How Do You Block a Website: A Complete Guide

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Do you wish to block certain websites on your system or a mobile device? If your answer is “yes”, then you have come to the right place. Too often, parents like to block inappropriate content, social media platforms, and other kinds of websites. Even employers want to restrict the access to certain websites for their staff at times. It doesn’t matter if you wish to learn how you block a website on a system or a mobile; you can do both easily. You can do this via routers, system configurations, or using third-party tools as well. We will let you know how you block a website in different ways right here.

How do you block a website on a router?

The easiest way to block certain websites is by updating the router settings. Almost every kind of router provides a seamless manner to customize the way users access the network. This includes manually blocking certain websites, filtering content based on keywords, etc. To know how you block a website via a router, follow these steps:

  1. 1
    Firstly, go to the official website (localhost) of the router brand you are using and log-in with your credentials. This might change from one brand of the router to another.
  2. 2
    Go to its settings and look for the website filter or website blocking option. From here, you can manually provide the URLs of the websites you wish to block. You can also block specific websites by applying keywords or setting up an automatic block feature.
  3. 4
    After applying your changes, save them and log out from the interface.

How do you block a website on Windows?

Besides blocking a website via router settings, you can also do the same with your operating system. For instance, Windows also allows an easy way to block certain websites pretty easily. To learn how do you block a website on Windows, follow these steps:

  1. 1
    Go to the directory where Windows is installed and look for the “hosts” file. Mostly, it is located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc.
  2. 2
    Now, open the file in Notepad or any other simple text editor.
  3. 3
    Navigate to the end of the file and type “127.0.0.1” followed by the URL of the website you wish to block. For instance, if you want to block Facebook, you can type 127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com.
  4. 4
    Save the file and exit. Afterward, check if you can access the blocked website or not.

How do you block a website on Mac?

Just like Windows, you can block certain websites on Mac as well. You can do it either by using Terminal or Mac’s Parental Control.

In the first technique, you can launch Terminal on your Mac and type “sudo pico /etc/hosts” to look for the “hosts” file. Afterward, you can follow the same drill to block certain websites: type “127.0.0.1” and the URL of the website you wish to block. Save your settings and restart Mac to implement them.

Also, you can go to System Preferences on Mac and visit the Parental Control section. From here, you can see its Web Restrictions and manually add the URL of the websites you wish to block. In this way, you can learn how do you block a website on Mac pretty easily.

How do you block a website using Software?

There is plenty of third-party parental control and security software that you can use to block certain websites. You can look for a reliable parental control application for Windows or Mac (your preferred operating system). Though, it would be best if you did some research before buying parental control software. Most of these tools are pretty easy to use and provides reliable results.

  1. 1
    To start with, go to the website of the software you wish to use and download it on your Mac or Windows system. In this tutorial, we have considered HT Vector Parental Control to block certain websites easily, perform time management, social media restriction, etc.
  2. 2
    After installing the software, launch it and go to the Website Blocking tab.
  3. 3
    Here, click on the “Add” button and provide the URL of the website you wish to block. You can also list it under the category of your choice.
  4. 4
    In the end, you can save your changes and exit the application.

How do you block a website in a browser?

Almost all the major web browsers also provide an easy way to block certain websites. We have discussed how you block a website on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox here for your convenience. The process is quite similar for all the other browsers as well.

Google Chrome

  1. 1
    Launch Google Chrome and go to its Settings. Under the Networks tab, you can open Proxy Settings.
  1. 2
    This will open a new pop-up window for Internet Properties. Go to the Security tab and click on the Restricted Sites option to block certain websites.

Internet Explorer

Blocking websites on Internet Explorer is similar to that of Chrome. Launch the browser and visit its Internet Options. Go to its Content tab and launch the Content Advisor interface. From here, you can add any website you wish to block. You can also use it to remove a website from the blocked list.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox might not have a native website blocking feature, but it has got tons of freely available add-ons that you can install. Go to Tools > Add-ons and look for “BlockSite”. Install it on Firefox and restart the browser. Afterward, go to Add-ons and launch it to block certain websites easily.

How do you block a website on a mobile phone?

Now when you know how you block a Mac or Windows website, you can also learn how to do it on a mobile device. Ideally, you can also block specific websites via router settings. Blocking websites via router will be effective on all connected devices (including mobile phones). Though, you can always block certain websites by visiting the settings on the mobile phone as well.

To block websites on an iOS device, you can go to its Settings > General > Restrictions. Tap on “Websites”, and under the “Never Allow” feature, add the URL of the website you wish to block.

If you are using an Android device, you can download a third-party website blocking or parental control app from the Play Store. You can find lots of freely available and paid tools that can easily be used to block certain websites on Android devices. Norton Family is an ideal app to block websites and inappropriate content on your family members’ Android device.

Conclusion

Now when you know how you block a website on a system and mobile phone in different ways, you can easily create a safe environment for your family. Besides using system settings, we have also listed a foolproof way to block certain websites via router or browser settings. Additionally, you can use a spying tool (like mSpy) to know how your friends and family are using their smartphones. mSpy will further help you to track their activities and keep them safe.


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