Question:
I have a few computers down at my workplace – most of them are still running Windows XP Pro, while others got new computers that have Windows 7 on it.

My question is that I have a few people who utilise Internet Explorer 8 and they visit certain websites to do a lot of heavy usage of uploading. I was assigned an address (IP address and web address) that needs to be placed on the “hosts” file.

After editing the hosts file, do you think it’s absolutely necessary to perform a computer restart after editing the “hosts” file or should I do a ipconfig /flushdns command to reflect the new settings? Any other suggestions?

Answer:

I do this all the time when I’m moving my sites to a new web hosting company.  I temporarily add a line with the IP address and the domain name.  Save the file.  Then all  you have to do is restart the browser, not the computer.  Then the new line takes effect.  BTW, edit the hosts file by right-clicking on your text editor to Run as Administrator or you won’t be able to save the file.