Solved Block website instructions with HOST file no good?

antspants · Oct 21, 2023

I just looked up Redit's ttl it;s set to 3 hours using

Code:

nslookup -debug www.reddit.com

Code:

ANSWERS:
    ->  www.reddit.com
        canonical name = reddit.map.fastly.net
        ttl = 10794 (2 hours 59 mins 54 secs)
    ->  reddit.map.fastly.net
        internet address = 151.101.1.140
        ttl = 24 (24 secs)
    ->  reddit.map.fastly.net
        internet address = 151.101.193.140
        ttl = 24 (24 secs)
    ->  reddit.map.fastly.net
        internet address = 151.101.129.140
        ttl = 24 (24 secs)
    ->  reddit.map.fastly.net
        internet address = 151.101.65.140
        ttl = 24 (24 secs)

Maybe, but like I mentioned above, I opened 4 tabs of reddit, left them open, entered reddit into the host file, saved it, opened another tab. Wouldn’t connect to redit. I aslo refreshed the previous tabs, they died. I don’t know, maybe Firefox has tricks.

Digital Life · Oct 21, 2023

TairikuOkami said:
HOSTS is a bit outdated, just use NextDNS or ControlID.
View attachment 74999

I went a bit farther and run my own DNS server using Pihole, I made two of them for redundancy

GitHub - pi-hole/pi-hole: A black hole for Internet advertisements

A black hole for Internet advertisements. Contribute to pi-hole/pi-hole development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Pi-hole Userspace

Get sucked into the latest news and community activity by entering Pi-hole's orbit

discourse.pi-hole.net

Pi-hole – Network-wide Ad Blocking

pi-hole.net

sdowney717 · Oct 21, 2023

antspants said:
Maybe, but like I mentioned above, I opened 4 tabs of reddit, left them open, entered reddit into the host file, saved it, opened another tab. Wouldn’t connect to redit. I aslo refreshed the previous tabs, they died. I don’t know, maybe Firefox has tricks.

It seems Edge works the same way. HOSTS is active right after saving.

antspants · Oct 21, 2023

sdowney717 said:
It seems Edge works the same way. HOSTS is active right after saving.

So you’re all sorted? Awesome

Screw your ISP. Capitalists.

Digital Life · Oct 21, 2023

sdowney717 said:
It seems Edge works the same way. HOSTS is active right after saving.

Most browsers (probably all) cache the IP of sites,

request web page in browser >not found> check browser cache >not found> check hosts file >not found> check OS cache >not found> send request to the DNS server specified in the OS networking config.

Josey Wales · Oct 21, 2023

Any thing placed in the HOSTS file without a # in front of it will be blocked.

sdowney717 · Oct 22, 2023

antspants said:
So you’re all sorted? Awesome
Screw your ISP. Capitalists.

yes, none of the parental controls are functional anymore with FIOS unless you pay extra for the service
Pics of the nonfunctional router settings. And also nonfunctional in the online my verizon app which they claim is even more advanced parental control.

sdowney717 · Oct 22, 2023

All the my fios app can do now is turn off the internet to a specified computer on a schedule. No website blocking.

Wasted couple hours struggling with this just to find out from the rep it no longer is functional, but they left it looking like it is.
Spent an hour on the phone with a Verizon rep who herself did not know it no longer worked. I Let her take control of the PC to see for herself it blocked nothing when she entered rules. Then she puts me on hold to talk to the router people who said the functionality of parental controls is removed and will never work again.

TairikuOkami · Oct 22, 2023

sdowney717 said:
I looked at it and installed it.

You do not have to install anything. Copy DNS-over-HTTPS link from the Setup page.
You can put DOH link into Windows to block it system wide or just into the browser.
The block is instantaneous, unless you have visited it, then you have to wait 5 mins.

Enable DNS over HTTPS (DoH) in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to change your DNS Server address and enable DNS over HTTPS (DoH) in Windows 11. A DNS (Domain Name System) server is the service that makes it possible for you to open a web browser, type a domain name and load your favorite websites. DNS over HTTPS (DoH), or...

www.elevenforum.com

Enable or Disable Secure DNS over HTTPS (DoH) in Microsoft Edge Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off secure DNS in Microsoft Edge for your account or all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11. The Microsoft Edge web browser is based on Chromium and was released on January 15, 2020. It is compatible with all supported versions of Windows, and...

www.elevenforum.com

antspants · Oct 22, 2023

sdowney717 said:
All the my fios app can do now is turn off the internet to a specified computer on a schedule. No website blocking.

Wasted couple hours struggling with this just to find out from the rep it no longer is functional, but they left it looking like it is.
Spent an hour on the phone with a Verizon rep who herself did not know it no longer worked. I Let her take control of the PC to see for herself it blocked nothing when she entered rules. Then she puts me on hold to talk to the router people who said the functionality of parental controls is removed and will never work again.

That’s dismal service.

jimbo45 · Oct 22, 2023

antspants said:
That’s dismal setvice.

Why not set up a proxy server so all internet requests go through a specific server, Then you can block / allow / take stats over sites visited etc at will.

Not that hard to do.

This should start you off if doing it on Windows :

Use a proxy server in Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to set up a connection to a proxy server on your Windows PC.

support.microsoft.com

cheers
jimbo

antspants · Oct 22, 2023

jimbo45 said:
Why not set up a proxy server so all internet requests go through a specific server, Then you can block / allow / take stats over sites visited etc at will.

Not that hard to do.

This should start you off if doing it on Windows :

Use a proxy server in Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to set up a connection to a proxy server on your Windows PC.

support.microsoft.com

cheers
jimbo

That might be something worth him looking at. Personally, my ISP is awesome. As is my router, at least what I know to use in it.
Over 3 years, every single person I’ve talked to at my Aussie owned ISP has been an Aussie that knows their business. It’s been a God send after the past 20 years of nothing but hassles.

I think one of the most important things for an ISP is that their system is up to date, so that if a person on the other end needs to consult something, it’s there and it’s the correct information. And to not charge for things that should be free and already available, after all, blocking a site costs them nothing.

Almighty1 · Oct 22, 2023

Digital Life said:
Had a feeling it might be cached, Maybe reddit has long TTL

That shouldn't be right as hosts would have priority over the DNS, atleast that's the way it's supposed to work for the TCP/IP since hosts will always be used before DNS.

Almighty1 · Oct 22, 2023

antspants said:
Maybe, but like I mentioned above, I opened 4 tabs of reddit, left them open, entered reddit into the host file, saved it, opened another tab. Wouldn’t connect to redit. I aslo refreshed the previous tabs, they died. I don’t know, maybe Firefox has tricks.

That's how it's supposed to work. Firefox is basically the browser. Faster way to check is use the command line and just nslookup fullnameofhost and you can tell if it's using the DNS or hosts by the answer it gives you.

Digital Life · Oct 23, 2023

Almighty1 said:
That's how it's supposed to work. Firefox is basically the browser. Faster way to check is use the command line and just nslookup fullnameofhost and you can tell if it's using the DNS or hosts by the answer it gives you.

Actually nslookup does not use the hosts or the cache file it goes straight to DNS.

It will use whatever DNS server the OS uses or one that you specify in the command.
EG: use googles dns server

Code:

nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8

Josey Wales · Oct 23, 2023

All I can say on this is what I already said. The Hosts File works for me, I have proven it to myself. Just because it works for me does not mean that everyone should use it or that it works for everyone.

Dark Knight · Oct 23, 2023

Josey Wales said:
All I can say on this is what I already said. The Hosts File works for me, I have proven it to myself. Just because it works for me does not mean that everyone should use it or that it works for everyone.

I agree, it works just fine , whomever said it was outdated above ....... pffft

The Hosts file used in conjunction with DNS over HTTPS works just fine. Cloudflare , Quad9, open DNS, just to name a few are all free and work just fine, there is absolutely no need to pay for a DNS service unless you own some type of business, if you are ..... once a month go out in your back yard, take a lighter and burn that money .... it'd be the same as paying them.

Josey Wales · Oct 23, 2023

I use Adguard DNS and I could use it but it is quite easy to use The Hosts file.

sdowney717 · Oct 23, 2023

Josey Wales said:
I use Adguard DNS and I could use it but it is quite easy to use The Hosts file.

How does someone use and configure a DNS to block websites? I don't understand but would like to know.

Kees · Oct 23, 2023

I am using an extension for my Browser to block unwanted sites. It's called BlockSite and exists for Firefox, but seems to be there as well for Chrome and Edge (and may be other browsers as well).

As I am using only Firefox I can only tell you how it functions in that program: excellent, for blocked sites you get a warning that the site is blocked. You even can link to another https adress if you like that should replace the unwanted site.

When using the method via the Host file, you get no warning message at all, only a browser that is telling you the adress is non-existing or not findable. I used that method before but it's not convenient because you don't know if the site is not reachable because it was blocked in the Host file or that it really does not exist (or may be you made a typing error when manually typing the adress in the https bar).