I need a sort of tiny firewall. One that blocks defined applications' internet access, but not a full featured in/out firewall. Just a small simple outgoing access preventer. My last resort would be having to add the ip's to the hosts file.

I prefer to not have a software based firewall but then I have a hardware firewall that is embedded in the DSL modem that my ISP supplies that works effectively and silently not consuming any system resources.

A lot of work has already been done on the HOSTS file for you in hpHosts and MVPS HOSTS files plus the excellent HOSTS files manager HostsMan and its browsing speedup proxy HostsServer:
http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
http://www.abelhadigital.com

The HOSTS file also works for Linux as well and hpHosts provides a Linux version for it.

If you need a firewall, go for Comodo Firewall Pro. I've never recommended Hosts files because it's not what they're used for. I wrote an article on how you can safely protect yourself from malware (adware, spyware, viruses, etc.) and block advertisements on my wiki:
http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Blocking_Ma...isements_Safely