How to block all websites but a few with Windows 7 Firewall

Question

How to block all websites with Windows Firewall, and then allow a few websites to pass?

Solution 1

Windows Firewall isn't the right tool for whitelisting websites.

If you want a easy, free solution for controlling internet access on a home PC, you may want to lock down Internet Explorer, using its "Family Safety" feature. You need to ensure that your kids don't know the passwords for any accounts with administrative rights to the PC.

They used this at my last job. The only caveat would be that you must uninstall all other web browsers, as they will not be subject to the same rules.

Alternatively, a more sophisticated solution (although not free) would be to use OpenDNS.

OpenDNS would allow you to control internet access to any devices on your home or business internet, including through wireless access via your wireless router. It would not matter if your kids had admin rights to a PC, as your control over their access would be managed externally. Any new PCs connected to the network would immediately be subjected to the same restrictions. Apparently, a subscription to this service currently costs $19.99/year. I would use the free trial first to see if it does what you want before committing.

If I was a parent, I would use a DNS-based solution to ensure that my family's experience of the internet was family-friendly, as doing it locally on the machine would be too easy to circumvent.

Solution 2

I suggest, providing the router allows, you do this at the router level, and you create a whitelist - this will mean unless the website is in your whitelist, the device (PC, laptop, phone) will not be able to view it.

Comments

[cbalos]

Do you want block people from browsing to certain webpages? Are you trying to block incoming and outgoing connections from an application? Are you trying to prevent malicious websites finding an open port? What exactly are you trying to do? More details will equal a better, more accurate answer