Bypass UAC on Vista to edit the hosts file

I use Vista with UAC turned on. I know, I know, just turn it off! :-) I’ve considered turning it off, but I’ve gotten used to it for the most part. The one file that drives me crazy though is the hosts file that sits in the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc directory.

I very often need to edit the hosts file to override a domain name or create a domain name for testing. It drives me crazy to have to open it in my editor as administrator.

You can bypass this if you grant your logged on user read and write permissions to the hosts file. Now you can open the file without elevated administrator permissions :-D

Keep in mind you are reducing your security, but turning off UAC reduces your security even more.

By the way, I know some people would suggest turning off UAC entirely no matter what. I don’t get too bent out of shape about it either way. If someone uses drag and drop a lot I understand why UAC goes bye bye very quickly :-) I’m not much of a drag and dropper so I don’t mind much.