Home /
Blog

Hacking your Browser to Block a Website!

July 11, 2014 Mohit Chauhan 10 Comments

Table of Contents

Blocking a website is a piece of cake! By Blocking i mean that it will block all users of a Windows PC from opening certain websites, regardless of the browser they use or the time of day?

This tutorial will be useful for many of us….may be a parent doesn’t want his child to use facebook...or want to avoid his child to stay away from resticted content…!!!This method is very simple and doesn’t require any additional software ,you have to just perform certain steps
You will need to make a few simple additions to the Windows hosts file for making it work.

Let me tell you what is a host file?

The host file stores information on where to find or locate a particular computer on the network.It basically maps hostnames or domain names to IP addresses.

Where to find Host file?

Depending upon your operating system,the hosts file can be found at different locations:

OPERATING SYSTEM LOCATION
Microsoft Windows 98,ME C:windows
Microsoft Windows C:windowssystem32driversetc
(NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Win 7)

However if Windows is not installed on C:, substitute the appropriate drive letter.

GIVING ADMINISTRATOR PERMISSION TO HOST FILE

Right click on the hosts’ file, choose Properties -> Security and make sure all the boxes are checked in your user account. This should allow you to save the file as an admin.

OPENING THE HOST FILE

Once administrator permission is given to Host file ,you can easily edit or save host file….Now Double-click on hosts, and select Notepad when Windows prompts you to choose a program.

If you don’t get the prompt, or if the hosts file opens in another program, open Notepad (Start, All Programs, Accessories, Notepad), and then navigate to hosts by clicking File, Open within Notepad.

EDITING THE HOST FILE

Place the cursor at the end of the last line i.e. at the bottom of the host file and type 127.0.0.1 and then give single space and write the website name which you want to block.

Example: 127.0.0.1 yahoo.com

Continue to add the websites you wish to block, each prefaced with 127.0.0.1 and a space.

Now click file>save,to save your work…!!!

Now Restart your computer and then open the Browser to test your edits. The blocked sites should not display in any browser.

Note: Add all of the site’s domains, especially mobile domains, on new lines. Your computer might block “www.facebook.com”, but not “m.facebook.com” if you’re not careful.