The digital marketplace and society have advanced to a level we could not have ever imagined. Not only we are more connected than ever before, every bit of information is accessible to us in a variety of ways – from our smartphones and tablets to our computers and laptops. And these are obviously some of the best things made a reality by the power of the World Wide Web.
However, at times, we feel too much tricked and psyched to get into the daunting maze of the Internet – or in other words, the side we don’t want to see. Porn sites, ‘fast money-making programs’, ‘amazing weight loss solutions’ and ‘million dollar offers’ are the most common ways that get our distraction, making us wonder: is the Internet a place with so many risks?
The answer to this question is: YES, it is. However, you have a choice to make the most out of your own protection, but also the protection of your children being online and whoever else around your presence or space you are staying in.
You are using your computer in a workplace ambient. It can be your business area or a place you are working in. Nonetheless, your protection over the websites you open is definitely tricked when being at work. In nowadays reality, working with the help of the Internet is considered as a great thing. However, as much as it is great – it’s distracting. No one can help the craze to check their Facebook profile, to click that attractive ad on ‘how to make money quick’, or even get in a serious of funny videos – which as we all know, doesn’t seem to ever end.
Our mindset is never focused to be distracted by an ad, however there are many people leveraging our attention to break into our systems and simply distract us from our productive work time or comfort when we are at home.
Fears and Frustrations – And The Things Wasting Our Time
Obviously, you think that blocking a website is a work done in a minute, however once the problems start piling up and we get distracted by many of the pop-ups, unknown websites or simply websites that waste our time and lead to inefficient productivity, we seem to be tricked.
In reality, the search for a solution on how to block a website or a group of websites takes days and weeks of work. First is the research, then the credibility of the sources kicks in.
‘Is this a good website block solution to try? Will it come with viruses? Who else has tried it?’ and many other question trick us in deciding which one to try. And suddenly, distractions aren’t a small thing anymore. They are a decision you must make and get rid of. Whether it’s checking your email for a minute, then hopping to Facebook to see who texted you and then logging in to Skype, the day worth of doing quality work might be over for you.
The simplest solution is to block the time-drainers – the websites causing this discomfort. However, the unique solution we all need is our self-discipline and willpower. And when that is not enough, it’s time to look for a software that blocks websites – but not just the first one to try, but a whole integrated solution that will get you rid of all the distractions and make you focus on the real possibilities you can do for the day, week, month and even year filled with maximum commitment.
If that even isn’t the case with you, you shouldn’t be too much excited. After a year, we all regret the choices we haven’t made and the time we did spent on simple distractions. And with that in mind, it feels like we are our biggest distraction to reaching success.
So, how to work on being a better you. How to reverse the inertia that keeps you rooted in place and prevents you from getting distracted. We all understand urgency of issues – however, in most cases – our distractions are never related to urgency.
As the Internet develops more and more, our complexity, change and distractions will become bigger – that is the simple reality check each one of us should make.
So, is there a solution to these problems?
Yes, there is – actually a range of solutions which we can try. So let’s jump into the best solutions to block websites, skip the distractions and focus and fully commit to your work or comfort.
The (Types Of) Solutions
Undoubtedly, the best solution to avoid distractions or any possible threats online is to have self-control. However, even that can be missed – which is why we’ll share the best tools to block websites online down below.
Fortunately for us, the makers of our computer software, hardware, Internet browsers and other applications have thought about securing us in a good way. Providing us with the answers on how to block a website or a series of websites quickly, they seem to know the biggest struggle of ours as Internet users and how to solve it with style.
Therefore, if you are wondering how to block a website – the answers you are getting are diversified – as there are too many ways presently on the Internet. Nowadays, the ‘how to block a website’ question can be solved through:
- Browser-Based Solutions
- System-Wide Solutions
- Router-Based Solutions
- Unplugging The Router (And Plugging It Back In) – although this is not an actual solution, it always works as a crude way to take you out of every Internet-based distraction or threat. Despite the fact it’s primitive, it is always possible to plug it back in without any struggles. We won’t be covering this solution in a detailed way, however you should know its efficiency – as explained here.
TYPE 1 – Browser-Based Solutions
On the off chance that you are a parent why should attempting increase parental control over what your young kids or youngsters have the capacity to see or what they find themselves able to look for, then you certainly need to know how to block a website. Here are a couple of ways that you can either breaking point, and even control your tyke’s capacity to get to specific spots on the web.
Browser Security Controls
The greater part of the web browsers that you may utilize will have alternatives to block certain destinations in the event that you go to the tools segment of the scanning project. Some, as Firefox will require that you download an extra which should effortlessly be possible by heading off to Firefox’s Mozilla.org website. Here are some simple headings:
Internet Explorer
- Open Internet Explorer.
- On the top bar select Tools.
- Go down to Internet Options.
- At that point open the Privacy tab.
- Search for Sites.
- Sort in the location of the site you wish to block and after that click OK
Google Chrome
- Open Google Chrome.
- Search for the wrench image in the upper corner.
- Click Tools.
- Select the Under the Hood tab.
- Discover Change Proxy Settings.
- Next, click Security, and after that Restricted Sites.
- You will need to double tap on Sites and after that you will have the capacity to sort in the site you need block.
Firefox
- While in Firefox, click on Tools.
- At that point select Add-ons.
- Click Get Add-ons.
- Select Browse All Add-ons.
- Enter Block Site for your hunt and you will have the capacity to download the extra.
- When you have the extra you will be given directions on the most proficient method to block destinations.
Despite the efficiency of these browser based solutions tailored to every browser in particular, they definitely sharesome major drawbacks.
Some of the constraints of this browser-styled type of blocking are the total restraints that the browsers define per user. For example, if you optimize your browser for your daughter of 7 years old, it may not give her access to a game like Temple Run, simply because the game itself is for 9 year or older kids.
Apart from this, the ways to block a website through the browsers like Chrome, Firefox and the Explorer are limited in options. For example, if your kid gets to Google and intents to search ‘how to write a poem’, before ‘a poem’, the popular list of suggestions by Google or any other search engine may include ‘have sex’, ‘make a baby’ or other potential threats to your little one.
That is by far the major reason why everyone adopts the way to block a website through a software – which is easy, practical and quick, without harming the computer in any way whatsoever.
Website Block Browser Extensions – The Most Popular Ones
SelfControl for Mac
Coming as a software when you need professional assistance to distractions, SelfControl is a Mac solution which you can use to block access to domains for either short or extended periods of time. Without the need of installation, SelfControl works on the download-and-launch principle.
With a basic interface that consists of a button created to add domains and a slider bar timer with a button to start the timer, SelfControl can make you see how much time you are gaining without the distractions. For example, if you have an hour of work that needs to be done, you can set the timer to one hour and work free.
The good but also bad side of SelfControl is that even if you close and delete the program, you wouldn’t have access to the sites on your list until the timer is done. While for emergency purposes this is not a tremendous feature, it definitely confronts your ‘willpower’ to go and get distracted. SelfControl is therefore made to replace your self control with a strict and compassionless rule enforcement routine. So, at least now you know how to control yourself – and your distractions!
Anti-Social for Mac
Anti-social is another app made so you can get rid of the distractions and commit to a hard work. The application runs smoothly, with only launching it and supplying your list of websites which are to be blocked, and the time interval you want them to be blocked. You can select a time from 1 minute up to 8 hours and authenticate to confirm the settings.
If you want to regain access to the blocked sites you have set, you can either reboot your Mac or wait for the time to expire. This is a pretty much decent solution and a customizable way of making your anti-social life easier. The app will also greet you with giving you the time you have been anti-social, or in other words the time you invested in a distraction-free work.
Anti-Social may not be for everyone willing to pay $15 per month, however the app comes worthy of the expense simply when considering the time you spend on actually losing that money. It is simple and does what it does in an effective manner.
Freedom for Mac
Freedom is able to disable your Internet connection and prevent you from surfing the Web or checking the e-mail, as well as the social media frenzy activity we are all fond of. With giving you ‘the time you need to create, write or code’, as the official slogan says, Freedom is also handy when it comes to enforcing the kids to a time spent without the Internet. Similar to SelfControl, an app we already covered, Freedom asks you for how long you like to work Internet-free – with a maximum of 8 hours.
You can enter an admin-level username and password for Freedom, but you should know that no amount of restarts, fiddling with network cables and settings will give you back the Internet. Therefore, Freedom is cool – but it’s a type of an Internet lockdown we don’t expect that much restricted. Aside from that, a drawback that was found by many users taking their distraction-free time with Freedom has been the level of security, which is apparently not what this app was designed for. On the contrary, it has been created as a way of making you stop your crave for the Internet. Another one worth mentioning is the absence of a timer to let you know how much time you have got on your side for productive work.
Think for Mac
Think has been one of the most popular inventions for a worth time without any distractions. The program runs simply with a series of icons made so you can optimize your distraction-free time and block websites with the Think extension in a meaningful way.
Think is different from its competitors simply becaue it highlights your main app or program in which you are working and makes everything else dark – so you are not distracted by anything. This is especially useful if you have left your Facebook on and can still be viewing your News Feed even without Internet, so Think has obviously thought about this and created an undistracted way. And if you get to switch the app you have been working on to another, it works easily – you can re-focus on another app and highlight it as your place for activity, leaving all the other distractions darkened and muted.
A minor drawback of Think is that it does not have any timer and it lacks the keyboard controls. With this said, you can only activate the app with your mouse, however you can refocus yourself with pressing Command+ Control+ Return on your keyboard. A handy small control panel is what Think has – focused on four simple controls – a quit button, a color button so you can choose a different ‘darkened’ experience and a transparency slider in which you can lighten up your distractions.
In a nutshell, Think is popular just because it is maybe a bit more rational app in the marketplace and a great thing to have if you have higher levels of self-control and discipline.
LeechBlock for Firefox
LeechBlock works as an extension to the Firefox web browser and is designed to block all the time-consuming sites that will suck your productive time off. The extension works in a simple way in which you can specify up to six sets of websites to be blocked with different times per each. The time relevancy is great when it comes to LeechBlock – as this great Firefox extension is able to block websites for days – which is really useful if you are up to larger projects and you know, no sleep at all.
You can also keep track of the total amount of time you have spent browsing the sites in each block set and even place exceptions, The important thing to know and a possible drawback of LeechBlock despite its amazing customizability is that the extension is not designed to work as a parental control and in terms of blocking offensive content on Firefox, but as a distraction-free app. Another con of LeechBlock is that despite you may block websites on Firefox effectively, the extension may still allow your Firefox browser to connect to them so if you want to prevent any such connection a lower-level blocking method such as a Hosts file manager is the best way to do it.
All in all, the extensions and apps for distraction-free work that are popular in the moment are great, however they fail to integrate an all-in-one solution. What some app or extension misses can be found in the other and it’s the same case when you see it backwards – so it’s really evident that the marketplace needs a website blocker that will work across any browser and computer in an integrated way, with all of the features we are expected to see.
Type 2: System-Wide Solutions
Changing The Hosts File
You can advise any browser you use to divert its hunt of a specific site back to a deadlock on your PC by changing the Hosts record. What you are essentially doing is training your PC to search for the undesirable website in a spot where it doesn’t exist. Here is the way to block a site utilizing the hosts document:
- Click your Start catch, then All Programs, then Accessories, and afterward go to Command Prompt.
- You will see a dark DOS window.
- Sort scratch pad C:/Windows/System 32/drivers/and so on/hosts and press enter.
- Search for the line 127.0.0.1localhost
- Directly under this line, sort the location that you need to block with 127.0.0.1 before it. On the off chance that you were going to block Yahoo, you would sort:
- 127.0.0.1 yahoo.com
- This strategy is compelling yet simply like with browser tools, you should include the locales each one in turn.
Despite the efficiency of The Hosts File, it definitely comes with some major drawbacks:
- You need a proper set of administrative rights to access the Hosts record.
- You may need to put different lines into speak to different pages being gotten to in the space. As sample, in the event that somebody needs to achieve a particular profile page or sub area, you’ll need to include these blocks also. You can’t expect individuals will dependably begin at the landing page for a site. A few locales additionally have canonicalization issues and can be come to utilizing “www.” or without.
- The block will work for only the present one PC.
The above proposals aren’t the main alternatives for limiting web review or get to. There are business software bundles that cutoff web seeing. You may discover another choice is to utilize an software program made to block websites, which also measures survey propensities and system use. It may show something about your own particular conduct. The point to recollect about every one of these measures is individuals will attempt to get around them. This isn’t shocking on the off chance that somebody supposes a site is that profitable.
Type 3 – Router Based Solutions
The vast majority of us would concur that the Internet has its offer of terrifying spots. Some are rabbit gaps we don’t want anybody to wander down. Beside security, another reason is time. Numerous destinations can be addicting and don’t add to our profitability. Adult sites, YouTube videos, political destinations, person-to-person communication interfaces, money making websites, news destinations – the list of distractions is endless.
Using OpenDNS to Block Site Categories or Domains
OpenDNS is an organization that gives free DNS servers instead of utilizing your network access supplier (ISP). I’ve been utilizing the administration for a considerable length of time, yet didn’t understand every one of the components they offered as of not long ago. One element is the capacity to block spaces or gathering of areas.
The administration speaks to me for two reasons. The primary is that it’s the quickest DNS administration I’ve utilized. They were additionally resistant to the most recent DNS security issues that occurred this midyear. Second, the administration is free.
On the off chance that you make a record with the administration you can obtain entrance to more elements. On the off chance that you have to confine access, OpenDNS has more than 50 class channels covering the typical suspects. Besides, you can likewise decide to block particular websites . For a little yearly charge, there are improved administrations you can get, for example, quicker DNS and backing.
Conclusion
In the end, figuring out the perfect way to block a website or a series of websites may be very much time-consuming for you and your free time. Whether you are at work or at home, you will never get to blocking every single device in the proper way and quickly, and you most certainly will come across many problems and threats.
However, if you want to ditch this idea off the cliff and settle for another round of Facebook posts and Youtube video streams thinking that the Internet has grown so much on us that we cannot block its distraction anymore – you are wrong. Just remember how easy it is to get scattered with so much possibilities and distractions in your life. Our own mind is definitely our biggest frustration coming fro the fact that it is getting in the way of our goals.
So, what will happen if we don’t have any distractions to worry about both on us and our children?
- Will the world be a safer place? Definitely.
- Will we all be more productive? Definitely.
FocusMe – Your Most Reliable Website Blocker
Considering a software solution that takes care of every possible distraction for both you and your kids is one of the best things we can have nowadays. And also the biggest reason why we created FocusMe – the ultimate website blocking solution that is more integrated than any other solution online, taking care of your complete access to the Internet and blocking your websites in all browsers – making you the most productive person and making your loved ones safer than ever online.
As you know, productivity leads to happiness and ditching all that games, endless conversations and scrolls up and down your social media sites is the way to take care of your productivity and commit to your willpower. Precommitment is apparently the best way to beat the temptation, which is why we have found FocusMe – the precommitment software which lets you define your sense of productivity and reaching goals from the very start.
With FocusMe, you can finally stop being the falling victim to your bad habits again and again and really see where your productive time is going. The app is simple yet intriguing – letting you learn newer and newer features every week, in a 12 week program that is bound to make you happier, more productive and ultimately, richer.
But why richer?
Well, do you know that an hour spent in distractions during your work day results in a LOT hours on the long run. Even if we don’t take the long run into consideration and focus on the fact that you are making $25 per hour – with FocusMe, your distractions can end – and you can earn your $750 (taken from the distractive hours) in the best way possible – per month! Now, imagine your revenue per year with only focusing on that ‘extra’ hour you spend with your distractions.
FocusMe is not your distraction-free buddy. It’s your new way of dealing with things and a better and more organized version of yourself. Not only it will block the websites you don’t want – it will also improve your life by making you realize the real worth of our time as well as the real choices you have to make. Without making your work more stressful and focusing on only making it easier, you can definitely improve your life with FocusMe.
And if you think multi-tasking is what you do – you are wrong. Many studies have found that multi tasking is actually an inefficient way in which you are not able to focus on a single thing and you are in a constant state of interruption, causing your brain to overstress. On the contrary, FocusMe takes a laidback view on its features – and consecutively, in a 12 week program is bound to train you to a whole set of improved productivity habits – as well as productivity hacks you can leverage to make the most out of your time.
With FocusMe, you will be able to do the right things day after day, be more successful and focused to your highest money-making activities – making your time and your business one of the biggest priorities in life. And once they are made this way, you can achieve success in every field of your lifestyle.
Without any coding skills needed, FocusMe will finally solve your ‘how to block a website’ struggles with immediate action. For more on downloading FocusMe and starting your own free trial, stay tuned in our next episode!!
