How to Block Websites in Vista

If you need to block a website on your Windows Vista operating system, you could go out and purchase an expensive program that gives you the ability to block websites from the computer. However, by making a simple modification to a system file on the computer, you can block whatever websites you want without spending money on external software.

Instructions

1. Click on the "Start" button and type "notepad" into the search bar.

2. Right-click on the "Notepad" program that appears in the search results and select "Run as administrator."

3. Click "File" and then click "Open." Browse to "C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc" on your computer, click on the file named "hosts" and then click "Open."

4. Type "127.0.0.1 www.website-to-block.com" at the bottom of the file. Press the "Enter" key and add another line, this time with the text "127.0.0.1 website-to-block.com." Be sure to substitute the website you want to block for the "website-to-block.com" URL in this example.

5. Click on the "File" button and then click "Save." Your Vista computer now blocks the website that you added to the hosts file.

Tips & Warnings

• You can add more websites to block by adding two lines for each website to the hosts file, in the format that was demonstrated in this example.

References

• Today in Computers: Block Websites Without Spending Any Money