How to block Web sites on Safari?

[KADEEM]

Hello there, I am having an iMac which is installed with Mac OS X 10.5 on it. The internet browser which I am using is Safari. I want to block access to certain web sites form my Mac OS X. Therefore I need to know How to block web sites on Safari? Is there any application which has to be installed on the iMac to block certain sites? Or does Safari supports blocking of the web sites without any software? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in Advance.

[Billie]

There are certain parental control software's which are available for the Mac systems which allows the user to block certain applications or block certain websites if needed. If you want to block the use of the computer on the whole then you can use Pure Mac application which helps the user to block access to whole computer. If you want to filter only the websites which are visited using Safari then there is an application known as NetNanny, which helps the user to filter the websites which are visited from the browser.

[Techno01]

Instead of using any 3rd party applications to block the access to certain web sites you can use the host files of the Mac system to block the web sites. Accessing the host files of the Mac system can be dangerous if the proper changes are not made to them. In windows based operating systems the web sites visited can be blocked by just editing the Windows registry but in Mac systems directly the configuration files of the system have to be edit. By accessing the host files you will be able to block the websites which you want.

[KADEEM]

Thank you replying to the post really soon. The applications which are suggested by billie are not free and also I dont think they serve the exact purpose which I am looking for. Hence I will go about the accessing the host files procedure but I dont know how to go about it and hence need your guidance to safely change the system files of my computer.

[Techno01]

Accessing the host files is little difficult procedure and it has to be done properly. Therefore I will guide you step by step to edit the host files of the Mac systems. Follow the steps below to access the host files :-
1. Open the apple menu and select Finder.
2. Now search and locate the application called Terminal and open it.
3. Now the terminal window will open with the cursor blinking, type "sudo pico /etc/hosts".
4. Now the system will prompt you for the root password, Enter the correct password and now the file will be visible.
5. Go to the last line of the file and type "127.0.0.1" space "URL of the website you want to block" .
6. Press Ctrl and X.
7. Press Y to save.
8. Now type "lookupd -flushcache" and quit the terminal.
Now restart the Safari and try to access the website which you have blocked.

[KADEEM]

I followed the procedure which you have described but there was a problem and I could not complete the procedure. I tried entering the admin password when the system prompted for root password, but it prompted that the password was incorrect and hence the file was not visible. Are root password and admin passwords different? please help.

[Techno01]

Yes definitely the root password and admin password are different from each other. The user has to enable the root password separately. To enable the root password of the system, follow the steps :-
1. Open the Utilities folder
2. Locate and open the application Netinfo manager.
3. Open Menu security and then select Authenticate.
4. Enter the Admin id and the password when prompted.
5. Once access is available, Select the same menu and check mark on enable root user.
6. Now enter a good password for the root user.
Now you will be able to access the host file without any problem.

[user23]

Please help, i have carefully searched utilities, and there is no search provision for Netinfo manager, what seems to be close to that is network utility. Trying to find the root password. besides my cursor is not blinking,Its just a gray area, but i am able to type in and then press "enter" Is there any other ways, other than what you mentioned? its a macbook the latest student version.

thank you.

[Elbanco]

There is a other way of doing this by creating a user account with Parental Controls. This utility is provided on most of the mac system. You can simply create a new account from System Preferences. From there create add account and then provide your password. Create a new account and password. Then set the settings. Go to parental control and choose safari.

[macnovice]

hi

i am new to imac 27, when I open safari, the display only fills half the screen, is there a way increase the window size to fit the screen please.

can any one help?

[marktwin]

I am using Window 7, but didn't use Mac.. but i think to block website on safari is same as you blocked on Mozilla..

[Paramartha]

If you have an administrator rights on a computer, you can manage what websites users can scrutiny in Safari. Users can view only those websites that emerge in the bookmarks bar. They may not enter web addresses in the address field, utilize the Google search field, or amend any favorites. While on the session that started as a user tries to access the sites you want the user to view. In this way verify that the user can still view them. For example, some web pages will not display content but automatically transferred to a page from a different web site. If you want a user to view such content, both sites (both the original site as the site that is transferred) must appear in the bookmarks bar.