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Thread: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    Quote Originally Posted by ac5jw View Post
    Hey, I had a problem over the past three years with my computer taking forever to resolve URLs. ... I began to study about creating a HOSTS file from scratch as a means to do domain and host name blocking for uninvited advertisements.
    ...
    Just a clarification: does OP mean "loading pages" instead of "resolving urls"? (I get how blocking content will display a page faster.)

  2. #22
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    Feb 2013
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    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    I really don't know the difference at this point. All I know is it took long waits for handoffs, linking, and display of web pages I visited. But after creating HOSTS entries to support the places I visit, it really turned around and displayed content a lot faster. Does that help ? And I have a lot of blocked domains and hosts, but that never affected my slow download time. My downloads and displays of content went a lot faster only after I began to use the HOSTS entries.


    R

  3. #23
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    Feb 2013
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    Before I created my first HOSTS file, I was using the mintNanny domain blocker. I had slower access to the web even then, so I cannot conclude that the domain blocking helped to speed up the permitted data.

    R

  4. #24
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    Great job on your Host files. It might also help if you want to block is to install adblocker plugins for your browser. It's pretty effective on chrome and firefox.

  5. #25
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    Thanks for the advice on plugins. I tend to use my footer section for blocking domains and I am happy with that solution. I will try to install a new update which is expanded for more government and video sites.

    R

  6. #26
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    Here is my latest complete HOSTS file which I name NewHOSTS.txt until I am finally moving it into the hosts file directory. I learned to copy NewHOSTS.txt into my /etc/hosts.txt as a ready backup and it is easier to sudo cp /etc/hosts.txt /etc/hosts NewHOSTS.txt.tar.gz

  7. #27
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    This does NOTHING to speed up anything. The only possibility this has is for an inexperienced user to screw something up and negatively impact their ability to access the internet. Please don't come on here encouraging people to do stupid stuff when you clearly have little understanding of what you're doing. Do you really think in the past 20+ years not one other person has known about the host file is or what DNS is and that you just discovered some secret? No, you just discovered the outdated PRE-DNS way of doing things.

    Like the previous post, use this for naming LOCAL hosts. Use a firewall for filtering outside hosts. And if DNS resolving is a problem then change your DNS servers.
    Last edited by mharv; March 31st, 2013 at 01:05 AM.

  8. #28
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    Thanks for your comment. I am studying networking with Linux and learned alot in the past few weeks by creating a hosts file. It has so far been very helpful to my work online and I noticed a vast improvement in connection speed. I have also been maintaining my Ubuntu software updates as well, so the hosts file is not the only thing changing on my system.

    For the results I am getting, I will continue to use my hosts file as a tool to keep connections running smoothly. I am also studying about other ways to maintain rapid access online, and as you suggest, that includes DNS options. I did change my DNS servers once and after a few hours I noticed a shorter time for web browser displays. At that time, I had not yet implemented a hosts file but it was close to the time I was creating my original test hosts file.

    Because I have been using this hosts file for a few weeks, I have encountered host and domain changes as well as dropped IP addresses. So far, I have kept up with the updates. I am operating on the philosophy that IPv4 addresses are less likely to change now because they are harder to obtain. So I think most domains will continue to use their IPs and keep them stable. I am therefore not too worried about updating my hosts file as necessary.

    I experienced a drop in time for connections that I can only point to a change in DNS and a change in my hosts file, which used to be empty except for the entries stamped in by Ubuntu OS installation. So I think I am pretty close to the source of whatever it is that is keeping my Internet going.

    R

  9. #29
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    I was also studying Linux networking at when I found out about the hosts file and tried the exact same thing you did. Use Wireshark or tcpdump to record your traffic for a little while and then write a script to calculate the percentage of bits of your traffic that DNS requests make up.

  10. #30
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    Re: I Learned How to Speed Up My Internet With HOSTS File Entries

    INteresting thread.


    Just a bit of history though.... Well this is the way I was taught!!

    The host file was used to do name resolution.
    It would be created and maintained by a central authority and it would be distributed to the community.
    The host files became inconsistent, large, out of date quickly and just unworkable.

    That lead to the idea of DNS and its associated hierarchy to get away from those bulky hosts files that ended up causing misery.

    Again, that's what I was told when I was learning networking, I am open to correction, but this is the reverse Neal Armstrong moment

    Peace!
    You can tell a man who boozes by the company he chooses, as the pig got up and slowly walked away.

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