[gooser]

i read on here a while back that in the apple stores that apple has blocked customers from browsing myspace. i would like to do the same thing at work and maybe youtube also. anybody got any idea how to do this? we're running 10.3.9 along with safari and firefox.
thanks!

[besson3c]

Create firewall rules blocking outgoing connections to the IP(s) belonging to the site in question.

[mduell]

Add entries in your hosts file directing them elsewhere (like Google) or nowhere (like 127.0.0.1). That way you don't have to keep track of the (many) IPs that myspace/youtube/etc may use.

[gooser]

well, it looks like there is a solution for my question and thanks to both of you. unfortunately i have no idea how to do either one of those things. more detail?
create firewall rules?..... host files?........

[P]

host files: There is a file in /etc called hosts that is a sort of override for the regular DNS. Google "/etc/hosts mac".

Firewall blocking rules: To add outgoing blocking rules, you either need to modify the config file or use a third-party firewall program. Try versiontracker.com and search for "firewall".

[mduell]

Open up the file /etc/hosts with a text editor. It will look something like:

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting. Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost

Add the lines for the sites you want to block to the end of the file. Something like

127.0.0.1 myspace.com
127.0.0.1 youtube.com

if you want them to get 'nothing' when they go to those sites, or something like

72.14.207.99 myspace.com
72.14.207.99 youtube.com

if you want to send them to Google when they go to those sites.

[besson3c]

If you edit /etc/hosts, you will likely have to flush your DNS cache before the changes take effect.

To do so:

sudo lookupd -flushcache