Download HostsMan 4.0 Beta 6

One way to keep malware and advertisements out is to block the computers that serve this content. This can be done by including the IP numbers of these machines in the host file and pointing them to localhost. Keeping this host file up-to-date is quite a time-consuming job, but HostsMan can help with that. This free program can retrieve current lists of well-known websites as mvps hosts and combine them with the already present host file. Furthermore, it can check the host file for wrong, duplicate or malicious lines, there is a built-in editor and the dns cache can be emptied. Version 4.0 has been in development since February and beta 6 was released on Monday.

What’s new in 4.0.85 Beta6?

• Added: “Malware Domain List” update source;
• Added: ability to change in which order updates are installed;
• Added: IDN support;
• Changed: more code refactoring and small UI tweaks;
• Changed: error detection improved;
• Changed: minor improvements when changing the DNS Client service startup type;
• Fixed: scan report doesn’t show errors;
• Fixed: missing notification (tray) icon on some systems;
• Fixed: minor bugs.

What’s new in 4.0.84 Beta5?

• Changed: minor UI tweaks;
• Fixed: application cannot be launched without a debug library;
• Fixed: cannot control DNS Client service status.

What’s new in 4.0.83 Beta4?

• Changed: improved performance when rearranging hosts file content;
• Changed: improved error handling when checking for hosts file updates;
• Changed: improved feedback when using import wizard;
• Changed: more code refactoring;
• Changed: minor accessibility improvements;
• Changed: minor UI tweaks;
• Fixed: minor bugs.

What’s new in 4.0.82 Beta3?

• Added: “Scan Hosts file” menu item is available again;
• Changed: more code refactoring;
• Changed: improved compatibility with Windows 8 and Windows Server “8”
• Changed: minor UI tweaks;
• Fixed: several import bugs;
• Fixed: “argument out of range” in systems that do not support IPv6;
• Fixed: minor bugs.

What’s new in 4.0.81 Beta2?

• Added: built-in hosts file optimization;
• Changed: more code refactoring;
• Changed: improved validation of IP addresses and host names;
• Changed: minor UI improvements;
• Changed: removed HostsOptimizer;
• Fixed: changes made by “Mark update as not installed” and “Mark all updates as not installed” are not saved to disk;
• Fixed: download progress is not reported correctly;
• Fixed: restoration of update information fails to erase previous information;
• Fixed: minor bugs.

What’s new in 4.0.80 Beta1?

• Changed: Windows versions prior to XP SP2 no longer supported;
• Added: HTTPS support;
• Added: option to automatically flush DNS cache when hosts file is imported, updated or a backup is restored (only if DNS Client service is running);
• Added: “Cameleon” update source;
• Added: ability to import and export list of update sources;
• Changed: major code refactoring;
• Changed: hosts file updater rewritten;
• Changed: removed AutoUpdate;
• Changed: backups created by Backup Manager are now compressed and include updater information;
• Changed: removed ability to create encrypted backups;
• Changed: improved unicode support;
• Changed: removed “ZipDll.dll” and “UnzDll.Dll” libraries;
• Changed: updated URLs for “MVPS Hosts” and all “hpHosts” sources;
• Changed: improved “Find Duplicates” algorithm;
• Changed: removed HostsServer (it’s now a separate product; available here);
• Changed: updated HostsOptimizer to version 0.5;
• Changed: minor UI improvements done;
• Fixed: several bugs and memory leaks.