How To Block Websites Without Using Software

There are countless methods to block websites that you don't want users to access whilst utilizing your computer, with some (software) being quite effective, and others failing to serve their purpose at the best of times. There Is however, a very effective way to block any site you want natively within Windows, and dedicated to the PC on which It's applied to. In this tutorial, I will show you how to do It without the aid of third-party software.


Whatever your reason may be, I will demonstrate how to block websites by editing the Windows Hosts file. So what exactly Is the Hosts file? In simple terms, It's used to translate domain names Into their IP addresses, thereby you can view the website thereafter.

What I'll be doing, Is translate the domain name (website) that you wish to block, back to your own IP address, being the localhost. This means that the website will redirect to your computer and not on the Internet, hence the site cannot be reached.

You can block as many websites as you like, but for the purpose of this tutorial, I will be demonstrating just the one. So without further delay, let's get this started.

Step One:

To access the Hosts file, navigate to the following directory.

C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc

Then right-click It, and select Open with as shown below.

Step Two:

Windows will ask how to open the file, so simply select Notepad and hit OK.

Step Three:

The Hosts file will now open, so scroll to the bottom. Next, enter the loopback IP address of 127.0.0.0 and the website you wish to block. The loopback IP adddress (127.0.0.0), will redirect the website to your own computer, hence block It.

In my case, I've entered 127.0.0.0 www.youtube.com, which will block access to YouTube. If you want to block several websites, enter each one as a new line In the above format.

Step Four:

To finalize the change, hit File and then Save.

Step Five:

Let's put this to the test. Remember, I've blocked YouTube, so upon navigating to www.youtube.com, as you can see, It cannot be accessed. This was done using Microsoft Edge, so I'll try another browser In the next step.

Last Step:

I've navigated via Firefox, and as expected, YouTube has been blocked. Perfect.

Final Thoughts:

Although there are many methods and gateways to access websites, It's very much a commonality for users to simply refer to them by their domain names, therefore the entries In the Hosts file are very effective Indeed. As stated In Step Three above, every website that you want to block, must be entered as a new line. Of course, don't forget to save the changes.