Internet filter... for myself!

fits

I dunno what forum to put this in... this part of boards is just double dutch to me... Anyway.. my question...

I have a wee bit of work to do at the moment... but I'm a bit of a dosser and there are certain forums that I like to frequent, such as boards, where I tend to lose track of time and get caught up in discussions.
Is there anything I can install on my computer that will only allow me access to these forums say between 1 and 2 pm, and after 6... sort of like a filter. I still need to access other websites...

Ruu_Old

Get the admins to ban you?
Seriously though I'm not sure if theres much you can do, maybe block the boards.ie website with NoScript if you use Firefox and see if that helps.

irlrobins

Have you a router in ur setup by anychance. Some routers allow you to limit access to certain times, etc. Linksys for one do it.

fits

Ruu wrote:

Get the admins to ban you?

Believe me, I've seriously thought about it, but one forum in particular, which is related to my hobby, I've made some geek friends, and it has been really helpful to me. I just want to limit my access, so I dont forget that when two o clock hits, its time to switch off...

fits

irlrobins wrote:

Have you a router in ur setup by anychance. Some routers allow you to limit access to certain times, etc. Linksys for one do it.

Ahem... whats a router:o

I do use firefox if thats any help to you guys, and zone alarm, and I'm on the ucd network...

irlrobins

thats a no to the router idea then. You could modify the hosts file to block access. so if u do want to read boards you have to move to another pc. That might remind you to return and do some work.

fits

irlrobins wrote:

thats a no to the router idea then. You could modify the hosts file to block access. so if u do want to read boards you have to move to another pc. That might remind you to return and do some work.

If thats what I have to do.. so be it.. I just thought there might be some filter like that out there. Could be a business idea for someone who can do that..

Its five sites I want to block.. How do I go about it? I'm currently downloading the new version of firefox, but also have explorer on my computer.. can I delete that off safely?

blorg

Windows looks in the hosts file before trying to resolve a DNS name, so if you put an alias in there it will not try to resolve a domain name (e.g. will block completely for all browsers on the computer.)

It's here:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

So you just need to put in a line like this:

0.0.0.0 www.boards.ie

- will stop boards.ie from resolving. If you wanted to get fancy you could make a copy of the hosts file (say hosts.bak) and create a scheduled task to swap this back and forth at 1pm, 2pm, etc.

fits

Thanks Blorg, I'll try that tomorrow, need to get moving out of here now...

fits

that seemed to work.. thanks!