It's commonly called the supertrick. Here's an excerpt from one site: http://www.geocities.com/poiuyt_1940/KLfaq.html#supertrick
What is The Supertrick There is a way to disable access to certain websites by editing the HOSTS file. Using this trick you can not only block ads and cookies, but also websites that might compromize your privacy and security. This trick also speeds up the loading time of websites. How exactly does the HOSTS file work? The short answer is that the HOSTS file is like an address book. When you type an address like www.yahoo.com into your browser, the HOSTS file is consulted to see if you have the IP address, or "telephone number," for that site. If you do, then your computer will "call it" and the site will open. If not, your computer will ask your ISP's (internet service provider) computer for the phone number before it can "call" that site. Most of the time, you do not have addresses in your "address book," because you have not put any there. Therefore, most of the time your computer asks for the IP address from your ISP to find sites. If you put ad server names into your HOSTS file with your own computer's IP address (Localhost: 127.0.0.1), your computer will never be able to contact the ad server. It will try to, but it will be simply calling itself and get sort of a "busy signal". Your computer will then give up calling the ad server and no ads will be loaded, nor will any tracking take place. Your choices for blocking sites are not just limited to blocking ad servers. You may block sites that serve advertisements, sites that serve objectionable content, or any other site that you choose to block. Also would it be possible to redirect a website to another website by using that website's IP adress in stead of your computers IP adress. This HOSTS file is located here: Linux /etc Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\ Windows NT/2000/XP c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\ (you may need administrator access for Windows NT/2000) NOTE: The HOSTS file does NOT have an extention (extensions are the .exe, txt, .doc, etc. endings to filenames). HOSTS.sam is just an sample file, not the file you need to edit. You can rename the file HOSTS.sam (a sample file) to HOSTS. How to edit it: CAUTION: Please make an backup copy before trying to edit the HOSTS file. Windows users You can open the HOSTS file by right-clicking on it and selecting "open with". Then select Notepad. Add the following lines to the end of the HOSTS file: 127.0.0.1 www.brilliantdigital.com 127.0.0.1 desktop.kazaa.com 127.0.0.1 shop.kazaa.com 127.0.0.1 www.bonzi.com 127.0.0.1 www.b3d.com Linux users 1. Open up a command window and make sure you're logged in as root. 2. Type cd /etc to go to the right directory. 3. Type cp hosts hostsbackup to make a backup. You can restore the backup later on if something would have gone wrong. To do that, you need to type mv hostsbackup hosts 4. Open up host with your favourite text editor, by typing editorname hosts (replace "editorname" by the name of your editor) 5. Copy the list of server names, along with 127.0.0.1 (localhost) into the hosts file. Don't change any of the other information you find there, just paste the list at the end of the file and save it. Quit the text editor. Add the following lines to the end of the HOSTS file: 127.0.0.1 www.brilliantdigital.com 207.0.50.24 desktop.kazaa.com 127.0.0.1 shop.kazaa.com 127.0.0.1 www.bonzi.com 127.0.0.1 www.b3d.com You can use this same method to block other websites. For a huge list of ad servers and other annoying websites, view the HOSTS List page. Tip Instead of 127.0.0.1 you can also use 0.0.0.0 as the IP to redirect to. This speeds up your surfing a bit, but it does not work on all systems. [Back to Top] What other IP's should I block? While no one can say for sure which ones you SHOULD block, you can find a giant list of IP's you might want to block on the HOSTS List page. Just a list of adservers, spyware sites, and other annoying and bad stuff. That link for the hosts file is: http://www.geocities.com/poiuyt_1940/KLhosts.html -Kevin > -----Original Message----- > From: Andy Ousterhout [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 3:02 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: 2nd ammendment > > > How do you do that? I've got to keep uninstalling GATOR from my Home PC's > cuz my kids keep installing it. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dan Phillips [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 2:05 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: 2nd ammendment > > > not for me either. I have an entry in my host file that directs the gator > domain to 127.0.0.1 :-) > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nick McClure [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 2:59 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: 2nd ammendment > > > Not for me, but then again, I use Netscape. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Jerry Johnson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 2:55 PM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Re: 2nd ammendment > > > > That d*mn page tried to install Gator! > > > > Danger! Danger! Mean and Evil People Ahead! > > > > Jerry Johnson > > > > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/26/02 02:47PM >>> > > LOL this reminds me of some of the 2nd amendment debates around this > > list > > http://www.ucomics.com/nonsequitur/2002/11/25/ > > > > > > ~~ > > Stephenie > > > > > > > > > > --- > > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > > Version: 6.0.422 / Virus Database: 237 - Release Date: 11/20/2002 > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
