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macmee

macmee

Active Member
thanks to jnjroach for pointing me onto this one.


http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download

then just download the hpHosts-optimized-Setup-Win32.exe (2.14MB) and you're away. Might take a minute or two following a reboot to get back online. Edge is much snappier and responsive having installed this on my S3

I just installed this. Now my CPU is at 100% because of "Network Service something something" and it wont let me restore the original file because this one is in use. I also can't access any websites anymore as it's stuck on "resolving host"

I don't think modifying the hosts file should do that, but in any event, I'm going to suggest that people AVOID using this automatic solution. Now my surface is essentially a lemon and I'll have to waste the next few hours figuring out how to undo whatever mess that installer caused.

edit: extremely p**** off now actually, there's absolutely no way Windows is letting me modify my HOSTS file and I have no internet. You should really remove the link to this installer from your post, it's a very bad idea to run it.

Edit 2: can 100% confirm that running that executable and letting it muck with my hosts file was the problem. Restored my original hosts file in safe mode and CPU usage went back down to normal, and I could connect to the Internet again. I've edited my hosts file manually a billion times in the past so I have no idea what went wrong here, but I'll say it again: AVOID RUNNING THE INSTALLER TO EDIT YOUR HOST FILE. I have no idea why it got so angry at me for doing so but I guess it's flash ads and popup for me until edge gets extensions, because there's no way I'm trying that again, nope!
 
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hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'm sorry that happened, but it has worked just fine for me and other users. The installer does nothing but automatically add some text into you hosts file, which you can also chose to do manually from the same site. It isn't some kind of hooky voodoo. I clearly stated that I experienced the same kind of thing following installing it, and had to leave it be for 10 minutes or so to work itself out, and at that point it was then perfect :)

You do know that to edit hosts files all you have to do is open notepad as an administrator right? Takes 60 seconds. (I mean in that you say you've edited them a million times in the past yet claim it'#ll take you a couple of hours to fix, you just open the file and delete the content..)
 

Rich OReilly

New Member
I ran this exe. My wifi indicator says I'm connected but I can't get online. I did a uninstall of that file and I got " not all files can be deleted". How do I totally delete this so that I can get back online?
How do you install original host file?
Thanks.
 

hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
I ran this exe. My wifi indicator says I'm connected but I can't get online. I did a uninstall of that file and I got " not all files can be deleted". How do I totally delete this so that I can get back online?
How do you install original host file?
Thanks.

as I have stated numerous times now, this is what happened on mine as well. I simply restarted a couple of times (as I was also unsure what was going on) and left it for a little bit and then voila, everything working perfectly :) Just give it a restart and a little time and see if it sorts out like mine did (it took me significantly longer to get back online on my S3 than my SP3, in that SP3 was almost instant, S3 was anything but instant). there are a lot of exclusions in the hosts file that it has to load.

If you do wish to remove the stuff though, simply open notepad as an administrator and then click open and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and open hosts. Then just delete everything from "# This MVPS HOSTS file is a free download from: #" and down. Save and you're done.

Did you disable the Windows DNS client by the way?
 

Rich OReilly

New Member
Thanks hughlle I am going to reinstall the exe and try again. Am I supposed to disable Windows DNS client? Thanks for the help....BTW I am using SP3.
 

hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Thanks hughlle I am going to reinstall the exe and try again. Am I supposed to disable Windows DNS client? Thanks for the help....BTW I am using SP3.

I personally didn't disable it (not for any reason, I just did so (didn't know if i'd need it when on the university network next month). Did you make sure to download the optimised version further down the download list?

This is just one hosts file of many. I also downloaded one from a site on a google search which involved manually copying and pasting, and that worked just fine as well.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have found the MVPS hosts file works better than the other ones perhaps because they use 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1. when I used the one from hphosts the Surface 3 does hang for a while immediately after installing it where it doesn't with the MVPS hosts file. At least that was my experience.

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

I just unzip the file,
rename the file in c:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc to hosts.save
and paste in the unzipped hosts file.
Nothing else.
 

leeshor

Well-Known Member
I used to use a program that kept the host files up-to-date as long ago as Windows 95 and I always thought pointint to localhost 127.0.0.1 was the only way to go. Back then there were several ad blocking specif programs out there. That was before plugins. It surprises me that it doesn't choke on 0.0.0.0.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I used to use a program that kept the host files up-to-date as long ago as Windows 95 and I always thought pointint to localhost 127.0.0.1 was the only way to go. Back then there were several ad blocking specif programs out there. That was before plugins. It surprises me that it doesn't choke on 0.0.0.0.
Been using this for a year on my SP3 without so much as a hiccup.
 

leeshor

Well-Known Member
I'm not saying it doesn't work, it just seems logical to point to an IP that does exist rather than one that doesn't. It seems it would adversely affect the performance if you pointed to what is essentially an invalid IP.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'm not saying it doesn't work, it just seems logical to point to an IP that does exist rather than one that doesn't. It seems it would adversely affect the performance if you pointed to what is essentially an invalid IP.
It seems from what I can tell to be just the opposite. it's slower pointing to the valid IP 127.0.0.1 and the invalid IP 0.0.0.0 apparently is dropped like a hot rock. :)
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
To remove the Host file you need to turn off all the Services that are using it, Cryptography Service, DNS Client (you'll need to disable this until you remove the file, Bluetooth Service and the Foundation Services. After restoring the Host file to default re-enable the DNS Client and reboot...

The people who are having issues with the S3 and the Host file are seeing the problem due to the fact the file needs to be loaded into RAM and the eMMC is slower than the SSD on the SP3 so it takes awhile for it to load the file. It because the rest of the system is faster you may see limited connectivity with WiFi until it is loaded.
 
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