Here's an interesting little fact.
There was a time where the Internet ran without DNS.
Now we're going back 25 years ago about the first 10 to 15 years of the Internet really kicking
in.
We didn't use DNS.
Keep in mind there weren't that many computers on the Internet just a few thousand.
So instead of DNS which didn't exist they had something called a hosts file.
H o s t s.
There's no extension there's no dot text dot doc or anything and it's just a text file.
The host file was nothing more than a listing of a bunch of names and then their associated IP addresses.
In fact back in the old days they didn't even have fully qualified domain names.
You could pretty much name your computer almost anything you wanted.
It was a mess.
But back in the early days it worked.
Now DNS completely supplanted the host file as a concept.
However the hosts file still exists.
It's in every computer that runs TCP/IP.
Windows Macs Linux they've all got a hosts file and the cool part is you ready for this.
The host file will take precedence over DNS.
So let's see how all this works.
Let me show you the host file on my Windows system. On a Windows system you can locate the hosts file
it's under Windows system 32 drivers etc, or what the hip kids call the ETSI, folder and right here is
the hosts file.
Now it's just a text file so we can just open it up with any text file tool.
So I'm just going use Notepad.
OK now first of all do you see these pound signs.
These pound signs mean that it is a commentary and it's not actually being read.
So it's just giving us some examples.
So what we can do here is like for example I've got a friend of mine and his computer name is this big
hairy long name and it's always hard for me to type in if I want to access shared folders or anything
so I can actually just come in and I'll type in his IP address and then I can just give it any name
I want.
So now if I want to get to that particular computer instead of typing in his horrible computer name
that he uses I just created a shortcut so I can just type in for example here Fred and I can get to
that particular machine.
Now I want to show you another little trick you can do that's kind of fun.
I'm going to open up a command prompt real quick and let's I want to ping the most irritating Web site
in the entire universe.
Barney dotcom.
Ok I now have the IP address for www.barney.com.
You see that right there.
OK now what we're going to do now you don't do this on your computer.
You do it on somebody you want to play a trick on.
So that's the IP address so I can type in 72.
Boom just like that. And just have a few spaces or tabs it doesn't really matter.
And then pick a Web site that they go to a lot. See that? Now the computer's going to have to be rebooted
but once that's put in there any time they open up a web browser and go to w w w dot total sem dot
com it's going to take them to this IP address instead.
So it's a great practical joke.
So that's what a hosts file is all about.
Even though it's obsolete.
The fact that it takes precedence over your DNS makes it a great place for your own little personal
shortcuts for your computer and also makes for a great practical joke too.
But you didn't hear it from me.