HOTS Hosts

HOTS Hosts is a lightweight, feature-rich Windows application that lets you view, edit, and manage the system hosts file through a clean, Fluent Design dark-themed GUI — no more manually navigating to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ and fighting with Notepad permissions.

Key features:

Core editing: real-time table view with live search, bulk paste, enable/disable entries without deleting them, auto-backup before every save (last 15 kept), diff preview, and import/export in .txt and .csv.

Diagnostics: domain checker that flags entries pointing at domains that no longer exist, plus a heuristic malware scanner for hijacked or suspicious entries (homoglyphs, DGA-style domains, typosquatting and more).

Parental Control: one-click blocklists across 15 categories (adult content, dating, random video chat, social apps, games, torrents and more), one-click Cloudflare Family DNS enforcement, hosts file lock, application blocking, VPN client blocking, DNS-over-HTTPS blocking in browsers, and blocking System Restore from undoing the changes.

Privacy: 37 Windows telemetry and tracking settings across 4 levels (Basic to Privacy+), covering telemetry services, advertising ID, activity history, location tracking, Recall and more. Includes drift detection and one-click System Restore point creation.

Extras: light and dark themes, 4 accent colors, 7 languages (English, Polish, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian), optional password protection for opening or uninstalling the app, and a built-in update checker.

100% free, open source under GPLv3, no ads, no telemetry, no account required.