My wife has become addicted to Solitair games on certain websites.
She's trying to quit but can't muster the discipline. She asked me to
block the sites she uses in order to cure her of the habit, but I
don't know how it's done. If *I* find out how to do this, and keep the
knowledge from her, then I can help her.  She uses Internet Explorer
on a Mac OS-X and also uses Apple's Safari browser.  Can I do this?
and how?  Do I need to provide you with the names of the sites she uses?

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 01 Dec 2003 16:58 PST

Hi,

A simple way would be to redirect all traffic to those sites to your
own computer, and since you don't have a web server running, it will
just appear as the sites don't work anymore.

I've found a guide on editing the hosts files in Mac OS 9, but since I
know next to nothing about Macs I want to pass this through you first
to make sure it works.

Please follow this guide:

DNS - hosts files for Mac OS
http://www.opus1.com/~face/theblog/saved-articles/hosts-file.html

Where it says:
"Then type the following line into the file, separating the entries with tabs."

Type this line instead:
www.urlofsiteyouwanttobloc.com A 127.0.0.1

Repeat the line with each site you want to block, only changing the URL.

127.0.0.1 is the IP address of your own machine. Now when trying to
access those sites you should see an error message. This should be
irrelevant of the browser used.


If that doesn't work, do almost the same, only call the file "hosts"
and copy it to /etc/hosts.

Please let me know if this works. If not what exact version of OS X do you have?

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by ah_oooh-ga on 01 Dec 2003 20:38 PST

endo:
Thanks. I read those instructions over, and I actually understand
them, but they apply only to Apple's old System 9. The new OSX is
built around Unix. So different.
I searched her system for "host file"s and related terms but no files
turned up, nor does OSX use Open Transport, the mechanism described in
the faceblog tech notes.

The Sysyem in question is Apple's latest: "Panther", 10.3

Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 01 Dec 2003 20:58 PST

Hi,

Here is what I found on hosts file for OS X:

"Edit your /etc/hosts file (as root) and add lines for each host alias. 

It turns out that there's an even better way to do it. Simply create a
temporary hosts table file with the extras and then use the niload
command to add your host entries directly to NetInfo. This is
especially helpful because you can copy a hosts table from some other
machine on your network and use niload to import all of the entries
for you."

So I believe that the hosts file is in /etc but you need to be logged in as root.

I'm sorry I don't know how clear or easy this is, because I don't have
access to such a machine. But if you have any trouble attempting this,
please let me know and I'll try and find some more information. In any
cases please let me know how it goes.

Thanks.
endo

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 12 Dec 2003 11:36 PST

Hi,

Have you had any luck with my suggestion?

Thanks.
endo

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 18 Dec 2003 09:52 PST

Hi,

Are you still stuck with this problem?

Thanks.
endo

You could also use a router.

You can buy one at your local electronics outlet for thirty bucks.
Most of them have an admin page that you can use to enter a list of
blocked sites. DLink, Linksys, and Netgear all make popular wired and
wireless routers.

Cheers!

Hello
The best and simplest way to block certain websites is to use a kind
of Firewall such as ZoneAlarm. After installing you can go to
Firewall->Zones then click on Add button. Then choose Host Site and
then in the next dialog box choose 'Block' from the list.

  Regards

My credit card now works again and the buttons: "add a comment" and
"make a clarification" are back also.  Therefore I would like to pay
Endo-ga the $5.00 he/she earned answering my question.

Sorry for the mess up, I hadn't realized my card had been declined
when I asked the question.

-Chris Casady

Hi,

Thank you for giving me the credit. Since this question has expired, I
cannot post an answer anymore. If you want to reward my answer, could
you please post another question directed to me, e.g. entitled "for
endo-ga".

Thanks.
endo