Location of the Windows Hosts File

The good news is you control the hosts file. You can easily add, edit or delete entries using a text editor such as Windows Notepad. The exception is Windows Vista. Microsoft support has provided a knowledge base article on modifying the hosts or lmhosts file.

It's probably worth 5 minutes to look at the file in case you ever need to change the contents. The hardest part, is probably finding the file as the location differs based on which Windows operating system you are using.

Windows 95 - C: windows
Windows 98 - C: \windows
Windows Me - C: \windows
Windows 2000 - C: windows\system32\drivers\etc
Windows XP - C :\windows\system32\drivers\etc
Windows NT - C :\winnt\system32\drivers\etc
Windows Vista - C :\windows\system32\drivers\etc

If you want to find out more about hosts file, there are plenty of articles and resources. Some people have compiled their own lists that you can download. Others have programs that make editing the file easier. And if you do decide to change your hosts file, please remember to make a backup first. You'll also need to reboot your computer to have the changes work.