Could not find file “C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetcHOSTS“

If you find this event:
Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administratin.SearchServiceInstant <guid>

Could not find file "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS"

In your event logs of your MOSS box the "Office SharePoint Server Search" service is probably the root of this.

If the WSS_ADMIN_WPG group has 'Modify' permissions on this folder with the HOSTS file the "Office SharePoint Server Search" service will create new entries there instead of using a DNS. When enabling the "Office SharePoint Server Search" Service on the "Services on Server" page, if you chose a dedicated WFE for crawling, the search process will add entries to this HOSTS file to ensure that it crawls through that dedicated WFE.

Removing the setting for a dedicated WFE should be sufficient to remove the entry from the HOSTS file.

-thomas