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Microsoft Windows: More fun with the HOSTS file

Thought of writing another short post on one more interesting thing that can be done using the HOSTS file in Windows.

Previously, I had written about HOSTS file in my post  Block Websites of your choice without any Software.

The Hosts file is usually available in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc in case of Windows XP.

If you wish to interchange the websites that get opened when you click enter after entering the address in browser. Lets assume that you wish to open flickr.com when you type orkut.com in the browser and vice-versa; do as mentioned below.

  1. Get the IP Address of Orkut.com and Flickr.com [ lets assume that the IP of Orkut is 72.14.209.86 and the IP Address of Flickr is 68.142.214.24]
  2. Open the HOSTS file in your favorite text editor.
  3. Add the below mentioned lines
  4. 72.14.209.86 www.flickr.com
    72.14.209.86 flickr.com
    68.142.214.24 www.orkut.com
    68.142.214.24 orkut.com
  5. Save the file and reboot your PC. You are done now :)

From now on, whenever you type www.flickr.com on your browser; you will find Orkut opening up. Similarly with Orkut you will find Flickr opening up :)

Also read: Block Websites of your choice without any Software

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  4. Block Websites of your choice without any Software
  5. From the Archives

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 9:16 pm and is filed under How-To, Technology, Tips, Tricks, Tutorials, Windows, hacks, web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Microsoft Windows: More fun with the HOSTS file”

  1. [...] Microsoft Watch wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThought of writing another short post on one more interesting thing that can be done using the HOSTS file in Windows. Previously, I had written about HOSTS file in my post  Block Websites of your choice without any Software. The Hosts file is usually available in C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetc in case of Windows XP [...]

  2. :) ))
    Good one … nice to have it in case u r sharing PC wid ur frenzz .. ;-) )

    ~ Shantanu

  3. Thanks Shantanu. :)

    Cheers,
    Vaibhav

  4. [...] Microsoft Windows: More fun with the HOSTS file : In this post, i have tried to describe a few more ways of having fun with the Hosts file. The post talks about blocking websites using Hosts file and also about interchanging the websites getting loaded using Hosts file. [...]

  5. [...] Also read:Microsoft Windows: More fun with the HOSTS file [...]

  6. [...] a new IP. You can learn more about modifying HOSTS file by reading previous posts on HOSTS file ( Microsoft Windows: More fun with the HOSTS file and Block Websites of your choice without any [...]

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