qutorial's list here.
• And some more:
  • adzhosts
  • hosts-file.net
  • adzhosts2
  • adzhosts3
  • disonnect.me ads
  • disconnect.me tracking
  • sa-blacklist
  • zeustracker.abuse.ch
  • malwaredomains.lehigh.edu
  • securemecca.com
  • adblockplus malware

You can add additional sources by placing them in the data/ directory. Provide a copy of that new hosts file, and place its update url in update.info. The updateHostsFile.py routine will automatically refresh the hosts file from source each time a new amalgamated file is generated.

How do I incorporate my own hosts?

If you have custom host records, place them in file myhosts. The contents of this file are prepended to the amalgamated hosts file during the update process.

Once used with dnsmasq, just keep your hosts file untouched by Hosts Tool.

Using updateHostsFile.py

This Python script will generate a unique hosts file (and dnsmasq configuration) based on the sources in the data/ folder.

You can either have the script go out and fetch an updated version over the web (defined by the update.info text file in the source's directory), or it will use the hosts files which are already there.

Usage ./updateHostsFile.py

What is dnsmasq and why configuring it?

It is a lightweight DNS server with which you could block malware hostnames from resolving. It is a stronger blocking method compared to hosts file, as it blocks subdomains also. Read more here.

What is the hosts file?

A hosts file, named hosts (with no file extension), is a plain-text file used by all operating systems to map hostnames to IP addresses.

In most operating systems, the hosts file is preferential to DNS. Therefore if a host name is resolved by the hosts file, the request never leaves your computer.

Having a smart hosts file goes a long way towards blocking malware, adware, and other irritants.

For example, to nullify requests to some doubleclick.net servers, adding these lines to your hosts file will do it:

# block doubleClick's servers
127.0.0.1 ad.ae.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ar.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.at.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.au.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.be.doubleclick.net
# etc...

Location of your hosts file

To modify your current hosts file, look for it in the following places and modify it with a text editor.

Mac OS X, iOS, Android, Linux: /etc/hosts folder.

Windows: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts folder.

Reloading hosts file

Your operating system will cache DNS lookups. You can either reboot or run the following commands to manually flush your DNS cache once the new hosts file is in place.

Mac OS X

Open a Terminal and run:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache;sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Windows

Open a Command Prompt:

Windows XP: Start -> Run -> cmd

Windows Vista, 7: Start Button -> type cmd -> right-click Command Prompt -> "Run as Administrator"

Windows 8: Start -> Swipe Up -> All Apps -> Windows System -> right-click Command Prompt -> "Run as Administrator"

and run:

ipconfig /flushdns

Linux

Ubuntu Linux, some other Debians: DNS reloads hosts file automatically once you update it.

Open a Terminal and run:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/nscd restart

Linux with systemd: systemctl restart network.service

Fedora Linux: systemctl restart NetworkManager.service