v1.5.1

Hosts File Editor v1.5.1 (classic) / v1.2.1 (modern) — a quality & robustness patch following the v1.5.0 / v1.2.0 feature release. Both editions; no new features, all fixes.

Highlights

• Command line is safer. A repeated disable can no longer overwrite and lose a saved (disabled) hosts configuration, and apply now reports an ambiguous preset name instead of silently guessing which one you meant.
• Your settings survive updates (classic). Window size/position, auto-ping, and the global shortcut now carry forward across version updates instead of resetting to defaults.
• Fewer surprises after a command-line change (classic). The tray icon and the Disable toggle re-sync when you return to the window, so they never show a stale state.
• Rare crash fixed (modern). Running a background merge/import while pings were in flight could crash; it no longer does.
• Taskbar Jump List fixes. A preset clicked while the app is reloading now opens (modern); a preset clicked during the initial load no longer freezes the window (classic); and the Jump List keeps working after a Store update (classic).

Also fixed

• Merging a large file no longer fires pings for the duplicate entries it discards.
• Editing an entry's IP while its ping is in flight no longer leaves the new address wrongly flagged as failed; a duplicated row keeps a consistent ping state.
• Pasting while a display sort is active now appends at a predictable position (end of file) instead of an arbitrary sorted spot (modern).
• The "global shortcut couldn't be registered" dialog no longer points Store users at a file path that doesn't apply to the packaged app (classic).
• Documentation: how the hfe command-line alias behaves when both editions are installed.

Install

• Microsoft Store (recommended, auto-updates): modern · classic
• Portable (classic, self-contained, signed): the HostsFileEditor-1.5.1-x64.zip / -arm64.zip assets below. Unzip and run — no runtime to install.

Runs on Windows 10 and 11, x64 or ARM64.

v1.5.0

A feature release. Classic 1.4.1 → 1.5.0, modern 1.1.1 → 1.2.0.

New

• Command line — both editions (#2): switch presets, enable/disable the hosts file, and import/merge from scripts. A new console launcher hfe.exe ships beside the app — cmd/PowerShell wait for it and its output pipes naturally — and Store installs put hfe on PATH:

  hfe -s MyHosts1
  program.exe
  hfe -s DefaultHosts

  The app exe runs the same commands headless. Exit codes 0/1/2; commands that change the hosts file elevate on demand (one UAC prompt, or none from an elevated console). Full docs in the Readme.
• Taskbar Jump List — both editions (#10): right-click the taskbar icon for a list of your saved presets and open one directly — whether the app is running or not.
• File → Merge — both editions (#26): merge another hosts file into the current one, skipping duplicates (case-insensitive, canonical-IP identity — 127.1 and 127.0.0.1 count as the same host). One undoable step.
• Sort options — modern (#81): a Sort dropdown beside the filter sorts the view by any column, ascending or descending, without touching the file order (Save writes the file order; a badge shows the active sort column). And the IP column now sorts numerically in both editions — 8.8.8.8 before 10.0.0.2 before 10.0.0.10, IPv6 grouped after IPv4.
• Global show/hide hot key — classic (#35): press Ctrl+Shift+H anywhere to hide the window to the tray or bring it back. Configurable (or disable-able) via the GlobalShowHideHotkey setting; a conflict with another app surfaces a one-time popup with instructions.
• Ping progress and failures — both editions (#9): while auto-ping is checking entries, the status bar shows a progress indicator; entries that don't respond are flagged (modern: an error badge on the IP cell with an explanatory tooltip). Turning Ping IPs on now pings immediately.

Improved

• The classic text filter is now case-insensitive and ignores surrounding spaces, matching the modern edition (#75).
• Stricter parsing: a line only counts as a host entry when its first token is a syntactically valid IP address (#80).
• The classic portable zip dropped ~9 MB of unused libraries.
• Internal hardening: the modern edition's async lifecycle now runs on one explicit state machine (#76); classic selection restore after moves was consolidated (#77).

Full diff: v1.4.1...v1.5.0.

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Classic (portable, signed): download a zip below, unzip, and run — self-contained (no runtime to install), runs as a standard user, elevates on demand (one UAC prompt) only when saving. Modern installs and auto-updates from the Microsoft Store.

v1.4.1

A small maintenance patch on top of 1.4.0. Classic 1.4.0 → 1.4.1, modern 1.1.0 → 1.1.1.

Fixes

• Classic: after moving a row, the current-row anchor could drift onto a different entry (the grid keeps the current cell at a fixed row index across the reorder), so a following Insert Above/Below or Move acted on the wrong entry. The anchor is now restored by identity after a move. (#78)
• Modern: a filter-membership change under a very large (>20K-row) selection no longer filters the whole (~400K-entry) list a second time during the rebind. (#74)

No new features. Full diff: v1.4.0...v1.4.1.

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Classic (portable, signed): download a zip below, unzip, and run — self-contained (no runtime to install), runs as a standard user, elevates on demand (one UAC prompt) only when saving. Modern installs and auto-updates from the Microsoft Store.

v1.4.0

A performance-focused release: smaller installs, a responsive async load, a ~3× faster parser, and — the headline — every editing operation stays responsive on very large hosts files (~400K entries) in both editions.

Classic 1.3.2 → 1.4.0, modern 1.0.2 → 1.1.0.

Performance

• Smaller installs — classic ~124 MB → ~53 MB; modern ~47 MB → ~29 MB.
• Responsive load (#27) — the file is parsed off-thread behind a loading indicator, so a large hosts file no longer freezes the UI on startup (also on reload / archive-load).
• ~3× faster parsing — a new allocation-light span parser replaces the regex at runtime (400K entries: 727 ms → 224 ms, ~6× fewer allocations). The regex is kept as a differential-test oracle.
• Responsive editing at ~400K rows — Cut, Paste, Delete, Duplicate, Insert, Move, Enable/Disable-all, Select-All, Undo/Redo, and sorting no longer hang for minutes. Operations that previously froze the UI for 1–2 minutes now complete in milliseconds.

Classic (WinForms)

• Fixed: clicking a column header (or editing with a sort active, or the archive list's startup sort) threw BadImageFormatException on .NET 10 — sorting now works (#67).
• Fixed data loss: "Select-All → deselect one row → Delete" removed the excluded row (#68).
• Column-header sort now preserves your row selection and current row.

Modern (WinUI 3)

• New status bar showing line count and host-entry count, matching the classic edition (#71).
• No more column flicker while a large file loads or on add/remove (#70).
• Your row selection is preserved across Check/Uncheck and Duplicate.
• Fixed rows bleeding past the bottom edge on very large lists (#72).

Both editions

• Trailing-dot FQDN hostnames (e.g. Tailscale MagicDNS host.tailnet.ts.net.) now parse as entries instead of comments (#65 / #66).
• Paste fixes: a lingering row clipboard no longer hijacks classic cell paste; the modern edition no longer inserts at the top of the file when nothing is selected (#69).
• Assorted correctness hardening: unsaved-changes prompts after history-capped undo, stale checkbox visuals after undo, and cross-thread ping notifications.

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Classic (portable, signed): download a zip below, unzip, and run — self-contained (no runtime to install), runs as a standard user, elevates on demand (one UAC prompt) only when saving. Modern installs and auto-updates from the Microsoft Store.

v1.3.2

A polish release focused on high-DPI, icons, and consistency across both editions.

High-DPI

• Classic (WinForms) is now PerMonitorV2 DPI-aware — crisp on 4K and scaled displays, and it re-scales correctly when moved between monitors with different scaling.
• Toolbar and menu icons sharpened for high-DPI.

Icons & packaging

• Taskbar / Alt+Tab icon now renders unplated — no more accent-color plate behind it (both editions).
• The elevation (UAC) prompt now shows the Hosts File Editor icon.
• Sharper Start-tile / logo assets.
• The classic edition's uninstall entry now correctly reads "Hosts File Editor (classic)".

Behavior & parity

• Classic: the File menu is back above the toolbar.
• Modern: added the row keyboard shortcuts that were missing — Delete, Ctrl+D (duplicate), Alt+↑/↓ (move), Ctrl+Alt+↑/↓ (insert above/below).
• Both editions: now warn about unsaved changes when you exit.

Downloads

• Portable (classic): the x64 and ARM64 zips below — self-contained, signed, no runtime to install.
• Microsoft Store: both editions update automatically — modern · classic.

Versions: classic 1.3.2 · modern 1.0.2

v1.3.1

A bug-fix patch over v1.3.0 (classic 1.3.1, modern 1.0.1). Both editions are now on the Microsoft Store.

This portable download is the classic edition (x64 and ARM64) — fully self-contained, so there's no runtime to install. Just unzip and run.

Fixed

• Leading-whitespace parsing — a hosts line with whitespace before the # (e.g. # 127.0.0.1 host) is now parsed as a disabled entry instead of a plain comment. (#22)
• Delete key while editing a cell — Delete now removes the character in front of the cursor instead of wiping the whole cell. (#36)
• Open Text Editor — the external editor now launches elevated so it can actually save the hosts file; previously it opened without rights to write it. (#49)
• Corrupt settings recovery — a corrupt user.config no longer prevents the app from starting; it falls back to defaults. (#37)

Install

• Microsoft Store (installs and updates automatically): modern edition · classic edition
• Portable — the signed classic zips attached below (x64 / ARM64). Verify your download against SHA256SUMS.txt.

v1.3.0

Hosts File Editor has been rebuilt on .NET 10, with a brand-new modern edition coming to the Microsoft Store alongside this classic portable build.

This portable download is the classic edition (x64 and ARM64) — fully self-contained, so there's no runtime to install. Just unzip and run.

New

• Modern edition (WinUI 3) — a redesigned, themable (light/dark) UI, arriving on the Microsoft Store. (This download is the classic edition.)
• Native ARM64 build in addition to x64.

Changed

• Rebuilt on .NET 10; the download is fully self-contained — no separate runtime to install.
• Runs as a standard user. Editing the real hosts file now elevates on demand (a single UAC prompt when you save, enable, or disable) instead of requiring the whole app to run as administrator.
• Per-user data (archives, backups, settings) now lives under %LocalAppData%\HostsFileEditor.
• Binaries are Authenticode-signed, so the elevation prompt shows a verified publisher.

Fixed

• Numerous correctness fixes across undo/redo, move up/down, cut / copy / paste / duplicate, import / export, filtering and sorting, and DNS cache flushing.

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Verify your download: SHA-256 checksums for both zips are in SHA256SUMS.txt attached below.

v1.2.0

• Flush DNS cache after save, refresh, enable and disable #16
• Added link to GitHub page on about window #13
• Fixed bug with file opener not using default text editor #17

Binaries mirrored on http://hostsfileeditor.codeplex.com/.

v1.1.1

• Consolidate into one executable and config file and create portable install

Binaries mirrored on http://hostsfileeditor.codeplex.com/.

v1.1.0

• Added ability to open hosts file in default text editor

Binaries mirrored on http://hostsfileeditor.codeplex.com/.