windows 10 hosts file entries been commented out

Windows 10 is commenting out my hosts file entries. This happens periodically so every 1 hour.

Although I manage to save the changes but they will be commented out after around 1 hour.

I never experienced such thing on any Windows version before so maybe there is something I need to do in Windows 10 to prevent this from happening.

I have Bitdefender Total Security 2016 installed.


Solution 1:

Sul,

Cause: Bitdefender Total Security 2016 is causing this problem

Fix: Right click on hosts file, properties, security, give only read access to "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES" user/group.

Reference: http://www.bitdefender.com/security/hosts-file-hijacking-becomes-impossible-in-windows-8.html

Solution 2:

To prevent the hosts entries from being commented out by Bitdefender 2016 do the following:

In the main Bitdefender interface click on the human icon (from the upper right corner) and choose General Settings > Advanced tab > "Scan hosts file" button.

Screenshot of this option