Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000/XP/Vista. Windows 98 and ME are not affected.
To resolve this issue (manually) open the
"Services Editor"
Start | Run (type)
"services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to
"DNS Client", Right-click and select:
Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for
"Startup type"
Select:
Manual, or
Disabled (recommended) click Apply/Ok and restart. [
more info]
When set to Manual you can see that the above "Service" is
not needed (after a little browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was needed it would show "Started" in that column. There are several Utilities that can reset the DNS Client for you ... [
more info]