I have been having the most awful trouble trying to figure out why I recently could not use www.download.com or any of the CNET.com sites.

It turns out that www.download.com will open but the site has lost all functionality due the Hosts file blocking their i.i.com.com server.

I have read various postings about this including Sabu75 and Xero Grid (see below) .....

Torrentspy

Bluetack BISS Hosts Forum Sabu75 Group: Forum Moderator

http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php...92;.i\.com

FBI Finds It Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data:

Judge: TorrentSpy must preserve data in RAM
arstechnica.com — TorrentSpy will have to begin keeping logs after a federal judge reaffirmed an earlier ruling that data temporarily stored in RAM is subject to subpoena. But with TorrentSpy blocking access by US residents, there won't be much information for it to turn over to the MPAA.

__________________________________________________________

Xero Grid

HOSTS file entries to avoid using

Xero Grid (has over 200 sites listed)

Entries that block legitimate sites:

Example:

127.0.0.1 i.i.com.com


__________________________________________________________

I have had to remove the Hosts block i.i.com.com
CNET.com and download.com now load properly.

Whilst I agree that i.i.com.com is an ads server surely to block the site completely is the wrong way forward. There are legitimate ad blocking programs like Ad Muncher which will perform this adequately without losing site functionality. I see nothing wrong with download.com as it provides a very useful and comprehensive list of software downloads and user reviews.

In fact if you put http://i.i.com.com/ in the browser address bar it says the URL is invalid.
A Google search for i.i.com.com/ will list download.com
McAfee Site Advisor does not seem to have a problem with i.i.com.com and it is not on any other block list that I can find.

Can you look into this and confirm whether this block should or should not be in the Hosts file.

If it should not be in the Hosts file then perhaps all the 200 sites that Xero Grid lists should be looked at in more detail.

Thanks crisforex33, yes we'll take another look at it and remove that entry if needed.

Thank you taking a look at this.

I have had a reply from John Wilkinson who is a Moderator of the Cnet Forum and I quote from his reply on that forum ....

Add dw.com.com to block list

I note that adlog.com.com is already on the BISS Hosts block list but dw.com.com is not.
Although dw-eu.com.com is already on the block list.

Good morning. First time caller, long time blocker.


Most of the content is now legitimate, and indeed required for normal operation, coming from:
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/css
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/html
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i


And the vast majority of advertising has been outsourced to the usuals:
atdmt.com
doubleclick.net
adserver.yahoo.com
revsci.net


However, some ads are still distributed through:
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads
http://adlog.com.com


Also from Cnet's servers, dw.com.com advertises and tracks inter-property services through redirects. You could block it to reduce Cnet's advertising of itself, which I have done, but it would also break links some users may actually wish to follow, so exercise discretion there.

Finally, bwp.cnet.com is used (solely) to display Google Syndication ads, so it can be safely blocked.

Hope this helps,
John

Hello John.Wilkinson & welcome.

Thanks for popping by with additional details. I'll fix that in the next update. People who still receive ads from i.i.com (which I have from time to time) can easily add the entry back themselves if needed.

Some adblockers could even allow content from the domain execept from /ads - exemple Kaspersky's popup / banner blocker.

Half is prolly yet cleaned out. I've started the hosts file from scratch almost so I doubt I even looked at that file.