Hosts File Manager, eDexter

At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have installed,
was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both seem to be doing
the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they useful
or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable items
into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is great to
have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all depend on
"definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them. Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential problems
from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc. I use the same
programs your listed, and they regularly found and cleaned up a lot of
things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a different case.) But it
wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager that I noticed a drop to
near zero of parasites that make it in in the first place, all while doing
nothing to limit the rest of IE's functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have installed,
was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both seem to be
doing
the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful
or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based on what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to HOSTS File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it as I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable items
into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is great to
have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all depend on
"definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them. Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential problems
from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc. I use the
same
programs your listed, and they regularly found and cleaned up a lot of
things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a different case.) But it
wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager that I noticed a drop
to
near zero of parasites that make it in in the first place, all while doing
nothing to limit the rest of IE's functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed,
was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both seem to be
doing
the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful
or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Haven't used any of the others besides HOSTS File Manager. HFM uses a HOSTS
file maintained by an MVP and primarily updated based upon information
provided by MVPs and their closer associates. For that reason, I naturally
tend to trust it a bit more than other items.

I have, in the past, set up something quite similar to eDexter on my own
machine when IIS (Microsoft's Internet Server) is installed. I make
127.0.0.1, the home page for such systems, a tiny image. eDexter sounds like
an innocuous little app with a decent goal.

As for DNSKong, I can't be certain, as I haven't read the documentation in
detail, but it would appear to me to possess several possible drawbacks, to
require a fair amount of understanding of how it works, tweaking, etc., and
to possibly even "not play well together" with any other HOSTS based
filtering. I suppose that for someone who does only the usual surfing on
their machine it might be a boon (excepting that possible problem involving
HOSTS file usage), but in my case it would be problematic. I would probably
not recommend it to the average user, but might suggest it to a tweaker as
something to try out.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based on what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to HOSTS File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it as I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable
items
into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is great to
have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all depend on
"definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them. Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that
prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems
from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc. I use the
same
programs your listed, and they regularly found and cleaned up a lot of
things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a different case.) But
it
wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager that I noticed a
drop
to
near zero of parasites that make it in in the first place, all while
doing
nothing to limit the rest of IE's functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program
called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of
the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed,
was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both seem to be
doing
the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful
or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Thanks again for your comments, Gary.

I think I'll give DNSKong a try. It claims to work well with HOSTS File
Manager and if after a few weeks I detect problems, it has an uninstaller.
While I'm certainly no MVP, I do enjoy "tweaking" my reliable old W98, P11
300 MHz system. By listening to people like you, Eshleman, Badour, Martell
and other MVPs, I've become comfortable with serious tinkering and
upgrading of my machine.


"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Haven't used any of the others besides HOSTS File Manager. HFM uses a
HOSTS
file maintained by an MVP and primarily updated based upon information
provided by MVPs and their closer associates. For that reason, I naturally
tend to trust it a bit more than other items.

I have, in the past, set up something quite similar to eDexter on my own
machine when IIS (Microsoft's Internet Server) is installed. I make
127.0.0.1, the home page for such systems, a tiny image. eDexter sounds
like
an innocuous little app with a decent goal.

As for DNSKong, I can't be certain, as I haven't read the documentation in
detail, but it would appear to me to possess several possible drawbacks,
to
require a fair amount of understanding of how it works, tweaking, etc.,
and
to possibly even "not play well together" with any other HOSTS based
filtering. I suppose that for someone who does only the usual surfing on
their machine it might be a boon (excepting that possible problem
involving
HOSTS file usage), but in my case it would be problematic. I would
probably
not recommend it to the average user, but might suggest it to a tweaker as
something to try out.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based on
what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to HOSTS
File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it as I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is
to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable
items
into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is great
to
have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all depend on
"definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them.
Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that
prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems
from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc. I use the
same
programs your listed, and they regularly found and cleaned up a lot of
things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a different case.)
But
it
wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager that I noticed a
drop
to
near zero of parasites that make it in in the first place, all while
doing
nothing to limit the rest of IE's functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program
called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves
an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of
the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed,
was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both seem to
be
doing
the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful
or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Check out MVP Mike Burgess' http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/...y/spyware.mspx

bobster wrote:
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based on what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to HOSTS File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it as I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable
items into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is
great to have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all depend
on "definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them. Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc. I
use the same programs your listed, and they regularly found and cleaned
up a lot of things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a different
case.) But it wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager that I
noticed a drop to near zero of parasites that make it in in the first
place, all while doing nothing to limit the rest of IE's functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed, was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both
seem to be doing the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Thanks PA Bear for the Mike Burgess URL. I was inadvertently destroying my
host file by running CW Shredder. Wondered what the heck the "Removed from
your system: - CWS.Jksearch" message was all about and fortunately found
out! Now I restore the host file AFTER running CW Shredder.

Also use AdAware so I now put the hosts files on "ignore" after a run to
keep from destroying them.


"PA Bear" wrote in message
...
Check out MVP Mike Burgess' http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/...y/spyware.mspx

bobster wrote:
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based on
what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to HOSTS
File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it as I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is
to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable
items into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is
great to have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all depend
on "definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some
new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them. Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that
prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc. I
use the same programs your listed, and they regularly found and cleaned
up a lot of things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a
different
case.) But it wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager that
I
noticed a drop to near zero of parasites that make it in in the first
place, all while doing nothing to limit the rest of IE's
functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program
called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of
the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed, was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They both
seem to be doing the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

I basically work around any HOSTS file disruptors by running HFM on a
scheduled basis (every hour and at startup), using the /u switch. When I
remember, I also run it from a shortcut in my QuickLaunch bar (also with the
/u switch) after running scans.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
Thanks PA Bear for the Mike Burgess URL. I was inadvertently destroying
my
host file by running CW Shredder. Wondered what the heck the "Removed
from
your system: - CWS.Jksearch" message was all about and fortunately found
out! Now I restore the host file AFTER running CW Shredder.

Also use AdAware so I now put the hosts files on "ignore" after a run to
keep from destroying them.


"PA Bear" wrote in message
...
Check out MVP Mike Burgess' http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/...y/spyware.mspx

bobster wrote:
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and
using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based on
what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to HOSTS
File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it as
I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file is
to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping undesirable
items into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it is
great to have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all
depend
on "definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of some
new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them.
Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that
prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X, etc.
I
use the same programs your listed, and they regularly found and
cleaned
up a lot of things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a
different
case.) But it wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager
that
I
noticed a drop to near zero of parasites that make it in in the first
place, all while doing nothing to limit the rest of IE's
functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program
called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves
an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence of
the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed, was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They
both
seem to be doing the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are they
useful or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Gary, probably a dumb question, but what is the /u switch and how do I use
it? All I can find is a note in Q116181 stating" /u:upi Specify UPI" and
I don't know what that means and how it applies to the HOSTS file disruptor
problem. I also have HOSTS set on my quick launch bar and check for HOST
updates daily or anytime after I have run AdAware or CW Shredder
TIA.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
I basically work around any HOSTS file disruptors by running HFM on a
scheduled basis (every hour and at startup), using the /u switch. When I
remember, I also run it from a shortcut in my QuickLaunch bar (also with
the
/u switch) after running scans.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
Thanks PA Bear for the Mike Burgess URL. I was inadvertently destroying
my
host file by running CW Shredder. Wondered what the heck the "Removed
from
your system: - CWS.Jksearch" message was all about and fortunately found
out! Now I restore the host file AFTER running CW Shredder.

Also use AdAware so I now put the hosts files on "ignore" after a run
to
keep from destroying them.


"PA Bear" wrote in message
...
Check out MVP Mike Burgess' http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/...y/spyware.mspx

bobster wrote:
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and
using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based
on
what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to
HOSTS
File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it
as
I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS file
is
to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping
undesirable
items into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While it
is
great to have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all
depend
on "definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of
some
new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them.
Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that
prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X,
etc.
I
use the same programs your listed, and they regularly found and
cleaned
up a lot of things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a
different
case.) But it wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager
that
I
noticed a drop to near zero of parasites that make it in in the
first
place, all while doing nothing to limit the rest of IE's
functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a program
called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but leaves
an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the absence
of
the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed, was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" . They
both
seem to be doing the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are
they
useful or are they just fluff? Do they provide added protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster
and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..

Switches are built into applications to affect the way they run. While there
are conventions for naming switches, they aren't hard and fast rules. The
particular switch does whatever the designer of the application wants it to.
Except for applications written by Microsoft,. you aren't going to find any
information on switches in the KB.

In this case, MVP George Geyde, who wrote HOSTS File Manager, added a /u
switch to his application, intending it to stand for "unattended". It does
its thing with no interaction required after starting it--no messages or
queries to which you have to respond.

Switches are used everywhere in Windows, as in DOS. Just how they're used
depends, again, on the application. You can often use a command prompt to
find out what they are by typing in the /? (Help) switch after the command.
Unfortunately, the /? switch, itself, isn't universally included in apps.

One thing to remember when creating shortcuts that use switches, or Registry
entries, etc., is that when a long pathname is used (one that isn't in DOS
8.3 format), that pathname often needs to be in quotes. The switch is *not*
included inside the quotes, but rather comes after. Example:
"C:\Program Files\HOSTS File Manager\HostsManager.exe" /u

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
Gary, probably a dumb question, but what is the /u switch and how do I
use
it? All I can find is a note in Q116181 stating" /u:upi Specify UPI"
and
I don't know what that means and how it applies to the HOSTS file
disruptor
problem. I also have HOSTS set on my quick launch bar and check for HOST
updates daily or anytime after I have run AdAware or CW Shredder
TIA.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
I basically work around any HOSTS file disruptors by running HFM on a
scheduled basis (every hour and at startup), using the /u switch. When I
remember, I also run it from a shortcut in my QuickLaunch bar (also with
the
/u switch) after running scans.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
Thanks PA Bear for the Mike Burgess URL. I was inadvertently
destroying
my
host file by running CW Shredder. Wondered what the heck the "Removed
from
your system: - CWS.Jksearch" message was all about and fortunately
found
out! Now I restore the host file AFTER running CW Shredder.

Also use AdAware so I now put the hosts files on "ignore" after a run
to
keep from destroying them.


"PA Bear" wrote in message
...
Check out MVP Mike Burgess' http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/...y/spyware.mspx

bobster wrote:
Thanks for explaining what HOSTS File Manager does beyond the
other
"protection" I'm using. I have noticed no deleterious effects and
using
eDexter removes the irritating "action cancelled" messages. Based
on
what
you say, guess I'll keep them.

Do you also recommend DNSKong which seems to be a companion to
HOSTS
File
Manager and eDexter? I used it for a few days, but uninstalled it
as
I
wasn't sure of its worth.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
The idea behind disallowing the addresses listed in the HOSTS
file
is
to
prevent those known purveyors of parasites from dropping
undesirable
items into your system and/or executing undesirable code. While
it
is
great to have the cleaners and blockers in your system, they all
depend
on "definitions" and there is always a lag between the launch of
some
new
parasite and the "definitions" being updated to account for them.
Thus,
blocking those addresses adds a forward fence, if you will, that
prevents
the sites from installing *anything*.

Plus, you are preventing additional bandwidth usage and potential
problems from attempts to execute otherwise acceptable Active-X,
etc.
I
use the same programs your listed, and they regularly found and
cleaned
up a lot of things whenever I ran them (SpywareBlaster being a
different
case.) But it wasn't until I started using the HOSTS File Manager
that
I
noticed a drop to near zero of parasites that make it in in the
first
place, all while doing nothing to limit the rest of IE's
functionalities.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"bobster" wrote in message
...
At the suggestion of a poster on this net, I downloaded a
program
called
"Hosts File Manager". It disallows many advertisements but
leaves
an
"action cancelled" message in the white space left by the
absence
of
the
advertisement. Another program called "eDexter", which I have
installed, was suggested to remove the "action cancelled" .
They
both
seem to be doing the job they claim to do.

Question: Has anybody had experience with these programs? Are
they
useful or are they just fluff? Do they provide added
protection?

I am using W98, Zone Alarm, AdAware, SpyBot S&D, Spyware Blaster
and
myEtrust anti-virus, all regularly updated..