You don't have to delete the line, just put a "#" at the start of the line to comment it out. This is handy for testing or temporarily enabling access to that site. When done, remove the "#".
That's good, some malware changes the HOSTS file to redirect you to other sites or block certain sites. You want it to notify you of changes to the hosts file. If you made the changes, just add the folder that the hosts file is stored in to "exclusions" in Defender.
I prefer to use Pi Hole which covers my whole network from one centrally administered location. Once set up, you have a nice web interface to monitor and manage it.
@@user.A9 Import the list through the Pi Hole web interface. Select Adlists from the menu on the side and you're there. The default blocklist is very good though and I've not needed another.
@@Ahmed-Hussain The Pi-hole is internal to your home network so doesn't need an IP provided by your ISP. I just set up an IP reservation in my router so that whenever the PI-hole fires up it is allocated the same local IP address in the 192.168.x.x range, Then you just tell your router to give out that IP address to DHCP clients as the DNS resolver. I don't have a static IP address from my ISP, in fact it changes every day, but my Pi-hole works fine.
I was never much on linux. Dabbling with it from time to time. Now, I am learning as much as I can so I can confidently switch away from windows and not have to worry about being spied on. One day at a time. So thank you Britec for all your hard work.
Some adresses are hardcoded and skip hosts so it's waste of time. Better make a video about simplewall which is able to block windows components to access internet
Simple wall is very useful...you will see that recent updates for windows unleash an unknown unnamed file that bypasses simple wall configuration by itself... and one can not do anything about it
Look britech in any other PC tech involving youtuber, I respect what you try to do and this includes Chris Titus Tech also, but in the end there's no way you can stop Microsoft from disrespecting your Fourth Amendment rights including privacy if you boot any computer into windows and it is connected online the internet for any reasonable amount of time even if it's one day a year let alone every day You can do all the registry edits you want you can throw all the third-party software tools you want at it but in the end and inevitable Windows update will undo any good you do at some point in time be it next week or next month or even later that year. Why? That is simple. It is because no one but Microsoft operating system software development employees has access to editing the windows core AKA kernel in which where the Windows update and Telemetry engines live There's only one guaranteed way that I can think of offhand to stop Microsoft from spying on you and that involves a two-part deal. One don't use any of their software. Two switch to Linux. Facts don't care about anyone's feelings on this
I won't trust MS to ship a TCP/IP stack that honors even the MS equivalent of /etc/hosts anymore. (They took BSD's TCP/IP stack and ported to Windows in the WFW days; this is why they have a "hosts" file to begin with) Since it's in "as good as it gets" territory, I make sure all my internal hosts use the DNS I hand out to them (enforced by firewall rules at the border), and my DNS goes through NextDNS, which has its own block list. Doesn't catch very much of the telemetry by default, alas, but it works well enough. I really need to weigh the benefits and the costs of using my time to play a cat-and-mouse game, which is unfortunate.
But sometimes those domains will simply bypass the host file. It is better to block this via 3rd party Firewall or on a hardware level(rutar, or your own DNS).
I think it's legacy and causes more issues than actually fix. I added rules as firewall and few months later i couldn't connect to download updated Software files using batch scripts from MDL. What i will suggest is to make use of next dns which updates its filters and block telemetry from Apple, Samsung, Android phone vendors, Microsoft etc
This is one of the most useful videos you have produced recently. I was going to ask whether this applied to windows 10 as well as 11, but this was answered towards the end of the video. I had no idea just how intrusive Microsoft is until now.
that's certainly a good way that works, but this and even more can be done with a help of a good firewall having a filter. Just put a check box and a community-driven list will be auto updated
Sir, FYI, thank you for this info video. I modified the hosts file on a windows 10 pc using your instructions, after a reboot I find that Bitdefender Internet security has "cleaned"the hosts file. This problem did not happend on a windows 11 pc. A setting in bitdefender solved this issue.
Microsoft would be better if Bill Gates was in charge again. It was never perfect, but Microsoft has gotten so much worse since Bill Gates has no longer been the CEO, whatever you think of him
I never liked the idea of using a quad zero address to 'blackhole route' a packet as a quad zero address (0.0.0.0) is the gateway of last resort in the networking world... typing route print in windows will give you the idea.. am old and stubborn in my habits, even though 0.0.0.0 is also used as a meta address like a wildcard such as an invalid target, blackhole routing this way makes it easy for them to change something in the future to push all those addresses out through your default gateway.
If you paste the whole file that contains to IP list you can document what revision the list used was. Header section is commented out so not a problem to hosts
This method to stop micros spying is useless. Especially if it's the only thing you do. Moreover, microsoft address and domains are constantly changing.
@@Britec09 If they want to just' try and block access' this way, it means that they dont have an good understanding of the nature of the issue and what an effective solution looks like.
@@cplcabs It's not _my_ perfect solution. It's solutions that others have already established and described in detail. Nothign new. You just didnt look properly.
@@Corteum I don't think you understand what this video is about. It is not suggesting this is the be all and end all solution, it is one of many solutions out there. If you wish to make videos about how to do such things, then you are more than free to do so. I don't really need to look properly as I already know how to do such things. I just don't go around and critisize other people whilst offering no alternative solution such as you have done.
@Britec is this extra step still necessary to prevent Microsoft from collecting your data even if you did not check those check box when initially setting up Windows?
Why doesn't someone make an executable that automatically updates the host file on a regular basis, rather than needing to manually update the file? Seems simple enough and a trivial programming exercise.
After implementing it, I noticed a few MS app icons/ tiles are not showing up in Windows app store's installed app list. Please check at your end and confirm.
Prodigy, what do you mean by "a lot"? comparing to what? my opinion Safing PM doesn't take a lot of your attention. Easy configuration, on-demand response, convenient silent mode, pretty lightweight, has a lot of additional utilities. I use it both on my Windows and Linux platforms, both work great
Don't agree with the description used here 'blocked'. hosts files just take precedence over a dns lookup - not the same as ''blocking' - but a sort of similar end result - just a minor point for accuracy.
cant be arsed to keep trying to dodge ms spyware it will be a never ending circle,Update it will all be back again .So i went for the 10 minute solution and installed Linux
Thank you for your willingness to provide a compilation of information and how to use, as walking, we are a step forward, hard work, thank you! Thanks be to God! ( DeepL translation ) 謝謝您願意提供彙整資訊及使用方法，如同走路，我們又向前進一步，辛苦了，感恩！感謝上帝！( DeepL翻譯 )
After I did this... I pressed Ctrl/Alt/Delete... In the Menu... "Do dishes" was added... I so love Windows 11 Enterprise 23H2... I am sure that 24H2 will add laundry, also... 25H2 will add utilities... 26H2 will add rent... 27H2 will remove nosey little sister... 28H2 Makes life perfect forever... Bedside alarm goes off.
my w10 did not like this. win defender blocked my network connection until I quarantined or cleaned two items in the area we modified, so i got cold feet and undid the entire operation
I had to disable Webroot service because it was using the host file. Then I could edit the host file and then turn on webroot service (WRSVC) again. When Webroot starts up it take a long time (about 8 Minutes) to start. Computer is slow booting up because of webroot loading. After that computer runs fine. Annoying. Any thoughts.
How to block all truckers and data harvesters ? SIMPLE : Use other operation sistems : Linux , Ubuntu , etc and web browsers like Brave and Tor , add blockers , and dont allow updates just do it manual from safe official sources .
If you listen closely Brian sounds almost like a younger version of the Oscar winning actor Michael Caine. If you don't know who he is check out the movie "Secondhand Lions".
Has this been checked? nothing to keep MS from hardcoding ip4/ip6 addresses as fallbacks and even to ignore host file entries that reference their special domains. It's fairly obvious on both fronts IMHO. So and external, non ms, monitoring of outgoing traffic is needed to verify those special domains are not being accessed. Using windows own tools to check is just begging to be fooled. Using ping within the command prompt is likely a waste of time.
Can’t these be blocked at the firewall. Is it not possible just to block everything unless it is approved by default? . The default position seems to be its leaky unless you block it and you can’t keep updating based on someone’s best guess on what’s on a list.
You can just install an AI locally and use it to monitor the Microsoft telemetry, and block it. Much the way an anti virus program works. Your local AI should easily be able to keep your system clean, and you have regained control of your computer. There are plenty of videos describing the process of getting an AI up and running locally, and it will be your AI, not Microsoft´s AI
It’s kind of hilarious that simple home users really seem to thinking there is a Microsoft employee dedicated to them, watching every key click they make. Don’t worry, nobody cares about what you do.
This is not the way to "Stop Microsoft Windows Spying" unfortunately. The only way to stop them from spying You is to stop using MS Windows altogether! Or live with the thought that they know everything about You. Another thing about privacy: Whatever online services are used by somebody (email, "Cloud" FTP etc) Companies like Google, MS etc. know about it and store all this data and if You suddenly become a POI (person of interest), governments and unfortunately some other powerful organizations too have access to all this stored data about a POI.
Messing with the host file does not prevent Windows from spying ... it simply stops it from contacting Microsoft. The CPU time and energy is the same. All you're dong is blocking the transmissions. There are half a dozen Services that, if shut down, will totally silence the system and free up a lot of resources inside the computer. Just set their status to "Disabled"...
Nice one Brian but a tad compicated for this old bloke and frankly knowing what Microsoft is like thye will soon slipm in more to et what they want so sorry I am not going to bother.
