Windows 7: "localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself". Why?
- by Portman
After 18 years of hosts files on Windows, I was surprised to see this in Windows 7 build 7100:
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
Does anyone know why this change was introduced? I'm sure there has to be some kind reasoning.
And, perhaps more relevantly, are there any other important DNS-related changes in Windows 7? It scares me a little bit to think that something as fundamental as localhost name resolution has changed... makes me think there are other subtle but important changes to the DNS stack in Win7.