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    healthynut's Avatar
    healthynut Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #1

    Jul 8, 2008, 10:41 PM
    Blocking a Web Page
    I've been trying to block a couple of specific web sites and have followed instructions per:
    Windown/system32/drivers/etc/hosts I have also unticked the 'read only' and typed in the offending sites like this: 127.0.0.1 (website typed in) with the www., *. and straight up typing on individual lines. At one point, this did work and the sites were blocked. But in my widom, I was playing around and managed to clear something that did alter the computer and how it brought up information. Hard to explain. Anyway, the websites are still in the host file and did not change, except now they don't block the sites! Is there any other way to block them, or what do I have to do to 'reset' my computer? I think it's screwed, chewed and bbq'd. Help...
    aung2bo's Avatar
    aung2bo Posts: 87, Reputation: 7
    Junior Member
     
    #2

    Jul 8, 2008, 11:05 PM
    How would you like to block ?

    Is it home network or office network ? If you have domain controller in your work, It's easy to block web site.

    For home, If you have linksys wireless router , you can block web site using the router control panel. ( you can use this ip 192.168.1.1 to go to Linksys control panel at IE ).


    Best Regards,
    ABB
    healthynut's Avatar
    healthynut Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #3

    Jul 9, 2008, 06:46 AM
    Thanks, I have contacted the people at DLINK and asked the same question. I am no expert either so I'll see how far they will take me. I'm wondering, however, how to 'undo' the damage I have done by deleting that apparently important file and think that reinstalling Windows XP might be the answer. Obviously I know I have to back up the computer, but if I reinstall, will I lose all the existing files ? Eg: word docs, photos, etc. thanks again.
    ScottGem's Avatar
    ScottGem Posts: 64,966, Reputation: 6056
    Computer Expert and Renaissance Man
     
    #4

    Jul 9, 2008, 06:54 AM
    Try using the System Restore first. Go back to before you started changing things
    jstrike's Avatar
    jstrike Posts: 418, Reputation: 44
    Full Member
     
    #5

    Jul 9, 2008, 03:39 PM
    The problem with the hosts file is that * does not work.
    The entry:
    127.0.0.1 myspace.com
    Will only block myspace.com, not MySpace or mail.myspace.com so you will have to put an additional entry in for each sub-domain.
    You can do this:
    127.0.0.1 myspace.com MySpace mail.myspace.com
    And all three will be blocked. Unfortunately I don't think there's an easy/legitimate way to get a list of all defined subdomains. There used to be a bug in nslookup that would allow you do this but I'm not sure how it worked or even if it still works.

    The hosts file is basically empty by default except for the instructions so if you clear everything out of there and save it you should be back to square one. If you use SpyBot you're going to want to re-immunize to get those entries back in there.

    Also, after you make the change make sure to close all browser windows down since I'm pretty sure some DNS caching is going on in the browser. There is no need to reboot.
    healthynut's Avatar
    healthynut Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #6

    Jul 9, 2008, 07:01 PM
    Thanks for both answers, I tried the system restore but found that somehow the restore thing had been turned off so there were to restore marker dates to go back to! No idea how it was turned off... I haven't been able to set a date in the past and I don't think it's possible. I was in the administrative tools, and went into computer managemen or the performance file and deleted what appeared to be logs of useless information. At the time I was trying to figure out why my computer was grossly slow even though I had more ram installed. I think I'm truly hooped. Any other ideas? I'll try anything. Thanks.
    jstrike's Avatar
    jstrike Posts: 418, Reputation: 44
    Full Member
     
    #7

    Jul 10, 2008, 06:46 AM
    There's tons of posts on here about how to speed up a slow computer... here's my .02 worth. The usual disclaimers about backing stuff up before you do anything apply here...

    1. Remove any un-necessary programs...
    This includes removing programs you don't need to free up disk space and any programs that run at startup that you don't really need to free up memory.
    2. Setup your page file correctly...
    Right click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced Tab, under Performance click the Settings button. Click the Advanced Tab and under Virtual Memory click the Change button. Select the C drive and make sure System managed size is selected. No matter how big you set this file to, Windows won't use more than what it recommends so this is typically your best option. If you have more than one physical drive, turn the paging file on the C drive off and enable it on another drive. You will have to reboot if you change this.
    3. Clean up the junk...
    Download CCleaner.
    -Run the cleaner and run the registry cleaner as well. The registry cleaner will prompt you to make a backup before you make changes.
    4. Defrag your hard disk...
    There are several good (free) defragers available, I prefer Auslogics.
    Auslogics - Download Auslogics Disk Defrag
    5. Defrag your registry....
    Auslogics - Download Auslogics Registry Defrag
    Auslogics makes a very good registry defragger as well.
    You will need to reboot after this is done.
    6. Defrag your page file...
    Sysinternals (Now owned by my Microsft) is a great utility for doing this. It takes a few minutes at most the first time you run it, after that it's a matter of seconds to keep it defragged. I have this set to run at every boot on my computers, it only takes 2 seconds.
    Download: PageDefrag
    7. Speed up your boot process...
    Google "bootvis" and download it. This is a tool that was developed by Microsoft (although they don't support it) that will reorganize the files needed for booting up your PC so it boots faster. I have used this on several computers and more often that not, especially if the computer is older, you will see a noticeable difference in the amount of time it takes to boot up.
    8. Make sure you only have one AV program running...
    Multiple antivirus programs can slow a computer down.

    I run CCleaner on a weekly basis and I defrag my hard drive and registry typically every 1-2 months. Even that's probably more often than I need to.

    If you have any questions feel free to post them back here.

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