Hosts file
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Re: [Video playback problems](troubleshooting and solutions on Linux.)
While the intention of the MVPS Hosts file ( http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm ) is not to improve video streaming, it can, however, do so by blocking unwanted browser connections, such as ad feeds and tracking sites, allowing more resources and bandwidth for video play. On an older PC with limited proc and RAM resources, the hosts file mod can make a video stream from Youtube watchable where previously it was not. There is a trade off: the modified hosts file is large and its use can slow general web surfing ever so slightly. It costs nothing to try. The process is entirely reversible if you backup your original hosts file. You may wish to keep the contents of your original hosts file and append the blocking entries from the MVPS Hosts file.
modedit split and moved to own thread
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I find that this is a pretty good source of host files.
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While I usually do not like clicking on "this" links (I vastly prefer to see the URL without having to look at the status bar) I can confirm that bot are valuable resources - I have used hostsman earlier (in the meantime I switched to another solution - but not because hostsman is bad) and the Github page is a good inspiration too, but i wouldn't subscribe to all of those lists ...
Other than that: I happily give away the mimimal lookup time in the HOSTS to save all of those seconds I lose with DNS lookups, or downloads of tracking scripts, or advertisements etc.
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I am ambivalent about the use of ad blocking tech, although I do use it myself, albeit with some regrets.
The Internet runs on money, and so very many useful sites survive only through ad revenue. Some sites, I support through donation, but I cannot support all.
But I am also annoyed by Internet bloat and by excessive and intrusive advertising and tracking.
I am also annoyed by needless waste. The bloat is what renders older hardware useless. The difference between a useful PC and scrap is often just whether it will stream video adequately or not. So if you have someone with little or no money who has a older PC that works just fine for email, word processing, chat, spreadsheets but bars them from enjoyment of video streaming .... and this can be remedied/mitigated, if only temporarily, by the use of a blocking hosts file .....
Interesting ethical topic.
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@d_canard Most ad-blocking software gives you the option to whitelist, or disable blocking on selected sites. If I think a site is useful and it doesn't overwhelm me with flashing ads, then I just whitelist it. This way you can support sites and still stop tracking and malicious ads for the rest of the web.
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@luetage said in Hosts file:
@d_canard Most ad-blocking software gives you the option to whitelist, or disable blocking on selected sites. If I think a site is useful and it doesn't overwhelm me with flashing ads, then I just whitelist it. This way you can support sites and still stop tracking and malicious ads for the rest of the web.
Agreed.
Unfortunately, blocking at the level of the hosts file does not allow this flexibility. Where you can be quite surgical with ad-blocking software (not all offerings of which are equally effective), the hosts file approach has more of a nuclear Armageddon than a surgical manner. I find it more brutally effective.
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@d_canard True, that's why I only use this approach on mobile. But if you say you need this for videos only, you could run 2 hosts files and just rename them when needed.
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Ppafflick moved this topic from Software on
