Blog Lady's Internet Guide

Facebook is a forbidden fruit for some users.  Many parents, employers and school administrators would prefer that their computers be used for reasons other than social networking.  Even an individual Facebook user may wish to ban Facebook for him- or herself to stop an addiction, to be more productive, or whatever reason. Here are some ways to block a website on a computer.

Block Facebook with Internet Explorer

You can block Facebook and any Web address on IE, and your settings are password-protected so you’re the only one who can unblock the site(s).  See How to Block Facebook on Internet Explorer 9.

Block Facebook with Mozilla Firefox

Try Firefox addons to block Facebook and other websites.  BlockSite is a Firefox extension that lets you add/removesites in a blocked list. Unfortunately, development of this extension seems to have stopped due to financial reasons.

To block Facebook using BlockSite:

1. Download and install the BlockSite extension from the Firefox website.
2. Go to Tools > Add Ons > Extensions.
3. Click Options under BlockSite.
4. Check Enable authentication and enter a new password.
5. Click Add.
6. Type the Facebook URL www.facebook.com.
7. Add variants of the Facebook login welcome page as desired, (e.g. m.facebook.com).
8. Click OK.

Figure 1. This Firefox extension can block websites, including Facebook.

You will need to enter the BlockSite password every time you want to display the Options dialog box.  Unfortunately, there is no password protection for the Disable and Remove commands!

Block Facebook with Windows HOSTS file

You can block Facebook and other websites by editing the Windows HOSTS file.  The hosts file assigns IP addresses to hostnames.  It’s a system file, so only admins can make changes to it in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.  To edit your HOSTS file in these operating systems, you must run Notepad as an administrator.  Make sure that your admin account is password-protected, so your kids or whoever you want to deny access to Facebook to can’t undo your changes.

For detailed instructions on banning Facebook with the HOSTS file, see dkszone.net’s article for a good tutorial on this.

Also related is the Windows 7 Parental Controls utility.

Block Facebook with Parental Controls Software

There are many programs that allow parents to control how their kids use the computer, and what they can access.  I recently purchased Kaspersky PURE at a discount.  It’s a great antivirus program, but it also comes with parental controls and a host of other security features.  I will add a section to this entry about using Kaspersky.

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Filed under: Facebook | Tagged: block facebook, facebook security, internet explorer, kaspersky pure, mozilla firefox, parental controls