David,

Assuming that you're not running a DNS server on the machine you're using to
connect to the Internet, you can use 127.0.0.1 (localhost) as an alternate
address in your HOSTS file. However, using 0.0.0.0 is often faster than
specifying 127.0.0.1 as the address. There are also proxy servers like
Webwasher or Proxomitron that will automatically block certain ad sites for
you.

Gorilla Design Studios has information on using the hosts file at
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/benefits_restrictions.html
Webwasher is available at http://www.webwasher.com
Links to Proxomitron and some other methods of blocking ads are at
http://www.eccentrix.com/computer/wirrwarr/Links.html

-Paul

----- Original Message -----
From: "David T Darnell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 1:01 PM
Subject: OT: Dummy out unwanted URLs?


> Getting really peeved about all the web content (or is it just Netscape?)
that references ads.web.aol.com, I modified my HOSTS file to point
ads.web.aol.com to IP address 0.0.0.0.  This works OK most of the time, as
the browser seems to give up on that reference and move on. In some cases,
though, the browser errors-out waitng for host 0.0.0.0 to reply.
>
> Is there an IP address for a server that will return a null document for
any request?
>
> or, is there a better way to just filter out the references to the URLs
for hosts I do not want  to see?
>

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