[haloony]

Hi All,
I am new to this forum, and I have a potentially strange/unique question. I use the Hosts file in Windows XP to map certain websites to localhost, and this makes those sites inacessable. I understand that there are probably ways around this, but I do not know of them nor I do not wish to know of them. You see, I wish to find a semi-permanent method to bar my computer from reaching certain websites. If you are a little confused, I will explain. Suppose there exists a website called Site Z; if we map Site Z to localhost, Site Z will be unreachable. However, it is quite easy to alter the Hosts file or to delete it entirely, and that would make Site Z reachable once again. Here is where it may get a little strange; I want to strip myself of the ability to regain access to Site Z. I basically want to lock off a section of the internet, and throw away the key.

Most of my computing experience and knowledge, which is meager at best, is for Linux. I am a newbie when it comes to the inner-workings of Windows XP. I was thinking along the lines of encrypting the Hosts file, and using a ridiculous random password that I will easily forget. I do not know if the Hosts file will become useless at that point, and I do not even know if what I said even makes any sense. Yet, I do hope I gave you guys a good idea of my goal, and any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

[lunarlander]

I don't think encryption will work, as windows needs to read that hosts file.

You may want to consider parental control software. They can block off sites and they don't use the hosts file I think.

[valis]

encryption won't work. Why are you trying to block sites? You could also create a second account for the users you don't want accessing certain sites, make it a non-admin account, and then go in as admin and lock it down through the browser. You could also take away the rights to install new apps to prevent them from downloading and installing another browser.