How to Block Websites on Firefox on Windows

There’s a rush of productivity on a Monday morning, and you feel nothing can deter you – until you see the notorious new tab button. There’s a click here and a click there, and an hour has passed by staring at the Twitter feed. The solution – go cold turkey and block the websites. Here’s how you can block websites on Firefox.

This is also helpful to impose parental controls. Although there is no inbuilt feature to do this, Firefox supports many add-ons, one of which can help you block websites. In addition, you can also block websites using the host file on Windows. Let’s show you how.

1. Use a Free Add-On for Blocking Sites in Firefox

Block Site is a popular add-on on Firefox to block websites. It has a simple user interface and also allows you to set a period for which the website will remain blocked.

As for parental controls, you get to set a password so that only you can take control of the tool and unblock websites. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Open the Block Site add-on website on Firefox using the below link.

Block Site on Firefox

Step 2: Click on Add to Firefox.

Step 3: Click on Add.

Step 4: The add-on is now installed on Firefox. To activate it, click on the add-ons icon and select the settings icon next to Block Site.

Step 5: Click on Options.

Step 6: Enter the URL for the website you want to block and click on Add.

As you scroll down, you’ll see options to block websites only during a certain period and add a password to unblock them.

Step 7: Scroll down and tap on Save Options.

Step 8: Now, you need to activate these features. Click on the add-ons icon on Firefox and select the Block Site extension.

Step 9: Click on OK to begin the website restrictions.

If you now access the blocked website, you will see the following Window.

Note: To disable the block feature, you can open the options for Block Site and use the Remove Rule button to do so. Or, you can also find the option to pause or resume the restrictions by tapping the settings button, next to the Block Site add-on in the add-ons menu.

That’s it. However, if you are unable to install the add-on on Firefox, check out these top ways to fix Firefox add-ons not working on PC. Alternatively, you can try the below method.

2. Use the Hosts File to Block Websites on Firefox

The hosts file on Windows is a document that contains important instructions, and information to help your computer access the internet. You can think of it as a directory of important IP addresses and their names. By making a few edits to the hosts file, you can block a website.

Note: Keep in mind that this method blocks your PC from accessing the website through any web browser – and not just Firefox. So proceed with caution.

Step 1: Open Notepad from the Start menu by running it as an administrator.

Note: You can also right-click on the Notepad icon and click on ‘Run as administrator’.

Step 2: Click on File followed by Open.

Step 3: Click on the file type drop-down menu and select All Files.

Step 4: Click on Windows (C:) and open the Windows folder.

Step 5: Now, scroll down and click on the System 32 folder.

Step 6: Click on the drivers folder.

Step 7: Hit the etc folder.

Step 8: Select the hosts file and click on Open.

Step 9: After the last line of code in the command, copy and paste the address of the localhost, this will usually be 127.0.0.1.

Step 10: Next, type the URL of the website you want to block.

Here’s how we blocked the Twitter website in the hosts file.

Step 10: Click on File followed by Save. Now, close the Notepad window.

That is how you block websites using the hosts file on Windows. And those were both the methods using which you can block websites on Firefox. If you have any more questions, you can take a look at our FAQ section below.

FAQs on Block Websites on Firefox

Block Websites on Firefox With Ease

We hope this article helped you block and restrict websites on Firefox. But we do hope Firefox adds a built-in tool to block websites. This will ease the procedure further, and perhaps, give Chrome users another reason to switch to Firefox! To further extend your functionality on Firefox, here’s how you can customize the Firefox homepage on desktop.