How to Block Unwanted Sites from Your Router

Use your router's blocking function

Check whether the site you intend to block is encrypted. Most home routers cannot block access to sites (https://) has been encrypted. You can determine whether a page is encrypted by looking at the padlock icon to the left of the page address. If the page is encrypted, refer to method 2.

Open the router's configuration page. If the site you want to block isn't encrypted, you can usually block it using your router's built-in tools. To access these tools, open their configuration page in a browser on your computer connected to the internet. Routers usually have the address:

Linksys - http://192.168.1.1

D-Link/Netgear - http://192.168.0.1

Belkin - http://192.168.2.1

ASUS - http://192.168.50.1/

AT&T U-verse - http://192.168.1.254

Comcast - http://10.0.0.1

Enter your login information into your router. If you have never changed this information, enter the default admin account information. With many routers, the login name and password are usually "admin" or left blank. Check your router's user manual if you don't know what its default login information is.

Look for "URL Filtering" or "Blocking". This part is arranged in different locations, depending on each router. It may be in the "Firewall" menu or the "Security" section.

Add the URLs you want to block. Enter each URL that you want to block on devices using the network. Remember that you will not be able to block the addresshttps://– they make this method much less useful. For complete protection, see method 2.

Save your settings. Click the "Save" or "Apply" button to save your settings. The router will apply this setting and reboot. This process may take about a minute.

Check your setup. Once you've saved your settings, try visiting the sites you've added to your block list. If you can still access those sites, they are likely encrypted and you will have to use a service like OpenDNS (see next section).

Use OpenDNS for HTTPS sites

Sign up for the free version of OpenDNS Home. If you need to block network users from accessing certain websites, you will have much more success if you work with OpenDNS instead of working with your router. That's because most home routers don't block siteshttps://and more and more websites are switching to encryption. OpenDNS can filter these sites for your entire network.

You can register for free atopendns.com/home-internet-security/.

Open your router's configuration page. You will have to set the router to use OpenDNS's DNS server – blocked sites will be processed here. To do this, open the router configuration page on your computer browser. Routers usually have the address:

Linksys - http://192.168.1.1

D-Link/Netgear - http://192.168.0.1

Belkin - http://192.168.2.1

ASUS - http://192.168.50.1/

AT&T U-verse - http://192.168.1.254

Comcast - http://10.0.0.1

Log in to the router admin account. As soon as you open the configuration page, you will be asked to log in. If you haven't changed your login information, the login name is usually "admin" and the password is usually "admin" or left blank.

Look for the "WAN" or "Internet" section. They will likely be located in the "Basic Setup" section of your router.

Turn off automatic DNS. With many routers, to enter a private DNS server, you will have to disable automatic DNS first.

Enter the OpenDNS server address. There are two DNS server fields, pointed to by DNS addresses. Enter each of the following DNS addresses:

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

Save changes on the router. Click on the Save or Apply button and let the router reboot with the new DNS settings. This process may take one to two minutes.

Log in to the OpenDNS dashboard. Go to the pageopendns.comand sign in with your new account. You will be redirected to the OpenDNS dashboard.

Click the "Settings" tab and enter your home network's IP address. You can see your home IP address at the top of the dashboard. Type this address into the "Add a network" field. Thanks to that, OpenDNS can recognize when traffic is coming from your home network and block sites accordingly.

Your network will have to be confirmed via an email sent to the account registered with OpenDNS.

Open the "Web Content Filtering" section on the Settings tab. This section allows setting blocked content on your network.

Choose from one of the predefined filter levels (this is optional). You can choose between Low, Medium and High security levels. It's very useful when you want to block a lot of content, and OpenDNS regularly updates these lists.

Add the specific sites you want to block to the "Manage individual domains" list. Make sure every page is set to "Always block".

Refresh DNS cache. For the new settings to take effect, you need to refresh your DNS cache. After a while, this process is automatically performed on every device on your network. However, if you need to block the page immediately, you can do it yourself with these steps:

Windows – Press ⊞ Win+ Rand type ipconfig /flushdnsto refresh your DNS. Now you can test your filtering settings.

Mac – From the Utilities folder, open Terminal. Tap dscacheutil -flushcacheto refresh DNS and then sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponderto restart the DNS service. You will most likely be asked to enter an administrative password.

Check settings. Try accessing a site newly added to the block list from your internet-based device. If you did it correctly, you will be redirected to the OpenDNS blocked website notification page.

Kareem Winters

Update 24 October 2023