Although full of knowledge and other exciting stuff, the Internet is also a dark place which isn’t suitable for children or even adults. One must take utmost precaution while visiting websites as many of these websites are filled with nefarious malware that can track your activities as well as hamper your device’s security.

Many such websites lure visitors, especially children with contents that are taboo for society. If some site has been bugging you with untimely pop-ups and notifications or you’re a concerned parent who wishes to block certain websites from their child’s PC, in this article, we’ve outlined three ways using which you can prevent the websites that you think can damage the device or is not right for your child.

By enabling Parental Control on Windows

Firefox checks the parental controls on the computer. If the parental controls are switched on, then firefox automatically sets itself to Prefer:Safe mode, which is a security header that the browser sends to every website visited by the user.

Parental control allows you to set screen time limit, filter the content, check the spending records of your kid, among other activities. It gives the parents complete control over their child’s online activities.

To activate the parental controls, you will have to sign in at family.microsoft.com. Then go to Select a child to view or edit their settings option. Here, Add your child’s email address and then click on Send Invite. The child will receive a link on the email address. Once the link is accepted, you can now control the online activities of your child.

Also Read: How to enable or disable the pop-up blocker in Firefox?

Blocking the website using the Windows Host file

This is a universal method, and you can use it for a variety of websites. Host files are plain text files with a size of about 824 bytes. These files are used to map the hostnames to their corresponding IP addresses. To access the host files, go to the following location : C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc (for Windows 7 users).

If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 10, follow the instructions given below to access the host files.

Step 1: On the search box, type Notepad, and run it as an administrator.Step 2: On the top left of Notepad, click of File > Open.

Step 3: In the search toolbox, enter C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and make sure that that you have selected All file types from the corresponding option.

Step 4: Then, open the host file, which is located at the top.

Once you got access to the host file, type 0.0.0.0 at the bottom of the host file followed by the IP address of the website that you want to block. (Check out the screenshot above to get an idea).

To unblock the websites, delete the IP addresses that you have written previously.

Also Read: How to delete the browsing history in Firefox?

Using the third-party extensions

Firefox provides you with a variety of third-party add-ons that you can use to block the websites. You can get these extensions here.

Additionally, you can click on the hamburger menu at the top right of the browser screen and then click on the Add-ons option. Or, you can simply use the shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + A.

One such extension is Blocksite. It is exclusive to Firefox, and you can click here to add the extension. Once you have added the extension, you can type the name of the website that you want to block in the box, and you are good to go.

Remember, as these are third-party extensions, it can be removed by the users.

Hoping this tutorial was helpful. We will bring more such tutorials in the future. Do comment if you would like us to cover any particular tech-related topic or if you have any suggestions or queries. We are happy to help.

Also Read: 3 ways to block ads on Firefox