I'll second the fact that 1) hard-coding actual destinations in your HOSTS file defeats the purpose of DNS, and is generally not a good idea unless you are "on it", like you seem to be. So no harm there. And 2) using HOSTS you can spare yourself popups, adserver shit and annoying little banner ads that no one really cares about on nearly every site you visit now.
I too swear by mvps. But I'd rather not find a site than have anyone shoving their marketing crap up my arse without my consent.
