This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Firefox is refusing to listen to the Hosts file when links are clicked

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

more options

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1011327 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1117449

Firefox is refusing to listen to the hosts file if links are clicked on, If say a malicious host is in the list, it will not load if the entry is typed into the address bar, however if the link is clicked (how practically all sites are visited), then the malicious host will load regardless of the /hosts file.

browser.fixup.alternate.enabled;false browser.fixup.dns_first_for_single_words;true

This is very alarming behaviour, my hosts file is perhaps the front line of defense against malicious entities and especially viruses (sorry, not smart enough to openBSD a lappy as a router, either that or it wasn't capable) and this makes many users who rely on the hosts file extremely vulnerable.

Why is this happening?

Fwiw i'm on win7

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1011327 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1117449 Firefox is refusing to listen to the hosts file if links are clicked on, If say a malicious host is in the list, it will not load if the entry is typed into the address bar, however if the link is clicked (how practically all sites are visited), then the malicious host will load regardless of the /hosts file. browser.fixup.alternate.enabled;false browser.fixup.dns_first_for_single_words;true This is very alarming behaviour, my hosts file is perhaps the front line of defense against malicious entities and especially viruses (sorry, not smart enough to openBSD a lappy as a router, either that or it wasn't capable) and this makes many users who rely on the hosts file extremely vulnerable. Why is this happening? Fwiw i'm on win7

All Replies (1)

more options

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version 51.0.1


Can you provide examples of the sites(addresses) you have problems with?


Remove History For One Site Open the History Manager <Control><Shift> H. In the search bar, enter the name of the site. Right-click on one of the listings and select Forget About This Site. This should remove all information, including any passwords / settings.