Comments on: Block access to websites on a Mac by modifying /etc/hosts

By: Hillary

Hillary — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:57:32 +0000

Jon, Susan, and Jen:
Make sure you flush your cache after you save the hosts file.
For Mac OS X 10.5 and above, this can be done by opening Terminal and entering the following:
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

If you are using Tiger, open Terminal and type the following:
lookupd -flushcache

I hope this solves your problem! Good luck!

By: 5 Tools for Kicking your Internet Addiction » Lifestyle Experiments

5 Tools for Kicking your Internet Addiction » Lifestyle Experiments — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:45:32 +0000

[...] Modifying the hosts file in your own computer. No need for fancy plugins here. Go minimalist by editing a simple text file that lives on your own [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:38:18 +0000

Ditto as Susan and Jon. Anyone?!

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:08:16 +0000

I’m having the same problem that Jon did back in June. I did what the instructions said and saved the sites I wanted to block, but they’re still coming up on both firefox and safari. Need to get this done to keep kids off of sites where they shouldn’t be. Love my mac, but this site blocking stuff should be easier. Used Blocksites with Firefox and it works like a dream, but even when I try to set safari parental controls through the System Preference, nothing is blocking sites.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:53:13 +0000

How can I block the IP adress and block surfing using proxy?

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:57:32 +0000

I don’t have a password set on my system so when I type in nothing it just goes back to the command line again.
What type of password does it asks for? System?

Thanks

By: A Collection of 250+ Terminal Commands, Hacks, Tips and Tuts for Mac OS X

A Collection of 250+ Terminal Commands, Hacks, Tips and Tuts for Mac OS X — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:13:37 +0000

[...] Block access to specified sites by modifying /etc/hosts [...]

By: Greg Anderson

Greg Anderson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:02:22 +0000

It’s easier to type
sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts
…into terminal and then you can edit the hosts file in TextEdit. WAY easier in fact! Terminal seems to act weird sometimes with the delete and backspace key.
To remove a site, just delete that line and then save.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:48:39 +0000

Please help! Thanks for the step-by-step guide, unfortunately it doesn’t work. I am using OS 10.5.7, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, and don’t have fire vault on. After entering the Terminal, adding my password, the screen I get is similar to your example above, except that the title line reads Terminal – sudo – 80×24, and after the line that reads
::1 localhost
I have another line that reads
fe80::1%lo0 localhost
Followed by the lines I added such as
127.0.0.1 myspace.com
127.0.0.1 facebook.com
127.0.0.1 asx.com.au

I then re-started my computer, only to find that safari version 4 public beta and firefox I can still enter the websites. I know my command lines are saved as when I re-enter the Terminal my added lines immediately appear. I would really appreciate it if you could help.

By: michael

michael — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:53:19 +0000

@Jill and girlfriend on myspace to much guy, to unblock all you have to do is go back into the command and delete the urls you put in and also the ip address to your computer and safe the file again and that worked for me, just double check if you remove access to a site or add it back to see if it worked i have a mac with file vault on and it did not work for me i tested it on another account with out it on and it worked fine.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:39:35 +0000

I also want to know how to unblock if needed…

By: girlfriend is on myspace too much

girlfriend is on myspace too much — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:31:52 +0000

I was able to block the site but wanted to unblock it to make sure I could unblock if needed. How do you undo the block I deleted text and saved what now?

By: true false maybe » Giving up Reddit for Lent

true false maybe » Giving up Reddit for Lent — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:06:07 +0000

[...] how you can do it too: Windows | OSX | [...]

By: halfbuiltrobot

halfbuiltrobot — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:30:26 +0000

Will this work if you wanted to block a specific page on a site? without blocking the hole site.
example: myspace/yoville.com, so the myspace page could be viewed but not the link to the application on myspace.

sorry if that makes no sense

By: hmills

hmills — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:36:44 +0000

simple enough