4 ms·
Microsoft has started resetting hosts files which is really annoying with Defender, can't seem to disable it either. Annoying when deving on a local server!
by TomGullen 7y ago
Microsoft has started resetting hosts files which is really annoying with Defender, can't seem to disable it either. Annoying when deving on a local server!
- mike_d 7y agoOperator of lots of DNS stuff here. Hosts files are literally the devil. They break so much shit. Hostnames sometimes change behavior (like an ad server that starts hosting a redirect script for legitimate clicks), kids who are "good with computers" set them up on relatives computers over the holidays unmaintained, malware that uses them to block antivirus updates, etc. If you want to block ads, fine. Use a content aware proxy or browser extension.
- d2p 7y ago> browser extension Using browser extensions to block ads is much higher risk than doing DNS blocking. Most ad blockers have full access to all web pages, which essentially means they could trivially scrape your usernames/passwords for your email/banks/etc or perform actions on your behalf. There's room for this to go bad (AdBlocker dev turns bad, or sells extension to a bad guy for a wad of cash, or extension has security vulnerabilities, or keys for publishing extension are not propery secured) so while DNS-level blocking might not work as well, it's definitely not an obviously-worse solution. (though FIWI PiHole in the past had some really agressive default lists which stopped my from using it - though I set it up again recently and it's been much better - I haven't had any broken websites besides Amazon's own sponsored product links at the top of their own search results pages).