Backup Hosts Files

[JorgeA]

Hello,

The C:\Windows directory in my Windows 98 PC contains quite a number of what appear to be backups of the hosts files. There is one for each time that I go into the Safer Networking server to update the Spybot definitions.

The filenames are formatted as follows:

"hosts.2010mmdd-xxxxxx.backup"

where mmdd is the date in 2010, and xxxxxx is a unique number for the file.

These files range in size from 218 to 410 KB; the more recent the file, the bigger it tends to be.

It looks to me like these are former (no longer current) versions of the Hosts file. Is that correct -- and, more importantly, can I delete them without affecting Spybot's functioning and effectiveness?

Thanks very much.

--JorgeA

[Zenobia]

Yes,they are backups of the hosts file,placed there so you can restore a backup Hosts file if need be within Spybot.
You can delete them if you like,it will not affect the functioning or effectiveness of Spybot.
You could leave the newest backup of the hosts file there,though, if you wanted to,in case you ever needed to restore a backup hosts file.

[JorgeA]

Thank you, Zenobia, this is the information I was hoping for!

--JorgeA

[Zenobia]

You're welcome.