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
disablecan no longer overwrite and lose a saved (disabled) hosts configuration, andapplynow 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
hfecommand-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.zipassets below. Unzip and run — no runtime to install.
Runs on Windows 10 and 11, x64 or ARM64.