Hosts
Online Armor will monitor the HOSTS file for any changes, and pop-up when any changes are attempted.
Video
- Add a Hosts entry (Video)
- Delete a Hosts entry (Video)
- Block a host from appearing in your Hosts file (Video)
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The Hosts pop-up is very simple. The pop-up shows you the entry being added and allows you to choose to “Remember my decision” to prevent pop-ups if the same program makes additional changes to the HOSTS file in the future. Pop-ups will be color coded according to the change being made. If the change is likely to be benign then the pop-up will be orange. However, if Online Armor can identify the change as being likely malicious, such as if it would redirect a banking website, then the pop-up will be red. You can click the More button to be taken to the Online Armor website to view any information that Online Armor has collected about this entry. |
Once a HOSTS entry has been allowed or blocked it will be added to the Hosts list. You can access this list by opening the Online Armor Control Panel and selecting Hosts from the main menu.
The Hosts list is organized using a table with the following columns:
- Status – Shows whether the HOSTS entry was Allowed or Blocked.
- IP – The numerical address (IP) that the host name will be directed to. Example: 127.0.0.1
- Host – Shows the text address that will call the corresponding IP address for that entry. Example: www.tallemu.com
Each row is color coded to indicate whether the entry is Allowed (green) or Blocked (red).
Below the Hosts list are the following buttons:
- Allow – Allows the selected entry in your HOSTS file.
- Block – Blocks the selected entry from being made to your HOSTS file.
- Add – Allows you to add an entry to your HOSTS file.
- Edit – Allows you to edit an entry in your HOSTS file.
- Delete – Allows you to delete an entry from your HOSTS file.
- Hide localhost – Allows you to hide all entries in the Hosts list that redirect websites back to your own computer. Some systems that block advertisements or undesirable content will add such entries.
- All Hosts, Blocked Hosts, Allowed Hosts – This shows you what hosts are currently showing in the Hosts list. Click to toggle between showing all HOSTS file entries, only Blocked entries, and only Allowed entries.
Hosts Context Menu
You can right-click any item in the Hosts list to perform
the same tasks as the buttons below the list: 
- Allow – Allows the selected entry in your HOSTS file.
- Block – Blocks the selected entry from being made to your HOSTS file.
- Add – Allows you to add an entry to your HOSTS file.
- Change – Allows you to edit an entry in your HOSTS file.
- Delete – Allows you to delete an entry from your HOSTS file.
- Find – Allows you to perform a search to find a particular HOSTS file entry.
- Load – Allows you to load a different HOSTS file that you have saved to your hard drive.
The Options tab contains the following two items:
- Legend – A visual reference to the color coding used in the Hosts list.
- Track changes made to the hosts file – Removing the check from this box will configure Online Armor to no longer monitor the HOSTS file. You can re-enable the feature again by placing the check back in this box.