You're gonna need all of SafeNetworking's features...
as it is pretty obsolete - but unfortunately, since Lavasoft bit the dust, it is the only alternative, I've been able to revive. At least it is one of the ONLY tools I know that can actually block many bad cookies in the first place. It nails a lot of bad ad servers; but I wasn't aware it added a host file, so I'm a little confused. I heard RC2 of the new version is out now, but I could not find a free version of this new one; and I'm not impressed enough to pay very much for it. Even with the new trial version on-board, I could see that many malware were capable of manipulating files and icons, and who knows what else in limited accounts! I never used to see this in my honey pot lab(with the older Adaware), but then, I don't usually use host files, and at least a lot of the pesky bad page sites, and advertisements disappeared! SpywareBlaster was the only passive real time protection I used to use that had a light duty host file.
