hosts file

hosts file "missing"
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Subject Author Date
hosts file "missing" Gordon J. Rattray 02-21-2006
Posted by Gordon J. Rattray on February 21, 2006, 3:48 pm
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Hi there,

I've got a machine where I can not see the hosts file. I've selected "show
hidden files and folders" and taken the check mark out of both "hide
extensions for known file types" and "hide protected operating system
files".

Yet, when I go to rename the hosts.msn to just "hosts" it won't let me do it
saying there's a file by that name in there, yet I can't see it.

I can't get to over half the web pages on this machine and I can't get to
any of the online antivirus scanner sites.

So, I need to know how to access the hidden hosts file to be able to access
it to modify it.

Thanks,

Gordon



Posted by David H. Lipman on February 21, 2006, 3:52 pm
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| Hi there,
|
| I've got a machine where I can not see the hosts file. I've selected "show
| hidden files and folders" and taken the check mark out of both "hide
| extensions for known file types" and "hide protected operating system
| files".
|
| Yet, when I go to rename the hosts.msn to just "hosts" it won't let me do it
| saying there's a file by that name in there, yet I can't see it.
|
| I can't get to over half the web pages on this machine and I can't get to
| any of the online antivirus scanner sites.
|
| So, I need to know how to access the hidden hosts file to be able to access
| it to modify it.
|
| Thanks,
|
| Gordon
|


Download MULTI_AV.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/Multi_AV.exe

To use this utility, perform the following...
Execute; Multi_AV.exe { Note: You must use the default folder C:\AV-CLS }
Choose; Unzip
Choose; Close

Execute; C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS }

NOTE: You may have to disable your software FireWall or allow WGET.EXE to go
through your
FireWall to allow it to download the needed AV vendor related files.

C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT -- { or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS}
This will bring up the initial menu of choices and should be executed in Normal
Mode.
This way all the components can be downloaded from each AV vendor's web site.
The choices are; Sophos, Trend, McAfee, Kaspersky, Exit this menu and Reboot the
PC.

You can choose to go to each menu item and just download the needed files or you
can
download the files and perform a scan in Normal Mode. Once you have downloaded
the files
needed for each scanner you want to use, you should reboot the PC into Safe Mode
[F8 key
during boot] and re-run the menu again and choose which scanner you want to run
in Safe
Mode. It is suggested to run the scanners in both Safe Mode and Normal Mode.

When the menu is displayed hitting 'H' or 'h' will bring up a more comprehensive
PDF help
file. http://www.ik-cs.com/multi-av.htm


* * * Please report back your results * * *


--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm



Posted by PA Bear on February 21, 2006, 3:59 pm
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Excessive crossposting eliminated.

The default file named hosts (no extension; not Lmhosts) is located in
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC.

How have you come to decide that a file named hosts.msn is causing your
problems?

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for expert
analysis, not here.**
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Shell/User, Security), Aumha.org VSOP, DTS-L.org


Gordon J. Rattray wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I've got a machine where I can not see the hosts file. I've selected "show
> hidden files and folders" and taken the check mark out of both "hide
> extensions for known file types" and "hide protected operating system
> files".
>
> Yet, when I go to rename the hosts.msn to just "hosts" it won't let me do
> it saying there's a file by that name in there, yet I can't see it.
>
> I can't get to over half the web pages on this machine and I can't get to
> any of the online antivirus scanner sites.
>
> So, I need to know how to access the hidden hosts file to be able to
> access it to modify it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gordon


Posted by Gordon J. Rattray on February 21, 2006, 4:47 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Hi Robert,

In most machines I see a hosts and hosts.bak file... I can't remember seeing
any hosts.msn . Where would that come from?

But the crux of the matter is that I can not see the hosts file. If I create
a file called hosts, it won't let me do it in the
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc folder. So, what's going on with the
supposedly hidden hosts file and how can I be able to see it? And then
modify it to my liking as I can't access many websites.

Gordon

> Excessive crossposting eliminated.
>
> The default file named hosts (no extension; not Lmhosts) is located in
> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC.
>
> How have you come to decide that a file named hosts.msn is causing your
> problems?
>
> Checking for/Help with Hijackware
> http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
> http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
> http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
> http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
> http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
> http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
> http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
> http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
> http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
>
> When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
> (http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
> It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware.
> **Post your log to http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
> http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
> http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
> http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for
> expert analysis, not here.**
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Shell/User, Security), Aumha.org VSOP, DTS-L.org
>
>
> Gordon J. Rattray wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I've got a machine where I can not see the hosts file. I've selected
>> "show
>> hidden files and folders" and taken the check mark out of both "hide
>> extensions for known file types" and "hide protected operating system
>> files".
>>
>> Yet, when I go to rename the hosts.msn to just "hosts" it won't let me do
>> it saying there's a file by that name in there, yet I can't see it.
>>
>> I can't get to over half the web pages on this machine and I can't get to
>> any of the online antivirus scanner sites.
>>
>> So, I need to know how to access the hidden hosts file to be able to
>> access it to modify it.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Gordon
>



Posted by David H. Lipman on February 21, 2006, 4:57 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options

| Hi Robert,
|
| In most machines I see a hosts and hosts.bak file... I can't remember seeing
| any hosts.msn . Where would that come from?
|
| But the crux of the matter is that I can not see the hosts file. If I create
| a file called hosts, it won't let me do it in the
| C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc folder. So, what's going on with the
| supposedly hidden hosts file and how can I be able to see it? And then
| modify it to my liking as I can't access many websites.
|
| Gordon

Gordon:

Please use my utility. You indicated that you can't access AV web sites. This
is often the
case of malware performing self preservation techniques. The Multi AV Scanning
Tool has
scripted capabilities to thwart such activity. It will then allow you to access
the AV
vendors web sites and scan the PC and hopefully remove the malware that you are
most likely
infected with.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm



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