Hi there,

I use Windows XP Pro and IE, and have been completely unable to block access to adult websites - and it's rather obviously that another family member is accessing these! (judging by the history folder).

I have tried editing the hosts file, but it seems it is ignored.

And I have also tried the "Address Based Filtering" in my Speedtouch router, but that doesn't seem to have any effect either.

I have tried to get to the bottom of why either doesn't work - but has anyone an idea why maybe not? Anything I should check?

-rapido

The easiest way is to use some sort of NetNanny type program (web filtering) as it will allow you to block by category rather than each individual site.

Search google for web filtering software, most have a free trial for you to see if you like it. I recomend installing McAFee site advisor first though as there are lots of bad sites out there offering fake filtering software.

http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/

Using the hosts file is fine for one specific site however if you wanted to do it for all porn sites then you would need to put an entry in for every individual site which would be a real pain.

If you want to know why your hosts file blocking is not working, paste a copy of the contents of your hosts file here.

Hi there,

many thanks for your quick reply and the advice.

I do know of Netnanny and Content Advisor and the like, but I want something where it's not obvious that the site is being blocked, so that it returns a simple 404 error or the like.

I did realise that the problem seemed to be that I was using a tab instead of a series of spaces between the IP address and the web address in the hosts file. Once I changed that, it appeared to work.

Now the only problem is that it goes to MSN Live Search where cached versions of the pages are still available. I have tried to find out how to get rid of this - but to no avail.

-regards
rapido