"Blocking" site access via the host file...

swinnie · 29 Aug 2008 at 15:30

Hi Guys

My friends parents want to block her sibling access to "habbo hotel". I tried to use the hosts file to do this, but it still didn't work.

I added this below the localhost entry.

69.90.139.109 habbo.com www.habbo.com
62.50.35.182 habbo.co.uk www.habbo.co.uk

And it still allowed access to the two websites, am I doing anything wrong?

I didn't comment out the lines or anything.

Thanks in Advance

Swinnie.

manjuice · 29 Aug 2008 at 15:37

127.0.0.1 habbo.com
127.0.0.1 habbo.co.uk

?

swinnie · 29 Aug 2008 at 15:42

Ah thank you!

I read the article wrong then.

Thanks again.

EDIT:

I can still access the sites if i do www.habbo.co.uk

manjuice · 29 Aug 2008 at 16:29

swinnie said:
I can still access the sites if i do www.habbo.co.uk

127.0.0.1 habbo.com
127.0.0.1 habbo.co.uk
127.0.0.1 www.habbo.com
127.0.0.1 www.habbo.co.uk

hegemon · 29 Aug 2008 at 16:29

swinnie said:
Ah thank you!

I read the article wrong then.

Thanks again.

EDIT:

I can still access the sites if i do www.habbo.co.uk

Just add these additional lines:

127.0.0.1 www.habbo.co.uk
127.0.0.1 www.habbo.com

Note: refresh in browser a couple of times else it may appear not to be working due to being cached.

Edit: beaten to it

swinnie · 29 Aug 2008 at 16:37

Thanks guys!

Forgot about the browser cache.

GarethDW · 29 Aug 2008 at 16:45

Depending upon how inquisitive the child is, just editing the hosts file alone may not be enough to prevent him/her from accessing the site. Is the PC hooked-up to a router? If so, you could implement additional controls there to prevent the child from accessing the site.

swinnie · 29 Aug 2008 at 16:50

GarethDW said:
Depending upon how inquisitive the child is, just editing the hosts file alone may not be enough to prevent him/her from accessing the site. Is the PC hooked-up to a router? If so, you could implement additional controls there to prevent the child from accessing the site.

The child will not work out how to edit the hosts file. Well, they might but highly unlikely.

GarethDW · 29 Aug 2008 at 16:55

Fair enough, mate. If you're confident that it'll be sufficient then that's cool. After all, you know this kid and what they (or their mates) are capable of working out.

Just wanted to make sure you realised that it's not infallible, and using IP address, proxies, etc... would circumvent it.