Cleaning the hosts file

[mr don]

Is there a way to add the ability to clean the host file?

 

Sometimes malware adds hundred or thousands of "blocked" IP addresses like AVG, Avast, Avira, Spybot, AdAware etc.

 

Any way add these abilities to CCleaner?

 

- Remove IP addresses

- Reset Hosts file to default

- Option to backup hosts before beginning so they can restore it back if they want

 

This is majorly overlooked, but sometimes cleaning the hosts file can restore perfect functionality to web browsers!

[Andavari]

I'd imagine that feature would literally drive a bazillion anti-malware and firewalls completely crazy, and it would certainly cause countless warning prompts from those type of programs that feature HOSTS protection.

 

I personally wouldn't want CCleaner ever touching my HOSTS file. With that said I maintain my HOSTS in a completely different partition before copying over to the proper location for Windows to use, so hijacking in my case wouldn't last too long at all since I'm always adding in new sites to block.

[mr don]

I'd imagine that feature would literally drive a bazillion anti-malware and firewalls completely crazy, and it would certainly cause countless warning prompts from those type of programs that feature HOSTS protection.

 

I personally wouldn't want CCleaner ever touching my HOSTS file. With that said I maintain my HOSTS in a completely different partition before copying over to the proper location for Windows to use, so hijacking in my case wouldn't last too long at all since I'm always adding in new sites to block.

While this may be un-necessary for you, I have seen cases where thousands of entries were added to a hosts file.

 

Redirects, blocks for good websites, the exact opposite of what you have used it for.

 

While you use it for good, malware can & does use it for bad.

 

Being able to safely clean the hosts file quickly could solve problems for a lot of people. It would not be mandatory for you to use the hosts cleaner, but it certainly would never do any damage to anyone's hosts file if CCleaner had a cleaner to it.

 

All that would be necessary is for it to list every address in the hosts file, but hide the default windows ones so no harm could come.

 

You could of course argue that cleaning temp folders would cause all kinds of programs to go off that block any file operations that involve deleting files, moving or changing files, or modifying the registry for those who let ccleaner store settings in the registry instead of .ini

 

The truth is, ccleaner is a good program, & programs who go crazy because of ccleaner running can be safely shut down.

 

I see no reason a hosts file cleaner would do any harm whatsoever. It would be entirely optional to clean, just like registry cleaning and startup cleaning is.