How to block HTTP traffic to a single file address, not the entire domain, without a browser-specific program

blockinginternetminecraft

I like playing an older version of Minecraft, 1.5.2, but there is a newer version available; and at the title screen, there is a nagging message saying that 1.6.2 is available for download. In this question there is an answer saying that you must block the link http://assets.minecraft.net/1_6_has_been_released.flag but not the whole assets.minecraft.net.

How can I block HTTP access to this file, without blocking access to the entire domain or buying any equipment?

Best Answer

Browsers are for humans, not for software - Minecraft doesn't "use a browser", but it doesn't mean it works in a different way. Actually, it's using exactly the same protocol that browsers do: HTTP.

I have two ideas on blocking that file. Both should work, but both will have some side effects.

  1. Block port 80 in your firewall. This is not a good idea, because it will affect all Java programs, so I'm not going into details. If you want to try it, then you can access Windows Firewall by pressing Win+R and typing wf.msc.

  2. Block http://assets.minecraft.net/ system-wide through your hosts file. Open Notepad as Adminstrator (right-click it → Open as Administrator), click File → Open and type C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Open the file and add following line at the end:

    127.0.0.1 assets.minecraft.net

    This one has some unpleasant side effects too: none of your programs will be able to connect to that address for any purpose.

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