Hello I have understood that you cant edit the host fiel as you used to under WIN XP. On my WIN7 pc I must follow the prescribed method of 1st running notpepad as Administrator thenopeingthe host file from within Notepad. Then I ca nhave my changes saved I have another windows 7 laptop that I can just open the host file any old way I want and save changes with no warning that I cant save the changes Any explaination for this Iahve no recollection of unhdin the file or changin and security on the file ....and it appeaers the security for the fiel is the same as on my other PC that seesm to make me follw what everyone says about running notpad as administrator then you cna edit and save also unrelated to this question .... a separate question ...what would happen if you saved a winxp host file on usb flash drive and dumped it into the proper WIN7 folder......would it function correclty ? is thare any way to know if the file was of WINXP vintage ? thanks

The hosts file is protected by your UAC settings. If UAC is off then there is no protection. Have a look at the hosts file. It is just a plain text file. There is nothing in there that is Windows-7 specific.

Any idea why when you launch Notebook and try to open the host file , you must changethe file type selection to all files? I have always wondered abou tthat and becasue of that ialways have made sure to not save it as txt ....... dont knw why butthat it what i ahve always done anyway, my WIN7 PC has UAC set to NEVER and I still must do the "regular" method of host file editing that I learned when WIN7 1st came out Unhide the file Launch Notepadas ADMINISTRATOR do the file open within notepad and youwil lbe able to save changes any other way will not save changes now on the WIN7 laptop UAC is also set to never and you can open /edit the hostfile anyway you want and it will permit the edited file to be saved ....no eleveated privilages needed very confusing

http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/ here is one of the many examples out on the net

Any idea why when you launch Notebook and try to open the host file , you must changethe file type selection to all files? I have always wondered abou tthat and becasue of that ialways have made sure to not save it as txt Notepad.exe saves its files by default with a .txt extension, unless you set the file type to "all files". Since the Hosts file has no extension, the "all files" option is required. I assume the link you quoted answers your remaining questions.

That link outlines the process I have always followed since WIN7 came out launching notepad as administrator then file open from within notepad.......... so my quandry of why it seems that you may of may not have ot follow that prescribed method is still a big question ....one that it appears may not have an answer.......if one way doesnt not work use the other ? just like some folks say to never let notepad put. txt on the file but others state it is a txt file ....... as long as the file works whether it is .txt or not I dont care thanks