how to block certain websites during certain hours?
 

My secretary has a problem with myspace and youtube and other sites.

She has actually asked me to check on her, because she knows she's being unproductive.

I don't have the time to deal with that shit. I'd fire her, or give her some time off, but she's great at what she does.

So how can I block certain sites during certain hours?

I know you can redirect sites using the host file, is there a way to set a cron job in windows to automatically edit the host file?

Or rename two files, perhaps? I do this on one of my linux servers to edit a file's accessibility by hour.

Like at 8 am rename clean host file to blank, and rename limitedhostfile to host file. Then at 5 PM rename blank to regular host, so normal internet accessibility is returned.

Or is there a program that will do this?

Any ideas?

sneak up on her a couple times with this thing and she will never EVER do it again.

http://www.blowoff.com/images/big_pr...r-horn-box.jpg

lol! She's too alert for that.

but if I could rig the computer to automaticaly blow that when it detects "youtube.com" :1orglaugh

I was just playin that scene out in my head :1orglaugh

block from the firewall, easy as pie.

also one of filters for kids should work.

Didn't ya ask this same or similar question a couple months ago?? The general advice was you need to trust her or something... hmmm

Anyway.. If you have a lynksys router you can block sites thru that. Or I am sure there is some kiddie blocking software you could do it with.

during certain times?

My home, I mean my office, is also my office. Err.... yeah.

From 8-5 that computer is a work computer, after that it's a home PC.

Yeah, that was me. And that was the advice.

But she just came to me and asked for help on this. If she doesn't trust herself, based on her own knowledge of self, then how does it work? Naw'mean?

http://www.hotbrick.com/cf401w.asp

that will do it based on user

I'd use winamp and some vb scripts

I tried that, but the seo hairgel kept clogging the kunuten valve.

to the top!

I tried 602LAN Suite, but wither it's not what I need... or I'm just not savvy enough to use it.

Any ideas here?

there HAS to be a way to do this.

and one of you is smart enough to do it.

still looking.

I'm sorry, but going on websites like youtube or myspace (do people really still use that archaic piece of shit for social networking?) is not an addiction. You just don't go on there it's that simple. I smoke and an trying to quit, so I know what addiction is and last I checked you can't get youtube withdrawal.

But if you insist on "helping her" I like the air horn idea. Although you could simply block it and unblock it via your router daily...it's super easy.

i have a d-link dfl 800 firewall and you can define "office hours" and "private hours". and you can define services that are available at that time - and what not. i haven't figured out yet if you can just block certain domains or IPs though. :-/

but in general with a firewall that is a little bit advanced that should work

just edit the hosts file on her computer or buy a router. I think I can block websites during certain hours with my d-link router. And it's a really cheap one..

easiest way is to do it at the router. check the users manual or.. get a new router that allows you to do it.

It's not like it's an addiction. Is she that immature that she can't just do away with those sites for 8 hours?

Yeah, if you need one more thing to do daily.

like which firewall?

Does it allow you to edit by hour? If so, what model is it?

unfortunately - yes. She needs constant guidance and is completely incapable of motivating herself. When she is on-task, she's great at what she does, but when she falls off task... well, it's pretty much over. Then habits start to form, and a week later she's back to checking the myspace for new comments every 6 minutes and reading about the latest Britney gossip when there's no new myspace comment.

Look, don't

look, I know most of you would rather give me good advice (tell the bitch to stop fucking off) than provide the crutch that probably won't help the imaginary injury, but I'm not asking for that here.

When I catch myself screwing off, I give myself a stern talking to and get to work.

She can't do it. She wants to, and wishes she could, but she's like a heroin addict that can't go straight even when the rewards and path to cleanliness is obvious and easy.

So what do you do for the addict? You put them in a situation where they have no temptations. Yes, it's kind of pathetic, and yes, it should not be necessary...

But whatever. that's what we do.




So I'm still looking for that solution to take temptation away from 9-5.



Thanks to whichever one of you hooks a brother up with it!

like i said - i need a way to block certain sites (like myspace, entertainment.msn.com, facebook, etc) during certain hours.


There must be a way to do it..


is it possible to run a crontab type of thing on windows to rename the host file at certain times during the day?

mornin', gfy!!!

Rig netnanny to a car battery that has leads attached to her nipples. Unless of course she enjoys that, in which case it won't work.

Buy a $20 or so router. Connect her machine through it. Any NetGear, Linksys, or other knockoff has the ability to limit specific machines to, or from certain sites during specific hours.

This is from my WRT54GL with the free third party Thibor15c firmware. It has a few neat addons that the default software doesn't.. but this feature is standard, hell my $20 AT&T branded router had it in 2003:

http://www.imagepup.com/up/1RT7_1190987823_router.png

I'd sack it... serious.. it's a business wolfy.

I've got a general manager that wouldn't tolerate that shit from the staff for five minutes.. there is a fine line between fair and tough..

Fair says -> you're getting paid, either do the work. If no work = leave

You can use your 'Scheduled Tasks' to run a cron. --- In your System Tools area.

Here is a code to run in the morning via Scheduled tasks, or whenever you don't want access. Just save as deny.vbs somewhere. You may have to edit the 'hosts' location.
now save this code as allow.vbs and use Scheduled Tasks to turn your access back on .
Now to use the above you will need 2 versions of your hosts file. You can call one 'denyhosts', and the other 'allowhosts'. You can save them in the same place you saved the vbs files, or with your existing hosts file(the way the code above shows), just change the locations to match.

As I said and others have also said.. A simple router should be able to do it.. If you are in an office I am sure you have one already.. On my linksys one there is setting built right in.. When my nephew was living with me thats what I did so he could not get on to certain sites and also so he could not get on at all when he was supposed to be in bed.

Thanks Grouchy!

My router doesn't have that option, but I'll go pick up another one now that I've seen the options to block by hour.

Thanks everyone :)