How to Block Facebook for Lent

Update - check out this list for a better block list

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent for Christians across the world. It is customary to “give up” something during Lent, and many people give up using Facebook.

If you’re like me, it’s hard to forget the muscle memory of typing “facebook.com” into the address bar of my web browser. Because of this, I use use the Windows Hosts File to block my browser (and in fact, the entire OS) from accessing Facebook.

To do this, open Windows Notepad in “Run as Administrator” mode. Open this file (you may need to select “All Files” in the Open dialog box):

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

At the end of the file, add the following lines to the file:

# Block Facebook
127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 facebook.com
127.0.0.1 static.ak.fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 www.static.ak.fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 www.login.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 www.fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 fbcdn.com
127.0.0.1 www.fbcdn.com
127.0.0.1 static.ak.connect.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 www.static.ak.connect.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 *.facebook.com

Save the file, and then restart your computer. After a restart, going to Facebook in your browser should not work. This method has an added benefit that Facebook Like Buttons on sites across the internet will not show up, disabling the tracking that Facebook does that is enabled by these buttons.

How to Block Facebook for Lent

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