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General discussion

what files were supposed to be in the "etc" folder?

Jul 30, 2010 11:09AM PDT

In the C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc directory is where I usually go to edit the hosts file but I've recently just paid attention to four other files in the folder: Imhosts.sam, networks, protocol, and services.

Are these files automatically put in place during the Vista OS installation? According to the timestamp, the services file was modified in 2010 but the other files excluding hosts were modified in 2006.

I'm also wondering if these files were added or modified by an application or virus.

Discussion is locked

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Yep, no problem
Jul 30, 2010 9:12PM PDT

I have the same files and no others;

hosts, lmhosts.sam, networks, protocol, services all modified 2006 even though my Vista rig is less than a year old.

I've seen the same files in the corresponding XP folder as well I believe.

Nothing to be concerned about

Mark

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It's a byproduct
Jul 30, 2010 11:38PM PDT

It's a byproduct that those files are there. Every now and then Microsoft "borrows" some code from Unix. A lot of their networking code is taken from FreeBSD. All perfectly legal, but it creates little byproducts like what you've noticed. In fact, the HOSTS file only exists because of the borrowing of Unix networking code.

On Unix, the etc folder is typically where configuration files are stored. No idea why they settled on etc, but I'm sure it made sense to someone at some point in time, and it kind of stuck.