Blocking Windows Update?

[Guest LB]

Microsoft's use of caching servers at Akamai could pose problems for those who have set their Windows system to auto-update and use a hosts file to block advertising or any other web content. Reader Glen Fergus wrote in that his XP system had not updated itself since August 16. On August 18, Microsoft made changes in its DNS so that requests for its website no longer resolved to machines on Microsoft's own network but were handled by caching servers at Akamai.

Microsoft made the changes after the problems caused by the Blaster worm which was programmed to stage a distributed denial of service attack on the Windows update site. Some Windows users map a list of URLs in their hosts file - which resides at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS - to the localhost's IP (127.0.0.1) to redirect URLs locally before the system looks for it on the internet. Thus if a site named ads.server.com is mapped to 127.0.0.1 on a person's computer, ads from this server on any website visited by the individual will be blocked.

Windows users requesting updates from Microsoft are now routed to one of the Akamai servers, a248.e.akamai.net. However, Akamai is a well-known host for advertising services, so many who use the hosts file to redirect URLs locally also block all Akamai servers. Fergus said deleting this one line - a248.e.akamai.net - from the hosts file would ensure that updates were not blocked.

source: Guru3D

[Guest moon]

.....and would ensure that ads were not blocked as well ? It's an interesting thought, knowing Micro$haft's dependence on subterfuge, but I have never used MS Update at all. I'm still running 98SE with no problems.