Website Block Help - user guide

Website Block Help

This guide explains how to use Website Block, step by step. You do not need any technical knowledge to follow it.

Contents

What Website Block does

Before you start

The main window

Adding websites to the list

Blocking websites

Unblocking websites

What the "Block Status" column means

Editing and removing websites

Saving and opening lists of websites

Handy shortcuts

Protecting Website Block with a password

Good to know (limits of website blocking)

Troubleshooting - questions and answers

Where Website Block keeps its settings

Registration and support

1. What Website Block does

Website Block stops this computer from opening the websites you choose, for example social networks, video sites, games or adult sites.

The block works in every web browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox and others) and in other programs that connect to the internet.

The block applies to everyone who uses this computer, not only to you.

The block stays in place after you close Website Block and after you restart the computer. You do not need to keep the program running.

Only Website Block (or an administrator who knows what to change) can remove the block. You can also protect Website Block itself with a password, so that nobody else can open it and unblock websites (see section 11).

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2. Before you start

Administrator rights

Website Block changes security settings of Windows, so it must run as an administrator. When you start it, Windows asks "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?". Click Yes. If you are not an administrator on this computer, Windows asks for an administrator's password.

Evaluation (trial) version

Until you register, a window appears at start-up that shows which day of the 30-day evaluation period it is:

Continue Trial - opens Website Block.

Register Online - opens the web page where you can buy a license.

Quit - closes Website Block.

Only one copy runs at a time

If Website Block is already open, starting it again simply brings the open window to the front.

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3. The main window

The main window has four parts:

Part What it does

Menu bar File, Action, Block, Security and Help (all commands).

Toolbar Buttons for the most common commands: Open File, Save File, Add Site, Remove, Block All, Unblock All, Password and Help (About). Point at a button to see what it does.

The list One website per row, with three columns:

URLs - the website as you typed it.

Host - the website name Website Block blocks (worked out from what you typed).

Block Status - whether the website is blocked (see section 7).

A row's small icon also shows whether it is blocked.

Status bar At the bottom: how many websites are in the list and how many are blocked. While Website Block is busy it shows the progress, for example "Resolving websites: 120 of 300...".

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4. Adding websites to the list

Adding a website to the list does not block it yet. You block it in a second step (section 5). This lets you prepare a list first.

To add websites:

Click Add Site on the toolbar, or choose Action > Add Website... (or right-click the list and choose Add...).

Type one or more websites into the box. Put each website on its own line, or separate them with spaces.

Click OK.

The new websites appear at the top of the list and are already selected, so you can block them right away with Block > Block Selected Websites.

What you can type - all of these work:

facebook.com
www.youtube.com
https://www.instagram.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/foryou
news.example.org

Website Block only needs the website name. Anything after it, such as /foryou, is ignored: the whole website is blocked, not just one page.

International website names (for example Russian-language addresses in Cyrillic letters) are supported.

A single word without a dot, such as casino, is kept in the list as a keyword. Keywords cannot be blocked - only website names can. Their status shows "N/A (keyword)".

Limits

The list can hold up to 3000 websites.

One entry can be up to 2048 characters long.

Entries that are already in the list are skipped. Entries that are not website names (for example text with spaces inside) are skipped too. Website Block tells you what it skipped and why.

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5. Blocking websites

To block some websites

Select them in the list. (Click one row; hold Ctrl and click to select several; hold Shift and click to select a range; Ctrl+A selects all.)

Choose Block > Block Selected Websites (or right-click the selection and choose Block).

To block every website in the list

Click Block All on the toolbar, or choose Block > Block All Websites. Block All makes the blocked websites exactly match the list: websites that were blocked earlier but are no longer in the list are unblocked.

What happens next

Website Block looks up each website on the internet. For a long list this takes a few seconds; the status bar shows the progress. You can keep using the window, but commands that change the list wait until blocking has finished.

When it is done, a message tells you how many websites were blocked and lists any problems.

Each website is blocked in two ways at once:

by name: Windows is told that the website does not exist, and

by address: the computer's firewall refuses connections to the website's internet addresses.

Together these stop the website even when one of the two ways cannot work on its own.

Important - close and reopen your web browser. A browser that already had the website open can keep its existing connection for a while. After blocking, close all browser windows and open the browser again, then try the website.

Also block the website again from time to time

Some large websites change their internet addresses. The name block keeps working, but blocking again now and then refreshes the address block too.

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6. Unblocking websites

To unblock some websites

Select them and choose Block > Unblock Selected Websites (or right-click and choose Unblock). The websites stay in the list; you can block them again later.

To unblock everything

Click Unblock All on the toolbar, or choose Block > Unblock All Websites. This removes every block Website Block has made on this computer.

Removing a website from the list (section 8) also unblocks it.

As with blocking, restart the browser if an unblocked website still does not open right away.

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7. What the "Block Status" column means

Block Status Meaning

Blocked (name, 4 addresses) Fully blocked: by name and by 4 internet addresses.

Blocked (name) Blocked by name. No internet addresses were blocked (for example the addresses could not be found at that moment).

Blocked (4 addresses) Blocked by address only. This happens when Windows did not allow the name block to be saved (see section 13). Some websites may still open.

Not blocked In the list, but not blocked.

Not found The last time you blocked it, the website could not be found on the internet - often a typing mistake, or a website that no longer exists. Check the spelling.

Not found (name blocked) Could not be found, but it is blocked by name anyway, so it stays blocked if it appears later.

N/A (keyword) A word, not a website name. Cannot be blocked.

Unknown Website Block could not read the firewall settings. Try Block > Refresh Block Status, or restart Website Block.

Tips

Click a column heading (for example "Block Status") to sort the list by that column. This puts all "Not found" rows together so you can fix or remove them in one go.

Block > Refresh Block Status re-reads the current state at any time.

Websites that are blocked but missing from the list (for example after opening a different list) are added back to the list automatically, so every block can always be seen and removed.

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8. Editing and removing websites

Edit a website

Select one row and choose Action > Edit Website... (or right-click and choose Edit...). Correct the text and click OK. If you change it to a different website, the old website is unblocked; block the corrected one again.

Remove websites

Select one or more rows and click Remove on the toolbar, choose Action > Remove Website, right-click and choose Delete, or press the Delete key. Removed websites are unblocked.

Clear the whole list

File > Clear All removes every website from the list and unblocks them.

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9. Saving and opening lists of websites

Keep your list for next time: Action > Apply Changes

Choose Action > Apply Changes to save the list, so it is there the next time you start Website Block. Blocked websites always come back into the list on their own, but websites that are only in the list (not blocked) are lost if you close the program without Apply Changes.

Save the list to a file: File > Save As...

Saves the list as a text file, one website per line. Use it as a backup, or to copy your list to another computer.

Open a list from a file: File > Open...

Loads websites from a text file (.txt) - for example one you saved earlier, or a list you wrote in Notepad with one website per line.

Opening a file replaces the websites in the list; websites that are blocked stay in the list anyway.

Opening does not block anything. Use Block All afterwards.

Lines that are not website names, duplicate lines, and anything beyond 3000 websites are skipped, and you are told how many.

The file can be at most 4 MB.

If a sample list (samples.txt) came with Website Block, you can open it with File > Open to try the program out.

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10. Handy shortcuts

Action What it does

Right-click the list Menu with Add, Edit, Delete, Block, Unblock and Visit URL.

Double-click a row Shows the website's details: its name, its block status, and the internet addresses it has right now.

Visit URL (right-click menu) Opens the website in your browser - useful to check that a block works.

Ctrl+A Selects all websites in the list.

Delete Removes the selected websites (and unblocks them).

Click a column heading Sorts the list by that column.

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11. Protecting Website Block with a password

Without a password, anyone who can start Website Block as an administrator can unblock websites. A password stops that: Website Block then asks for it every time it starts, before any window opens.

Set a password

Security > Software Access > Password Protect Access... (or the Password button on the toolbar). Type the password twice and click OK. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long and are case-sensitive ("Cat" is not "cat").

Change the password

Security > Software Access > Reset Access Password... Enter the current password and the new one (twice).

Remove the password

Security > Software Access > Remove Access Password Protection... Enter the current password.

Please remember your password. For security, the password is stored only in scrambled form and cannot be shown or recovered. Website Block cannot be opened without it. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.

The password protects Website Block itself. Blocked websites stay blocked whether or not a password is set.

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12. Good to know (limits of website blocking)

Website Block works well against casual use, but no website blocker is perfect. Knowing these limits helps you get the most out of it:

Whole websites only. You cannot block one page of a website and allow the rest.

Websites with many names. Some websites (adult sites in particular) have many "mirror" addresses and country versions. Add the other names you know of too.

"Secure DNS" in browsers. Chrome, Edge and Firefox have a setting called "Use secure DNS" (Firefox: "DNS over HTTPS"). When it is on, the browser may ignore the name block, and only the address block remains - which does not stop every website. For reliable blocking, turn this setting off in each browser:

Chrome / Edge: Settings > Privacy and security > Security > Use secure DNS

Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > DNS over HTTPS

VPNs and proxy services can get around the block.

Other administrators. Any administrator of this computer could undo the blocks by hand. Use a standard (non-administrator) Windows account for the people you are protecting, and keep the administrator password to yourself.

Blocking large shared services can affect others. Some big websites share their internet addresses with other services from the same company (for example, video sites with the company's search or e-mail). After blocking, check that the websites you still want work normally. If something else stopped working, unblock the website that caused it.

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13. Troubleshooting - questions and answers

I blocked a website, but it still opens.

Close all browser windows and open the browser again.

Check the website's Block Status. If it says "Not blocked", block it.

Check the name: "facebook.com" and "m.facebook.com" are different names. Add the exact name you see in the browser's address bar.

Turn off "Secure DNS" in the browser (section 12).

Block the website again (its addresses may have changed).

A message says the hosts file could not be updated.

The "hosts file" is where Windows keeps the name blocks. Security software - Microsoft Defender or another antivirus - sometimes protects it. The websites are then blocked by address only. Open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection history; if Website Block's change was blocked there, allow it, then block the websites again.

The message says a website "could not be resolved" / status "Not found".

The website could not be found on the internet. Usually it is a typing mistake or a website that no longer exists. Double-click the row to see the details, correct it with Edit, or remove it.

A message says Website Block requires administrator rights.

Close Website Block, right-click its icon, choose Run as administrator, and click Yes.

Some other website or service stopped working after I blocked a site.

The blocked website probably shares internet addresses with it (section 12). Unblock the website you blocked last and check again.

I forgot my Website Block password.

It cannot be recovered (section 11). Please contact Ashkon Software support (section 15).

My list was empty when I started Website Block again.

Only blocked websites come back automatically. Use Action > Apply Changes to save the whole list before closing, or save it to a file with File > Save As.

How do I remove all blocks, for example before uninstalling?

Choose Block > Unblock All Websites. This removes every block Website Block has made. Do this before you uninstall the program.

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14. Where Website Block keeps its settings

You normally never need this information. It is here for advanced users and for anyone helping you.

What Where

Name blocks (hosts file) C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
Website Block only changes its own section of this file, between the lines "# BEGIN Website Block" and "# END Website Block". Everything else in the file is left exactly as it was.

Backup of the original hosts file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.WebsiteBlock.bak
Made automatically before Website Block changes the hosts file for the first time, and never overwritten. To put the original file back by hand, copy this file over "hosts" (administrator rights needed).

Address blocks Stored as Windows Filtering Platform (firewall) rules. They are removed with Block > Unblock All Websites.

Saved list of websites (Apply Changes) Windows Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ashkon Technology\WebBlock

Password Windows Registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE), in scrambled form only.

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15. Registration and support

Register (buy a license) Help > Register Online, or order Website Block online

Online help Help > Contents

Program version Help > About...

Product page Website Block

Contact Contact Us - questions about ordering: order@ashkon.com

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