Steven Black Hosts File causing problems

@stueycaster, it's actually line count and not file size that's causing the problem. Steven Black's hosts file may seem "large", but it's actually incredibly smaller than what can be handled.

If you build the lists yourself, use the "--compress" option to crunch 9 domains per line as opposed to just 1. This reduces line count and eliminates your issue.

If you don't build the lists yourself, you can also check out the Unified Hosts AutoUpdate script (ScriptTiger/Unified-Hosts-AutoUpdate), it will automatically keep any Steven Black hosts file up to date and manage custom white and black lists, etc., and also comes with compression options.

If you're looking for pre-generated listed to manually download and update yourself, there's also the "compressed" and "mcompressed" formats here:

While @Neemobeer is correct that countless domains are generated each day, it actually takes time to disperse those domains into the wild via ad campaigns, e-mail campaigns, malicious software, etc., etc., otherwise they are just malicious domains that will never be used. A DNS blacklist shouldn't be used as one's sole form of defense, but is definitely useful in combination with other layers of security. Saying that it's useless would be the same as saying all antivirus is useless because there are countless zero-days just lying in wait. However, as soon as one is released into the wild and a researcher or project collaborator catches it, that particular threat is no more and thus protects the greater majority. Again, multiple layers of security are, of course, always recommended, as any cybersecurity expert will tell you.