@@Insomnia74 there is so much wrong with this statement it's ridiculous. Let's start by compatibility issues (can't run Adobe apps as an example), Libre office doesn't do macros, gaming is getting better but still isn't there yet, drivers for peripherals are buggy etc.
dont forget, it used to be "My Computer', today its 'This Computer', tomorrow 'Subscription based Computer'... they try to be subtle, when its not subtle at all. we need to avoid companys who try to lead us into the slaughter house.
I followed the instructions and was worriedly uncomfortable with the amount of data being harvested !!! I encourage everyone who has had enough of the constant gathering of our browser habits to delve into this. Thank you, Liron Segev
do no use this you won't get access to the internet just your local i just did it and have to do a system restore cuz i couldn't do anything just a heads up
Shutup10 is really what the new Windows settings menu should have been. It's incredible how worthless the Windows settings menu is, how hard it is to find different settings, and how little information you get in the settings menu. Shutup10 is one of the first programs I install on any machine.
dont use this nothing but your local stuff will show up i just did this and i could not get on the internet as I have internet i checked everything just does not work
that hosts lists has now got over 600 entries, was around 250 in this video lol also thank you so much, i've been looking how to make my system leaner. New Subscriber!
Thank you so much my friend, I said so many times in the past that they want to control us. We must control them, and that is exactly what you taught us here. Best
Just found out your video. I started doing your recommendations, opening my task manager, my cpu from 90% went down to 5%, thanks man, one subscribe for you. You dont know how much I thank you for this
@@Corteum the way you put it make it sound like I run multiple heavy applications at once for years... I just stated the estimates. Before I follow his suggestions, my pc has many microsoft whatshit in task manager and running and uses my pc's resources. I cant end them all fearing errors or something bad might happen, it was high at 60% - 90% and I uses two browsers with multiple tabs and one vpn, I open the same applications after Im done with his suggestions (include restart) and voila it was now at the range of 5% to 20%.
I used to run a separate Pihole, but recently swithed to AdBlock-Lean running on my OpenWRT router. No need for all the traffic to hop through another device. Also, it's easier to administer and configure on a single device.. ;)
@@LironSegev - Hey Liron, at 6:55 you used "0_0_0_0" as a DNS "black-hole". A better option is to use local the host address "127_0_0_1" ("_" is a dot).
A step you missed is flushing the cached DNS entries on your computer. The least technical way to do it is to reboot the computer once the host file is updated. Of course, you can flush the DNS for an ipconfig command in a command prompt.
DNS entries are cached with a TTL (time to live), I am pretty sure those DNS entries will be cached the moment the PC is on the internet. "ipconfig /flushdns" To flush the DNS cache.
This was a step I completely forgot to do. Thanks for this! I noticed when I first did it Windows Security noticed and reverted it back, but it hasn't happened again.
Note that some browsers use an internal dns server Bypassing hosts etc. also at a work environment gp settings can be stored on a server thus using it instead host. Reason why i use pihole with added dns from iblocklists and its across all devices on network free.
note that these apps don't use the browser - they do the DNS lookup and that uses the host file. I was just showing the browser so you can visually see what happens. Its not like Office opens up your browser first.
I'm on a Linux PC ATM watching this. I'll definitely be revisiting this next time I login to my Windows machines. I just pulled up the MS blocklist suggestion from your link and WOW! I wouldn't have thought there was so many addresses that collect data and this is just from MS! However I have a couple of questions that if you block all of these domains, will - Windows updates still work? - The Outlook app still work? Will Outlook still work through a browser? - In the blocklist it specifically states - "Expires: 7 Days", so I gather you'd have to update your config file every 7 days?
The consensus seems to be that anytime you take action against Microsoft, they fix it with an update or when you reboot it overwrites the file you changed. What makes this method different?
@@LironSegev Lol. So I did this to my pc and it triggered windows defender, who gave me a warning about SettingsModifier:Win32/PossibleHostsFileHijack that it warns could make changes to the host files. Which sounds an awful lot like Windows taddling on itself.
The only real problem with using the hosts file is that some software, not Windows yet but probably soon, don't use DNS as the ip address is hard coded into the software.
Blocking DNS is a great start, i'm actually using pi.hole, so that list is automatically updated. I like the option to have the dns blocking done on a device that is NOT under the control of the OS. What happens when Microsoft just uses the IP address directly? do you have any suggestions that use the firewall to block IPs or has a whitelist feature?
Thank You...won't it affect MS Store functionality or other important services such as Windows updates? because MS Store already doesn't work properly specially in Windows 10
I have been using Windows Firewall to block/deny the outbound telemetry from Windows 10. Britech has a video on how to do that and a link to a script to disable the dozens of Windows outbound telemetry services. Does this accomplish the same thing as changing the IP address in your second method? Thanks for the video
Interestingly when I move the Host folder back from the desktop to the folder it copies but then I get a Malware alert.. file stays on the desktop. Checked some websites were actually blocked and yes they were.
Excellent information. You did say one thing that was hilarious: quickly restart windows. Somehow the words quick and windows just don't seem to go together.
I found an issue with the 2nd method with host file. If you have another login on your system, it won't read from that file evidently. I have a 2nd account on the system for kids and logged in and it let me go to the website I was trying to block
you may need to reboot. But also remember that these systems don't use your web browser, they do the DNS lookup and use the Windows hosts file. You can also check the host file when loging in with their account to make sure it is still there. If not, add the entries to their host file too.
Could you also show traffic before and after using Wireshark, I also want to run windows on a virtual machine in linux and do the same thing to see if there is no other surprises
thanks for this video, I was hankering to find out how to stop the DNS connections to Microsoft data collection, great simple to follow and informative video... I would switch to linux but app support isn't there for me.
@@rawmaterials3909 dude, let's be honest. If you have to reinstall your operating system and it happens quite often, it's not the operating system's fault. The code hasn't been nearly that unstable since Windows 8, which was quickly countered with Windows 8.1 which was stable. You might want to look at the user who's screwing it up so bad, doesn't know the real answer to the problem and just simply reinstalls thinking that's going to solve their issue. Reinstalling is the same code you had before, so what's the difference? The difference lies in the screw-ups that people have wiped out by reinstalling. Another thing people don't seem to understand is that hard drives decay. That is, they get worse over time and people think that reinstalling is solving the base problem but the fact is the hard drive needs change out. It's likely you don't even know how to diagnose a condition based on an increasingly bad hard drive. Lastly, another easy tip is corrupt operating system files which can be fixed easily with an Administrator Command Prompt running the command "Sfc /scannow".
Just found you (& subbed) as I'm very concerned about Microsoft. Not confident with tech, so taking first steps. Only got my first smartphone late last year, and I'm almost 60. Thinking of Linux, but need to do my research.
Awesome video. Thank you so much for all your helpful advice and for not telling us all to click lots of obscure folders and options that simply don't exist on our machines. (like so many other You Tube clips do)
There is a program called Windows 10 Firewall Control (free and paid) it won't stop edge from starting but you can completely block it from sending data
Great video Liron! Could you also do a video on disabling Recall, Copilot and anything else AI related? I want no part of constant snapshots, keylogging capture, etc.
I don't use MS OS (I may need too soon though). I understand why you made a backup of the hosts file but why did you move the host file to the desktop and then back to it's original location, could you have just modified it in place? Thanks.
HE MIGHT'VE DONE THAT in case he 'messed something up' while doing what he was doing.Had he left the (edited) host file in its original directory/location , maybe something could go south w/his PC in case he made an error.This way , by moving it to the desktop 1st , he can review everything to make sure all is copacetic before finally moving the file back to where it was originally located.Just a guess tho' ...
because the file is in windows\system32, you need an extra step to run notepad as administrator or it won't save/overwrite the file. what he's doing is a simple workaround to that.
Once ithis is done , how does this effect Windows update? does it still work normally? Do you know what this telemetry data shows about the computer you're on to justify what we're blocking to Microsoft?
Hey Liron, can you help? Since upgrading to Windows 11, my computer sometimes loses internet completely. A full reboot always fixes it, so some software problem is at fault. Is there anything I can do, like and MSDOS "DNS" or "IPCONFIG" command or something, that will configure windows again for proper access to the internet?
I've set up Linux Mint on a spare NVMe drive so I can choose between Mint and Win10 at boot time. So far, the only program I can't find a Mint equivalent for is Garmin Express, which sends the bike ride data from my Garmin 830 to the Garmin Connect website. Even Minecraft was pretty easy to set up in Mint. Getting back to this video - thanks for the thorough guidance!
I think you can put a Garmin app on your phone and have your Garmin sync with your phone which will automatically sync it with the Garmin db and with strava, if you wish.
Very cool for the first part of the video. For the DNS part, couldn't you just run a Pi-hole instance on your local network and point the DNS settings to that? That would take care of all hosts on the network if they get their settings from DHCP.
It would not allow me to use Notepad.exe to edit the host file. I had to use Word instead. In fact, Notepad does not exist in the "open with" menu when right clicking on the Host file.
The host file mod is said to cause an error msg in defender, could't you block those websites in you router. Protect the whole house and no windows defender error. Ps: we need instructions for installing Shutup 10 "silently" so we can use ntlite to just bundle it into our 10 or 11 install. Just a thought.
Is there any indication that this blocked data is being logged anywhere, waiting for the connection to be restored, even briefly, if they change the url?
Superb information!!! Though I am a Linux user, and this does not apply to me directly, I do a lot of troubleshooting of Windows problems for my friends. This is quite helpful, as I utterly dislike Microsoft's snooping (or snooping by any entity for that matter). Thanks much!
Hi just wondering if it's normal that MS Defender flags the new host file as "SettingsModifier:Win32/PossibleHostsFileHijack" and if I should ignore it or revert back to my original host file?
I did the second option a while back (added all those addresses to hosts file) and now I'm getting a "security alert" through Windows Defender. When I go to details, it says this is the type of issue that can change settings on my computer without my consent. Is this something to be expected when doing such a change on this particular file? Has anyone else run into this issue? In short, should I be worried or just brush this off as something non-important?
The original HOST file came from the Unix OS. Think about it, in the seventies there were no DNS servers so everyone had to know the numerical address of every node on the network that they wanted to get to. I have over 16K servers that route to [0.0.0.0] in my HOST file, I don't see ads.
Hi can you help me i have used 0&0 shut up and I believe the settings has stopped my pc from uploading to RUclips but now I can't find it on my laptop to check the setting
Question: Doing this will stop all Microsoft updates, including the security updates and software updates from windows, correct? So how do we stay current with all the updates?
I just realised recently, in Notepad (Win 11) it has both Spellcheck and auto correction Enabled... ummmm when a word is misspelt, Where does the data/verification come from? I disabled both options. Keep up the good work, Cheers
when drag and drop i get error “you don’t have permission to perform this action”. i have this problem on both my laptops, one is win10pro, the other is win11pro. Both are local admin accounts. I have tried making another admin account but got same error. I have to remove the drive from one pc and put it into the other pc as a second drive and change the file that way. Not sure if Microsoft has updated the policy level to block drag and drop. i suspect i could also use a live ‘non-linux’ OS off a thumb drive to do it as well.
I use windows live mail 2012 should I be concerned? Will I still be able to use the Live Mail? I have installed Shutup 10 THX so much also only have a local account on both my laptops MICROSOFT SUCKS!!!!
It's easier this way just logging in with admin doesn't give notepad permissions to write to that folder you could fire up notepad in admin mode and then navigate to the right folder and edit the file. Or just drag and drop it
I was an IT consultant and won a Microsoft Achievement Award and this is one of the most incredible security/privacy videos I have seen.
Appreciate you being here 🔥
@@LironSegev or, you can just get Linux mint. It's so easy that a child can do it.
@@Insomnia74 there is so much wrong with this statement it's ridiculous. Let's start by compatibility issues (can't run Adobe apps as an example), Libre office doesn't do macros, gaming is getting better but still isn't there yet, drivers for peripherals are buggy etc.
@@Insomnia74 yes it may be. Won't run apps that are crucial for me. So....
@@LironSegev Unrelated to the subject, it's all about getting Microsoft out the way.
I keep telling people that MS wants TOTAL control of THEIR Personal Computers! MS doesn't want you doing things for YOURSELF! Many Thanks Liron!
dont forget, it used to be "My Computer', today its 'This Computer', tomorrow 'Subscription based Computer'... they try to be subtle, when its not subtle at all. we need to avoid companys who try to lead us into the slaughter house.
Could also be said of the state of the world as well re ownership, so absolutely makes sense ms is going this way. But, another story.
Richard Stallman has been warning us against this for decades.
You're thinking of Apple.
@@jeffmccloud905Different sides of the same coin
I followed the instructions and was worriedly uncomfortable with the amount of data being harvested !!! I encourage everyone who has had enough of the constant gathering of our browser habits to delve into this. Thank you, Liron Segev
do no use this you won't get access to the internet just your local i just did it and have to do a system restore cuz i couldn't do anything just a heads up
@@vvorldnewsmedia Why did you have to do a System Restore? All you had to do was change the HOSTS file name back.
Shutup10 is really what the new Windows settings menu should have been. It's incredible how worthless the Windows settings menu is, how hard it is to find different settings, and how little information you get in the settings menu. Shutup10 is one of the first programs I install on any machine.
not to be pessimistic, but does it actually blocks Microsoft's telemetry completely?
dont use this nothing but your local stuff will show up i just did this and i could not get on the internet as I have internet i checked everything just does not work
And? Have you solved the Problem? Can you now to on the internet
He said it wasn't a program you had to install.
that hosts lists has now got over 600 entries, was around 250 in this video lol
also thank you so much, i've been looking how to make my system leaner.
New Subscriber!
Im so happy to run into this Channel. You know THE TRUTH and the vulnerability it exposes for us all.
Thank you so much my friend, I said so many times in the past that they want to control us. We must control them, and that is exactly what you taught us here. Best
Thanks!
Appreciate you and thanks for being here 🔥
Just found out your video. I started doing your recommendations, opening my task manager, my cpu from 90% went down to 5%, thanks man, one subscribe for you. You dont know how much I thank you for this
Wow, youve been running your cpu at 90% for years and now suddenly only in the last few hours you fixed it just as this video came out
@@Corteum the way you put it make it sound like I run multiple heavy applications at once for years... I just stated the estimates. Before I follow his suggestions, my pc has many microsoft whatshit in task manager and running and uses my pc's resources. I cant end them all fearing errors or something bad might happen, it was high at 60% - 90% and I uses two browsers with multiple tabs and one vpn, I open the same applications after Im done with his suggestions (include restart) and voila it was now at the range of 5% to 20%.
@@katokatokato4354 At least you found a solution that works. Many peoeple havnet got clues about any of this stuffs
Awesomeness
Just sounds like you had a terrible computer to begin with to be honest
I'm not even remotely saavy about computer stuff, but even I understood this video. Thank you for this excellent production.
Great video Liron. I've just added the list to my Pihole, that way it works across all devices on my network.
Perfect!
that may be a worthwhile video for Liron to cover. Making and setting up a Pihole.
I used to run a separate Pihole, but recently swithed to AdBlock-Lean running on my OpenWRT router. No need for all the traffic to hop through another device. Also, it's easier to administer and configure on a single device.. ;)
@@LironSegev - Hey Liron, at 6:55 you used "0_0_0_0" as a DNS "black-hole". A better option is to use local the host address "127_0_0_1" ("_" is a dot).
@@dotTomdotcom There are many tutorials out there. But it would be good to have one from Liron too 👍
Hmm... I wonder what kind of risks are when changing the DNS for Windows/Microsoft telemetry. Will I be unable to access certain apps?
Great info as usual, Liron. Also, kudos to Gerd hagezi who apparently took the time and effort to compile these lists.
I second that. 👍 Gerg Hagezi
Almost 700 as of 5 sept 2024. Thanks Mr.Liron, this is a huge help, not just for Microsoft, but for a lot of other sites like Amazon.
A step you missed is flushing the cached DNS entries on your computer. The least technical way to do it is to reboot the computer once the host file is updated. Of course, you can flush the DNS for an ipconfig command in a command prompt.
Not everyone can flush the toilet, What is the command?
@@eduardopekurned1505 OPen a command prompt.
Ctrl R
CMD
then type
ipconfig /flushdns
enter
This will delete all cached DNS entries
why would it matter? None of them are going anywhere after you set it up like he said. They are all blocked.
@@eduardopekurned1505lmao! Remember Google is your friend 🧡
DNS entries are cached with a TTL (time to live), I am pretty sure those DNS entries will be cached the moment the PC is on the internet. "ipconfig /flushdns" To flush the DNS cache.
Thanks for this Liron. I have a question, doesn’t the second method interfere with the Microsoft 365 subscription?
This was a step I completely forgot to do. Thanks for this! I noticed when I first did it Windows Security noticed and reverted it back, but it hasn't happened again.
You can make an exception in Defender when it notices the modded host file
@@raincatchfire I forgot I did that to stop it from reverting. Also, widgets will not work.
Note that some browsers use an internal dns server Bypassing hosts etc. also at a work environment gp settings can be stored on a server thus using it instead host. Reason why i use pihole with added dns from iblocklists and its across all devices on network free.
note that these apps don't use the browser - they do the DNS lookup and that uses the host file. I was just showing the browser so you can visually see what happens. Its not like Office opens up your browser first.
I migrated to Linux and never looked back, I don't regret it
Same, I don't get paid for them using my data, so no data for them.
Will Teams or Visual Studio have any problems if all MS is blocked?
Thanks is there something similar for android tablet?
I'm on a Linux PC ATM watching this. I'll definitely be revisiting this next time I login to my Windows machines. I just pulled up the MS blocklist suggestion from your link and WOW! I wouldn't have thought there was so many addresses that collect data and this is just from MS!
However I have a couple of questions that if you block all of these domains, will
- Windows updates still work?
- The Outlook app still work? Will Outlook still work through a browser?
- In the blocklist it specifically states - "Expires: 7 Days", so I gather you'd have to update your config file every 7 days?
Another great segment. Thank you as always, Liron!
Thanks again!
Thanks for the very informative video.... Does either of these methods for blocking telemetry have a negative impact on MS Flight Simulator 2020? 🙂
The consensus seems to be that anytime you take action against Microsoft, they fix it with an update or when you reboot it overwrites the file you changed.
What makes this method different?
This has been around since the original Windows and so this isn't a feature but rather integral to how the system works.
@@LironSegev Lol. So I did this to my pc and it triggered windows defender, who gave me a warning about SettingsModifier:Win32/PossibleHostsFileHijack that it warns could make changes to the host files. Which sounds an awful lot like Windows taddling on itself.
Will this affect Windows updates or MS apps updates?
Do you have one i haven't seen for Apple desktop user ?
Does the host file method prevent downloading apps from the windows store or windows update from working?
Nope.
The only real problem with using the hosts file is that some software, not Windows yet but probably soon, don't use DNS as the ip address is hard coded into the software.
Then it's firewall time to block access to those IPs via your home router, etc.
Sounds like some really weak software. Maybe find a better alternative.
@@beyondpc9421 it's more common in mobile apps than Windows software at the moment. RUclips on android is one of them.
Can we divert the output to have it write to a text file so we can examine what is being pushed out to each now-blocked site?
Excellent video. I made the changes. Got my fingers crossed that I didn't block too many permissions and hosts.
Can changing the host file be used to bypass analytics queries like Google Analytics during searches, or does that not require a DNS lookup?
provided link takes user to o&o web page and it says "Microsoft Partner" ...what?
You're awesome Mr. Liron 🤗 👍. Thank you.
Again you are brilliant with upto date information. thanks from the uk.
Can you check out Portmaster
Blocking DNS is a great start, i'm actually using pi.hole, so that list is automatically updated. I like the option to have the dns blocking done on a device that is NOT under the control of the OS. What happens when Microsoft just uses the IP address directly? do you have any suggestions that use the firewall to block IPs or has a whitelist feature?
Thank You...won't it affect MS Store functionality or other important services such as Windows updates? because MS Store already doesn't work properly specially in Windows 10
nope as you are not blocking any updates - just telemetry and "diagnostic" data. Been doing this for years and I get my updates with no issues.
This is why you have a well deserved 1m subs. Glad I am one of them. Thank you.
Appreciate you 🔥
I have been using Windows Firewall to block/deny the outbound telemetry from Windows 10. Britech has a video on how to do that and a link to a script to disable the dozens of Windows outbound telemetry services. Does this accomplish the same thing as changing the IP address in your second method? Thanks for the video
You're using a MS firewall to block MS sending data? Do you not see the problem with this?
@@beyondpc9421 Yes I do. That's why I use my Windows PC primarily as a gaming console now and do every thing else on my Linux PC.
How do you do the red highlight and the "spark" upon clicking?
Interestingly when I move the Host folder back from the desktop to the folder it copies but then I get a Malware alert.. file stays on the desktop. Checked some websites were actually blocked and yes they were.
Do the updates and other OS services like the store or MS account or xbox still work after this?
Yes
Uodat s and security updates still work. Only blocks telemetry
I can't find the list of host services, please help
Excellent information. You did say one thing that was hilarious: quickly restart windows. Somehow the words quick and windows just don't seem to go together.
For the really important data, windows is bypassing the hosts file and even dns (they have hardcoded ip addresses)
Now that you mention it, this makes sense. 😠
Now that you mention it, this makes sense. Firewalls? pfsense? What would you recommend for non it folks?
I found an issue with the 2nd method with host file. If you have another login on your system, it won't read from that file evidently. I have a 2nd account on the system for kids and logged in and it let me go to the website I was trying to block
you may need to reboot. But also remember that these systems don't use your web browser, they do the DNS lookup and use the Windows hosts file.
You can also check the host file when loging in with their account to make sure it is still there. If not, add the entries to their host file too.
If you’re not an admin on your device is it ok to do this still?
Hey Liron, should I make changes to the host file if I use NextDNS with Hagezi and OISD already?
Could you also show traffic before and after using Wireshark, I also want to run windows on a virtual machine in linux and do the same thing to see if there is no other surprises
Great video as always, Liron. This is priceless information. 👏
Much appreciated!
Liron, always making helpful videos! 👍
What are your thoughts on 0patch? Would you recommend it for people who want to stay on W10 after October 2025?
thanks for this video, I was hankering to find out how to stop the DNS connections to Microsoft data collection, great simple to follow and informative video... I would switch to linux but app support isn't there for me.
I recently watched somebody install Linux Mint. It was easy and it was fast.
Installing Wiindows is easy and it's fast. In fact, if you buy a new computer, it's already installed. So what's your point?
@@SpaceCadet4Jesus probably that microsoft doesnt own linux
@@SpaceCadet4Jesus until you have to reinstall it. Happens quite often.
@@rawmaterials3909 dude, let's be honest. If you have to reinstall your operating system and it happens quite often, it's not the operating system's fault. The code hasn't been nearly that unstable since Windows 8, which was quickly countered with Windows 8.1 which was stable.
You might want to look at the user who's screwing it up so bad, doesn't know the real answer to the problem and just simply reinstalls thinking that's going to solve their issue. Reinstalling is the same code you had before, so what's the difference?
The difference lies in the screw-ups that people have wiped out by reinstalling.
Another thing people don't seem to understand is that hard drives decay. That is, they get worse over time and people think that reinstalling is solving the base problem but the fact is the hard drive needs change out. It's likely you don't even know how to diagnose a condition based on an increasingly bad hard drive.
Lastly, another easy tip is corrupt operating system files which can be fixed easily with an Administrator Command Prompt running the command "Sfc /scannow".
@@SpaceCadet4JesusAnd pollute every time they are started
Just found you (& subbed) as I'm very concerned about Microsoft. Not confident with tech, so taking first steps. Only got my first smartphone late last year, and I'm almost 60. Thinking of Linux, but need to do my research.
Great you showed us how to block the sending of data but how do we stop the collecting of data before it is sent?
Awesome video. Thank you so much for all your helpful advice and for not telling us all to click lots of obscure folders and options that simply don't exist on our machines. (like so many other You Tube clips do)
How does one disable MS_Edge from starting ?
There is a program called Windows 10 Firewall Control (free and paid) it won't stop edge from starting but you can completely block it from sending data
could that list be used at the router level to benefit all devices running windows and solve the problem with updates undoing your changes on a PC?
Thanks so much for this advice. Do you thing MS is still bothering to do it on Win7 users? If so, is there an antidote?
Microsoft has already implemented Telemetry into the windows kernel via forced update many many months ago in Windows 7 so yeah it's just the same
Great video Liron! Could you also do a video on disabling Recall, Copilot and anything else AI related? I want no part of constant snapshots, keylogging capture, etc.
Can you please make a video explaining how to install linux on a old laptop with and without using a usb?
I don't use MS OS (I may need too soon though). I understand why you made a backup of the hosts file but why did you move the host file to the desktop and then back to it's original location, could you have just modified it in place? Thanks.
HE MIGHT'VE DONE THAT in case he 'messed something up' while doing what he was doing.Had he left the (edited) host file in its original directory/location , maybe something could go south w/his PC in case he made an error.This way , by moving it to the desktop 1st , he can review everything to make sure all is copacetic before finally moving the file back to where it was originally located.Just a guess tho' ...
Love learning all these little tricks.
Wow, as a Microsoft 365 user on macbook how would I do that exercise?
Why do you drag the hosts file to desktop to edit. Can’t it be edited in place?
because the file is in windows\system32, you need an extra step to run notepad as administrator or it won't save/overwrite the file. what he's doing is a simple workaround to that.
Once ithis is done , how does this effect Windows update? does it still work normally?
Do you know what this telemetry data shows about the computer you're on to justify what we're blocking to Microsoft?
Wow! Brilliant! How good this make me feel to block data they shouldn't have in the first place.
I was just looking for this software on their wepage and guess what? it says "Microsoft Partner" ..... what kind of partner i'd like to ask?
Hey Liron, can you help? Since upgrading to Windows 11, my computer sometimes loses internet completely. A full reboot always fixes it, so some software problem is at fault. Is there anything I can do, like and MSDOS "DNS" or "IPCONFIG" command or something, that will configure windows again for proper access to the internet?
But if the IP is hard coded in the monitoring function, the destination is not searched in the hosts file.
I've set up Linux Mint on a spare NVMe drive so I can choose between Mint and Win10 at boot time. So far, the only program I can't find a Mint equivalent for is Garmin Express, which sends the bike ride data from my Garmin 830 to the Garmin Connect website. Even Minecraft was pretty easy to set up in Mint. Getting back to this video - thanks for the thorough guidance!
I think you can put a Garmin app on your phone and have your Garmin sync with your phone which will automatically sync it with the Garmin db and with strava, if you wish.
Dual boot is a security risk, and kinda defeats the purpose of using Linux in the first place.
Virtual machines are better if you care about privacy.
Will this block windows updates ?
Nope
@@LironSegev Many thanks.
Very cool for the first part of the video. For the DNS part, couldn't you just run a Pi-hole instance on your local network and point the DNS settings to that? That would take care of all hosts on the network if they get their settings from DHCP.
Not everyone can just run pihole. You need technical skills to run Linux, change router settings etc.
Great info! I just added the entries to my host file. Thank You
It would not allow me to use Notepad.exe to edit the host file. I had to use Word instead. In fact, Notepad does not exist in the "open with" menu when right clicking on the Host file.
Its might be my imagination but after doing the host stuff it really helped with computer speed issues when gaming online.
I never expected those options to actually do anything.
The host file mod is said to cause an error msg in defender, could't you block those websites in you router. Protect the whole house and no windows defender error.
Ps: we need instructions for installing Shutup 10 "silently" so we can use ntlite to just bundle it into our 10 or 11 install. Just a thought.
What is to stop MS from just sending the data to a numeric IP address? This would bypass DNS.
okay... this is cool stuff 💕💕.... i have a question, in shutup10, once we make the changes, it is applied right? cause there is no save button ??
That's right. No save button, but make sure to export your settings so if windows updates ever reverts them, you will be able to quickly restore them.
Will Defender and updates work normally with this?
Yes. It doesn't stop security or windows updates
Is there any indication that this blocked data is being logged anywhere, waiting for the connection to be restored, even briefly, if they change the url?
Superb information!!! Though I am a Linux user, and this does not apply to me directly, I do a lot of troubleshooting of Windows problems for my friends. This is quite helpful, as I utterly dislike Microsoft's snooping (or snooping by any entity for that matter). Thanks much!
Hi just wondering if it's normal that MS Defender flags the new host file as "SettingsModifier:Win32/PossibleHostsFileHijack" and if I should ignore it or revert back to my original host file?
I did the second option a while back (added all those addresses to hosts file) and now I'm getting a "security alert" through Windows Defender. When I go to details, it says this is the type of issue that can change settings on my computer without my consent. Is this something to be expected when doing such a change on this particular file? Has anyone else run into this issue?
In short, should I be worried or just brush this off as something non-important?
The original HOST file came from the Unix OS. Think about it, in the seventies there were no DNS servers so everyone had to know the numerical address of every node on the network that they wanted to get to.
I have over 16K servers that route to [0.0.0.0] in my HOST file, I don't see ads.
Hello brother, will the DNS one work if I already have a private DNS rubning. I run quad9 so yeah?
Hi can you help me i have used 0&0 shut up and I believe the settings has stopped my pc from uploading to RUclips but now I can't find it on my laptop to check the setting
Hi Liron, does stopping Microsoft DNS's also prevent updating the OS?
Nope. You still get the security and windows updates
Question: Doing this will stop all Microsoft updates, including the security updates and software updates from windows, correct? So how do we stay current with all the updates?
Doesn't block updates.
Even as a computer Engineer, I am not above learning new things. Thanks Liron. 😅
We all are constantly learning
So, when a toggle is GREEN (On) the item is disabled?
That's a badly phrased interface page.
Green MS gets your data. Red no
I just realised recently, in Notepad (Win 11) it has both Spellcheck and auto correction Enabled... ummmm when a word is misspelt, Where does the data/verification come from? I disabled both options. Keep up the good work, Cheers
it seems these are kept locally on the computer which is why they work even when you don't have internet access.
when drag and drop i get error “you don’t have permission to perform this action”. i have this problem on both my laptops, one is win10pro, the other is win11pro. Both are local admin accounts. I have tried making another admin account but got same error. I have to remove the drive from one pc and put it into the other pc as a second drive and change the file that way. Not sure if Microsoft has updated the policy level to block drag and drop. i suspect i could also use a live ‘non-linux’ OS off a thumb drive to do it as well.
post this on the win 10 subreddit, or r techsupport
1. what if you just want to block only the Telemetry? and you want to use OneDrive, Teams, Word, etc...
2. how would you find these host entries??
I use windows live mail 2012 should I be concerned? Will I still be able to use the Live Mail? I have installed Shutup 10 THX so much also only have a local account on both my laptops MICROSOFT SUCKS!!!!
Absolutely brilliant advice from 'The Man' himself. Cheers 👍. 🦉
Why did you drag the file to the desktop in order to edit it? With admin privs can't you still edit it in its original location?
It's easier this way just logging in with admin doesn't give notepad permissions to write to that folder you could fire up notepad in admin mode and then navigate to the right folder and edit the file. Or just drag and drop it