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It doesn't matter WHERE the HOSTS file is, what DOES matter is the fact that it has NO file extension.
There is a HOSTS.SAM file in there - this is simply a sample file. Renaming HOSTS to HOSTS.OLD will make it so it doesn't work, that's what you are trying to do. It doesn't HAVE to specifically be .OLD, it could be almost anything except a registered file extension (like .EXE or .BAT).
The HOSTS file has entries that Windows looks at before it even hits the DNS.
Yep - if malware put an entry in there for microsoft.com (or symantec.com, whatever) pointing to their IP address instead, this will screw you up big time - and that's exactly what some of these things do!
Spybot Search & Destroy has a setting to lock the hosts file to read-only to prevent this - it's at the bottom of the Immunize page with the locks for Internet Settings and Start Page.
A proper hosts file should only have one entry - that references 127.0.0.1 to localhost.
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