Being a killjoy re: MSN Messenger

[Terry Smart]

Hi all

For reasons I won't bore you all with but I'm sure you can imagine, I'd like to block certain computers on the wireless network at home from accessing Messenger and similar programs.
I'm using a Linksys router and have worked out that there is an 'access restriction' that I can put in place and deny access to the web completely, but this isn't what I want to do, just block pesky MSN.

Second part of the question is that I'd like to be able to do this from the main computer in the house to which the router is connected rather than having to do it on the 'certain computer' in question.

Any ideas how this can be done simply and easily? I could of course uninstall MSN from the computer but that's a bit too drastic, I really only want to block it at certain times when the computer should be being used for other, educational purposes!

 

[Slim]

It is not as simple as blocking the port MSN uses, as it is clever enough to put the traffic through port #80. Blocking this will block all internet traffic. I think the only way of doing this is to find out what the MSN servers are. You may be able to do this if you have a firewall log on the offending computer. Then it is just a case of blocking those servers from within your router.

I will have a look and see if I can find the MSN servers.

 

[Slim]

OK, I can't find the Ip addresses, but it shouldn't be too difficult to track them down.

Go to IE, type in 192.168.1.1, and enter you password. If you Linksys firmware is like mine, Under "Administration", the is a "Log" tab. Make sure this is enabled.

Now the next time someone is using MSN, open the log. The last entries on this log will be the MSN servers. Copy the IP addresses and set up a access rule where they are blocked. This can be done from the "Access Restrictions" page. You can set times and days and specific computers from here as well.

 

[CHJ]

On my netgear router there is an option to schedule the block times and also allow particular Ips to still have full access, worth checking if your router has similar menu options.

Alternate is to install something like Trend Network Parental Control if your router supports it.


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Block Sites Help ( copied from Netgear Router Admin help)

If you want to limit access to certain sites on the Internet, you need to set up content filtering. There are two ways to filter content:

blocking access to certain domains (for example, ****oXXXsiteXXX.com) or
blocking sites that contains certain words (like profanity or explicit sexual material).
When users try to access a blocked site, they will get a message: "Blocked by NETGEAR".


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To Enable Block Sites:

Click Per Schedule to turn on Block Sites and block according to the settings on the Schedule page.
Click Always to turn on Block Sites to allow blocking all of the time, independant of the Schedule page.
Note: On the Schedule page you can set when keyword and domain name blocking occurs.

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To Block Keywords Or Internet Domains:

Select when to turn on Keyword Blocking (Never, Per Schedule, or Always).
In the box where you see Type Keyword Or Domain Name Here, type the word or domain name you want to block.
Click Add Keyword.
The word or domain name will appear in the list below.
Continue adding names and keywords until you are finished.
Click Apply when finished.
Block List - The list under the heading "Block Sites Containing these Keywords or Domain Names" contains the current list of items to block.

To Delete A Keyword Or Domain Name:

Select the word or domain name in the list.
Click Delete Keyword.
Continue selecting and deleting names and keywords until you are finished.
Click Apply.
To Delete All Keywords And Domain Names:

Click Clear List.
Click Apply.


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To Allow One Computer To Have Unrestricted Access To The Internet:

Select the Allow Trusted IP Address To Visit Blocked Sites check box.
Type the IP address of the computer in the Trusted IP Address area.
You should only need to type a number in the last box. Click Apply.
To Allow Unrestricted Access To The Internet:

Select Never in the Keyword Blocking menu.
Click Apply.

 

[Terry Smart]

Great stuff so far guys, thank you very much (others around here might not share that sentiment!), I can see some experimenting ahead but all worthwhile!

 

[mr]

There is a wee application you can download to block msn which you can find here.

http://www.sfu.ca/~vwchu/blockmsnd.html

No idea if it works, Ihaven't tried it myself. Alternate methods which I have come across but again not tried myself are blocking outbound TCP port 1863 AND http access to messenger.hotmail.com. blocking port access should be done at the router to prevent access to all machines on a network. Alternately you could just uninstall msn.

Cheers Mike

 

[Terry Smart]

There is a wee application you can download to block msn which you can find here.

http://www.sfu.ca/~vwchu/blockmsnd.html

No idea if it works, Ihaven't tried it myself.

Thanks Mike; I can vouch for the fact that it works and seems to be irreversible! You can't uninstall it and there are no options on installation, it's just there! It only seems to work on the machine it's installed onto.
One system restore later...

I'll try the other methods as well and will report back!

 

[Terry Smart]

...blocking outbound TCP port 1863 AND http access to messenger.hotmail.com.

Yep, that one seems to work quite nicely, thank you very much!

The only dilemma I have now is whether to let on about this or to feign surprised ignorance when Messenger is no longer available... now, where's that 'evil face' emoticon..!

Thanks again to all respondents in this thread!

 

[mr]

Glad it worked Terry, I'd just feign ignorance if I were you, though of course then you might have to be seen to be trying to fix it.

cheers Mike

 

[Mcluma]

...blocking outbound TCP port 1863 AND http access to messenger.hotmail.com.

Yep, that one seems to work quite nicely, thank you very much!

The only dilemma I have now is whether to let on about this or to feign surprised ignorance when Messenger is no longer available... now, where's that 'evil face' emoticon..!

Thanks again to all respondents in this thread!

The things you have to do to get your dinner on time he :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: