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