Before the DNS system, IP address mapping was done locally at each computer by means of a specially formatted host file. Today the hosts file goes virtually unused even though most operating systems still support them. A properly designed and formatted hosts file can not only help speed up the web surfing experience, but can allow simple, effective content filtering as well as increased privacy protection.

Hostal allows easy control and editing of the Host file on your computer. Hostal supports both host mapping and host blocking. Hostal supports Time to Live to prevent stale host mappings. For users on a network, Hostal detects an existing Hosts file and incorporates those settings as well.

Hostal features an attractive and intuitive interface that novices will find easy to use, while still offering a rich feature set for the power user.

Features:

• Attractive, easy to use interface.
• Instantly map or block any host.
• Blocks unwanted ads.
• Blocks adult content sites.
• Protects privacy by blocking unwanted cookies.
• Resolves urls to hosts.
• DNS lookup for a host or url.
• Preconfigured to block numerous objectionable hosts.
• Preconfigured to block numerous advertising hosts.
• Supports Time to Live to prevent stale data.
• Flexible searching through large host databases.
• Supports exporting hosts files for different platforms.
• Illustrated Documentation.

Requirements:
OS X 10.4+
Universal Binary