How to Block a Website
Learn how to block a website using BrowseControl to prevent your users from accessing unlawful, distracting, inappropriate, or unsafe sites on any internet browser
“CurrentWare is the most important tool in my company for increasing my employees’ productivity!”
Stanley, IT Director, KRUPS INC.
Use BrowseControl to block websites
and content categories
Control Internet Access
Application Blocking
Allowed & Blocked List
Active Directory Integration
Category Filtering
Work from Home
Blocking Websites with BrowseControl
With BrowseControl website access permissions can be customized for your network based on the user or machine used to access the website, giving you a flexible solution for blocking websites across your network.
BrowseControl can provide an extension of your organization’s onsite Internet usage policies to laptops and computers running outside the corporate network, giving you the option to enforce Internet restriction policies for remote workers.
BrowseControl is best known as software for blocking websites on the internet. Aside from web access filtering, BrowseControl can also prevent unauthorized software use (games, instant messaging, etc.) and block the download of unauthorized files.
How does BrowseControl block websites?
1. CurrentWare Client
Easily deploy our Client on your employees’ computers to start managing their website and application usage activities. Integrate BrowseControl with AD or manage your remote workers working from home.
2. CurrentWare Server
Internet usage policies configured by your organization will be stored on premise on the CurrentWare Server. This option allows you to strengthen security, storage flexibility and manage uptime availability.
3. CurrentWare Console
The CurrentWare Console acts as the centralized console for implementing your Internet access restriction policies. Set permissions to allow multiple managers to use the console to manage users from their own departments.
Installing BrowseControl – Web Filtering Software
Setup File Content:
- CurrentWare.exe: cwServer & cwConsole setup
- cwClientSetup.exe: CurrentWare Client Setup File
On the Manager’s computer, install the CurrentWare Console
- Run the CurrentWare.exe setup file.
- Select BrowseControl and Category Filtering.
- The Installer will proceed to install the CurrentWare Server, Console and BrowseControl onto the Manager’s computer.
On the employees' computers, install the CurrentWare Client
- Run the client setup file on your employee’s computers.
- Connect your computers to the CurrentWare Server.
- You can now control your employee’s Internet activities.
- Repeat steps 1-3 on all computers.
Return to the Manager’s PC, launch the CurrentWare Console
- Under the BrowseControl menu, click on Internet ON/OFF to control Internet activities
- Select URL Filter to add websites to your Allowed List & Blocked List
- Select Category Filtering to block content categories. .
The Benefits of Using a Website Blocker
Protect Your Computer
Prevent Users From Visiting Malicious Websites
Even the most careful internet users can inadvertently infect their network with malware by visiting malicious websites. These websites can install malicious programs on your devices without the knowledge of your users, potentially leading to the leak of personally identifiable information (PII) and the loss of files to ransomware.
BrowseControl’s category filtering feature includes categories for proactively blocking known or potentially dangerous websites, giving your organization an extra layer of security for your data loss prevention plan.
Improve Network Performance
Increase Internet Speed
If your organization relies on a stable internet connection to keep things running smoothly, then you know the importance of investing in the bandwidth needed for your operations. Employees and users downloading large files, playing video games, and streaming videos not related to their work all contribute to clogging of the available network bandwidth, significantly reducing your network performance.
Organizations that proactively block bandwidth-hogging websites with BrowseControl save their limited bandwidth for what matters most to them – video conferencing, work-related video streaming, research, and more.
Block Distracting Websites
Increase Employee Productivity
Use BrowseControl to increase the productivity of your employees and the profitability of your organization by reducing undesirable distractions such as applications and websites for social media, news, and games.
BrowseControl’s customizable solutions allow your organization to customize access permissions based on your needs. Scheduled restrictions allow for looser restrictions during designated times, and user-based restriction settings ensure that everyone in your organization has access to the websites and applications they truly need.
FEATURE OVERVIEW
Block Websites with BrowseControl
With BrowseControl website access permissions can be customized for your network based on the user or machine used to access the website, giving you a flexible solution for blocking websites across your network.
BrowseControl can provide an extension of your organization’s onsite Internet usage policies to laptops and computers running outside the corporate network, giving you the option to enforce Internet restriction policies for remote workers.
Method 1:
Block Websites with Blocked Lists
- Select the computer(s) or user(s) that you would like to block from using a specific website
- Set “Internet” to “On” if it is not already on
- Go to “URL Filter”
- Add the domain URL (www.NameOfWebsiteToBlock.com) of the specific website you would like to block for the chosen computer(s) and/or user(s)
Method 2:
Block Websites by Category Filtering
- Select the computer(s) or user(s) that you would like to block from using a specific website
- Set “Internet” to “On” if it is not already on
- Go to “Category Filtering”
- Add the categories you would like to block (ex. “Social Media” to the Blocked Category List
Method 3:
Allow Authorized Websites Only Using the Allowed List
- Select the computer(s) or user(s) that you would like to block from using a specific website
- Set “Internet” to “Off”
- Go to “URL Filter”
- Add the allowed websites to the Allowed List
Shady Maple improves productivity, network performance & profitability with BrowseControl
“We had ways of managing and dealing with HR that simply weren’t scalable.”
For SMBs, SMEs & Large Enterprises
Scalable Solutions, Centralized Console, Remote Client Install and Offsite Management
CurrentWare's software can be deployed remotely and managed from a centralized console. Whether you are a small-to-medium-sized business (SMB), a mid-market small-to-medium enterprise (SME), or a large enterprise with thousands of units to manage, BrowseControl and all of the other programs in the CurrentWare Suite offers solutions to manage all of the users and computers across your organization.
Whether you are managing 5 or 5000 computers, you can enjoy the benefits of internet filtering with BrowseControl combined with the efficiency of CurrentWare’s centralized console to manage the internet access of your entire organization from a single machine.
Ensure your organization’s web filtering policies are enforced for remote workers. The offsite management capabilities of the CurrentWare centralized console lets you enforce your BrowseControl policies wherever your employees work.
*Coming soon: Web Console is currently in private beta & will be available for public launch in April 2021. Click here to request early access
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BrowseControl Features
Internet ON/OFF
One click to completely block the Internet
URL Filter
Allowed list or Blocked list for specific URLs
Category Filtering
Block websites based on specific categories
Internet Scheduler
Schedule Internet restrictions at specific times of the day
Safe Search
Enforce safe search to prevent explicit search results from being queried
Internet Quota
Set a quota for daily browsing limit
Download Filter
Block downloads based on File types
Port Filter
Block Access based on Internet ports
Customize Message
Display a customized warning message on blocked websites
Application Blocker
Block applications from launching
Timer
Allocate specific time for your users to access the Internet
Stealth Mode
Our client runs silently in the background and can be configured to alert users of web filtering
Centralized Console
Manage all your users from the centralized console with Active Directory import or syncing
Remote Client Install
Easily deploy the CurrentWare Client remotely to all of your computers
Offsite Management
Extend onsite Internet usage policies to laptops running outside the corporate network
SQL Server Supported
Our database is scaled for enterprise and large business operations
FAQ: How to Block a Website
How can you block a website?
You can block a specific website using a web filter such as BrowseControl.
- Download and install the web filtering software (CurrentWare BrowseControl)
- Launch the CurrentWare Console
- Select the users or devices that you would like to control
- Add the URL or Domain of the website you would like to block to the blacklist (block list).
- Click “Apply to Clients” – the website is now blocked!
How can I block dangerous or unsuitable websites?
Here are the ways that you can block dangerous or unsuitable websites using BrowseControl, CurrentWare’s web filtering software.
- Category FIltering: Block dangerous or unsuitable websites based on content categories such as Porn, Adult, Virus-Infected, Spam, and Warez.
- URL Filtering: If you know the web address of the websites that you would like to block you can add them to BrowseControl’s URL block list.
What websites should I block?
Which websites you should block depends on the goals of your organization.
- Improve productivity by Blocking distracting websites such as Facebook
- Maintain a respectable environment by blocking inappropriate websites such as pornography, hate, or crude humor.
- Improve network security by blocking high-risk websites such as peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, illegal streaming sites, and websites that are known to be malicious.
Increase internet speed by blocking bandwidth hogs such as Netflix and YouTube
How do I block a site on Chrome?
You can block a site on Chrome by using a compatible website blocking software such as BrowseControl. Simply add the URL of the website you would like to block on Chrome to the block list.
Check out our great reviews on Capterra!
"As a 'novice' I was able to set up with help from support in about an hour."
- Dr. Gerard B, Owner
Medical Office
"Finally, a truly enterprise solution for Windows that filters internet and blocks apps."
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