Our fourth Q & A of the week comes from Gerry via the PCstats reader feedback page . If you have a question you need answered right away, try our friendly forums for help.

Q: Your site has been very helpful to me in trying to eliminate browser hijacking. I do need clarification on one aspect though. When I search for HOSTS file I get a message that looks like this: # local host: Needs to stay like this to work 127.0.0.1 local host # KaZaA related 127.0.0.1 www.altnetp2p.com 127.0.0.1 www.bonzi.com 127.0.0.1 www.brilliantdigital.com 127.0.0.1 www.b3d.com 127.0.0.1... From here the list goes on a long way. I want to know if I am supposed to delete everything except the first two lines about the local host. I am pretty sure that is what I need to do but want to make positively sure before I do it. Thank you very much for all your wisdom and help

A: You can safely delete all but the first '127.0.0.1 localhost' line from your HOSTS file, which will restore it to its default condition (you should also leave any comment lines above it, indicated with a '#' at the start of the line). The HOSTS file is not at all necessary for accessing Internet sites in Windows XP or 2000, so any other entry here is useless at best, suspect at worst. Consider making the HOSTS file read-only.