need firewall program advice...

[toddzilla]

I'm looking for some administrative software that i can install on a terminal so i can stipulate what web domains are available for browsing. Obviously it needs to have the ability to be overridden by me, but not anyone else. Cost is a factor. I'm not a newbie as far as computer stuff goes, but i'm not a programmer either. I just want to eliminate all the BS email checking and aimless browsing that goes on while i'm not here at work.


pc has win xp installed.

[salvorhardin]

1. Create a hosts file

Create a hosts file which your computer will use to translate domain names to IP addresses before checking your ISP. If you create it as an administrator and and your user accounts are of the "limited" variety (Microsoft's term, not mine) then they won't be able to alter it.

Just use notepad and for every site you don't want your people to be able to visit, give them the address 127.0.0.1 (this is a special address that refers to your machine) and save the file to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

For instance, let's say you want to prevent your people from visiting freeperland, the Moonie Times and Fox News. Just put the following entries in your hosts file:

127.0.0.1 freerepublic.com
127.0.0.1 washingtontimes.com
127.0.0.1 foxnews.com

[salvorhardin]

2. self delete

[toddzilla]

3. i want the opposite..

i want to stipulate what sites are allowed, not which ones aren't.

it's a point of sale terminal in a retail counter. way too much productivity lost browsing the web and doing personal email instead of working.

[charlie]

4. You can try DNS Kong

http://www.pyrenean.com/dnsk.php
http://accs-net.com/hosts/DNSKong.html
http://www.pacificnet.net/~bbruce/system.htm

It a freeware program resolves all DNS lookups to localhost, save the ones you specify in a pass file. If your block file contains the following:

com
org
net
yahoo

all TLD addresses with com, net, and org (ex: www.aclu.org) would be resolved as 127.0.0.1. Ditto for all variations of the Yahoo address -- news.yahoo.com, www.yahoo.co.jp, www.yahoo.au, etc.

If you want this site as an exception, placing this:

democraticunderground

in the pass file will allow it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have an administrative password option. But it does allow the choice to not display the admin menu in the systray, so maybe you can stash it in a hidden folder and run it on the sly before leaving work.