Program : hpHosts Version : 05-01-2009 Released : Monday 5th January 2009 Licence : Freeware Author : Steven Burn Company : Ur I.T. Mate Group Website : http://hosts-file.net Download : http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download Support : http://mysteryfcm.co.uk/?mode=Contact *********************************************************************** In this document *********************************************************************** 1. Overview 2. System Requirements 3. Known Issues 4. Updates 5. Updates Planned 6. Release Notes - Update notes - General Information - DNS Client 7. Installation 8. Installation Notes 9. Uninstallation 10. Automated Installation 11. Automated Uninstallation 12. Alternative hosts file providers 13. Conditions of use *********************************************************************** 1. Overview: hpHOSTS is a community managed hosts file. What that means to you is that you have a key role to play in improving hpHOSTS by submitting undesirable sites you think should be listed or by requesting removal of sites you think may have been added in error. This process is performed in our public forums and all decisions to add or remove sites are subject to public criticism and ongoing re-evaluation. If you would like to get involved, please register* at the hpHosts File Support Forum (see the Support URL above) 2. System Requirements: NOTE: These are MINIMUM recommendations and should be taken as a guide ONLY*. - Microsoft Windows 95 or above - MAC - Linux 3. Known Issues: None 4. Updates: Modified: General HOSTS updates 5. Updates planned: Suggestions/contributions welcome 6. Release Notes: ************************************************************** Update Notes ************************************************************** None ************************************************************** General Information ************************************************************** To allow for easier access for those using hpHosts that still require Yahoo access, the Yahoo hosts is available as a seperate download for those that still wish to block them. PGP Signature The HOSTS.TXT.sig file is a cryptographic signature and not a part of the hosts file. If you are not running some 32bit version of PGP then you don't need it and may discard it. The purpose of the PGP sig is to allow PGP users who have added my public key block to their keyrings to verify the HOSTS.TXT came from me and has not been tampered with or altered by a third party. If you download a hosts file purported to be from me which fails a signature check, don't use it!! Report the incident to me at hphosts@it-mate.co.uk My public key block may be downloaded from the hpHosts homepage. ************************************************************** DNS Client ************************************************************** Users of Microsoft Windows 2000 and above, may want to disable the Windows built in DNS service if experiencing a slowdown as a result of using the HOSTS file for advert and malicious site blocks. To do this; I . Click Start > Run II . Type CMD and press enter III. Type each of the lines, EXACTLY as they appear below. net stop dnscache sc config dnscache start= disabled IV . Type EXIT to close the CMD window Alternatively, you can download a batch file that will disable and enable this for you, from the hpHosts download page. You can read more detailed information about the DNS Client Service at; http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/Services/DNS_Client.htm http://www.blackviper.com/WIN2K/win2kservice411.htm#DNS_Client http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/Services/DNS_Client.htm 7. Installation: No-install (manual installation): Extract HOSTS.TXT to the correct folder for your operating system. - Windows XP/2003/Vista %systemroot%\system32\Drivers\Etc - Windows NT/2000 %systemroot%\system32\Drivers\Etc - Windows 95/98/Me %windir% - Linux ./etc/ - Macintosh /private/etc/ Notes: %systemroot% is a system variable and will usually be C:\Windows or C:\WinNT %windir% is a system variable and will usually be C:\Windows Full Install: 1. Double click hpHosts-Setup-Win32.exe 2. Run through the steps to install the program 3. Run the program 8. Installation Notes: See System Requirements 9. Uninstallation: No-install: 1. Delete HOSTS file (if ONLY hpHosts installed) 2. Rename "hosts_Win_Original" to "HOSTS" Full Install: 1. Go to the Add/Remove Programs applet - Start > Run, enter: appwiz.cpl 2. Scroll down the list of items until you come to hpHosts 3. Highlight hpHosts and click Remove 10. Automated Installation: The Setup program accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the Setup program. /SP Disables the This will install... Do you wish to continue? prompt at the beginning of Setup. /SILENT /VERYSILENT Instructs Setup to be silent or very silent. When Setup is silent the wizard and the background window are not displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is very silent this installation progress window is not displayed. Everything else is normal so for example error messages during installation are displayed and the startup prompt is (if you haven't disabled it with DisableStartupPrompt or the '/SP-' command line option explained above) If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used (see below) and Setup is silent, it will display a Reboot now? message box. If it's very silent it will reboot without asking. /LOG Causes Setup to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory detailing file installation actions taken during the installation process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. For example, if you suspect a file isn't being replaced when you believe it should be (or vice versa), the log file will tell you if the file was really skipped, and why. The log file is created with a unique name based on the current date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.) Currently, it is not possible to customize the filename. The information contained in the log file is technical in nature and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users. Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the file is subject to change without notice. /NOCANCEL Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation process, by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the close button. Useful along with /SILENT. /NORESTART Instructs Setup not to reboot even if it's necessary. /LOADINF="filename" Instructs Setup to load the settings from the specified file after having checked the command line. This file can be prepared using the '/SAVEINF=' command as explained below. Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces. /SAVEINF="filename" Instructs Setup to save installation settings to the specified file. Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces. /DIR="x:\dirname" Overrides the default directory name displayed on the Select Destination Location wizard page. A fully qualified pathname must be specified. /GROUP="folder name" Overrides the default folder name displayed on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. If the [Setup] section directive DisableProgramGroupPage was set to yes, this command line parameter is ignored. /NOICONS Instructs Setup to initially check the Don't create any icons check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. /COMPONENTS="comma separated list of component names" Overrides the default components settings. Using this command line parameter causes Setup to automatically select a custom type. * The automated installation notes were taken from the Inno Setup help file 11. Automated Uninstallation The uninstaller program (unins???.exe) accepts optional command line parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs calling the uninstaller program. /SILENT When specified, the uninstaller will not ask the user any questions or display a message stating that uninstall is complete. Shared files that are no longer in use are deleted automatically without prompting. Any critical error messages will still be shown on the screen. /NORESTART Instructs the uninstaller not to reboot even if it's necessary. * The automated uninstallation notes were taken from the Inno Setup help file 12. Alternative hosts file providers MVPS - http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm McRae - http://pgl.yoyo.org/as/ Mike Skallas - http://everythingisnt.com/hosts.html 13. Conditions of Use See enclosed EULA.txt