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can't edit hosts file?



 
 
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  #16  
Old April 6th 18, 02:04 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default can't edit hosts file?

Mayayana wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| Thanks, you and Ed. Excellent idea. Then I found my Process Explorer
| won't work! I've extracted it again from the .zip file I downloaded (and
| yes, it _did_ work then!); I run it, I get the UAC popup, I click Run in
| that, and - nothing happens. And there's nothing beginning with P in
| Task Manager other than Panorama.

Sounds fishy to me. Your software generally
works but editing HOSTS and running ProcExp
are blocked? I'd suspect some kind of sneaky
thing had got onto the system.

If it were me I'd first shut off UAC and if that
didn't clear things up I'd try downloading some
malware/AV products. (Many of them can be
downloaded as free packages for emergency use.)

The only other thing I can think of would be if you
had somehow screwed up file restrictions.... maybe
logging on as Guest or some such? But you have a
lot of experience. I can't think of anything you
might have done accidentally.
It's an interesting mystery.


I think Kaspersky blocks about half of the
Sysinternals programs. As an example.

And even without an AV, you can use SRP in the
OS, to block particular things. SRP was used to
block the first round of Ransomware (before the
Ransomware became more sophisticated and borrowed
techniques from existing malware).

Paul
Ads
  #17  
Old April 6th 18, 02:18 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
slate_leeper
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 245
Default can't edit hosts file?

On Thu, 5 Apr 2018 22:22:59 +0100, Good Guy
wrote:

On 05/04/2018 20:04, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:


could be a user rather than a process.


Yes it's a user who has very serious demented brain.

To edit a host file you need to drag it to your desktop (i.e. move it)
and then edit it. after editing it, drag it back to its original location.

Voila it works. It wasn't difficult was it, old man?



I have always edited it directly in the original location, but since I
change it fairly often, I now have a link to it on the desktop, and
open it with right-click "Open with notepad."



--
Someone who thinks logically provides
a nice contrast to the real world.
(Anonymous)
  #18  
Old April 6th 18, 03:02 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Ed Cryer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,621
Default can't edit hosts file?

Ed Cryer wrote:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message 23,
Auric__ writes:
Char Jackson wrote:

On Thu, 5 Apr 2018 20:04:01 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

I'm sure I have edited it since moving to W7! But now when I try, I am
told it is in use: "The process cannot access the file because it is
being used by another process." (The process being plain original
NotePad.) If I try to delete it (having made a copy of course!), I get
"The action can't be completed because the file is open in System".

I've just done a restart, and tried again before opening anything I'd
have thought would be using it - no change. Though as I said, I'm sure
I've edited it before, and that _wouldn't_ have been under those
circumstances.

What's using it? "System" isn't very informative - could be a user
rather than a process.

Some AV programs will lock the hosts file to prevent malicious editing.
Also, I believe you have to run your editor, Notepad in this case, as
Administrator. If you're already aware of those restrictions, then I'm
not sure what the deal is.

If you have Sysinternals Process Explorer, search for "hosts"
(Ctrl+F) and
it'll show you what has it open. You can close the handle from the
lower main
pane (Ctrl+L). (You may need to "Show Details for All Processes".)

(Any program with similar capabilities should be able to do this.)

Otherwise, try rebooting to safe mode and editing there.

Thanks, you and Ed. Excellent idea. Then I found my Process Explorer
won't work! I've extracted it again from the .zip file I downloaded
(and yes, it _did_ work then!); I run it, I get the UAC popup, I click
Run in that, and - nothing happens. And there's nothing beginning with
P in Task Manager other than Panorama.


Try running it as Administrator.
If that doesn't work, look here;
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...does-not-start


If it's still unfixed after that, then do a comprehensive check of what
else is shut out; and then let us know.

Ed


A useful help in cases like this is to find what file permissions are
available.
Proxexp.exe Properties, Security tag.
Mine has full for System and Administrators; all but that for
Authenticated Users.

Ed


  #19  
Old April 6th 18, 03:03 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Char Jackson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,449
Default can't edit hosts file?

On Fri, 6 Apr 2018 05:00:06 -0000 (UTC), "Auric__"
wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:

On Fri, 6 Apr 2018 03:25:29 -0000 (UTC), "Auric__"
wrote:

Bob_S wrote:

Are you sure you have enabled hidden files and that you have the
correct HOSTS file (uppercase and no extension).

As a general rule, Windows isn't case-sensitive. It shouldn't matter if
it's "hosts" or "HOSTS" or even something silly like "HoStS".


Agreed, and for the record, the default is lower case for this file.


It's lowercase in systems that *are* case-sensitive. Both my Mac and my Linux
server have /etc/hosts.

I'm not sure why Bob mentioned uppercase.


In older systems -- 9x and NT3/4 -- the sample hosts files were uppercase.
(HOSTS.SAM) Shrug.


On my virgin Windows 98SE VM, it's called "Hosts.sam". Only the first
letter is capitalized. ;-)

--

Char Jackson
  #20  
Old April 6th 18, 03:56 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default can't edit hosts file?

In message , Ed Cryer
writes:
[]
Thanks, you and Ed. Excellent idea. Then I found my Process Explorer
won't work! I've extracted it again from the .zip file I downloaded
(and yes, it _did_ work then!); I run it, I get the UAC popup, I
click Run in that, and - nothing happens. And there's nothing
beginning with P in Task Manager other than Panorama.


Try running it as Administrator.


It did, thanks!

I've just modified the properties of the shortcut to run as
administrator, and that works too.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni Vidi Vacuum [I came, I saw, It sucked] - , 1998
  #21  
Old April 6th 18, 04:00 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default can't edit hosts file?

In message , slate_leeper
writes:
On Thu, 5 Apr 2018 22:22:59 +0100, Good Guy
wrote:

On 05/04/2018 20:04, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:


could be a user rather than a process.


Yes it's a user who has very serious demented brain.


(I think bad guy has a mirror.)

To edit a host file you need to drag it to your desktop (i.e. move it)
and then edit it. after editing it, drag it back to its original location.

Voila it works. It wasn't difficult was it, old man?



I have always edited it directly in the original location, but since I
change it fairly often, I now have a link to it on the desktop, and
open it with right-click "Open with notepad."

Me too. Well, I have a shortcut to NotePad+, with hosts as a parameter
(i. e. the shortcut's Target line is
C:\Windows\Notepad+.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. [and its
startup line is %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%, though that's probably not
necessary]). That saves the right-click and open with step.


--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni Vidi Vacuum [I came, I saw, It sucked] - , 1998
  #22  
Old April 6th 18, 04:05 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default can't edit hosts file?

In message , Bob_S writes:
[]
Also just did a quick search and found this:
https://www.devside.net/wamp-server/...ows-hosts-file

That sorted it: it was ZoneAlarm that was the culprit! (I'm only using
the firewall part of it.) Though why that should cause it to appear to
be "System" - PID 4 - that had the hosts file open, I have no idea.

For anyone else: just changing the setting in ZA, or turning off ZA
altogether, didn't let me edit the hosts file; I had to do a reboot (as
the above suggested might be the case). Actually, I changed ZA not to
restart before rebooting; I suppose I should have tried just its hosts
file setting. (That can wait for next reboot.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni Vidi Vacuum [I came, I saw, It sucked] - , 1998
  #23  
Old April 6th 18, 05:22 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Bill Bradshaw
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 282
Default can't edit hosts file?

Copy the hosts file onto a USB stick. Edit it and then copy the edited
version back. I have partitions on my harddrive I can copy the hosts file
to and edit it so that is another way.
--
Bill

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I'm sure I have edited it since moving to W7! But now when I try, I am
told it is in use: "The process cannot access the file because it is
being used by another process." (The process being plain original
NotePad.) If I try to delete it (having made a copy of course!), I get
"The action can't be completed because the file is open in System".

I've just done a restart, and tried again before opening anything I'd
have thought would be using it - no change. Though as I said, I'm sure
I've edited it before, and that _wouldn't_ have been under those
circumstances.

What's using it? "System" isn't very informative - could be a user
rather than a process.



  #24  
Old April 6th 18, 06:42 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default can't edit hosts file?

In message , Bill Bradshaw
writes:
Copy the hosts file onto a USB stick. Edit it and then copy the edited
version back. I have partitions on my harddrive I can copy the hosts file
to and edit it so that is another way.


It wasn't the editing, it was the copying back - either as a save from
NotePad, or a copy from the edited copy somewhere else. The system
wouldn't let me overwrite the existing file while it was "open in
System". ZoneAlarm appears to have been the culprit; rebooting with that
off seems to have made the system happy.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"That was a great speech. Every thinking American will vote for you."
"That's not enough. I need a majority." - Mo Udall
  #25  
Old April 8th 18, 07:56 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
tesla sTinker
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 134
Default can't edit hosts file?

you need to run event viewer, and follow the time stamp and event id
while running resource monitor. That is the only way you can track a
host file to the app that is running it. Without the event viewer id
number, you will never find. Unless your real good with time stamp.
Watch the associated handles and the id numbers in those handles. If you
want to know what it is for certain. Make sure you check host in
processes section or it will not show its face in associated handles.
There is an app you can get that follows svc host files easier, but as
in you already have the stuff in windows, its just learning how to use
it to track the host with. The services are annoying as most of them,
are scams by ms. No such thing as freedom. Not in commy microsoft
****. Which is why we use pc tools firewall. It does not hide
anything important as in the commys firewall of MS.



On 4/6/2018 10:42 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) scribbled:
In message , Bill Bradshaw
writes:
Copy the hosts file onto a USB stick. Edit it and then copy the edited
version back. I have partitions on my harddrive I can copy the hosts file
to and edit it so that is another way.


It wasn't the editing, it was the copying back - either as a save from
NotePad, or a copy from the edited copy somewhere else. The system
wouldn't let me overwrite the existing file while it was "open in
System". ZoneAlarm appears to have been the culprit; rebooting with that
off seems to have made the system happy.

  #26  
Old April 8th 18, 05:53 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Bill Bradshaw
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 282
Default can't edit hosts file?

I seem to remember I have also been able to boot into safe mode and edit it.

Bill

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Bill Bradshaw
writes:
Copy the hosts file onto a USB stick. Edit it and then copy the
edited version back. I have partitions on my harddrive I can copy
the hosts file to and edit it so that is another way.


It wasn't the editing, it was the copying back - either as a save from
NotePad, or a copy from the edited copy somewhere else. The system
wouldn't let me overwrite the existing file while it was "open in
System". ZoneAlarm appears to have been the culprit; rebooting with
that off seems to have made the system happy.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985
MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
"That was a great speech. Every thinking American will vote for you."
"That's not enough. I need a majority." - Mo Udall



  #27  
Old April 8th 18, 07:05 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default can't edit hosts file?

"tesla sTinker" wrote

| Which is why we use pc tools firewall. It does not hide
| anything important as in the commys firewall of MS.
|
|
You use PC Tools firewall on Win7? I have v. 7 of that
but never got around to trying it. I'm curious what you
like about it and how you'd compare it to other options.

I gave up on ZA many years ago, when they started
letting MS call home by default on XP. (Before that I
used AtGuard, which was my all-time favorite, but they
sold it to Symantec, who of course ruined it and doubled
the price. Symantec set over 700 programs to be let
through their firewall by default. The result was a useless
product that got great reviews for its "ease of use".

On XP I use Online Armor, which I find to be about
as good as I can expect, inasmuch as it warns me if
anything tries to go out and it allows me to make rules
fairly easily to block a process, or restrict a process to
specific ports.
But they also sold out. I using v. 4.0.0.15 and I
understand that it was completely changed after that.

So I'm happy with my XP firewall but would be curious
about a better firewall on Win7 than Private Firewall.

In the meantime, I think we'll have to tease John about
not noticing that ZA was blocking him from editing HOSTS.

Though, in his defense, I see that as one of the big
problems with a lot of software these days. AV wants to
be firewall and computer health software. Firewalls want
to be AV and email filters. Both of them want to monitor
downloads and control programs.

It's hard to find software that just does the job well
and gets out of the way. Online Armor actually
has a lot of that crap, but I disable all except the
firewall itself. Many AV/Firewall programs won't allow
normal online operation with default settings, blocking
just about everything except known software.

One of them, Trendmicro, actually tracks people online.
I know that because I see it in my website server logs.
Someone downloads a ZIP from my site and immediately,
in less than a minute, Trendmicro downloads the same
ZIP from their site in Japan. I wonder if people realize
how intrusive all this "safety" is.


  #28  
Old April 8th 18, 08:29 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
tesla sTinker
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 134
Default can't edit hosts file?

version 7 is a clean firewall that permits everything.
And that, is why I use it. However, the whole pc tools
stopped, and their links were taken over by symantec.

has network meter, has options for all ports and channels,
logs everything. Together with wireshark, it is a non folly
machine.

Symantec
Which is a virus company that is not worth a dam.
They have all stopped doing things honestly, and for that reason,
we do not upgrade anything. Unless it does not work right.
Version 7 works.... The others, and we have Private Firewall as well,
are just not up to par.

You may be able to get a copy on oldversion.com, if your lucky.


On 4/8/2018 11:05 AM, Mayayana scribbled:
"tesla wrote

| Which is why we use pc tools firewall. It does not hide
| anything important as in the commys firewall of MS.
|
|
You use PC Tools firewall on Win7? I have v. 7 of that
but never got around to trying it. I'm curious what you
like about it and how you'd compare it to other options.

I gave up on ZA many years ago, when they started
letting MS call home by default on XP. (Before that I
used AtGuard, which was my all-time favorite, but they
sold it to Symantec, who of course ruined it and doubled
the price. Symantec set over 700 programs to be let
through their firewall by default. The result was a useless
product that got great reviews for its "ease of use".

On XP I use Online Armor, which I find to be about
as good as I can expect, inasmuch as it warns me if
anything tries to go out and it allows me to make rules
fairly easily to block a process, or restrict a process to
specific ports.
But they also sold out. I using v. 4.0.0.15 and I
understand that it was completely changed after that.

So I'm happy with my XP firewall but would be curious
about a better firewall on Win7 than Private Firewall.

In the meantime, I think we'll have to tease John about
not noticing that ZA was blocking him from editing HOSTS.

Though, in his defense, I see that as one of the big
problems with a lot of software these days. AV wants to
be firewall and computer health software. Firewalls want
to be AV and email filters. Both of them want to monitor
downloads and control programs.

It's hard to find software that just does the job well
and gets out of the way. Online Armor actually
has a lot of that crap, but I disable all except the
firewall itself. Many AV/Firewall programs won't allow
normal online operation with default settings, blocking
just about everything except known software.

One of them, Trendmicro, actually tracks people online.
I know that because I see it in my website server logs.
Someone downloads a ZIP from my site and immediately,
in less than a minute, Trendmicro downloads the same
ZIP from their site in Japan. I wonder if people realize
how intrusive all this "safety" is.


  #29  
Old April 8th 18, 08:40 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Good Guy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,354
Default can't edit hosts file?

On 08/04/2018 20:29, tesla sTinker wrote:


Symantec
Which is a virus company that is not worth a dam.


You must be brain damaged or that you are too poor to buy a decent
Anti-Virus subscription. symantec is one of the best around but poor
people like you can't afford it. In order to buy it the user must have
some intelligence to earn a better living and so afford to buy a premium
product. For poor people like you, there are free ones like Avast, & AVG.

Why nutters like you are still using a Windows system is beyond my
imagination. Windows is for people with education and riff-raff like
you should be using Linux Junk.


--
With over 600 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

  #30  
Old April 8th 18, 09:46 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default can't edit hosts file?

"tesla sTinker" wrote

| Version 7 works.... The others, and we have Private Firewall as well,
| are just not up to par.
|
| You may be able to get a copy on oldversion.com, if your lucky.

Thanks. I'll try it. As I mentioned, I have v. 7
already. I just never tried installing it. I've seen
enough things disappear from the Internet that
long ago I started storing backups of things I
might want later. That includes a number of
firewalls.


 




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