Simplest way to block specific websites (& probs with multiple accounts)?

Hi there,

I'm trying to find the simplest way of blocking some specific (non-porn) websites on my MBP on Snow Leopard. I was hoping to do this using the built-in Parental Control settings only to find that these can only be active when logged in as a non-Admin user.

So I created a new user and added the parental controls I wanted but the problem now is that every other app has a whole new library/cache/prefs etc. so I can't easily keep up to date with my email or anything from the Admin account really. New account = a totally different person in the eyes of the OS.

Is there an easy way to create a parental control for a specific website that doesn't disrupt my normal work in the main admin account?

Weaselboy said:

You could create a second account and configure it as an admin account used only to administer parental controls. Then change your main account to a standard account with the parental controls. If all you turn on in parental controls is that web filtering it should not hinder your ability to get anything else done.

You can even install software etc from the standard account by entering the admin account name and password.

Just make sure you don't ever delete that admin account or you will be in a Catch 22 with a parental controls standard account and no way to change it without an admin account.

Click to expand...

I just did this and it seems to be working. The remaining problem is, even though I have used the 'Customize' option for blocking sites and entered the one website I want blocked, I am still finding that all kinds of content is being blocked (Youtube, Vimeo, newspapers etc.), requiring them to be aded individually to the 'approved' section. Obviously these are sites that are deemed to be 'risky' from a Parental Control point of view.

I was hoping I could literally block a solitary website and nothing else.

SandboxGeneral said:

You could also add some lines to your hosts file like:

127.0.0.0 http://www.google.com

That would then tell the computer, regardless of which account is being used, to look back at itself for google and return nothing.

Click to expand...

Aha! I tried this trick and now this seems to be working and doing what I need - just 1 site blocked. I also used the step by step from here

http://osxdaily.com/2007/03/19/block-access-to-specified-sites-by-modifying-etchosts/