David, the .txt file version doesn't have .txt in the name. The icon shows it as a text document, but when I open it and try to "save as", the File Name merely says "Hosts"; there is no txt tag to delete or change. It won't let me save it in the same format as the original Hosts file. If I go ahead and delete the original file, are you saying that Windows will then have no choice but to rely on the hosts text version?
By the way there are also folders in "etc" titled "Imhosts" which is a "SAM file". There is also a file called "hosts" with a bunch of numbers after it and a different icon, labled as a "backup file" and when I open it, it appears to be the "edited" version of the original hosts file, i.e. with all the Spybot entries removed. If I rename this one "hosts" will that suffice you think??
thanks again