After just having (finally) upgraded to Windows 7, I’ve come across a number of issues that aren’t necessarily typical from a Windows machine. This is the first.
I normally run a batch file to patch the hosts file on various machines. On Windows 7, it had no effect – despite the fact that I had logged on with an account that has administrative privelages.
You may received a warning resembling one of the following if you try to edit hosts manually.
Access to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ hosts was denied
or
Cannot create the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file
Solution?
1. Open ‘Notepad’ from the Start Menu
2. Right click on Notepad and select ’Run as administrator’
3. Click ‘File->Open’ and browse to the hosts file at this location:
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Open the file and edit. Click ‘Save’.
You cannot drag the hosts file into notepad and edit directly. You may encounter the same problem with other files (as I have), and this same method applies.
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Marty has been involved with online application development for a number of years and has worked with large scale applications both as a coder and project manager. He is currently actively contributing to 7 blogs and maintains over 200 websites. 
Ken has been developing software solutions and managing IT projects for over 20 years. Ken has a computer science degree and, although his focus was previously on Windows based software, his focus is now on blogging and other online projects.