In Windows XP, I was able to make a shortcut to open the /etc/hosts file with notepad.exe using the following settings: Target: C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe hosts Start in: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc When I try the same thing in Windows7, notepad.exe insists on trying to open hosts.txt. Is there a way to force it to open the hosts file (without the .txt extension)? I tried putting quotes around the file name but that didn't change anything.

In Windows XP, I was able to make a shortcut to open the /etc/hosts file with notepad.exe using the following settings: Target: C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe hosts Start in: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc use this as target: C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts and in the shortcut options under advanced select "Run as administrator". Otherwise you can't store the modified hosts file. André"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" Want to install RSAT on Windows 7 Sp1? Check my HowTo: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=150221

Thanks André - that worked. I'm still curious to know why my original shortcut that worked ok in XP didn't work in Win7.