Whitelisting allowed websites

In this article you will learn how to whitelist websites with BrowseControl’s URL Allow List.

Just as with the URL Block List, when you whitelist websites with the Allow List you can control internet access based on groups of users or computers. This allows you to whitelist websites for some users without allowing them for all users.

Whitelisting websites can be used in one of two ways:

  • To only allow access to websites that are on the Allow List (whitelist). This method is best used when the internet access of a user/computer needs to be strictly regulated to a list of approved websites
  • To block access to a content category with the category filtering feature while still allowing access to specific websites that would normally be blocked. For example, you can block the Social Networks category and add LinkedIn.com to the Allow List (whitelist).

How to Only Allow Access to Specific Sites (Whitelist Websites)

Next, I’ll show you how to restrict internet access to only certain sites.

This feature is ideal if you want to prevent your employees, students, or patrons from accessing websites that are not explicitly allowed by your organization.

The process is identical to how you would block a website, except this time you will set the internet to “off” and add the websites you would like to allow to the Allow List.

With this method, your users will only be able to access the exact websites that have been approved by your company.

Here are the full instructions

  1. First, decide whether you want to control internet access based on users or computers and select the desired mode.
  2. Next, click on URL Filter then ensure that “Allowed List” is selected
  3. From the drop-down menu, select the group of computers or users that you want to restrict
  4. Set the internet to “Off”. This will ensure that only the websites that are added to the allowed list can be accessed.
  5. Enter the URL, domain, or IP address of the website you want to allow to the master URL list, then press the Enter key or click “Add”. BrowseControl will apply a wildcard to the URL, ensuring that any paths within the domain will be allowed as well.
  6. In the master URL list, select the websites you want to allow for the chosen group, then click “Add to Allowed List”
  7. If you would like to add the selected websites to the Allowed list of multiple groups, you can press the drop-down arrow and select “add to multiple groups”, select the desired groups, then click “add to Allowed list”
  8. If you have a large number of websites you would like to allow, you can also use the import feature to import an existing list.
  9. Finally, click “Apply to Clients”.
  1. On the CurrentWare Console, select the BrowseControl solution.
  2. Under the Groups menu, choose the group you want to restrict, click on Internet and select OFF. This will disable their Internet access completely.
  3. Click on the URL Filter to modify your Allowed list.
  4. Enter the URLs that you want to allow in the text box in the window. Click on the Add button.
  5. Click the “Allowed List” tab on the right pane.
  6. Select all the URLs you wish to make available to the Client computers,
  7. Click on the button to move the entries to the Allowed List on the right pane.
  8. Click Apply to Clients.
  9. Once enforced, your end users will only have access to the websites on the Allowed List.
BrowseControl URL allowed list being used to whitelist currentware.com
  1. On the CurrentWare Console, select the group of computers/users you want to manage.
  2. Under the BrowseControl menu, click on Internet and select OFF. This will disable their Internet access completely.
  3. Click on the URL Filter to modify your Allowed list.
  4. Enter the URLs that you want to allow in the text box on the bottom left-hand corner of the window. Click on the Add button.
  5. Click the “Allowed List” tab on the right pane.
  6. Select all the URLs you wish to make available to the Client computers,
  7. Click on the button to move the entries to the Allowed List on the right pane.
  8. Click Apply to Clients.
  9. Once enforced, your end users will only have access to the websites on the Allowed List.
CurrentWare URL filter console open with company websites added to the allowed list (whitelist).

How to Allow a Website That is Blocked by the Category Filter

If you’ve used the category filtering feature to block unwanted websites based on their content, you may want to make exceptions for specific websites. Here’s how you can use the allow list to whitelist specific websites that would otherwise by blocked by the category filter.

  1. On the CurrentWare Console, select the BrowseControl solution.
  2. Click on the URL Filter to modify your Allowed list.
  3. Enter the URLs that you want to allow in the text box in the window. Click on the Add button.
  4. Click the “Allowed List” tab on the right pane.
  5. Select all the URLs you wish to make available to the Client computers,
  6. Click on the button to move the entries to the Allowed List on the right pane.
  7. Click Apply to Clients.
  8. Once enforced, your end users will now have access to the websites that were previously blocked by the category filtering feature
BrowseControl URL allowed list being used to whitelist currentware.com
  1. On the CurrentWare Console, select the group of computers/users you want to manage.
  2. Under the BrowseControl menu, click on the URL Filter to modify your Allowed list.
  3. Enter the URLs that you want to allow in the text box on the bottom left-hand corner of the window. Click on the Add button.
  4. Click the “Allowed List” tab on the right pane.
  5. Select all the URLs you wish to make available to the Client computers,
  6. Click on the button to move the entries to the Allowed List on the right pane.
  7. Click Apply to Clients.
  8. Once enforced, your end users will now have access to the websites that were previously blocked by the category filtering feature
CurrentWare URL filter console open with company websites added to the URL whitelist

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