Thank you, that's so nice of you to say. :)

using windows 7 having problems with the info as the article states, followed your instructions but this is what showed up.
# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

i then went and saved it to my desktop after adding the line
# 2.18.213.82 redirmetasevices.microsoft.com

when i go to save it it gives me two choices,
save as type: text documents (*.txt), or all files , the encoding is ANSI.
i get a message that reads
c: windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.text
you don't have permission to save in this location.
contact the administrator to obtain permission

then it asks me if i would like to save to my documents instead.
i am the system administrator, i am in my administrator account. i don't use this account, unless i'm installing programs that i want to be accessed from any other windows account or guest account. so why am i not allowed access, or do i have to enter through the area where i shut down drivers to do this?

Thanks rhiannon. That's a lot of useful info.

OK...use the link, then click Download...you will get a Page Reload pop-up, then it will go to Reimage Repair.

Ah I see, thank you. I've edited the link to resolve to their home page.

The "catch me" link from TheWindowsClub goes to this rogue site. MC - Site Manager
https://i.imgur.com/Dyr260k.png

Be careful. If the software was installed by the computer manufacturer, these key finders will likely return a one-time bulk installer product code which won't work again. I've been burnt by this more than a few times.
Key finders work fine with a manually inputted product code.

No problems with PUPs or the like here. Panda and Malwarebytes show the file to be clean.

There is a sponsored offer which nearly got me. Just click 'decline' and you will be right.

Cheers,

Paul

Thanks, I'll give it a try. It looks good - a lot like Belarc, combining system information with Microsoft product key retrieval.

Are you saying your anti-virus blocked the Softpedia download site? That would be quite unusual.

If it's blocking the author's site I would test it with at least one other anti-virus site or program, it's likely to be a false positive. I was not blocked from accessing the site by my anti-virus program and received no warnings using multiple browsers.

As to why it's identifying something on the site as PUP I don't know. Some anti-virus programs are over active and deliver a large amount of false positives - it's best practice to test anything your anti-virus program identifies as a threat with other sources.

I recommend using the Softpedia download link in the article, or the Major Geeks download site I mentioned here in the comments. Major Geeks scans all the programs they have on their servers for malware. Pretty sure if there were a problem it would have been removed from the reputable download sites.

I mentioned in the article that due to the nature of the program (it acts like a password retrieval type program and scans the registry) some anti-virus programs will flag as malware. Any program that behaves that way will likely be tagged as malware. The author mentions this on the site.

The portable version brings up some flags in Virus Total and other testing sites, though the executable version does not.
I've installed both and scanned both using security software on my computers and neither was flagged, and the site wasn't blocked by my security software.

You can try it again, I've changed the download link to Softpedia, but you can also get it at Major Geeks or other download sites.

Both sites are working fine for me across a few different browsers. ¯\_(シ)_/¯

Nice Thanks Rhiannon

The link under " Review & Alternatives:" is incomplete.

Avast was founded by Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš in 1988. The founders met each other at the Research Institute for Mathematical Machines in Czechoslovakia.
Avast and AVG have been merged in 2016. They has the best solution for any type of virus that harms your system. As usual Avast provides a premium antivirus for free and some other premiums products too.
Avast offline installer is also available for Windows. Its quite good and required one time downloading. You can read more about from https://offline.avastdl.com.

I'll have a look at it, thanks for the suggestion. :)

Unless you can change the black GUI into something that looks normal, I ain't interested. Who ever said, "Thank god the program's black so it's more functional?

It's odd, isn't it?
I'm glad to see it's *slowly* changing to line up with the rest of the world. I see it in science and health care the most.

Visit http://www.audiofighter.com
Register and start downloading music for FREE for all your video creations, for youtube, vimeo, dailymotion, podcasts, shortfilms and more !
We want to make music access easy for video creators and web content creators.
Please provide attribution when you use a track on a video or project, you can add, the source and name of the track on the video or project details.
more than 800 audio tracks for all your projects at no cost.

Aprt from America, the rest of the world uses °C, rather than °F !

Glad you like it. :) I change phone ringtones almost as often as I change my desktop wallpaper.

Good one rhiannon !
Something there for everyone !
I'm always on the lookout for a nice animal sound....like a rooster crow for my ringtone.
LOL

Open source password manager. Yeah, I want any Tom, Dick and Harry to code my password manager.

No worries the divorce lawyer is out of the picture. :)
Usually when anyone says something didn't work, I go back and do what it was I did and wrote about. I do that to make sure I didn't make a mistake or miss something. Then I say what I did - this and this and this so if it's different or I messed up it can be worked out. I'll help if I can, and I'm grateful when someone points something out or catches an error I've made.

Hmmm, that's odd.
To be clear, you're clicking the blue add to cart button for the platform you want and are taken to the checkout screen...the product is listed on the left, and the quantity is one, it says the product has been added to your cart, and when you select the Proceed to checkout it takes you back to the Proceed to check out page again?
If you have any ad blocking or security add-ons or extenstions, they might interfere, a system security program might interfere, and have you tried checking out using another browser?
I'm not sure location would be a factor,

I occasionally have problems with an overly enthusiastic security program installed on my computer - it prevents the oddest things in browsers and I have to add a filter or disable it for a bit.

I disabled SearchUI.exe as described above but I lost the ability to search from the Start menu and Run box as well as searching from Explorer's search box! Renaming SearchUI.exe.001 back to SearchUI.exe and restarting as described above made it all work again. Phew!

I am using Dashlane. Is Bitwarden better?

@Thetan207:
I don't think you are paranoid at all!
Passwords still are way too important, sadly but it is what it is.
The more eyes can and do see the source code of a password manager the better, IMHO at least.

Oops! I was preoccupied preparing our supper and wasn't "listening" to you carefully. Please forgive me and call the attorneys to call off the divorce! :)

Bluntly, LastPass is on its last breath. It has not functioned properly for years and there are no responses to multiple requests to customer support.

I have been using Bitwarden for a few years now and have had no problems.

Best of the bunch, IMHO.

Thanks for the input, I didn't erase files, I was testing the file recovery feature.

I'm not sure what you mean by an paying for activation key? I ran this several different times on two hard drives and it recovered files with no problem. I was then able play the recovered mp3 files, open and edit text and document files, was able to open and edit images in Irfanview. At no point was I asked to purchase an activation key or anything else. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It does, when you go to recover files, say you've used an activation key. It's in the article. It will keep telling you that, but since the license is unlimited for one year, they are not relevant. It may apply to the paid version.

They ask for too much info and this is just trial software! No Thanks!

I installed and tried the delete and wipe feature. It was 43 video files. I went with the highest level of wipe. After ½ hour of waiting, three files remained including it's parent folder that I told it to delete. Ran it again on the folder and it removed two of the three. Finally deleted the last file by running it again. Not impressed.

Backups are good. It took my hard disk drive dying and taking all my data with it for me to learn. Tape drive. It was a while ago. :) 

I couldn't find the answer to that on their site. It may revert to the paid version. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Unfortunately K9 Web Protection is no longer available. Outdated information. All links related with K9 software lead to Symantec site.
I'm very interested in a simple web filter and K9 appeared good on that purpose.

Yes really, people are now becoming like data sources and companies just want to profit from that source. And problem is, how much you try, if you are on the internet, a lot of your personal information or your data in some form is already out there. No escaping from it. Only thing is you can do it, is to be careful with what data you share yourself knowingly, and where. And to be safe with your money, and look out for scam/phishing.

I came across this somewhere, and I looked at it. They are asking just too many personal details, and I aint willing to share that much.

You're very welcome and I'm happy you like it. Thanks for input on Opera, I hadn't tested it there. Brave, Edge Chromium and Iridium worked fine, good to know Opera does too. :)

I'm glad you like it, I use it often too.

"when the program was run, the editing window was so large that the bottom "taskbar" was below the bottom of my screen, so I couldn't see the tools that create the arrows!"

I hate when that happens. For me it usually hides the button to move to the next step.
Glad it is sorted out now.
This is a nice quick little program.