How to Block Websites without using any Software
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Many times we need to unblock certain websites to gain access to some important stuffs. We all know many ways to do that. But how about actually learning to block one?
Have you even been in a situation when you have to block certain websites from your computer for any reason? Well, I am not sure about any body else but certainly I have been many times in such situation. Parents may also want to prevent access to certain websites on their computer so that children can’t get to them from internet.
So what’s the solution?
Aaaah… It’s very simple.
1.) Open “Run” from the start menu (or press WinKey + r). Just copy paste the following path and hit ENTER.
notepad %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Alternately, go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc and find the file “hosts”. Open that file in Notepad.
2.) When this hosts file is opened in Notepad, at the end of the file you will see something like “127.0.0.1 localhost”.
3.) Under “127.0.0.1 localhost” just add another website URL that you want to block.
For Example:-
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.2 www.rakshitk.com
127.0.0.3 www.whoismadhur.com
4.) Make sure every time you add another website, the last digit of the address 127.0.0.x should not be the same.
5.) Save the file and exit.
So, here you go. Restart your browser if it is opened and changes will take place immediately.
The good thing is that no message, no pop ups nothing will be displayed when someone tries to open a blocked website. Your browser will just fail to open those websites without any error messages.
I’ve been using this tricks for quite some time but primarily not for blocking ads. I added few online game sites. That way, my little brother can’t play online games that affect the network speed. haha
on the other note, you may take a look at this page.It gives big list of ads companies. I always put kontera ads inside the file and remove other companies such as adsense etc. That way you will be able to eliminate text popup from kontera and still able to see other ads.
The page you provided is very informative.
Thanks buddy for your valuable comments.
very useful! I think I need to add facebook to my hosts list and keep sticky fingers away from my keyboard
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@Eches,
Maybe your brother is reading this now.
@Rakshit,
Nice tips, we use host file in my office PC for connecting to client machines and databases.
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That’s amazing. Didn’t know about that. Perhaps, after few months when I get into the job, I can explore more about the hosts file usability.
Welcome to Aarambh!!!
Well, its really tough to get away from addictions. Keep trying buddy.
Very useful tip including all the comments. This has just solved many problems of mine. Thanks!
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Its good that you find it useful.
nice tip!
Cool! Now what websites should I block?
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This is indeed a tricky one Rakshit..
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Can we block microsoft from accessing our computer or any other daemon site which monitors our system by this way?
I have used your trick..but it is not working with my browser…:)
Nice suggestion. You certainly cannot block microsoft.
Manish
Are you using any proxy server to connect to the internet? This technique does not work with most of the proxy servers
Well, I’ve been using this idea for quite a while, but I simply forgot about it! I’ve got several hundred lines in my hosts file for the purpose of blocking ads. However, one difference is that all of mine link to 127.0.0.1. I’m not quite sure why you say not to have the same .1 at the end. It simply tells the browser to look at this address for the content at that site.
Yes, it can also be used for blocking ads.
According to my knowledge, if we use same .1 at the end, it will not able to block the web address mentioned after that. For every site we have to use different last digit.
But as you said, it is working with .1 as well. I have also tried the same. Works perfectly.
Thanks for notifying this.
I want to block some websites on my computer.I have tried the hosts file but its not working,is there that you can tell me about that.Thank you.
hey ! I tried this it works good on IE but not with mozilla Firefox can u guys help me on that ???
It works perfectly fine with Firefox as well. Which version of Firefox are you using?
well i would like to know how to generate traffic to my site and also is can you teach me how to nublock websites because i dont know how to do them and also one more thing,can you also give me details on how to access websites .
thanks
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For unblocking websites, visit here.
well,am ok with your answer but i still would like to be tutored on how to have access to a website e.g www.mtnonline.com. pls check out this site to see if i can hack into it or have access it and also tell me how.
thanks
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Thanks for this. Article which your writen was so important for me. Thanks again
Amazing article! Detailed and very interested. I am going to recommend this blog to my friends.
sorry buddy
i know this
but it doesnot work
i tried this so many times
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:52 am
[…] Update:- If in case you are looking for a tutorial to actually BLOCK any website on your computer that too without using any software, follow this link. […]
Jun 26th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
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