Hosts manager for windows 7?

June 21, 2012 8:32 AM

How can I manage my hosts file in Windows 7?

I'll basically want to switch in and out a few different versions of the file without having to fiddle with opening a text editor as an administrator or putting together a script to do this on my own if I can avoid it. Switching between versions should be quick, seamless, and as painless as possible.

Is there a utility for this?

posted by jsturgill to computers & internet (12 answers total)

Heh, the answer is in your post title.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:34 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

(Here's a bit more info on that utility.)
posted by Burhanistan at 8:35 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I feel a little uneasy giving random program from teh interwebs that kind of control. Is this vetted? In use widely by people who know and care about stuff? Created or backed by a major corporation that cares about its reputation enough to guard against shenanigans?
posted by jsturgill at 9:04 AM on June 21, 2012

It's open source. You can't get any more vetted than the ability to inspect the source yourself.
posted by COD at 9:15 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Yeah, it doesn't do anything other than what it says--quickly edits the HOST file based on your specified settings.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:16 AM on June 21, 2012

Pretty much anything from SourceForge can be trusted, for the simple reason that if there were something wrong, someone would have noticed by now. Evil people don't really try to hack stuff there any longer because it's a waste of their time.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:23 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I've read many smart people say that you can't trust code you didn't compile yourself, and I don't have any grounds to think they're full of it. And I don't necessarily trust code simply because it's on sourceforge or github or wherever, particularly when it's not a high visibility open source project. This particular project is guaranteed to run with admin privelleges and is specifically intended to muck about with important networking stuff, which together make me more hesitant than normal.

All of which is to say that I'll give it a go, I suppose. Peer pressure!
posted by jsturgill at 9:55 AM on June 21, 2012

Doooo iiiiiiiittt! I would wager that the worst that will happen is that the little applet might crash and you'd have to either reboot to fix it or manually copy your alternate hosts file.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:58 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

If you aren't willing to use a utility from SourceForge or places like that where exactly did you expect to find a utility to do what you were requesting?
posted by dgeiser13 at 7:34 AM on June 22, 2012

A Microsoft utility or a closed or open program from Respectable Person or Company rather than randomdude304.

And I was willing, just reluctant.
posted by jsturgill at 10:05 AM on June 22, 2012

Here's a tool in the MSDN forums: Windows Hosts File Manager. Not Microsoft but looks pretty good.
posted by dgeiser13 at 7:08 AM on June 23, 2012

Gotta ask: at what point do you get over the trust thing? Did you write your own compiler? Open Source, man. Look at the code if you don't trust it. If you don't, then write your own and not ask for a "utility."
posted by converge at 1:45 AM on June 26, 2012