How to block Facebook and YouTube in PC

Download Article

• On All Computer Browsers
|
• On Your Network
|
• On iPhone
|
• On Android

YouTube has a seemingly infinite amount of entertaining (and sometimes educational) content, and it’s easy to suddenly find yourself watching hours upon hours of videos when you should probably be doing other things. If you want to block YouTube to eliminate it as a distraction for you or your child, you have a few different options. In this article, we’ll walk you through the different ways you can block YouTube on a computer or mobile device.

1. 1

   Open your computer's "hosts" file. You can do this on a Windows computer or on a Mac computer. Once you've opened the "hosts" file and are ready to enter an address, proceed.

2. 2

   Enter a line at the bottom with YouTube's address. Type in 127.0.0.1 and press the Tab ↹ key, then type in youtube.com and press ↵ Enter.

   • If you use Chrome, you'll need to place a space after YouTube's address and then type in www.youtube.com there.

   Advertisement

3. 3

   Add YouTube's mobile address. Type in 127.0.0.1 again and press the Tab ↹ key, then type in m.youtube.com and press ↵ Enter.

   • Again, if you're using Google Chrome, you'll need to add a space and the "www" version of YouTube's website here as well.

4. 4

   Save your "hosts" file. Do the following:

   • Windows — Click File, click Save As..., click Text Documents, click All Files in the drop-down menu, click the "hosts" file, click Save, and click Yes when prompted.
   • Mac — Press Control+X (not ⌘ Command+X), press Y when prompted, and press ⏎ Return.

5. 5

   Restart your computer. Once you've edited the "hosts" file, it's best to restart your computer to ensure that the changes take place:

Advertisement

1. 1

   Change your computer's DNS settings to use OpenDNS servers. Before you can change which sites are blocked on your home network, you'll need to set your computer to use the DNS server addresses run by OpenDNS:

   • Windows — Right-click Start
     , click Network Connections, click Change adapter options, right-click your current network, click Properties, select the "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" option, click Properties, check the "Use the following DNS server addresses" box, and then type 208.67.222.222 into the top box and 208.67.220.220 into the bottom box. Click OK on both open windows to save.
   • Mac — Click the Apple menu
     , click System Preferences..., click Network, click your current network's name, click Advanced..., click the DNS tab, click ＋ in the bottom-left corner, type in 208.67.222.222, click ＋ again, and type in 208.67.220.220. Click OK, then click Apply to save.

2. 2

3. 3

4. 4

   Create an OpenDNS account. Fill out the following fields:

   • Email address — Type in the email address you want to use to register for OpenDNS (this must be an active email address to which you have current access).
   • Confirm email address — Re-enter your email address.
   • Select your country — Select your current country from the drop-down menu.
   • Create password — Type in a password you want to use for your account (should be different than your email address' password).
   • Confirm password — Re-enter your password.

5. 5

   Click GET A FREE ACCOUNT. It's an orange button at the bottom of the page. This creates your account and sends a verification email to your email address.

6. 6

   Open your OpenDNS email address. This is the email address you used when setting up your OpenDNS account.

7. 7

   Select the verification email. Click the "[OpenDNS] Confirm your OpenDNS registration" email.

   • You may find this in the "Updates" folder if you use Gmail.
   • If you can't find the email, check your "Spam" or "Junk" folder.

8. 8

   Click the verification link. It's the link below the "Click this link to confirm your registration" heading. Doing so verifies your email address and takes you to the OpenDNS dashboard page.

9. 9

   Click the SETTINGS tab. This is at the top of the dashboard page.

10. 10

    Click ADD THIS NETWORK. It's a grey button below your current network IP address. A pop-up window will appear.

11. 11

    Enter a network name. In the text box at the top of the pop-up window, type in whatever you want to name your network.

12. 12

    Click DONE. It's in the bottom-right corner of the window.

13. 13

    Click your network's address. You'll find it in the middle of the page. Doing so opens the settings page for your current network.

14. 14

    Consider blocking all video-sharing sites. This will ensure that sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and similar are blocked:

    • Check the "Custom" box.
    • Check the "Video Sharing" box.
    • Click APPLY.

15. 15

    Enter YouTube's address. In the "Manage individual domains" text box, type youtube.com into the text box and then click ADD DOMAIN.

16. 16

    Check the "Block" box. It's above the grey CONFIRM button.

17. 17

    Click CONFIRM. This is at the bottom of the page. Doing so confirms your settings and blocks YouTube on your computer.

18. 18

    Add other computers to the OpenDNS list. On any other computer for which you want to block YouTube, do the following:

    • Change the DNS settings to use OpenDNS' servers.
    • Go to //login.opendns.com/ and then enter your email address and password for your OpenDNS account.
    • Click the SETTINGS tab.
    • Click ADD THIS NETWORK, then enter a name and click DONE.
    • Click the IP address for the network you just added.
    • Block YouTube (and video sharing if necessary) via the Web Content Filtering menu.

Advertisement

1. 1

   Delete the YouTube app if you have it installed. This will prevent someone from accessing YouTube through its app:

   • Lightly tap and hold the YouTube app icon.
   • Release the app icon when it starts shaking.
   • Tap the X in the top-left corner of the app icon.
   • Tap Delete when prompted.

2. 2

   Open your iPhone's

   Settings. Tap the Settings app icon, which resembles a grey box with gears on it.

3. 3

   Scroll down and tap

   General. This option is near the top of the Settings page.

4. 4

   Scroll down and tap Restrictions. It's near the middle of the General page.

5. 5

   Enter your Restrictions passcode. Type in the PIN you use to unlock the Restrictions menu.

   • Your Restrictions passcode may differ from your iPhone unlock code.
   • If you don't have Restrictions enabled, first tap Enable Restrictions, then type in twice a passcode you want to use.

6. 6

   Scroll down and tap the green "Installing Apps" switch

   . This will turn the switch white

   , signifying that you will no longer be able to download apps on your iPhone.

7. 7

   Scroll down and tap Websites. It's near the bottom of the "ALLOWED CONTENT" section.

8. 8

   Tap Limit Adult Content. You'll find this in the "Websites" menu.

9. 9

   Tap Add a Website… in the "NEVER ALLOW" section. It's near the bottom of the page.

10. 10

    Enter YouTube's address. In the "Website" text box, type in www.youtube.com and then tap the blue Done button in the keyboard.

11. 11

    Close the Settings app. YouTube will now be blocked on any web browser apps on your iPhone, and the YouTube app will be impossible to re-download due to inability to open the App Store.

Advertisement

1. 1

   Install the necessary apps. In order to block both the YouTube website and the YouTube app on your Android, you will need to have the YouTube app installed, though you can instead delete the YouTube app and then lock the Google Play Store later to prevent it from being downloaded again. You will also need to download both an app called BlockSite, which blocks YouTube, and an app called Norton Lock, which will allow you to password-protect BlockSite to avoid tampering:

   • Open the
     Play Store.
   • Tap the search bar.
   • Type in blocksite, then tap the "Search" or "Enter" button.
   • Tap INSTALL under the BlockSite heading.
   • Tap the search bar, then delete the text in it.
   • Type in norton lock, then tap Norton App Lock in the drop-down menu.
   • Tap INSTALL.

2. 2

   Open BlockSite. Press the Home button to close the Play Store, then tap the BlockSite app icon, which resembles an orange shield with a white cancel sign on it.

3. 3

   Enable BlockSite in your Android's Accessibility settings. In order for BlockSite to be able to access and control your apps, you'll first need to enable it in Settings:

   • Tap ENABLE.
   • Tap GOT IT when prompted.
   • Tap BlockSite (you may have to scroll down to find it).
   • Tap the grey "OFF" switch
     .
   • Tap OK when prompted, then enter your Android's PIN if asked.

4. 4

   Tap ＋. It's in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

   • If BlockSite doesn't open after tapping OK, you'll have to re-open it before doing this.

5. 5

   Enter YouTube's address. In the text box at the top of the page, type in youtube.com to indicate that you want to prevent your Android's built-in browsers from accessing YouTube.

   • Unlike many content blockers, you don't have to block the mobile version of YouTube's website ("m.youtube.com") as well.

6. 6

   Tap

   . It's in the top-right corner of the screen. This will block YouTube in your Android's Chrome browser and any other built-in browsing app(s).
   • If you have any third-party browsing apps installed (e.g., Firefox), you'll need to lock them with Norton Lock to prevent your child from accessing YouTube in them since BlockSite doesn't cover these apps.

7. 7

   Tap ＋ again. This is in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

   • If you don't have YouTube installed on your Android, skip this step and the next two steps.

8. 8

   Tap the APP tab. It's at the top of the screen. A list of apps will open.

9. 9

   Scroll down and tap YouTube. It's in the list of apps. Doing so adds the YouTube app to the list of blocked apps on your Android.

10. 10

    Open Norton App Lock. Press the Home button, then tap the Norton Lock app icon which resembles a yellow-and-white circle with black icons in it.

11. 11

    Tap Agree & Launch when prompted. Doing so will open the Norton Lock app.

12. 12

    Enable Norton Lock in the Accessibility menu. Like BlockSite, you'll need to grant access to Norton Lock:

    • Tap Setup.
    • Tap Norton App Lock Service (you may have to scroll down to find it).
    • Tap the grey "OFF" switch
      .
    • Tap OK when prompted.

13. 13

    Create an unlock code. When the Norton Lock app re-opens, draw a pattern, then repeat the pattern when asked. This is the code you'll use to unlock any apps you lock later.

    • If you want to use a passcode instead of a pattern, tap SWITCH TO PASSCODE and enter twice your preferred passcode instead.

14. 14

    Tap Continue. It's at the bottom of the screen.

    • This just serves to let you know that you can reset your Norton Lock passcode via your Google Account if necessary.

15. 15

    Block the necessary apps. Scroll down and tap each of the following apps to prevent them from being accessed without your passcode:

    • BlockSite
    • Play Store
    • Any web browser not covered by BlockSite (e.g., any non-Chrome or stock browser such as Firefox or UC Browser)
    • Norton Lock will also lock Settings and the Norton Lock app by default. As long as the Play Store is also locked, this will make it impossible to access YouTube without the code.

Advertisement

Add New Question

• Question

  How do I unblock YouTube from a single computer?

  Go to the admin account and select the PC name you want to unblock. You'll see an option to unblock the site there.

• Question

  How can I block Power Rangers from YouTube?

  Go to Suggested and click the three dot option; then, select Remove from list.

• Question

  Which software can I use to block YouTube?

  The application SelfControl gives you the option to block certain websites of your choosing for a certain amount of time.There's no way to go around the limitations until the time runs out even if you turn off and reboot your computer.

See more answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Advertisement

Video

• You can also block YouTube via the BlockSite extension in Google Chrome and Firefox if needed. This will not block YouTube in browsers such as Safari, Edge, or Internet Explorer.

  <b>Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.</b><br />Looking for more fun ways to learn on wikiHow?<br />Learn about yourself with <a href='/Quizzes'><b>Quizzes</b></a> or try our brand new <a href='/Games/Train-Your-Brain'><b>Train Your Brain</b></a> word game.

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

Advertisement

• No blocking method will be 100% effective, especially if your child is tech savvy. Make sure to take the time to educate your child on what is and is not allowed.

  <b>Thanks! We’re glad this was helpful.</b><br />Looking for more fun ways to learn on wikiHow?<br />Learn about yourself with <a href='/Quizzes'><b>Quizzes</b></a> or try our brand new <a href='/Games/Train-Your-Brain'><b>Train Your Brain</b></a> word game.

Advertisement

About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Open your PC or Mac's hosts file.
2. Add a new line at the bottom of the file.
3. Type "127.0.0.1" and press the Tab key.
4. Type "www.youtube.com" and press the Enter key.
5. On the next line, type "127.0.0.1" and press the Tab key.
6. Type "m.youtube.com" and press the "Enter" key.
7. Click the File menu and select Save. For more tips, including how to block YouTube on an iPhone, read on!

Did this summary help you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 981,371 times.

Is this article up to date?

How do I block Facebook on my PC?

How can I block YouTube on my PC?

How can I block all social media sites from my computer?

How do I block Facebook from my computer Chrome?