Most public filter lists are volunteer projects, with some exceptions like ones backed by larger companies. Many old hosts file lists have been converted into filter lists, to be used with content blockers and DNS solutions, giving you more choice and flexibility. A DNS can block millions of domains and make no performance difference as the blocks are on the DNS server your hosts file blocking thousands may cause a noticeable performance decrease. While you still can use hosts file lists, they aren't updated as much, aren't as easy to use compared to DNS services, and sometimes cause slowdowns. In the 2000s, it was common for professional users to download community-made hosts files from the internet to block malware, ads, and other unwanted content before alternative DNS services and content blockers became readily available. Your hosts file and DNS services essentially do the same thing, except hosts files find themselves unused in most systems. DNS blocking does the same thing, by not giving your computer the IP address then you can't connect to the dangerous website. Your computer will visit 0.0.0.0 instead of the harmful IP address and your browser will take you to an error page as it doesn't exist, and so keeps you safe. To block a domain with your hosts file, you can use the correct formatting to tell your operating system to lead the domain to a fake IP address like 0.0.0.0 instead of the real one. The hosts file tells your operating system what a domain leads to, i.e. Users get to choose from thousands of filter lists to block security threats, trackers, pornography, gambling, dating, and other inappropriate content to make the internet safer for themselves, children on the network, or businesses.įilter lists and the hosts file on your operating system have very similar blocking capabilities but with different formats and intended uses. You visit a domain, like "", and your device asks the DNS for its IP address, so you can connect. The easiest way to think of the Domain Name System is the concept of an internet phone book. They are absolutely essential to content blockers and DNS services with any kind of blocking capability as they wouldn't work without them. Filter lists are text files of rules that tell solutions what to block and how they should block it.
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