Block a site on my computer network

[bigwat]

hi i want to block certain sites from my computer and the others on the network through one computer using the admin privileges i have how can i do this.

 

[DelJo63]

Using ICS:

modem==[B]Primary[/B] computer===router---other PCs

the firewall on the Primary will control access of other devices, but it's a pain to configure AND the Primary must be running for anything else to have Internet Service (including even simple email).

the more typical layout

modem===router --- All devices

is far more practical but only the common router is available for access controls and
with the average home-router, it is limited in the number of keywords or urls that can be managed.

Each PC could have its own system32\drivers\etc\hosts file and block access with
a line per site (meaning everything at a given domain) like

127.0.0.1  blocked_domain_name

but then you need to update all PCs with every change and recycle the DNS on each machine using

ipconfig /flushdns
net stop "dns client"
net start "dns client"​

while effective, this technique is all-or-nothing, ie all users are denied uniformily

 

[bigwat]

found sum'n

ok i found a software that can do all the blocking but then how do i install it on one pc in admin of course and let it supervise all on the network?

 

[DelJo63]

shall I play guessing games ??? I have no idea what you found

RTM:: ~= read the manual

 

[bigwat]

what i found

Ok so its imblock and all i want to do is to run it from the server so all the computers on the network wiil be able to use it.

And i already installed it but i have to manually put it on all the pcs in one of the room, so is there anyway to put it on all the pcs at once.

 

[DelJo63]

you've arrived that interesting problem of how to administor
(or configure and control) mutiple systems from one place (aka, the administrator's system).

big companies do this with the Domain Controller (DC) software which is expensive and a whole new set of programs to learn - -
not very practical for the home user.

without a DC, there are really just two kinds of choices:
a) use something in the network above all these systems to control what they all get to see or access

b) install some program EVEYWHERE, configure it on one system, and then find some means to copy the configuration settings to all of them.

when we typically have home networks like

modem==router---> lan attached PCs

One central location that shouts at us as a candidate for centralize control is - - - the ROUTER.

If you can pick a good one and get sufficent control there, then your task is not too difficult.
My NetGet router allows Key Word Filtering and will block any URL which contains any
word or work fragment in the list of keywords. Sadly, this is limited to a small set of key words and
will never catch everything (ie: too many ways to create URLs which do not imply the content on the page).