HostsShield

A typical solution for blocking websites with ads, adult-oriented or malware-prone content is to modify the Hosts file accordingly. This file is built into Windows and instructs the computer to never reach certain sites, depending on its configuration. It is empty by default but can be filled with URLs by PC administrators, thus creating a blacklist.

HostsShield is a simple and straightforward security tool that adds a long list of URLs to the Windows Hosts file. They are mostly domains known to have advertisements and popups, as well as adult-oriented content.

The app gets installed quickly and painlessly. However, it cannot run unless you have .NET Framework. The interface consists of a single window that shows all options provided by the application. It's enabled by default, which means that the Hosts file is changed as soon as you start up this tool.

If you want to find out the exact domains that were blocked by HostsShield, you can open the Hosts file in a common text editor. It's typically located in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\. You can even add your own domains to this blacklist, as long as you follow the format shown by the program. You can also disable the shield with the click of a button.

Returning to the main window, you can prevent the tool from automatically updating the Hosts file with newer domains, ask it to run at every Windows startup by default and to minimize at startup in order to get out of your way. Unfortunately, it doesn't contain management abilities that would allow you to directly view and edit Hosts.

No issues were encountered when testing this program in our evaluation. It quickly applied settings to the Hosts file. Taking everything into account, HostsShield turns out to be an ordinary, yet practical security tool for keeping certain websites blocked by modifying the Windows Hosts file.