This simple GUI allows you to easily update your /etc/hosts file to one of four consolidated hosts files from StevenBlack/hosts.

These consolidated hosts files allow you to block websites from various categories such as Ads, Porn, Gambling, Social, and Fake News.

Host Minder has them setup into four Protection Levels.

• Low
  • Ads / Porn
• Medium
  • Ads / Porn / Gambling
• High
  • Ads / Porn / Gambling / Social
• Max
  • Ads / Porn / Gambling / Social / Fake News

When you enable Host Minder your existing /etc/hosts entries are added to the downloaded hosts file inside a special section.

Example:

# Custom host records are listed here.
127.0.0.1	localhost
127.0.1.1	your-laptop
::1	localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
# End of custom host records.

If you need to add additional entries simply add them to this section between # Custom host records are listed here. and # End of custom host records.

If you decide to turn off Host Minder the entries in this section will be used to create your /etc/hosts file.

All protection levels also include enabling Google Safe Search.

There is an Allow List option. This is handy if you find that a particular Protection Level is blocking a domain that you need access to.

Host Minder automatically updates your selected Protection Level once a week.

All code is provided as-is without any warranty.