How to Block Websites ?

Some times it becomes necessary to block a few websites on our Computers for one or other reason.You can easily and effectivily block access to a website by adding it to your Windows HOSTS file.

1.Go to your HOSTS file which is located at:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC for Vista and XP
C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC for Win 2000
C:\WINDOWS for Windows 98 and ME

2. Open HOSTS with Notepad.

The default Windows HOSTS looks like this:
______________________

# Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a “#” symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
#
127.0.0.1 localhost
_____________________________

3. Directly under the line that says 127.0.0.1 Localhost, you will want to type:

127.0.0.1 name of the URL you want to block

For example to block the MySpace.com homepage (highly recommended!), simply type:

127.0.0.1 myspace.com
127.0.0.1 www.myspace.com

Other parts of MySpace could be blocked in a similar way:

127.0.0.1 search.myspace.com
127.0.0.1 profile.myspace.com
etc etc etc…

You may need to add sites with both with and without the “www.”. Test after blocking to make sure you got it right.

You can add as many sites as you wish to block in this fashion. I, myself, have over 12000 undesireable and dangerous sites in my personal HOSTS file!

4. Close Notepad and answer “Yes” when prompted.

5. Reboot your computer and attempt to access your now blocked website. You should see a Cannot find server or DNS Error saying: “The page cannot be displayed”.

—————————–

Some people suggest that you add a website that you wish to block by adding it to Internet Explorer’s Restricted Zone. This does NOT totally block a site. It will only RESTRICT a site from certain actions such as using javascript, Active-X and Java etc.

Some people suggest that your add a website to the Internet Explorer ‘Privacy’ settings. This does not block a site. It only stops that site from using cookies.