How to Block Bad Websites

There are many ways to block bad websites and unwanted content. I break this guide into two separate parts: (I) programs that alert you to potentially malicious websites when they appear -- the self-censorship or "just change the channel approach"; (II) programs that filter unwanted content/websites from appearing -- the censorship approach; most often used for comprehensive child, family, or professional workplace safety.

For the sake of keeping down the length of this article, I split it in two. Here is part 1: Best Internet Safety Check Freeware.

I. Just Change the Site: Best Free Software to Warn You Before You Interact with Potentially Bad Sites

For users who just accidentally type in a bad URL, many security ratings software have warning screens to help remind you and help you self-censor your Internet surfing. If you just happen to type in an address in error and it contains malicious content, then the following security solutions can help alert you before you trust the site.

1. WOT has an excellent warning screen that allows you to choose whether to go to a bad site. This is my favorite sort of approach since it leaves the final decision to the user. If you combine this with your own good sense in avoiding untrustworthy sites and suspicious email links, then you have a solid and free preventative web shield. If you happen upon a potentially dangerous site, WOT covers the screen with a warning and waits for you to decide:

• You can ignore the WOT warning and go to the site anyways;
• Rate the site if you disagree with WOT's rating (which redirects to WOT or opens in a new tab, but without going to the bad site);
• View rating details and comments about the site (which redirects to WOT or opens in a new tab, but without going to the bad site);
• Or you could surf to a different site, close the tab, or press "Back" on your browser (or type in a different address, use your bookmarks, etc.) to go away from the potentially risky site.

WOT can also be set to block risky sites completely, which simply gives you a "Blocked" screen and a link to view the site's WOT scorecard (without letting you go to the site). But I had a few problems with its slow loading screen and its reloading of pages after switching tabs. To set this option right-click the WOT icon > click Settings > click the Warnings tab > create custom settings by switching its behavior from Warning to Blocking on the desired category of protection. You have the choice to block sites based on some categories, such as Trustworthiness or Privacy, and then have it merely warn you about sites that rate low on Child Safety (or vice versa).

2. Many free programs allow you to manually enter bad sites you want to block. For example, the Firefox addon BlockSite has this capability, and Comodo and other firewalls have similar features.

3. Almost all popular web browsers now provide some general malware protection. I confirmed that Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, & Safari all have anti-phishing, anti-malware, popup blocking, encryption support with SSL & TLS, and deletion of private data built-in. They also give a warning or blocking screen to allow you to avoid malicious sites if they detect malware or phishing. In addition, Firefox users will want to investigate add-ons like NoScript & Adblock; Opera benefits from its built-in use of Haute Secure and content blocking; whereas, Google Chrome excels with its built-in use of secure sandboxing (Google Chrome is especially difficult for outsiders to exploit even when they do find a bug). And so on. Therefore, these are some of the most difficult browsers for hackers to successfully exploit any existing or future security flaws.

The website ratings freeware such as WOT and built-in components of some web browsers (such as Firefox-Safari above) are excellent to help you avoid bad websites. But they are not adequate solutions for parents to use to filter content for any potential rule-breaking children (I believe such children exist!) since they could click past the WOT warning screen and they could still find many porn sites, for example, that are neither classified as child inappropriate nor as dangerous for the computer.

II. Censor Potentially Malicious Sites or Unwanted Content

Another method is to use content filters made specially for individuals, parents or professional workplaces (business, schools, etc.) to filter unwanted content. The first four below are directed at comprehensive child safety, and the fifth and sixth ones are primarily for security filtering (and some limited child safety filtering with LinkExtend). These filtering options obviously come in many different degrees of emphasis and filtering power.

1. The Vista "parental controls," for example, allows you to ban specific users from playing games or using the computer during certain times (study time), ban them from playing age inappropriate games or any specific game, and specify the content to block online, the websites they can visit, or restrict them from downloading files.

2. Read about other options on Best Free Parental Filter. It suggests a couple online solutions that don't even require additional software. Some online solutions, such as OpenDNS, help censor sites by providing some anti-phishing protection in addition to about 50 categories of content filtering power.

3. You could also check out Glubble, which works well with Firefox, but just be careful since it would not prevent the use of other browsers. I found myself endlessly clicking around the excellent suggested sites. It's actually good for adults too! There is also KidZui for Firefox, but it requires Adobe Flash Player. Both Glubble and KidZui work best on fast Internet connections.

4. Windows also integrates content filtering into its web browser, Internet Explorer, which contains about 13 categories of content filtering and other features to customize. Apple's Safari also has several parental control features.

5. LinkExtend can withhold sites from search results if they rate as malicious or child inappropriate. McAfee SiteAdvisor has an additional filtering feature and a search engine to help prevent unwanted and potentially dangerous sites from appearing in search results. These programs don't prevent users from turning off the filtering features, or from using some other web browser.

6. The MVPS Hosts and hpHosts now focus on preventing malicious content, but they also help reduce ads. In addition, Adblock Plus allows you to subscribe to a malware filter list.

But none of these filtering solutions can work if your kids or users know the account passwords or know enough about the software to change its settings! You would still need to keep constant guard, change passwords often, use a good password manager to allow your self to set strong passwords, and check the settings occasionally.

Plus, this filtering or "censoring" of sites runs into the problem of false positives; if the filter draws from a false or controversial security rating for a site, then you won't even see the site in search results to judge for your self whether it is worth surfing.

Related to Internet and Browser Safety:

• Best Internet Safety Check Freeware
• Best Free Parental Filter
• New Firefox Extension Makes Browsing Safer
• Best Free Web Browser
• Gizmo's Guide to Securing Your PC
• How to Surf More Securely
• How to Improve Your Security When Using a Public Terminal
• Free Password Manager: LastPass, TSA Article

Related to Security:

• Best Free Antivirus Software
• Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover
• Best Free Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover
• Spyware Removal Guide
• Best Free Encryption Utility

Tags for this page: website block, website blocking, content filter, content filtering.