With the vast pool of information on the internet and the lack of restrictions, anyone can now access any content and find the most diversified sources of information there are. The internet gives us great power, but it can call for some serious consequences in exchange.
That’s why information access should be managed and taken care of. Whether you’re a parent or a worried partner, you must be well-equipped regarding internet security. The best way to control internet access and prevent your close ones from accessing some malicious website is by using the device that grants internet access to your home – the router.
You can easily customize the router’s settings and block undesirable websites, making them unavailable to any user connected to the network. Want to learn how to block a website on router? Read the following guide and find out.
How to Block a Website on Router
Although a networking router’s initial purpose is to broadcast WiFi signals, you’ll be surprised to learn how many useful features it has to offer. One of them is the ability to block and censor unwanted content on the entire network. Each router has many built-in tools, easily accessible through the device’s configuration interface. You can quickly disable unwanted websites and protect your family by customizing a few settings and using the website blocking tool.
Think you’ll need some more help? We’ve got a detailed guide to walk you through the entire procedure.
Access the router’s configuration interface
The first thing you need to do to set up your router to block some specific content is to navigate to the management system. The configuration interface is typically located on a web address reserved for the device’s private IP address, such as http://192.168.0.1/, or some more descriptive web address like http://routerlogin.com/.
Once you’ve entered the configuration interface, you’ll need to log in to the system using administrator credentials. These are typically set to admin or some other generic value for the username and password, and you can easily find them online.
After you’ve found and entered the administrator username and password, you’ll get access to all the settings and customizations you can make.
Find the website-blocking tool
Although most configuration interfaces are designed to provide you with the same information, they’re usually set up and designed slightly differently. Therefore, if for one router you can find the website blocking tool under the security features, another manufacturer may place the setting under advanced options, etc. The setting might be named block sites, access restrictions, or something similar.
If you’re having difficulties locating the setting, go through your user manual, or run an online search.
Add the websites you want to block
With the website blocking tool in front of you, all that’s left to do is enter the websites you want to block. Create a list of undesirable websites, paste it into the input field, and then save your changes. The restrictions should become active immediately, but if they seem not to be working, you might have to restart the router for the changes to take effect.
Make sure the website is successfully blocked
After saving your changes and resetting the router, you’ll need to check whether you’ve successfully blocked the websites you wanted to target. When typing the domain name manually, it is common to mix up the characters and block a completely different website. Therefore, it is always a good idea to double-check the configuration.
To check if you’ve successfully blocked a website, you need to try accessing the site from any device connected to the router. If the site is blocked, you’ll see a warning ‘This site is blocked’ message on the screen. Otherwise, we suggest you return to the router’s configuration interface and double-check your spelling.
Read more: How to Turn off Internet Access at Night
Blocking a Specific Keyword
If you want to block a specific group of websites without blocking them individually, you can also block a particular keyword. Blocking a keyword follows the same procedure as blocking a website, with the only difference being that you’ll need to type a keyword in the blocking field instead of an entire domain.
That way, if you want to block torrent websites, you can simply type ‘torrent’ in the blocking field, and your router will deny access to all websites that contain the word ‘torrent’ in the domain.
Some routers may have a separate list for blocked domains and keywords, but they will still appear next to one another, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties blocking keywords now that you know how to block a website on router.
Related: How to Check Browsing History on a WiFi Router
Other Ways for Blocking Websites
Blocking a website through the router will block the particular website on all devices. But what if you want to block a website only for a specific user?
The best way to achieve that is to block the website from the OS. If you’re worried about your children’s safety and want to prevent them from viewing some specific content, you can access their computer and add the particular websites to the block list.
Also read: How to Change Channel on Router
Block a website on Windows
To block a website on Windows, you’ll need administrator access. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ and open the ‘hosts’ file using notepad. To block websites, go to the bottom of the file, and type 127.0.0.1, followed by the domain name you want to block. That will redirect the site’s name to your local computer. Repeat the procedure for all websites you wish to block, and save the changes made to the file.
Block a website on Mac OS
To block a website on Mac OS, you’ll need to open ‘Terminal’ with administrator privileges. Enter the following command: “sudo nano /etc/hosts”, which will open the ‘hosts’ file in the text editor. Go to the end of the file and add a new line starting with 127.0.0.1, followed by the website’s domain name you wish to block. When your list of blocked sites is complete, enter “sudo dscacheutil -flushcache” in the terminal to restart your computer and load the changes.