Like previous versions of the operating system from Microsoft, Windows 8 works with a hosts file to restrict access to certain Internet resources. However, when Windows Defender is enabled, editing the document is invalid and any changes made to the file will be undone.
Disable hosts from Windows Defender
Before editing hosts, you will need to change your Windows Defender Firewall settings. Protection program settings can be accessed through the Metro menu. To do this, go to the interface by clicking at the bottom left of the desktop screen. Use your keyboard to start typing the name Windows Defender. Click on the corresponding line in the list of results.
In the window that appears, go to the "Options" section, which is indicated as a tab at the top of the program window. In the left part of the window, select the line "Excluded files". On the right side of the screen, click Browse. Now you need to specify the path to the hosts file, which is located in "Local drive C:" - Windows - System32 - Drivers - etc. In the list of documents, select hosts and click "OK". In the program window, select the item indicating the path to the file and click "Add" to apply the changes.
Editing
After making changes to Windows Defender settings, you can start editing the file. Changing hosts should be done on behalf of the administrator. To edit the file, you can use the standard Windows application "Notepad". Go to the Metro menu and type Notepad. You can also select a program from the list of applications by going to the list of installed programs by clicking on the corresponding arrow in the lower (Windows 8.1) or upper right (Windows 8) part of the interface window. Right-click on the program icon and click "Run as administrator".
An editor window will appear in front of you. Go to File - Open and navigate to Computer - Local C: Drive - Windows - System32 - drivers - etc. Click on the hosts file and click "Open". If you cannot see the hosts file in the etc folder, specify the All Files option on the right side of the File name line.
Specify the address of the Internet site to which you want to deny access in accordance with the example specified in the document. So, if you want to block access to the site on this computer, enter the parameter 127.0.0.1 sait.com, where sait.com is the address of the resource that you are blocking. After making the necessary changes, click "File" - "Save". The changes are saved and you can close the editor window. Editing of the hosts file is complete. To apply the settings, you can restart the browser window if it was running in the background during editing. You do not need to restart your computer to save the changes.
