Adbin HOSTS file manager

Effective at blocking

• Text ads and banners
• video ads
• audio ads
• hit counters and 3rd party page counters
• analytics
• beacons
• web bugs and Tracking Pixels
• click-thru tracking
• javascript and web tracking scripts
• telemetry uploads
• hijackers
• unwanted programs
• invisible tracking GIFs

Benefits include

• Reduces bandwidth
• Increases privacy
• Increases security
• Speeds up websites
• Reduces web page clutter
• Blocks harmful and unwanted content
• Prevent malware from "calling home"

AdBin is a Windows HOSTS file tool designed to improve internet speed, security, and privacy by blocking unwanted and potentially harmful content. A HOSTS file maps URLs to specific IP addresses. By redirecting ad server URLs to your local IP address (0.0.0.0), it effectively blocks their content. For example, adding the entry 0.0.0.0 ad.doubleclick.net blocks all files from the DoubleClick server, preventing ads and trackers from loading.

This method, which requires no extra software, is used by thousands of people daily. It’s a simple, effective technique that works by fooling your browser into thinking an ad server is unavailable.

A properly configured HOSTS file blocks ads, trackers, cookies, and even spyware, while also speeding up web page loading by preventing unnecessary content from loading. It enhances privacy by blocking sites that track your browsing activity and protects against hijacking attempts.

The HOSTS file works automatically with your operating system without needing to adjust settings. When you request a page, your system checks the HOSTS file for entries that redirect certain URLs to non-existent IP addresses like 0.0.0.0, preventing ads and trackers from loading.

Using the HOSTS file reduces bandwidth usage, enhances privacy, and prevents malware from communicating with its servers. While it won’t block all online threats, it adds an important layer of protection.

For advanced users, tools like Fiddler can help build and refine a HOSTS file by tracking requests made by web pages, allowing users to block unwanted connections and reduce page load times.

By keeping your HOSTS file updated, you can prevent unwanted connections and malware from "calling home." It’s an easy way to improve your browsing experience, protect your data, and speed up page loads by blocking unnecessary requests.

Utilizing the Windows, Linux, Mac, iPhone or Android HOSTS file is a great, lightweight way to reduce the bandwidth your device uses, increase privacy by blocking ads, analytics, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, javascript, telemetry, hijackers and even unwanted programs. There is no software to install, only a simple text file. Your operating system automatically uses the HOSTS file at startup, so there is no need to turn on, adjust or change any settings. Your operating system automatically looks for the existence of a HOSTS file and if found, checks the HOSTS file first for entries to the connection you just requested. The 0.0.0.0 (prefix) is a dead end connection, so when an entry listed in your HOSTS file is requested on a page you are viewing, your computer thinks 0.0.0.0 is the location of the page. When this page fails to load, it skips onto the next request and thus any ad server is blocked from loading the banner, cookie, tracker, beacon, or javascript file.

Microsoft is well known for sending your data to its own servers. By loading known Microsoft connections into a HOSTS file, we can block most or all communication with Microsoft’s telemetry servers.

What you will notice is that web pages load magnitudes of times faster, you will see no or very few ads. Your data usage will drop dramatically on all devices using your HOSTS file. You may encounter a few web pages that fail to load. This is usually because its name is in your HOSTS file and thus unreachable. You may want to tweak the file somewhat when you encounter this situation. On the other hand, these web pages are usually not worth seeing anyway.

The speed increase is due to using less data and not having to wait for ads, banners, analytics, etc. to load. This also helps to protect your privacy and security by blocking sites that may track your viewing habits, also known as "click-thru tracking" or Data Miners. Simply using a HOSTS file is not a cure-all against all the dangers on the Internet, but it does provide another very effective "Layer of Protection".

Example - the following entry 0.0.0.0 ad.doubleclick.net blocks all files supplied by that DoubleClick Server to the web page you are viewing. This also prevents the server from tracking your movements. Why? ... because in certain cases "Ad Servers" like Doubleclick (and many others) will try silently to open a separate connection on the webpage you are viewing, record your movements then yes ... follow you to additional sites you may visit.

Another benefit of the HOSTS file is that malware cannot call home as long as the necessary entries exist. This is why it's important to keep your HOSTS file up to Date.

How to build your own HOSTS entries

1. Click the choose file button to select your HOSTS file and insert it into the text area below
2. Select the options you prefer.
3. Open your browser of choice
4. Open the debugger in your browser (F12)
5. Click on the "network" menu in the debugger
6. Navigate to a web page that has a lot of junk content
7. Watch the network traffic until it slows down
8. Sort the traffic by name
9. Right click on any traffic you want to eliminate
10. Select copy URL
11. Paste entry into this page
12. Press 'GO'
13. Press download
14. Copy downloaded file to the folder where your HOSTS file resides

Our tool takes care of fixing all the endpoints for you. This tool removes duplicates so you never have to worry about merging multiple sources of lists! This tool can also be used to simply strip a list of complete URLs into endpoints.

Your hosts file is located

• macOS: /etc/hosts
• Linux: /etc/hosts
• Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts