Activation Servers General What people should provide is a way to easily detect or find activation type servers for all programs there are many programs requiring activation now and for most people it is a pita just to find out just what it is they should be blocking *.adobe.com should block everything adobe if I recall the syntax of hosts I believe * was considered the wildcard been a while since I messed with my hosts file as I try to refrain from using overpriced software period due to the fact that if I use it for free or use it by paying for it I am still promoting the product by contributing to the usage statistics and will further elevate the need for such a product... For instance for adobe I use GIMP instead I know its not as great and there is not as much canned stuff for you to do but it works very well and is LEGALLY FREE. Aside from that the blocking that I have done hasn't needed a wildcard it is more security based blocking in the event of potentially harmful websites there are whole 2nd level domains that I have blocked like co.cc and wild card was applied early on anyhow it says in your hosts file how to wild card. What someone should do is share how to easily find the servers they should block for activation of any program what easy to use tools or cmd's from the cmd they can use to find and block activation reporting... Lets face it activation cracks are the new edition to cracking most new good software so I think it is important that someone develops tools to first easily find the activation server being used so it can be blocked or run locally on a machine to inject the correct responses. Many media programs anydvdhd, dvdfab, playon, adobe, etc... they all require online activation it is important that we start building tools to defeat such activation requirements not just for the sake of piracy but for the sake of privacy as well you should not have to tell someone when you want to use developed software that you legally purchased every time you want to use it this sending of information all the time as a "requirement" should be considered a violation of your privacy as too many companies are selecting to not only take this information but harvest other information and sell it and do so legally by burying their rights to do so in 30 pages of EULA (End User License Agreement) which should be illegal to begin with how many people actually read all the crap they say in these and even if you do you would need a legal representative to interpret a good portion of it correctly. Last I checked they are at Adobe CS6 are the activation servers the same or have the added more or changed them might wanna share that and update the script accordingly. Now these are just opinions they are not to discourage anyone from writing anything as I think everyone in this thread did a great job in their own way they all accomplish the same result and how you get there should be a choice of the end user providing it is safe and equally effective.