Block Websites From Your Router or Using DNS:
You don't have to spend money on a web surveillance service if you want to keep prying eyes away from those pages. You may use the settings on your router to disable unencrypted websites. If the websites you want to block are encrypted, you can use a free service such as OpenDNS to filter them out.
Check to See If the Website You're Blocking is Encrypted.
Most home routers are unable to block links to websites that are encrypted (HTTPS://). By searching for a padlock icon to the left of the site's URL, you can tell if it's encrypted. If the pages you're attempting to block are encrypted, move on to the next portion.
Open the Configuration Page for Your Router.
If the pages you want to block aren't encrypted, you can normally do so with the built-in tools on your router. To get to these, open a web browser on a device connected to your network and go to the router's configuration page.
Fill in the Login Details for Your Router.
Enter the default administrator account details if you haven't updated it before. For certain routers, the username is "admin" or "blank," and the password is "admin" or "blank." If you don't know the default login details for your router, look it up in the documentation.
DNS Blocking
- Since not all routers allow you to block websites from the back end, you'll need to find another way to do so. You can do this by using a free DNS service like OpenDNS, which can filter out or block unique websites.
- Your machine can't connect to any website without an IP address, so a DNS server is required to convert a URL like helpdeskgeek.com into an IP address.
- Normally, you'd use the DNS service provided by your ISP, but you can change your mind at any time. OpenDNS is a third-party DNS server that includes content filtering, increased speed, and parental controls, among other things.
- This approach does not prevent you from accessing social networking sites that might contain upsetting content. You'll need the more sophisticated OpenDNS Home Internet Security in this situation, which can block whole categories of content. It only works on your network, but if you want more granular access, it's ideal.
Using Parental Controls
Create an account with a strong and safe password to use OpenDNS Home Internet Security, and you'll be led to the backend.
- Select Add network from the drop-down menu. To begin, locate your external IP address and click it. Since the service keeps track of your changing address, it's best to install it on one device and have it function on all of your others.
- The parental controls feature will prevent inadvertent access to inappropriate websites or filter the web for them. You can use your router's native parental controls or third-party apps to block websites.
- If your router came with built-in parental controls, you can set them up for your network by going to the configuration pages on the site.
- If not, simply set up the function on your router using OpenDNS by changing the DNS server settings to OpenDNS and then selecting the websites to block. When anyone visits a blocked site, they can see the message "This site is blocked."
Conclusion
You may also use your antivirus software or firewall to block websites by setting a blanket ban on individual websites. This will block everything, and you will then whitelist the websites you want to be able to access on your home network. The default settings of most firewalls allow you to block something that isn't safe to read or watch.