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HOTS Tools Handy OS Tools Suite
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v2.4 · Windows 10/11 (64-bit)

More than a Hosts file editor.

HOTS Hosts is three tools in one: a proper hosts file editor, parental control that needs no router changes, and 37 Windows privacy settings you switch on one by one. You don’t need to understand how any of it works, because the app walks you through it.

Download HOTS Hosts Browse the code How to install
GPLv3 · free & open source 🔒 No data collected · no ads No account needed EN · PL · FR · DE · ES · PT · RU · IT
Free download, no trial, no hidden costs · Windows will ask to confirm admin rights on first run · SmartScreen may warn about a new app — see why

Click a screenshot to enlarge.

# what's inside

Four modules, one clean app

HOTS Hosts isn't just a table editor — it bundles the tools people actually reach for around the hosts file.

Core Editing & Safety

HOTS Hosts is more than a file editor — it has tools that genuinely help while you edit the hosts file.

  • Add, edit and delete entries in a form — no Notepad, no fighting admin permissions
  • Toggle, don't delete — flip an entry off without losing it
  • Bulk paste multiple "IP hostname" lines at once, with column sorting and live search
  • One-click Repair — the Repair button removes duplicates and invalid lines, turns wildcard entries (*.example.com) into plain domains, and lowercases host names. Changes show up in the table and reach the file only when you save
  • Auto-backup before every save — rotating archive of the last 15, browsable in the Backup Manager
  • Diff preview before writing, plus post-save verification
  • DNS cache flushed automatically after every save
  • Restore the default Windows hosts file in one click — from the Backup Manager, after a confirmation; your current file is backed up first
  • Import/export to .txt or .csv
  • Safety limit of 20,000 active entries in the hosts file — protects the Windows DNS Client, and saving above the limit is blocked

Diagnostics

Catches the entries that are quietly broken or actively dangerous.

  • Domain existence check — queries Google/Cloudflare public DNS directly and in parallel, bypassing your local hosts file
  • Malware scanner — checks your entries for signs of hijacking so you don't have to know what to look for. It covers well over a dozen risk signals:
    redirected system/payment domains blocked Windows Update / AV redirect to public IP mass-redirect patterns raw-IP hostnames Unicode homoglyphs zero-width characters Punycode hostnames DGA-style domains fuzzy-matched typosquatting
  • Known-safe subdomains and CDNs are auto-whitelisted, plus a per-entry ignore list so confirmed-safe results stop reappearing

Parental Control

Blocklists for 15 categories — each in its own tagged section so toggles never collide.

New to this? Read the guide for parents →

Adult content Games Torrents Dating Random video chat YouTube TikTok Instagram Facebook Twitter/X WhatsApp Snapchat Twitch Pinterest Reddit
  • One-click Cloudflare Family DNS — automatically applied across all active network interfaces, no manual adapter selection needed
  • DNS settings backed up per interface and restored automatically when disabled; protection persists across sessions
  • 🔒 Hosts file lock (new) — denies write/delete access to the hosts file at the Windows permission level, so blocklists can't be edited from outside the app
  • 🚫 Application & VPN client blocking (new) — stops specific programs, or a curated list of 10 popular VPN clients, from launching at all, with Watchdog monitoring that flags any tampering
  • 🔐 DNS-over-HTTPS blocking (new) — closes the browser-level DoH bypass system-wide via managed-browser policy in Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox, so it can't be re-enabled from inside the browser

Privacy

Rebuilt from a single on/off switch into a tiered control center — 37 individual system tweaks across four levels.

How the privacy levels work in plain words →

  • Basic (13 tweaks) — telemetry policy, DiagTrack & dmwappushservice services, advertising ID, Bing/search suggestions, Recall, feedback, CEIP
  • Medium (12 tweaks) — firewall rules (CompatTelRunner, devicecensus, WerFault) and 9 scheduled tasks (Appraiser, Consolidator, UsbCeip…)
  • Advanced (5 tweaks) — WerSvc / PcaSvc services, Activity Feed, cross-device activity sync
  • Privacy+ (7 tweaks) (new) — location service, handwriting/text input collection, personalization, cross-device clipboard, Find My Device
  • 📡 Known telemetry domains — the hosts-file blocklist toggle formerly under Parental Control lives here too
  • 🩹 Drift detection — flags any setting Windows silently resets, one click to re-apply
  • 🛟 System Restore integration — one-click restore point, plus removing Windows' restore-frequency limit if it's blocking you
  • 📝 Block your own domains (new) — a free-text blocklist for anything the built-in categories miss, stored separately so it survives a hosts restore or uninstall
🌗 Dark & Light themes — switch anytime in Options 🎨 5 accent colors — Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Teal 💾 Auto-backup — rotating archive of last 15 🔄 Built-in update checker — pulls the latest GitHub release 🔑 Password protection — salted hash, required to open or uninstall 🌐 8 languages — EN, PL, FR, DE, ES, PT, RU, IT 📤 Import & Export — .txt hosts format or .csv 📝 Raw text view with syntax highlighting 🔧 One-click repair — dedupes and fixes malformed lines
# changelog

What's new in 2.4

A focused release: one more language and safer password storage, on top of the lighter 2.3 base.

🌐
Italian language added — the interface is now available in 8 languages.
🔐
Stronger password storage — the startup password is now stored as a salted hash. Existing passwords keep working and are upgraded the next time you change the password.
🧹
Minor improvements throughout the application's code.
⚡
Still lighter since 2.3 — the app runs on its own lightweight window and widgets instead of PySide6-Fluent-Widgets, with significantly lower resource usage.
# what's next

Three tools today. More on the way.

HOTS Hosts was the first release under HOTS Tools — Handy OS Tools Suite, a small line of no-nonsense Windows utilities. HOTS Hosts Lite joins it as a lighter, simpler sibling with its own focus.

● available — v2.4

HOTS Hosts

Edit, back up, diagnose, and lock down your Windows hosts file — with parental controls and a telemetry blocker built in.

● available — v1.2

HOTS Hosts Lite

A lighter alternative to HOTS Hosts. Block domains and cut apps off from the network, protect your hosts file, use 3 profiles, and test your internet connection and DNS.

 ● available — v1.0

HOTS Uninstaller

A cleaner way to uninstall programs: it finds and removes the leftovers too, after you review them.
# faq

Questions people actually ask

Will this slow down my PC or internet?
Generally no — HOTS Hosts itself doesn't run as a background service or monitor your traffic. The one honest exception is the hosts file itself: Windows' own DNS Client service loads the whole file into memory, so an extremely large one (tens of thousands of entries) can genuinely slow down or even hang DNS lookups. That's why HOTS Hosts enforces a 20,000-entry safety limit and blocks saves beyond it — for anything under that, you won't notice a difference.
Is any of my data collected or sent anywhere?
No. There's no telemetry, no analytics, no account, and no ads. HOTS Hosts makes network requests only for things you start yourself — checking a domain or running the malware scanner. The one exception is the update check, which runs when the app starts. It only asks GitHub whether a newer release exists, and you can turn it off in Options so it no longer checks on startup.
Will VPN client blocking affect a VPN I use myself?
Only if you specifically enable it. It's off by default and, when turned on, only blocks a curated list of 10 well-known consumer VPN clients — not VPN protocols in general, and not anything your workplace or router might use.
Will DNS-over-HTTPS blocking break my browser?
No. It only turns off the encrypted DNS-over-HTTPS bypass feature in Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox — normal browsing keeps working exactly the same, just resolved through the regular system DNS (and hosts file) instead of around it.
Does it work on Windows 7, 8, or 32-bit systems?
No — HOTS Hosts requires Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
Is it actually open source, or just "source available"?
Fully open source under GPLv3 — the entire codebase is public on GitHub, so you (or anyone) can read exactly what it does before trusting it with Administrator rights.
# get started

Two ways to run it

Grab the .exe if you just want it working, or build from source if you'd rather verify the code first.

Run the installer

Recommended.

  • 1Download HOTS_Hosts_setup.exe from the Releases page
  • 2Double-click — UAC will prompt for Administrator rights
  • 3Follow the setup wizard. Done. No further setup required.
About the SmartScreen warning

HOTS Hosts is a small independent project without a paid code-signing certificate, so Windows SmartScreen may warn that it "isn't commonly downloaded." That's expected for any new unsigned .exe — it doesn't mean the file is unsafe. Click More info → Run anyway, or build from source yourself if you'd rather verify first. See CODE_SIGNING.md for the full story.

Administrator: Command Prompt
$ pip install "PySide6>=6.11.1" certifi
$ git clone https://github.com/darsono6/HOTS.git
$ cd HOTS
$ pythonw -m hosts_editor
✓ launching HOTS…
Requires Python 3.10+, PySide6 (6.11.1 or newer) and certifi. Must be run as Administrator — the hosts file is write-protected by Windows.

❤️ Support the project

Hi, I’m Darsono. I build and maintain HOTS Hosts, and it’s free to use. If you like it and it makes your work easier, you can support its development. Any amount, even a small one, helps me keep developing it. I’d be truly grateful.

PayPal Ko-fi hots.support@gmail.com

📄 License & disclaimer

Released under the GNU GPLv3. Provided in good faith but without any warranty — modifying the hosts file affects system-level network resolution, so use with care. You use this software at your own risk. Found a security issue? See SECURITY.md for how to report it.

© 2026 Darsono

Your system. Your rules.

HOTS Hosts gives you more control over what your Windows PC connects to, what it shares and what it allows.
Privacy, parental protection, monitoring and Hosts management — in one modern Windows application.

Download HOTS Hosts Browse the code