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Resolved Way to browse ONLY from a whitelist?

Discussion in 'General Internet' started by psaulm119, 2012/01/30.

  1. 2012/01/30
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    I would like to set up a user account (Windows 7) with one browser that will only allow whitelisted sites to be accessed. I have tried doing this with Firefox, but the Con Latte addon that was supposed to allow this is too buggy.

    Is there any way I can create a whitelist--even by going into the hosts file?
     
    psaulm119,
    #1
  2. 2012/01/30
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    You can used the HOSTS file to do what you want, but the problem is that the HOSTS file is used by all user accounts.

    The HOSTS file entries get read and used in the order they are listed, thus to allow some sites and block all others, you need to create a list like this:

    #allowed sites
    74.125.227.114 google.com
    etc
    etc
    etc

    #blocked sites
    0.0.0.0 .com
    0.0.0.0 .net
    0.0.0.0 .org
    0.0.0.0 .edu
    and entries for all other domains, such as .us, .ca, .ch, etc.

    Similar can be done using the IE Content Adviser.
     
    TonyT,
    #2
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  4. 2012/01/30
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    Paul, perhaps looking at the issue from a different perspective would be more beneficial.

    Let's start by answering why you would want to white-list an account?

    EDIT: @Tony, would content advisor still work with other browsers?
     
    Last edited: 2012/01/30
    wildfire,
    #3
  5. 2012/01/30
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Verify that Content Adviser is per user & not global.

    Ideally, the best setup would be a separate computer...
     
    psaulm119,
    #4
  6. 2012/01/30
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Nope.
     
    TonyT,
    #5
  7. 2012/01/31
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    Kinda defeats the purpose then ;)

    Let's go back as to why the OP needs this restriction.
     
    wildfire,
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  8. 2012/02/03
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks, Tony. I used the Content Advisor for IE and its working fine. That's just what I was looking for.

    FWIW, the reason for this was to put some childrens' sites on the whitelist, but to block out all other sites, for a child.

     
    psaulm119,
    #7
  9. 2012/02/04
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Well done!

    When my kids were young, I got them their own computers so as to avoid foul ups on mine. The downside was that I spent many hours fixing their computers. The upside is that we all learned a lot as a result. Now that they are all adults, I rarely get asked to fix their computers, they do it themselves.
     
    TonyT,
    #8
  10. 2012/02/09
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    One more thing, Tony, about the Content Advisor:

    I've noticed that when IE is at an approved site, often that site will then send out some type of signal to another site (occasionally its an add site like doubleclick.net or something, sometimes I just can't tell). This isn't to display any content on the page--I honestly can't tell what happens. But one still has to click on that window that asks for the password. I simply hit Cancel and nothing happens.

    Is there a way to tell the Content Advisor to let ANYTHING from a particular site through, so we don't have to constantly click those warnings? I mean, if someone is at barbie.com, as long as they're at that site, I'd rather not have those warnings popup....even if they are for other sites.... unless these are popup ads and we'd have to click to x them out, anyways.... Not sure if this question is clear or not....
     
    psaulm119,
    #9
  11. 2012/02/09
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Control Panel > Internet Options > Privacy tab > Advanced button > Override auto cookie handling > Block 3rd party cookies.
     
    TonyT,
    #10
  12. 2012/02/09
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    That appears to be working.

    Much obliged.

     
    psaulm119,
    #11
  13. 2012/02/10
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    You're welcome.

    What you were seeing in the status bar were attempted connections to other domains, either called from code in the Webpage or from scripts in the Webpage code. Ads are streamed from external domains and their code will attempt to set tracking cookies, useful for their marketing and research depts, but not useful to you. You'll still see ads, but their cookies won't get set.

    To further lock it down and prevent future such prompts, install Spyware Blaster and enable all protection for Internet Explorer. It will auto-generate a list of restricted sites, and they too won't be able to run javascripts or set cookies. This software doesn't get rid of malware, it can prevent malware from being installed. Manually update it weekly or bi-weekly.
     
    TonyT,
    #12
  14. 2012/02/10
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Its been so long since IE was my regular browser that I forgot about that program. That would definitely be a big help.
     
    psaulm119,
    #13

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