On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:51:41 -0400, RobertVA wrote:

> Am I misunderstanding the use of the Hosts file to block web sites?
>
> I thought adding "127.0.0.1 acme.com" was supposed to override the
> Domain Name Server's data for the IP address when ANY browsers requested
> a page from acme.com (made up domain name), directing the browser to the
> local hard drive. Since the requested page probably isn't on my hard
> drive this should permit me to block things like advertising pop-ups
> from that site.
>
> So many sites won't function without JavaScript. I'm not enthusiastic
> about turning it off.
>
> However, I continue to find cookies from these domains when I scan for
> tracking cookies. Third party cookies are turned off in my browser
> security settings too. Today I was even subject to a pop-up window with
> one of the supposedly blocked domains displaying in the browser address bar!
>
> IF the sites opening these ads are using the site's actual IP address to
> bypass the Hosts file, should the address bar be displaying the IP
> address or the URL?
>
HOSTS files are IMO overated. If you're on IE7 use IEPro.