How to Block and Unblock Internet Sites with Firefox

Blocking and Unblocking Pages with Block Site

Open Firefox. Its app icon resembles a blue globe with an orange fox on it.

Go to the Block Site installation page. Block Site is a clean site-blocking add-on for your Firefox browser. Alternatively, press Ctrl + Shift + A to open your add-ons manager and search "Block Site." Finally, click the "Recommended" addon to load its installation page.

Click Add to Firefox. It's a blue button near the top of the page.

Click Add when prompted. You'll see this in the upper-left side of the page.

Click OK. The box will show you where the add-on's icon is so you can use it to block sites.

Click ☰. It's in the top-right corner of the Firefox window. A drop-down menu will appear.

Click Add-ons. You'll find this option near the middle of the drop-down menu. Your Firefox add-ons' page will open. You can also press Ctrl + Shift + A to open the add-on manager.

Find the Block Site icon. The icon looks like a stop sign with "www" inside it.

Click … and Options. This three-dot menu icon is to the right of the add–on's name. On Mac, click Preferences instead.

Enter a website's address in the "Block a new hostname" field. Type in a website's address, making sure to include the "www." and ".com" (or ".org", or whatever the site's tag is) parts of the website's address. For example: to block Facebook, you would type in www.facebook.com. There are many options here that you can set, like displaying a custom message when sites are blocked, or only blocking sites on certain days of the week.

Click Add. It's to the right of the text field. Doing so immediately adds the website and all of its associated pages to the block list. Repeat this process for other sites that you want to block. Alternatively, you can navigate to that website and then click the Block Site icon to the right of your address bar. The site you're on will be blocked.

Save your work. Once you have added the sites you want to block, scroll down and click Save Options or your added sites will not be blocked.

Unblock sites on Block Site's list. If you decide that you want to unblock a previously blocked site, do the following: Click ☰ Click Add-ons Find Block Site. Click …. Click Options or Preferences Scroll down to your list of blocked sites and find the site that you want to unblock. Click Remove' to the right of the site. Finally, click Save Options to save your work.

Unblocking Sites with a Proxy

Open Firefox. Its app icon resembles an orange fox on a blue background.

Open the HideMe site. Go to https://hide.me/en/proxy in your browser.

Enter a website's address. Type the address of a blocked website into the "Enter web address" text box that's in the middle of the page. You can also select a different country by clicking the "Proxy location" drop-down box and then clicking a new country in the resulting drop-down menu.

Click Visit anonymously. It's a yellow button below the text box. Doing so will begin loading your website.

Browse your site. Once the website loads, you should be able to use it like usual. Keep in mind, however, that your website's load times will likely be significantly slower than usual.

Unblocking Sites with a VPN

Open Firefox. Its app icon resembles an orange fox encircling a blue globe.

Click ☰. It's in the top-right corner of the Firefox window. Clicking it prompts a drop-down menu.

Click Options. You'll find this option near the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so opens the Settings page. On a Mac or Linux computer, you'll instead click Preferences.

Click the General tab. It's on the left side of the page.

Scroll all the way down to the "Network Proxy" section. This section is at the very bottom of the "General" Settings page.

Click Settings…. It's to the right of the "Network Proxy" heading.

Check the "Manual proxy configuration" box. You'll find this near the top of the window.

Enter your VPN's address. Type your VPN's network address into the "HTTP Proxy" text box. If you don't have a subscription to a VPN service, you'll need to sign up for one before you can do this.

Select a port. Type your VPN's port into the "Port" text box.

Check the "Use this proxy server for all protocols" box. It's below the "HTTP Proxy" text box.

Click OK. Firefox will now use your VPN's address to reroute its traffic, which should help unblock most sites (including system administrator-blocked sites and region-locked sites) in your Firefox browser.