TECH TIPS

How to Block Websites without using Software

Many times we need to unblock certain websites to gain access to some important stuffs. We all know many ways to do that. But how about actually learning to block one?

Have you even been in a situation when you have to block certain websites from your computer for any reason? Well, I am not sure about any body else but certainly I have been many times in such situation. Parents may also want to prevent access to certain websites on their computer so that children can’t get to them from internet.

So what’s the solution?

Aaaah… It’s very simple.

1.) Open “Run” from the start menu (or press WinKey + r). Just copy paste the following path and hit ENTER.

notepad %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Alternately, go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc and find the file “hosts”. Open that file in Notepad.

2.) When this hosts file is opened in Notepad, at the end of the file you will see something like “127.0.0.1 localhost”.

3.) Under “127.0.0.1 localhost” just add another website URL that you want to block.

For Example:-

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.2 www.rakshitk.com
127.0.0.3 www.whoismadhur.com

4.) Make sure every time you add another website, the last digit of the address 127.0.0.x should not be the same.



5.) Save the file and exit.

So, here you go. Restart your browser if it is opened and changes will take place immediately.

The good thing is that no message, no pop ups nothing will be displayed when someone tries to open a blocked website. Your browser will just fail to open those websites without any error messages.

Note: Restricted administrative access is key to this particular tip.

Secure USB Access in Windows XP/Vista

Note: This can also be scripted and pushed out using SMS.)
Disable USB Storage Devices

only while keeping USB ports active for other devices.

Open Regedit.exe

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

Start = 3 (Enabled) Start driver on boot - DEFAULT

Start = 4 (USB storage disabled) don’t start the USB storage driver on boot

Open C:\windows\inf folder

Find Usbstor.inf and Usbstor.pnf and change the file name by adding (. disabled ) to the end.

REBOOT Computer

The USB storage driver will not load and USB storage devices will not work. All other USB devices such as keyboards/mice will still work fine.

Courtesy of Toolbox for IT

Google Search Tips

Once you learn Google search capabilities, you can find most anything: ebooks, graphics, videos, audio and other research data....
Oh, yeah... Google can find things that easily. So let’s get to the gritty details. We need to construct an initial Google search query that can search for a predefined set of parameters. They are already listed below. Now all we need to do is modify as desired and then copy into the Google search engine.

Document extensions you can use are: doc, ppt, xls, pdf, chm, avi, mpg, mpeg, mdb, mp3, mp4, wmv, zip, rar, jpg, gif, tif, bmp; okay, you get the idea. You can search for any and all types of file extensions. Google is a great search tool for research, homework, and locating archived data. It also can be a dangerous tool in the wrong hands. Let your integrity and the established copyright laws be your guide.

Here’s what the queries look like (just cut and paste into Google (Have fun!):

-inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:”index of” +(“/ebooks”|”/book”) +(chm|pdf|zip) +”2012”

-inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:"index of" +("/ebooks"|"/book") +(chm|pdf|zip) +"mayan calender"

-inurl(html|htm|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +"mayan calender"

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wmv|avi)

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3)

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(jpg|gif)

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wmv|avi) "mayan calender"

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +("micahel_jordan.wmv"|"michael_jordan.avi")

inurl:security filetype:chm

inurl:firewall filetype:pdf

inurl:ebooks filetype:pdf

inurl:ebooks filetype:chm