How to Block Any Website on PC, Phone, Browser or Network

There are many websites that might be spreading viruses, malware, try to steal your personal data or contain explicit content not suitable for children. You need to block, these websites for the safety of your device and family members. 

Here's step by step guide to restrict access of these websites. 

How to Block a Website in Android Device

Download and install ES File Explorer from Google Play Store. Open ES File Explorer, tap the '/' button at the top > System > etc. 

You'll see the host file, click on it and open it in ES note editor. Now click the three dots button in the top right and tap edit. 

Start a new line and type "127.0.0.1 www.blockawebsite.com", just replace blockawebsite with the website name you want to block. Reboot your Android device to save changes. 

How to Block a Website in iOS Device

Go to Settings > General > Restrictions, click on enable restrictions and set a passcode. After the passcode is set, scroll down and tap websites. Here you can either choose to limit adult content or allow access to specific websites only. 

If you try to access a blocked website, you see a message displaying it is restricted. Tap the Allow Website and key in the Restrictions passcode to open that website.

How to Block a Website in Windows PC

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Double click on hosts file and open it in Notepad. Place the cursor at the end of the last line and press Enter to create a new line. 

Type "127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com", just replace facebook with the website name you want to block and click file, save to commit to your changes.

How to Block a Website in Mac

Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal), type sudo nano/etc/hosts and press enter. This will open the hosts file in text editor, type the website name you want to block in this format "127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com", press Ctrl + X and then Y to save changes.  

How to Block a Website in Browser

In Firefox or Google Chrome, install an addon BlockSite. Press Ctrl + Shift + A and click extension on the left, click options under BlockSite. In the pop-up, click add and type the name of the website you want blocked, click 'OK'.

In Internet Explorer, go to tools > Internet Options. Click security tab and then tap the red restricted sites icon, click the site button below the icon. Now in the pop-up, manually type the website you want to block one by one, click 'OK'. 

How to Block a Website on Your Network

Open any browser and type any 192.168.1.1, in the address bar, press enter. Some router use a different address, so if this doesn't work, check your documentation provided by your ISP. Enter the username and password, navigate to Access Management > Filter > URL Filter and typed the website you want to blocked, hit save. 

You can create 16 lists of blocked websites, each containing 16 websites, using this method, letting you block up to 256 websites. Again, this will vary from router or router.

21 Tricks in Google Chrome, You don't know

Google's Chrome browser is full of shortcuts, hidden features, and tweaks that can save your time and improve your workflow. 

Here's a collection of 21 most useful tips and tricks for Google Chrome that will help you work faster and do more with your favorite web browser and You don't have to install any extension. 

#1. Enable Guest Browsing 

Someone wants to borrow your laptop, but you're not keen on him or her messing around with your Facebook account or seeing the URLs that come up as suggestions in the omnibox (URLs address). To enable Guest browsing, go to Settings > People > Enable Guest browsing. To switch to the guest account, click on your username (top right) then choose switch person and browse as Guest.

#2. Chrome Omnibox a Hidden Calculator 

You can perform quick calculations and even unit conversion right from the address bar (Omnibox), no Google search required. Type out a simple bit of math like "26 inches to feet" and hit Enter, to see answer. Temperature, distances and weights should all work natively just as they do from Google searches. 

#3. Save web pages as PDFs 

Open any web page, press Ctrl + P on Windows (or Cmd + P on Mac) and choose "Save as PDF" from the list of available printers to download the page as a PDF file. 

#4. Get Word definitions 

You can double click on a word inside Chrome, right mouse click and select "Search google for" to get a definition in a pop-up window.

#5. Assign Custom Keyboard shortcuts 

Google Chrome supports a variety of keyboard shortcuts but you can also assign your own custom shortcuts to launch various extension and Chrome apps. Type chrome://extensions in the browser's address bar to open the Extension page, scroll down to the bottom and click the link that says Keyboard Shortcuts. 


#6. Quick fix for slow Chrome

Go to More toos > Task Manager, it shows you a list of all the open tabs and the background processes running in the browser at the moment, along with the amount of system resources they're using up. Sort the list by Memory, select the websites and extensions that are consuming more memory and click End Process. 

#7. Switch to Google Cache 

When you're on a page, click the address bar, type cache: before the URL and hit Enter. You'll be redirect straight to the Google Cache, if there's one. 

#8. Remove embarrassing URLs 

When you type in the Chrome's address bar, the browser will suggest matching URLs from your web history. If there's any particular URL that you would not like to appear in the list of suggestions, you can easily remove it by clearing the history or from the address bar itself. Highlight any auto-complete URL in the drop-down list and press Shift+Delete to remove it permanently.

#9. Change Search Engine in the Omnibar 

Type amazon in the address bar and press tab, which will change the address bar to search amazon.com and type any keyword to seach in amazon website

#10. Open mobile website on slow Internet 

If you're on a slow Internet connection, you can pretend to be a mobile device and most websites will serve you mobile friendly versions that are often light in size. Open chrome developer tools, switch to Emulation tab and choose either Android or iOS as the User Agent. Make sure Screen and Device emulation is off.

#11. Use Chrome as a Media Player 

You can drag and drop files, videos, images, text files and PDF documents from your desktop into the Chrome tab and view them without opening a dedicated viewer application. 

#12. Text editor inside Chrome 

Open a new tab and paste  data:text/html,<html contenteditable> into the address bar. Click anywhere inside the tab and start typing. 

For larger font with more padding, use this code 

data:text/html, <body contenteditable style="font: 2rem/1.5 monospace;max-width:60rem;margin:0 auto;padding:4rem;">

#13. Send emails from the address bar 

Go to browser's address bar and type the mail to command like mailto:recipient@domain.com. This will open the Gmail compose window and auto-fill the address in the To field.

#14. Reveal all your Hidden Passwords 

Go to Developer tools, visually select the password field on the page and change the input type from password to text. You can also find your saved password under chrome://settings/passwords. 

#15. Fake your current location 

Go to tools > Developer Tools and press the Esc key to open the console, here switch to the Emulation tab and enter any value for latitude and longitude. 

#16. Install unapproved Chrome extensions 

Open the extension page of Chrome, turn on the Developer mode and drag-drop the extension (.crx file) into your Chrome. 

#17. Autofill Address 

Go to Settings > Options > Personal stuff > click on the check box "Enable autofill to fill out web forms in a single click > Click on Manager autofill settings > Click on 'Add new address' and enter the information. 

#18. Google Cloud Print 

Go to Settings > Options > Under the Hood > click on sign into “Google Cloud Print”.

Once you setup your printer using Google cloud print, you can print to it from anywhere. i.e You can print to it from your mobile, other PC at work, or any other system that is connected to the internet.

#19. Google Chrome browser shortcuts

Alt+F – Open chrome settings menu
Ctrl+J – Go to downloads window
Ctrl+H – Go to history window 
Ctrl+Tab – Navigate Tabs
Alt+Home – Go to home page
Ctrl+U – View source code of the current page
Ctrl+K – To search quickly in the address bar
Ctrl+L – Highlights the URL in the address bar (use this to copy/paste the URL quickly)
Ctrl+N – Open a new Chrome browser window
Ctrl+Shift+N – Open a new incognito window (for private browsing)
Ctrl+Shift+B – Toggle bookmark display
Ctrl+W – Close the current Tab
Alt+Left Arrow – Go to the previous page from your history
Alt+Right Arrow – Go to the next page from your history
Space bar – Scroll down the current web page
 
#20. Generate new password on sign up pages 

Type "about:flags" into the browser's address bar, find the option "Enable password generation" select enable and restart the Chrome. 

#21. Activate Flash on demand
 
If you want to improve stability of the browser, go to the browser’s Advanced Settings (chrome://settings/content) and choose the “Click to Play” option under Plugins. This disables Flash Player. Should you need to run the plug-in you can activated it on demand.

How to Print Files from Mobile Phone or Tablets

Smartphones and Tablets are just like computers, you can browse the web, send emails, watch YouTube videos and many things. You can also print documents, emails, photos, PDF files with the help of mobile phone and tablets. Some printers let you print from your mobile phone or tablets over a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB connections. 

Use Google Cloud Print With Mobile Phone or Tablet 

Google Cloud Print works with most printers, but for best experience a Cloud ready printer is recommended. These types of printers can directly connect to the Internet and don't need a computer for it to work. Google Cloud Print currently supports printing only through iPhones and Android mobile phones or tablets. Here's a Chrome extension that will let you print documents even from your desktop without requiring a Phone.

Open Google Chrome on your computer, click the Menu button > Settings > Advanced Settings > Scroll down to the Google Cloud Print and click "Add Printers". A confirmation message appears on the next screen and click "Add Printer" to confirm.

Note : Make sure that your PC is connected to the Internet, you're logged in to your Google account in Google Chrome and your Printer is ON. 

• Install and launch Cloud Print on your mobile device or tablet and login to your same Google account registered on Google Cloud Print. 

• Click the printer icon to select a file to print and choose a printer registered on Google Cloud Print. You can select a file from Google Drive, Dropbox, Gallery and other file manager apps on your device. 

• The print preview page will appear, you're able to set the orientation of the documents, media size, DPI and the number of copies. 

• Now click the paper plane icon at the top row to send the data to Google Cloud Print and print your document.

Note : To print a Web page, click Menu > Share > select Cloud Print and print Gmail message by open Gmail message in browser, tap the arrow to reveal additional buttons, and select print. 

How to Rotate a Video 90 Degree on Android, iOS and Windows

When you captured a video with your smartphone or camcorder and try to play it in your computer or laptop, you find that it's rotated 90 degrees. If you find your video sideways or upside down then you know how frustrating it can be to watch it later. Luckily, rotating your video is a snap, and there are many free ways to do it. 

How to Rotate a Video 90 degree on Windows or Mac 

#1. Windows Live Move Maker : Click on Start button and search for Movie Maker, if you don't find Movie Maker in Windows, download it from Microsoft Website. 

Open the app, click on the "Add Videos and Photo" icon and locate the video that you want to rotate, double click the file. Now locate the rotate video icons in the Editing section and click the "Rotate left" or "Rotate right" button to rotate the video in 90 degree increments. Save the changes you've made by clicking the "Save Movie" button in the Home tab and choose the desired format. 

#2. VLC :  Open your video in VLC and open the Tools menu > select "Effects and Filters' or press Ctrl + E. Click on the "Video Effects" tab, and then check "Transform" to rotate the video 90 degree. 

This change isn't permanent, to save the video in its new orientation, you've to open Tools > Preferences and at the bottom of the preferences windows, enable "All" settings. Now find the heading call "Sout stream" (under Stream Output) then click on "Transcode" and choose "Rotate video filter" from the selections to the right and finally click "Save".

Click open VLC's Media menu > Convert/Save, click Add and choose the file we just rotated. Click on the "Convert/Save" button at the bottom of this dialog and then "Convert" (Alt+O). Select a destination and file name to which you want to save your new file. Go ahead and click "Start" and the file will be converted and saved.

#3. Download iMovie which is available at Mac App Store and open iMovie, click the file menu, select import and select video. Open the Crop Menu by selecting your video and press "C" on your keyboard or by clicking the crop button in the middle toolbar. You'll see the Rotate buttons appear at the top of the viewer and click the Left or Right rotation buttons to rotate the image in 90 degree increments, click done. 

Note : Use the "Fit" option to ensure that you don't lose any of the edges of your video when it's rotated.

How to Rotate a Video 90 degree on Android or iPhone

There are a variety of free and paid apps available for both iOS, Android Phones and tablets. Some popular apps include, Video Rotate Free, Video Rotate and Flip for iOS and mVideoCut, Video Toolbox for Android. 

Once you've installed the app, open it and select your video file. You can start rotating it, your options will depend on the app you're using, but almost all allow for basic 90 degree increments.

Bonus Tips : You can also use, online video rotating site like RotateMyVideo.net. Click the "Pick Video" button in the middle of the page and select the video on your computer or mobile device. The video is uploading and can take a few seconds or even a few minutes, depending of your connection and size of your video. Click the buttons in the Rotation section (Left or Right arrows) until the video is fixed. Click the "Download" link to download the rotated video.