Xp Sp3?

[blues]

After reading the first link, I might actually agree to what bitman said about entries in the HOSTS file being a "ancient" way to prevent Spyware...

you can say what you want but others may have another opinion than you. i dont listen to such sites like that one in the link and i dont agree with bitman. i use hostsfiles because i hate ads and also for other reasons. i also like the hostsfiles because we can submit malicious sites and ad/tracking servers to some of them and help protect other people and not only ourself. but i will avoid hostsfiles that is rarely updated. i have not seen so many ads the last three years because i have been using this hostsfiles. some people also get seizures when seeing some flashing ads, belive it or not.

but what is better than using hostsfiles if you want protection from malware is to turn off javascript, activex and java or maybe use noscript in firefox and set the "internet explorer" internet security zone to high. then you can forget about using spywareblaster when activex is turned off because then you dont need spywareblaster anymore. and if someone is sick of tracking cookies then they can also turn off cookies. some sites may not work anymore when doing all this but you can just place sites you trust in the trusted zone in "internet explorer" i dont know about all the ways noscript works but i now it gives good protection against exploits and malware. spywareblaster is just as ancient as hostsfiles when it comes to the "restricted sites" protection. the activex protection in spywareblaster blocks malicious activex controls even on unknown sites so that is usefull.

i also use registry cleaners sometimes

[blues]

i forgot to say that this that the site says is false:

Disable Certain Services

Myth - "Disabling these Services improves performance."

Reality - "Disabling these Services actually reduces performance

this is false, my computer uses much less memory and is faster after disabling some services.

[drragostea]

i also use registry cleaners sometimes

Well, doesn't that sound ironic.
-
Disabling services on your machine is not of my concern. Thing/question is, have you actually used a "benchmark" or accurately measured the statistics?

Cookies are nothing to me, since it is cleared every 2-3 days or so.

I feel NoScript is too much for me to handle. Too much prompts.

HostsMan and all those HOSTS protection are a joke. Might as well cause problems for some computers. Think it was the DNS cache?

[blues]

Disabling services on your machine is not of my concern. Thing/question is, have you actually used a "benchmark" or accurately measured the statistics?

i am seeing my computer is faster myself, so that is enough. there is no harm disabling some of them. i would never listen to such experts that claims that it can not be proven with benchmarks that the computers is faster after disabling some services. should we listen to experts or other such people all the time? no.

HostsMan and all those HOSTS protection are a joke. Might as well cause problems for some computers. Think it was the DNS cache?

i get tired in the eyes because of all this ads and that is reason enough to block them. hostsman and the hostsfiles are a joke just because you say that they are? then you say that the spybot hostsfile is a joke too. i just disable the dns client to avoid slowdown when using the hostsfiles. however it wasnt so very much slowdown when i used only the spybot hostsfile.

[drragostea]

should we listen to experts or other such people all the time? no.

hostsman and the hostsfiles are a joke just because you say that they are?

I never mentioned that you had to listen to experts.

Just my opinion.

[honda12]

Hey hey, chill people

I personally believe that host files did help in the past but in todays internet with malicous sites popping up out of nowhere all the time - It would be imposible to block them all quickly and effectively. Although I do still support host files, I believe they are quickly becoming obsolete. As they get bigger and bigger, it creates more problems for people's computers.

No Script is a more active approach - It assumes every site is bad which great. For any site that does need extra privleges, you can add it to a whitelist - People are however, put off by numerous prompts popping up

To be quite honest, my best advice is to use your common sense!
- Don't do anything you know you shouldn't
- Ask about links in emails (try to avoid tinyurls)
- Think!
ect.

[drragostea]

Yep. Chill.

I'll stick with my own opinion. I could care less about other HOSTS program (Spybot's Immunize is an exception, because I just need one).

[tashi]

Hello,

Patience is wearing thin with the constant bickering and jabs between certain parties.

Please let it rest, Tavern or not.

Thank you.