Internet under control: how to block any website on PC

When you need it

Blocking implies restricting access to a particular resource permanently or temporarily. Today we will talk not about the sites to which access is restricted by the government, but about blocking, which you do yourself, in your own interests.

Such an operation would be useful for:

1. Attentive parents who don’t want their children to be exposed to sites containing inappropriate information.
2. Experienced PC users who want to take care of newcomers. Inexperienced Internet users often fall for the tricks of scammers, clicking on unreliable links.
3. A fair boss, who wants to ensure that during the working day employees don’t waste time visiting social networks and entertainment portals.

Blocking instructions

The proposed blocking scheme will make it impossible to visit the site from any browser. The first step is to open the program «Notepad» as an administrator. To do this, go to the «Start» menu and enter the word «Notepad» in the search bar.

Right-click on the program and select «Run as administrator».

Then the program window will open. In it you will need to go to the «File» menu and select «Open».

Next, the «Explorer» program opens. In the address bar enter the following:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

After you press the «Enter» key, the desired folder opens.

In this window, you need to set the display of all file types. To do this, click on the drop-down menu at the bottom right of the screen and select «All files».

The contents of the folder will be updated and you will now see all the subfolders. Find and open the «hosts» file.

Usually the content of this file looks like this:

To block a site, place the cursor on the first blank line and type in:

«127.0.0.1» and the address of the site you want to block.

Next, you need to save the changes you made. Press «File» and select «Save».

After performing this sequence of actions the specified sites will not open. If you are interested in maximum clarity, watch our video on blocking sites below.

To regain access to a blocked site later, re-enter the hosts file in the same way, delete the line with the site and save the file.