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Microsoft 'likes' Facebook?

What is Microsoft's greatest commercial enemy?

Well I'd say that it's probably Google.

And, thanks to the search-giant's attempts to move into the social-networking marketplace with G+, I'd have to say that FaceBook is now one of Google's biggest threats.

It would seem to make sense therefore, for Microsoft and Facebook to join ranks -- be your enemy's friend and all that.

After a friend observed some unusual behaviour with Windows and Microsoft's Security Essentials, I wonder if that's just what's happening.

This guy has a small business and, to keep a lid on his bandwidth while ensuring that staff keep their minds on their jobs, he modified his hosts file to divert attempts to access some of the most popular "not for work-time" websites.

TradeMe, YouTube and FaceBook were obviously on that list.

By redirecting these sites to his own webserver, which delivered a suitable "get back to work" message, he was able to effect a solution to a problem that no doubt plagues many employers whose staff are stuck in front of net-connected PCs all day.

However, something strange happens when you do this.

Adding a line to the hosts file in an attempt to redirect traffic away from FaceBook sees that file then automatically modified by MSSE and the "offending" line removed.

It seems (although I've not tried this myself because my Windows machines are not connected to the Net) that you can redirect YouTube, TradeMe and a raft of other websites by way of the hosts file -- but not FaceBook.

What's going on here?

Perhaps the most reasonable explanation is that there may be malware out there which seeks to redirect computer users to malicious sites when an attempt is made to access FaceBook and all that MSSE is doing is clearing any attempts at redirection "just in case".

However, if that's the case, why not do the same for Google's YouTube -- or even Google itself? These are both sites that are every-bit as popular as FaceBook so you'd expect them to be every bit as "targeted" by those evil-little-sods who write the malware.

Or is it, as I wildly speculated at the top of this column, Microsoft's attempt to ensure that it stays close to its "friend in adversity" and remains united with them against its biggest foe?

If you run MSSE, try adding a line to your hosts file that tries to redirect FaceBook requests to some other location and see if it's still in effect tomorrow -- or whether it has been removed by Windows.

How many people use their hosts file to effectively over-ride the DNS server for one reason or another? If you don't have a dedicated firewall or your own DNS server, is there a better way to do this?

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