Re: disappearing hosts file




"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
news:2MqdnXUiz4KWmLXZ4p2dnA@xxxxxxxxxx
Does anyone know what causes a hosts file (which I have been keeping
updated for the last 5 years to prevent ads appearing) to disappear? An
almost completely empty hosts.sam file has replaced it in my /etc
directory where it used to be.

At the same time, one of the same size has mysteriously appeared in my
spybot directory and I cant open it without merely invoking the program. I
am of course trying to open it in notepad to see what is in it.

Does spybot change the location of the hosts file or is this some malware
which has figured out how to access it and empty it?


Well there is malware that will target the host file if it makes it to the
machine and is executed.

If you have been running Sbybot all this time and it has never done
something like this before, then I would question what is going on as it
just doesn't happen by itself out of nowhere.

Duane :)



Duane :)


.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: disappearing hosts file
    ... almost completely empty hosts.sam file has replaced it in my /etc ... Does spybot change the location of the hosts file or is this some malware ... I have a batch file that updates the HOSTS file, and one command is to ...
    (alt.comp.anti-virus)
  • Re: disappearing hosts file
    ... almost completely empty hosts.sam file has replaced it in my /etc ... spybot directory and I cant open it without merely invoking the program. ... Does spybot change the location of the hosts file or is this some malware ... It is the design of some anti-spyware applications to rename/delete the ...
    (alt.comp.anti-virus)
  • Re: disappearing hosts file
    ... An almost completely empty hosts.sam file has replaced it in my /etc directory where it used to be. ... one of the same size has mysteriously appeared in my spybot directory and I cant open it without merely invoking the program. ... I have a batch file that updates the HOSTS file, and one command is to make it read-only, hidden, and system using this command: ...
    (alt.comp.anti-virus)
  • Null Webserver
    ... To reduce ads that I see, I have downloaded a 1/2 mb hosts file which routes ... most DNS to localhost 127.0.0.1 ... I plan on running a real webserver and grabbing actual empty ...
    (comp.lang.java.programmer)
  • Windows Task Manager is empty
    ... Manager there are no more tabs and ... everything is empty! ... It's got to be some malware. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)