How to block access to unwanted websites on your computer

Sometimes we may need users not to access a specific websites from a computer, in that we have to block that site from being accessed from that computer. To do this we can have different options like blocking from router, it can be blocked from browser itself or you can block site using third party software or firewall can also block sites, but today I will show you how to do this using windows hosts file.

In windows hosts file is a small plain text file (with no extension) that is used by the OS to map IP address to hostname before DNS, this file can also be used to redirect a domain name back to the local computer, which will block the desired website.

This file is located at this directory C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc (in windows) and in Linux it is located at /etc directory

Requirement for to do this action is, you need to have windows administrator account (usually the built-in one)

To limit/block the desired website from being accessed using hosts file we need to map the website we want to block to a local IP address called localhost/loop-back. i.e., 127.0.0.1, to do so you need to follow the below steps:

1. Open the hosts file by going to the directory stated above

   

2. Once opened, go to the last line and type 127.0.0.1, type space to give one space between the IP and the hostname, then type the name of the site you want to block as follows, it should be on the same line:

      127.0.0.1 www.google.com

     127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com

 

    

 

3. Once you added the entry you want, don’t forget to save, you have to save in same directory stated above and the same name hosts, don’t add any extension, when you save select all files from the save as type drop down menu  , if possible use Some other Text editor other than notepad such as notepad ++.

Note: If you are using built in administrator account, it will save without a problem, but if you are using non-built in administrator, save it using this method.

      

 

       

 

     4. Finally check if the result is applied, you may need to restart the browser

   5. When you try to check the site you have blocked, the Error it displays might be   different depending on the site.

      

       

 

 If you are using Linux/Unix operating system, just go to /etc directory and open the hosts file with VI / vim editor, the do the same thing.

 

If you want to watch the video,click here

Thanks for your visit!