Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 4: Blocking a Windows program through the firewall
• Method 2 of 4: Disabling a specific connection in Windows
• Method 3 of 4: Set up a fake proxy server
• Method 4 of 4: Apps that turn the internet on or off
• Tips
• Warnings

You may want to deny a program - or several - access to the Internet. You may want to block someone's computer from accessing the Internet entirely, or temporarily block your own Internet connection so you can get work done without being distracted. The easiest way to disable access, regardless of the operating system, is simply to remove the network card from the computer, or unplug the LAN cable, or disable the wireless network. Read on for software methods to disable the Internet connection through the computer's user interface.

To step

Method 1 of 4: Blocking a Windows program through the firewall

1. Go to Control Panel. Click the "Windows" key or "Start", then click "Control Panel".
   • If you are using Windows 8, you can move the mouse up to the top right corner of the screen to reveal the "Charms Bar" and click on the "Control Panel". An alternative is to press Windows key + C and click "Settings".
2. Open the Security Center.
3. Open the Windows Firewall settings.
   • Open the "Exceptions" tab.
   • Uncheck the box of the program for which you want to block internet access.
   • Click "OK" when prompted.
4. Open the program and try to connect to the Internet. The program you deselected should no longer be able to get past the Windows firewall, which means that it is effectively blocked when trying to use the Internet. You should still be able to use the internet with other programs.

Method 2 of 4: Disabling a specific connection in Windows

1. Go to Control Panel. Click the "Windows" key or the "Start" icon, then click "Control Panel".
   • If you are using Windows 8, you can move the mouse up to the top right corner of the screen to reveal the "Charms Bar" and click on the "Control Panel". An alternative is to press Windows key + C, and click "Settings".
2. Go to the "Network and Sharing Center". Under Network and Internet - in the category view - click "Network settings> network adapters", then click "View network status and tasks". If you are in the icon view instead of the category view, click on "Network and Sharing Center".
3. Left click to select the WiFi connection. Then right-click on the selected WiFi connection and click "Disable". This will block the computer from accessing a specific Wi-Fi network, but other computers will not be blocked unless you turn them off as well. These settings should not prevent other computers from logging into the Wi-Fi network.
   • This process is reversible. If you want to enable the network connection at a later stage, you can do this by right-clicking on the Wi-Fi connection and then "Enable".
   • You must be logged in as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group to complete this procedure. If your computer has connected to a network, the network policy settings can also prevent you from turning off the internet connection.
4. Turn off all network connections. For a more advanced way to disable a connection in Windows, go to Start> All Programs> Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt, select Run as administrator, agree to any prompt, then `` mmc compmgmt .msc '(without quotes) and press Enter. Wait for it to load, then click Device Manager in the box on the right. Open the Network adapters subtree, right-click on all the devices listed, and select Disable. Restart the computer to be sure (this is optional).
   • To undo this, repeat this procedure, but instead of disabling everything, enable the various connections.
5. Consider using parental control software. You can also block access to the Internet using special parental control software. These programs allow you to limit the number of sites you can access with a computer, and block a computer from the Internet completely. You may need to install the software on the affected computer. Depending on the program, you may have to pay a small fee to use it, but then you should be sure that your child is not using the Internet in a way that you have not approved.
   • In Apple OS X, you can use the built-in parental controls to block certain accounts from accessing the Internet.

Method 3 of 4: Set up a fake proxy server

1. Go to Internet Options in Control Panel.
2. Go to the Connections tab and click LAN settings.
3. Uncheck "Automatically detect settings". Then check "Use proxy server" and create the settings for a non-existing proxy server. As a result, the web browser will not be able to find anything every time the user tries to open an internet page.
4. Understand that this method does not always work. A knowledgeable user can access and restore the settings.

Method 4 of 4: Apps that turn the internet on or off

1. If necessary, use an app to turn the internet on or off. These programs can be useful if you want to temporarily disable a computer's Internet connection, but you don't want to bother with firewall settings every time you want to do that. You may want to do some work offline, without completely denying yourself the ability to use the Internet. You can usually choose to disable all sites or just certain sites.
2. Make use of the Toggle Internet script. This app "forces you" not to use the internet by temporarily blocking all internet access with your computer. With this little script you can completely turn off the internet connection on your Windows computer with one click. You can switch the internet connection back on at any time. To start, download Toggle-Internet.bat to your desktop.
3. Turn off the internet. Right click on the Toggle desktop icon. Choose "Run as administrator," and you will be immediately disconnected from the internet. If you want to use the internet again at a later stage, just right click on the same file and run it again as administrator.
   • It works by enabling or disabling the status of your Network Adapter (also known as the LAN adapter or ethernet card) which disables the internet. If you would like to manually enable or disable the Network Adapter, you can do so via Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> View Network Status -> Change Adapter Settings.
4. If necessary, use Let Me Work. Toggle Internet will temporarily block all websites, but you may only want to block a select group of distracting websites while still having access to Google Docs or your email. Download the Let Me Work script. You can specify a list of websites to be blocked and this script modifies the Windows HOSTS file so that they are temporarily inaccessible.

Tips

• Always check the Firewall exceptions, for programs without authorization.
• Disabling the Internet means that the program will never be able to connect to the Internet again, be it downloading updates or sending data. Make sure that a particular program does not depend on the internet connection.
• Make sure you don't want to use the internet anymore before you do this. However, most of these methods can be restored.
• In Linux you can block access to the internet by configuring the firewall of the distribution. Ubuntu-based distros often use the "ufw" package as a firewall.

Warnings

• If you have an antivirus program, you will have to adjust the exceptions with that interface.