Bit of a noob qusetion I know but...

**Real Loki** · April 12th, 2005, 05:21 AM

Hi all, I've been doing some investigating into all the defferent P2P (what does that stand for?) about as I started off with the original Spyware ridden Kazaa so had to remove that and now have been using Kazaa Lite for some time since a friend sent me it. It seems that Kazaa Lite is the best as free and got no spyware and as your imformative forum has tought me, the rest are scams or pay versions like Kazaa Gold. http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=17376

My Noob question is that I accidently let my Spysweeper accept a Kazaaplantinum.com host file entry and am unsure what it will do. What is a Host file entry? I couldn't find it with any of my anti spyware programs, it tried to add to it but managed to stop that but this Kazaaplantinum.com is still there. Will it try to redirect my browsing and how do I get rid of it and other Host files??? Where did uit come from in the 1st place? All I know is that Host file entries come on at start up. Can anyone please help this noob out? Thanks!

Real Loki

**Auggie2k** · April 12th, 2005, 05:48 AM

Firstly, P2P means peer-to-peer.

Secondy, Kazaa? Try something a little newer, torrent compatible, Bittorrent, Shareaza ect.

Thirdly, the short answer to your question is that there is a Hosts file and the Hosts file is like an address book. When you type an address like www.yahoo.com into your browser, the Hosts file is consulted to see if you have the IP address, or "telephone number," for that site. If you do, then your computer will "call it" and the site will open. If not, your computer will ask your ISP's computer for the phone number before it can "call" that site. Most of the time, you do not have addresses in your "address book," because you have not put any there. Therefore, most of the time your computer asks for the IP address from your ISP to find sites.

If you want the long answer go to http://accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

The Hosts file is usually located in...

Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000/XP Pro c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP Home c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

If you find it, just remove Kazaaplatinum.com from it.

If the spyware program blocked it, try search through the program for a list of Hosts, if it accepted it the information must be there and it must be able to be removed.

All the information is at http://accs-net.com/hosts/

**Real Loki** · April 12th, 2005, 06:20 AM

Thanks for your help Auggie, pretty basic stuff I know but new to all this p2p. Just had an email recommending soulseek, is this anygood? Been told Kazaa Lite is still bugged but not noticed any problems apart form it being a bit limited to anything but audio searches and even then it seems very hard to get a whole album with many of the tracks not on their. Thanks again for your help!

Loki :gj

**Real Loki** · April 12th, 2005, 06:26 AM

Originally Posted by Auggie2k

Firstly, P2P means peer-to-peer.

Secondy, Kazaa? Try something a little newer, torrent compatible, Bittorrent, Shareaza ect.

Thirdly, the short answer to your question is that there is a Hosts file and the Hosts file is like an address book. When you type an address like www.yahoo.com into your browser, the Hosts file is consulted to see if you have the IP address, or "telephone number," for that site. If you do, then your computer will "call it" and the site will open. If not, your computer will ask your ISP's computer for the phone number before it can "call" that site. Most of the time, you do not have addresses in your "address book," because you have not put any there. Therefore, most of the time your computer asks for the IP address from your ISP to find sites.

If you want the long answer go to http://accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

The Hosts file is usually located in...

Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000/XP Pro c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP Home c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

If you find it, just remove Kazaaplatinum.com from it.

If the spyware program blocked it, try search through the program for a list of Hosts, if it accepted it the information must be there and it must be able to be removed.

All the information is at http://accs-net.com/hosts/

I now understand what a host file is but have you any idea why this Kazaaplatinum.com host file suddenly appeared on my PC? I can only think that it has some link to Kazaa Lite as not searched for anything to to with Kazaaplatinum.com. What's the usual reason for random Host files just appearing? I take it, if it happens again it's best to remove it? My PC is clean of spyware so comfused?

**Auggie2k** · April 12th, 2005, 06:27 AM

Yeah a change is definately in order for you. You want full albums, your better off switching to a newtork like Bittorrent (as I said), eDonkey or Gnutella. Check out the review on Soulseek on the front page of zeropaid.. http://www.zeropaid.com/soulseek/ ..I haven't used this program (Shareaza fan myself) but a good few of my mates do and I have heard of no problems and nothing but good speeds and downloads. So definately give it a go, it's spyware free. Peace!

Auggie2k

**Auggie2k** · April 12th, 2005, 06:30 AM

I now understand what a host file is but have you any idea why this Kazaaplatinum.com host file suddenly appeared on my PC? I can only think that it has some link to Kazaa Lite as not searched for anything to to with Kazaaplatinum.com. What's the usual reason for random Host files just appearing? I take it, if it happens again it's best to remove it? My PC is clean of spyware so comfused?

I'm guessing Kazaa associates itself with it to prevent any confrontations with downloads and updates and such, much like a program associating itself with a firewall. It doesn't sound like a big problem, it problably would be if it was the original spyware riddled Kazaa.