How to Ban Web Sites from your Computer

The Husaria: For Our Freedom and Yours ^ | July 20 2008 | Winged Hussar 1683

[MediaMole]

You will get the blank popups when you have an ad blocker working but allow popups for the site.

It happens for me at mlb.com, since you have to allow popups to get the mlb.tv live games. Their ads will popup with blank windows.

[tacticalogic]

It can also be evaded by simply converting a host name to an IP address.

If you want to black hole an IP address you can do that in the route table.

route add 216.73.86.55 MASK 0.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 -p

[AppyPappy]

mark

[KoRn]

This a pretty good approach if all you are doing is looking to deny access to a few specific web sites. IMO, one is better off deploying a firewall on the perimeter of their network. Not only can it block specific hosts, but it can also enforce policies based on content, and what types of traffic are allowed.

[Winged Hussar]

I just downloaded Ad Block Plus. I’m looking forward to trying it!

[TexasRepublic]

I have used a HOSTS file for years and it works fine with Windows XP. However, a large enough HOSTS file will drag Windows 2000 Pro to a crawl, and so I don’t recommend it for that version of Windows.

[ROTB]

The key thing about the latter being, it can be set to auto-update.

[SlapHappyPappy]

Don’t forget Adblock too. You can even block specific images. For example, one particularly ugly avatar on another forum now comes up blank.

[HAL9000]

If you want to black hole an IP address you can do that in the route table.

And if you want to get around the black hole, use a proxy.

[aimhigh]

How do you edit it? When I open it in Notepad, make changes and then try to save it, it stops me. It says something has it open. I closed the browswer and Zonealarm. What else uses it?

[mountainbunny]

I use the Firefox browser, plus:

Ad Aware extension - blocks ads.

Ad Aware Filterset.GUpdater - updates the blocked list

Add Art - Firefox extension that puts Japanese wood blocks where the ads were.

No Script extension - Firefox forbids scripting on the page unless you allow it.

Cookie Monster extension - Extension easily manages and forbids/removes cookies from ads that might sneak in, though few ever do.

[Not now, Not ever!]

Bump, BTTT, As a bookmark

[Schnucki]

Not sure why, but I just opened the file with notepad, pasted in the lines and clicked the save icon.

After that I went to a few websites and got lots of blank squares with the text "advertisement" in the middle.

I don't know if it matters, but I'm using XP, btw.

[woollyone]

Is that a firefox add-on?

[SlapHappyPappy]

yup