#Original windows host file download windows#

You can just leave it as is and add your own entries at the bottom of the file. Don’t worry about any of the text already in the document.Open the Start Menu and type “Notepad”.

#Original windows host file download windows#

To modify your hosts file in Windows 10, follow these steps: Before you make any changes to your hosts file, we strongly recommend you copy and paste it’s original contents into another text file just in case something goes wrong! You’ll need administrator privileges on your computer in order to make changes. Since the hosts file leaves some room for mischief, you can’t just open it and edit away. Which means you either need to verify each IP address by hand or make sure that you trust the source of the list. The main problem with this is that there could be malicious reroutes hidden in these lists. If it sounds pretty tedious to add dozens or even hundreds of sites to your hosts file, then you aren’t alone! The good news is that there are plenty of places on the web where you can find pre-made lists that you can simply copy and paste into your own hosts file. If you have local devices such as routers, IP cameras, network-attached storage and so on, you can use your hosts file to give their IP addresses an easy to remember name. Check out our YouTube video for more details on that. Common redirections include 0.0.0.0 and 127.0.0.1, This is the so-called “loopback” address. All you have to do is put an IP address into the hosts file for that site which either doesn’t go anywhere or points to a benign IP address.

You can also use the hosts file to block sites that you never want that computer to access.