Need free website blocker

[15357]

For our school library. I work there, but we've been having problems with "inapproperiate content". Something that you can list the sites to be blocked would be nice. Any help? Thanks in advance.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking but if you're trying to get to inappropriate sites past the blockers just use a proxy site like proxy.org

 

[15357]

I need quite the opposite. I need to block certain sites.

 

[Mc Bane]

*facepalm.

Why are you guys trying to be all tricky and use 3rd party software.

USE THE HOSTS FILE IN WINDOWS. GOOGLE IT.

All you have to do is type the site address, and put 127.0.0.1 or whatever it is next to it. DONE. It's like THE way for blocking sites. It's part of what it's there for.

 

[Druckles]

*facepalm.

Why are you guys trying to be all tricky and use 3rd party software.

Why are you trying to act all intelligent? You're only showing off your own ignorance.

It's clear he doesn't know about this feature, so shouting at him for not knowing about it is simply shouting about your own lack of social skills.

 

[15357]

*facepalm.

Why are you guys trying to be all tricky and use 3rd party software.

USE THE HOSTS FILE IN WINDOWS. GOOGLE IT.

All you have to do is type the site address, and put 127.0.0.1 or whatever it is next to it. DONE. It's like THE way for blocking sites. It's part of what it's there for.

Yeah, thanks. I'll try that. But you could have elaborated a bit more.

Why are you trying to act all intelligent? You're only showing off your own ignorance.

It's clear he doesn't know about this feature, so shouting at him for not knowing about it is simply shouting about your own lack of social skills.

It's quite all right, really. My ignorance isn't something to be lauded, I suppose. Thanks though.

 

[Druckles]

Your ignorance is shared by the masses. I can't imagine much more than half a percent of the population of the earth knowing about this feature of Windows.

 

[Saturos]

Your ignorance is shared by the masses. I can't imagine much more than half a percent of the population of the earth knowing about this feature of Windows.

Ah well. Nerds will be nerds. In an nerdy, "I'm smarter than you haha durka dur!" sort of way.

 

[Mc Bane]

Cry more tbh.

I gave all the info he needed - "hosts file" and "google". You kids expect to be spoon fed too much. Learn to do things for yourselves ffs. Besides, any site he found explaining it would likely do a better job than me, half because I cbf explaining it further, and half because i cbf checking to be sure I was explaining it right.

 

[Druckles]

kids

So you're probably just some angry 14-year-old boy thinking he's cool because he can use the internet.

expect to be spoon fed too much. Learn to do things for yourselves ffs.

He is. He's on here asking for help. Was that not obvious?

Besides, any site he found explaining it would likely do a better job than me, half because I cbf explaining it further, and half because i cbf checking to be sure I was explaining it right.

Then dbf posting.

 

[Mc Bane]

Lol at least you got this part right:

Cry more tbh.

Don't stop now.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

You have obviously never worked for the school network administration (or any business for that matter). Time consuming processes like these which must be applied to every individual machine for every individual address are unacceptable.
Your solution is severely flawed and without foresight.

 

[OmegaX]

I know my old high school used something called SonicWall. Worked pretty well too. Even blocked almost all proxy sites.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

I believe "Net Nanny" or something was popular for a while some time after I had graduated.

 

[15357]

Cry more tbh.

I gave all the info he needed - "hosts file" and "google". You kids expect to be spoon fed too much. Learn to do things for yourselves ffs. Besides, any site he found explaining it would likely do a better job than me, half because I cbf explaining it further, and half because i cbf checking to be sure I was explaining it right.

Yeah, I did google it, and it works perfectly. But I don't see why you should be so rude as to insult other members of this site.

You have obviously never worked for the school network administration (or any business for that matter). Time consuming processes like these which must be applied to every individual machine for every individual address are unacceptable.
Your solution is severely flawed and without foresight.

Actually, this is a problem. I had to spend almost an hour pasting the host file to all the computers in the library. And updating the list.... *sighs*

So I just might need a program.

 

[Druckles]

I believe "Net Nanny" or something was popular for a while some time after I had graduated.

That program's laughable. It was easy enough to get around it.

 

[Mc Bane]

You have obviously never worked for the school network administration (or any business for that matter). Time consuming processes like these which must be applied to every individual machine for every individual address are unacceptable.
Your solution is severely flawed and without foresight.

CH-RIST.

USB drive or network access.

Copy.

Paste.

Done.

Better than having to actually install a program on each PC. Not exactly time consuming either. Think before you post.

 

[Druckles]

Think before you post.

Please do. It's evident you've not actually done any work with computers before. Computer's a designed so the job takes twice as long to set up but a fifth of the time to configure in the future. Your "solution" is barely configurable.

Also, you're an asshole.

 

[No Limit]

For the record I would agree Mc Bane is an asshole. But give him a break, he's probably a little kid that thinks he knows everything. We were all that age at one time.

The simplest solution you have is what the asshole suggested with the hosts file. But there might be better ways of doing this especially if you need security and don't want to update each hosts file everytime you want to add a new site. Can you give us a little more details about your set up? What version of windows are you running (home editions or business editions) and do you have any kind of server involved (if so which one). If you have a server you can set up dns on it which will allow you to block sites on the network level.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

PG2, gets it done, choose your own lists and make custom ones.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Ignore Mc Bane, he is a troll and now he's going to sit out for a bit. This thread is only the tip of the iceberg of the problem he causes.

 

[15357]

For the record I would agree Mc Bane is an asshole. But give him a break, he's probably a little kid that thinks he knows everything. We were all that age at one time.

The simplest solution you have is what the asshole suggested with the hosts file. But there might be better ways of doing this especially if you need security and don't want to update each hosts file everytime you want to add a new site. Can you give us a little more details about your set up? What version of windows are you running (home editions or business editions) and do you have any kind of server involved (if so which one). If you have a server you can set up dns on it which will allow you to block sites on the network level.

We have XP Home editions for half, and Windows Vista for the other half, sometimes the usability of it is enough to ward off students.

I might have to use the site blocker implented in vista for those computers, but the librarian doesn't want to use administrator passwords.

The network... is controlled by the Administration Office. I'm not allowed in there (as it contains all records of the school) and I'll prolly have a hard time blocking on a network basis. But thanks for the idea.

PG2, gets it done, choose your own lists and make custom ones.

I'll search for that.

 

[No Limit]

If you have no access at the network level and your workstations are home editions of windows then the hosts file might be the best way to go even if it takes some work. Even if you use software I think you will have the same issue with having to modify each computer each time you make a change.

However, you should really talk to your network administrators about this, this is a task that they should be handling as they would be able to block everything on the network level. I think you will find that blocking individual sites won't be very effective (there are millions of inappropriate sites out there).

 

[AtomicSpark]

OpenDNS has content blocking. It seems pretty decent. Of course you would have to change all the DNS server addresses to point to them and create a free account.