I've always blocked domain names in the hosts file by assigning the IP as 127.0.0.1
But I've been reading about the use of 0.0.0.0 instead.
What's the difference? Is one better than the other?
How to Geek can help..
What is the Difference Between 127.0.0.1 and 0.0.0.0?
For example, 127.0.0.1 is used to in re-routing email through my anti-SPAM program on my PC.
Last edited by dalchina; 02 Jan 2018 at 06:00.
Technically 0.0.0.0 is the network segment broadcast address and 127.0.0.1 is the current device
It is usual to use 127.0.0.1 as this routes packets (your data ), to a specific device (your current device) where it will be basically ignored
Using 0.0.0.0 will generally send the data to all devices on the local segment which would also normally be rejected, but would greatly increase the potential traffic on the local network if there were more that a single device on the network.
As the 0.0.0.0 address has an ambiguous usage it can act in various ways depending on the hardware in use
127.0.0.1 is always a specific address so should be used as a loop-back address to kill potentially problem data packets)
Last edited by Barman58; 27 Sep 2018 at 03:25.
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