How to Block Sites On Your Computer, Phone, or Network [5 Methods]

There can be many reasons to block websites on your computer or mobile phone. Some people block sites that are not safe for work and parents restrict sites that are not safe for children and adolescents. Although you can prevent these websites from being accessed in your presence, you cannot be present at all times to prevent this. So the best way to prevent this is to block these websites so that no one can access or unblocked sites.

There are a few ways to block sites on your Windows and Mac computers, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer as well as Android phones, and router networks. You can block websites on a particular browser, the entire machine, or the entire network.

How to Block Websites on PC?

If you want to restrict access to websites within your computer, you can set a block in the operating system.

Let’s see how to prevent websites from browsing on Windows PC, Apple Mac, and browser level.

Block Any Site on Windows Computer Using Hosts File

In order to block websites on PC running on the Windows operating system, you need to edit the Windows’ hosts file and add the IP address 127.0.0.1 as localhost with the website link.

1. Login to PC with an administrator account access.

2. Locate the drive in which the operating system is installed (most likely C drive) and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\

3. Here you will find a file named hosts. Right-click on it and open with notepad.

4. Go to the last line in the hosts’ file and use IP: 127.0.0.1 to disable access to unwanted websites. To block a website, add a new line at the end, type 127.0.0.1 and the link of the site you want to blacklist, e.x., 127.0.0.1 facebook.com.

5. Likewise, you can add as many sites as you want, but remember that you can only add one per line.

6. When you are finished adding sites, save the hosts file at the same place or press Ctrl + S to save it quickly.

7. Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

Now, whenever someone tries to browse blocked websites, it will redirect the sites to your local computer and the page will show “Page Can’t Display”.

Block Any Website on Browser Level

There are some browser plugins available to restrict websites in any browser on your computer.

For Chrome Browser

To disable access to websites in Google chrome, you can add the BlockSite extension on chrome.

For Mozilla Firefox Browser

BlockSite addon is also available to block any site in the Firefox browser as well. All you have to do is go to this link from the Firefox browser and click on the “Add to Firefox it free” button to add this addon to your browser.

For Internet Explorer Browser

For Internet Explorer users, you do not need to add a plugin. IE has the facility to restrict sites.

1. Launch the browser, click the gear icon, and choose the Internet Options.
2. Click on the Security tab, then the Restricted sites icon, and Sites button.
3. A pop-up will appear, manually add the sites you want to disable. Once you are done, click the Close button, then OK wherever asks.

Now all sites you have added will only be blocked on Internet Explorer.

How to Block Sites on Mac Machine?

Now let’s find out how you can block websites access in a Mac system (OS X) without installing and running any program on Mac.

1. Log in to your Mac account and make you have the admin access.
2. Open the Terminal from /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.
3. Type sudo nano /etc/hosts and hit enter to open the hosts’ file in the text editor. When prompted, enter the user’s login password for authorization.
4. In a new line, type the domain name in this format “127.0.0.1 www.example.com” (without quotes) to block this particular website. Similarly, you can add each website in a new line that you want to block.
5. When all is done, press ctrl+x and then Y to save the changes.

Now, reboot your machine to finishing the task of blocking website access on Mac

Block a Website on Your Phone or Tablet

Nowadays, every teenager has their own smartphone, and it is not possible for parents to spy on their phone all the time.

So it is the best idea to block some sites on their mobile.

Block Any Website On Your Android Phone

You can use Mobile Security & Antivirus by Trend Micro to block websites that you don’t want your children to access.

1. Head to the Google Play store and install the app. Go to Options => Safe Surfing.
2. To use its parental control feature, you will need to create a free account in the app. After creating an account, you will see a blocked list option in the Parental Controls section.
3. Tap the blocked list and start adding sites you want to ban.

Using the app, you can limit your children to browsing, watching and downloading free movies online that are not safe for youngsters.

How to Block Sites on iPhone and iPad

Apple has some privacy features that beat Android and one of them is parental control tools that allow disabling websites on iPhone and iPad.

1. To enable website restrictions, go to Settings => General => Restrictions.
2. Now set a passcode to enable restrictions. You can use a different passcode from the unlock code.
3. After setting the passcode, scroll down and tap on websites. Here you will see some different ways to restrict the site, you can either restrict adult content or restrict access to a specific site. Just start enabling features that fit your needs.
4. To add a website to the specific websites list, tap on Add a Website. Although, Limit adult content blocks websites that are deemed objectionable by default but, you can whitelist them.

Now, when someone tries to access a blocked site, a message will start to appear “You cannot browse this page because it is banned”. To open that website, you have to tap on the Allow Website and provide the restriction passcode.

Block Websites on Your Network

If you have a WiFi network installed in your office or home and you know the login details of that router, this would be the best and easiest way to block unwanted websites in all devices connected to that network router.

1. Reach to your router by entering the IP address of your router in the browser. If you do not know the IP address of your router, look in the back of your router or check its user manual. Most routers have a default IP of 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1
2. Log in to your router. The username and login password are hidden behind the router, look in the back or check its user manual.
3. Once you are logged into the router, just look for options like Parental Control, Access Restriction, Access Management, Internet Access Policy. Here you can add sites you want to block across the entire network including any computer, phone, and browser.
4. After adding the sites, save the settings, and reboot the router to ensure that all websites are blocked.

Now any device connected to that router network will not have access to the blocked sites. It is the best solution for an employer or landlord.

Conclusion

If any of the above-mentioned methods to block websites seems hard to do for you, don’t try to do it yourself. You can take help from a tech expert.

Note that blocked websites can be easily bypassed when using a reliable VPN service. We have tried all the methods stated in this post that are fully capable to block sites on the computer, mobile, and network. Give them a try and if there’s something that doesn’t work, share your views in the comments below. And, if you found it useful, please do a share.