How to Block Facebook in your computer, office, school or any other network

Having trouble with your family, friends, or co-workers always accessing Facebook? Here is a guide on how to block Facebook on your computer, office, school, or any other network. There are many reasons why parents and employers want to block Facebook. Facebook and other social networking sites can be a source of problems. Like for example, employers want to block Facebook as they notice that is decreases their employee’s productivity at work which results to company losses. While parents, feel worried about the children’s safety as they log in to Facebook. School and universities too have problems with Facebook.

For these reasons, let us guide you on way in blocking Facebook and avoid problems connected to it.

Below are some of the solutions on blocking Facebook on computers, note these solutions have their disadvantages which we will discuss later.

1. How to block Facebook on Internet Explorer.

2. How to block Facebook on Google Chrome.

3. How to block Facebook on Computer using the Hosts file.

4. How to block Facebook using Open DNS.

5. How to block Facebook using your Firewall.

How to block Facebook on Internet Explorer

1. Open the Internet Explorer and then click on Tools.

2. Click the Internet Options and click on the Content tab.

3. Click the Enable button under Content Advisor.

4. Click on the Approved Sites tab.

5. Enter facebook.com in the box.

6. Click on Never and then click Ok.

7. A window will appear, enter and confirm your new password.

8. Click on the General tab and make sure that Users can see websites that have no ratings selected.

9. Click Ok.

How to block Facebook on Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome.

2. Click the Wrench icon located in the upper right corner.

3. Click on Options.

4. Click the Under the Hood tab.

5. Click on the Change Proxy Settings button.

6. On the Security tab, click on Restricted Sites.

7. Click the Sites button.

8. Type http://www.facebook.com and click the Add button.

9. Close the window and restart.

How to block Facebook on Computer using the Hosts file

Hosts file location depends on your operating system. For Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, it is located in the C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts folder.

Important: Make a backup of the hosts file and place it somewhere safe, in case you had some trouble.

1. Open the hosts file using Notepad or any other plain text editor.

2. Copy the following below the hosts file.

# block facebook

127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 blog.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 apps.facebook.com

3. Save and close the hosts file.

4. Reboot your computer to apply changes.

5. Test it by opening Facebook in a browser.

How to block Facebook using Open DNS

Open DNS is a web content filtering and security service that provides you with DNS which you will need to put inside of your router.

1. Sign up and create a free account on OpenDNS https://store.opendns.com/get/home-free

2. Enter the OpenDNS nameservers below on your router:

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

If you do not know how to change the DNS on your router, proceed in reading OpenDNS Router Setup guide. https://store.opendns.com/setup/router/

3. Add a network inside your OpenDNS account.

4. On the Manage individual domains settings, type in facebook.com, then choose Always block, and click Add Domain.

How to block Facebook using your Firewall

Depending on your router and firewall that you are using, there should be a management portal where you can setup and block websites. I’m using pfSense as my firewall distribution show I’m going to show you my method using it. Basically the concept on blocking Facebook is the same whatever firewall you may have. Keep in mind the IP address ranges below that are used by Facebook.

IP Address Ranges used by Facebook (accurate as of August 2012)

IPv4:

31.13.24.0/21

31.13.64.0/18

66.220.144.0/20

69.63.176.0/20

69.171.224.0/19

74.119.76.0/22

103.4.96.0/22

173.252.64.0/18

204.15.20.0/22

IPv6:

2401:db00::/32

2620:0:1c00::/40

2a03:2880::/32

If you are using a Linux machine, you can key in the following command below to receive an updated IP address ranges Facebook is using:

whois -h whois.radb.net — ‘-i origin AS32934′ | grep ^route

In my pfSense box, I usually do it this way:

1. Create an alias for Facebook using the above Facebook IP ranges.

2. Create an alias with the IP addresses of all the computers.

3. Create a firewall rule. The source should be the alias of the computers, and the destination should be the alias for Facebook IP ranges, and select “Block” or “Reject” for the action

Disadvantage of Easy Facebook Blocking Methods

Note that the first three methods listed here have many disadvantages.

1. They can be bypassed easily.

By using proxy servers and anonymizers they can still open Facebook.

2. They may block only one page of the website.

Some can still access Facebook using the https method.

If I were to block Facebook, I prefer to use the last method as chances are users will find it hard to bypass it. While there are still methods on how to bypass it and still access Facebook, the methods are not common with normal users and would require knowledge on networking. For now, enjoy as you now know how to block Facebook

Thank you for reading