Blocking web sites

[Bradw]

I need to make it so that users in xp can only access a few select web sites. Is this possible?

[Hankyone]

control panel > internet option > content > access control > activate

i guess that should do it

[Bradw]

Hi,

Thanks for the fast reply, unfortunately I'm still missing something.

I should say I'm using Win XP Pro, and explorer 6.

Ok I go to Internet Options > Content >

but then I only have Content Advisor, which I did try to use before I posted, but I couldn't find a way to make it block all web sites except for a few.

[+BudMan MVC]

Once you turn on Content Advisor.. only approved sites, or sites using your rating system will be allowed.. unless you know the password.. Did you bother to read over the docs for Content Advisor??

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/...adv/config.mspx

Browse the Web with Content Advisor

As a parent you may have concerns about the content your children encounter as they surf the Web. Internet Explorer 6 helps you safeguard your family's browsing experience with Content Advisor, which can be used to control the Web sites that your family can view. With Content Advisor, you can give your children access to a specific list of Web sites that you allow and prevent them from accessing others. Find out how to use it so you can rest easier.

Keep in mind this is very easy to circumvent.. and does not prevent the use of another browser.. Is this preventing your 6 year old from accessing stuff - or work users? Blocking access to sites that machine is not very efficient - do it at the gateway.. Squid and blacklists can be used, or websense, etc ... or just setup your DNS to to only resolve sites you want.. there are many many ways to accomplish filtering.

[Bradw]

Hi BudMan,

Yea the situation is that I want to block some users from surfing the net accept for a few sites that they need to do their work. I tried to do it with content advisor but it is only blocking offensive sites. I wanted to block all sites regardless of content, accept a select few sites. I had read that paragraph you quoted and I only made my first post here after I could not get that to work.

I will look into some of the options you suggested, I just wish there was an easier way to do it, like a setting in explorer to just "block all web sites accept this one" kind of thing.

[+BudMan MVC]

content advisor will do that.. Only sites on the approved list.. how did you setup advisor?

Here this is what your looking for;

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=267930

How to configure Internet Explorer 5.x to block access to all but approved Internet sites

To Configure Content Advisor

1. Copy the text below and paste it into Notepad:

((PICS-version 1.0)

(rating-system "http://www.microsoft.com")

(rating-service "http://www.microsoft.com")

(name "Noaccess")

(description "This file will block all sites.")

(category

(transmit-as "m")

(name "Yes")

(label

(name "Level 0: No Setting")

(description "No Setting")

(value 0) )

(label

(name "Level 1: No Setting")

(description "No Setting")

(value 1) ) ))

Name this file noaccess.rat, and make sure that it is a normal ASCII text file. Save this file into the following directory:

Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 = winnt\system32

Windows 95 or 98 = windows\system

2. In Control Panel, double-click to open the Internet Options icon, and then click the Content tab.

3. Click Enable.

If the Enable button is not visible, and you only see the Disable button, then Content Advisor is already enabled and you should stop now or risk losing all your existing settings. If you wish to continue, then click the Settings button in place of the Enable button.

4. On the General tab, click the Rating Systems button, and then remove all the existing rating systems entries.

5. Click Add, and then click to select noaccess.rat.

6. Click OK to close the Rating Systems window.

7. Select the Approved Sites tab.

8. Add only the sites that you want users to be able to access, and then click the Always button.

All other settings should be left at their default settings. If you have used Content Advisor before and made any changes, there are two settings that must be put back to their default values.

9. Click the General tab, and make sure that under User options, the setting Users can see sites that have no rating is not checked.

10. Click the Advanced tab. Under Ratings bureau, set the Ratings bureau list box to [None].

This also applies to IE 6

edit: again this is quite easy to bypass, but will keep only your most dimwitted users from using IE to surf porn, when they should be working ;)

Your filtering should be done at the gateway off your network, not at the local machine level.. there are many ways to content filter - some free, some not.. To suggest anything specific I would really need to know a bit more about your network.. I would be quite simple to setup dns for your specific users you want to block, and only setup sites you want them to resolve on that view.. This could be bypassed with local host files, etc.. and the use of IP address.. but running Firefox on the local machine would not bypass the IE security.. etc.. so a bit more complicated..

How do your users access the internet now? Are you using a proxy? Ie ISA ? Or Squid? etc.. I would guess your machines are on a private lan and machines do not have public IPs? Be happy to offer up other suggestions, but a basic understanding of how your users access the net now.. would be helpful.. Are you running AD, or and your own internal DNS.. or do all machines point to your ISPs dns - and your just a peer to peer setup? etc.. etc.. etc..

Edited March 17, 2006 by BudMan

[Bradw]

Wow yea thats what I'm looking for, you guys are so smart here :woot:

[smooths*]

Smart, helpfull but sometimes sarcastic.

Edited March 18, 2006 by smooths*