On Sunday 30 August 2020 17:35:52 Michael wrote:
> On Wednesday 19 August 2020 07:53:43 pm William Morder via trinity-users
>
> > On Wednesday 19 August 2020 15:29:49 Michael wrote:
> > > On Wednesday 19 August 2020 04:40:55 pm William Morder via
> > > trinity-users
> > >
> > > > You might consider creating a custom hosts file. Somewhere I believe
> > > > I have a URL where you can download a file of hosts to block, but I
> > > > have added to this on my own. I would be glad to share my hosts file,
> > > > but it is big; not just big, but abnormally big, currently 16 mb.
> >
> > Okay, so I did a little quick editing. It might still be kinda messy, but
> > feel free to edit yourself however you like.
>
> Thanks Bill,
>
> > Note that I have duplicated the list after 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0;
> > somewhere I read that the second is sometimes preferable for blocking
> > hosts, so I have used both. It doesn't seem to affect my system in any
> > negative way.
>
> AFAIKT 0.0.0.0 seems prefered.  It's also what both StevenBlack and Peter
> Lowe use, so I'd bet it's right.
>
> > If there are dire security concerns over how I have done this, please
> > inform us. Otherwise, I only added to the list as I found it on github;
> > then I added my quickie how2 instructions. I added the moniker F.N.
> > Eedjit for reference, so that others can follow the chain of how the list
> > was built up.
>
> I don't think there are any security concerns, but I wasn't able to follow
> what was something you added or was from a block list itself.  

Okay, the hosts after 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0 are (or ought to be) identical; I 
just looked at it, and they don't seem to match, although I thought that I 
had done it already. 

So far as "what has been added" by the present author, well, good luck there. 
I mostly recognize where my hand has touched, but others may not spot the 
tell. Mostly you can identify mine by how messy the entries are, especially 
because they tend to repeat elements in the address, e.g.: 

0.0.0.0 fao.org
0.0.0.0 *.fao.org*
0.0.0.0 coml.org
0.0.0.0 *.coml.org*
0.0.0.0 nco-assets.s3.amazonaws.com
0.0.0.0 maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com
0.0.0.0 *maxcdn*
0.0.0.0 *bootstrapcdn*
(etc. ... trying to block unwanted elements on annoying pages). 

Also, those sections that have headers (e.g., # [hosted on cloudfront]) were 
the work of somebody else. I have added from here and there, and also add to 
my hosts file while I am online, and happen to notice some strange activity 
on my firewall, or start having connection issues. 

By the way, I use kedit-trinity to load my hosts file at startup. That way, it 
is always available, and I can edit or add on the fly. (This is my master 
copy, of course.) Then I use cp to overwrite the hosts file on my system, and 
update by running "sudo /etc/init.d/nscd restart". However, I will start 
using medit or some other text editor, as kedit doesn't like to hand such big 
files. 

I do (did) the same with my firestarter rules and sources.list, too, by the 
way, updating on the fly, then overwriting. Kedit is useful for this, because 
it will load specific files at startup; I've tried other text editors, but 
leafpad, for instance, only loads a blank document. Other text editors that 
serve 

> I wrote the 
> attached to automate it a bit, downloading StevenBlack's list weekly and
> merging that into a 'user' created list, then copying it to /etc/hosts.
>
The script will help us all, I think. 

> It's chopped up a bit from pulling out my normal includes and commented out
> user testing, so eyeball it before using it.
>
> Also as far as I could research, there are no services that need to be
> reloaded/restarted after editing the hosts file.  (Which I found odd,
> but 'eh...)
>
> Best,
> Michael

I don't claim to "know" anything at all, especially about computers. I try to 
learn from others who do know. And -- according to "them" -- after 
overwriting your hosts file, you need to run "sudo /etc/init.d/nscd restart"; 
which does sort of make sense. 

The only thing I know, is that I know nothing; but then, there are some people 
who don't even know that much. 

Bill