Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon -- it’s hard to get any work done when there are so many web distractions around.
LeechBlock is a free Firefox extension which can help by blocking access to your favorite time-sucking sites.
There are a lot of similar tools around, but what makes LeechBlock different is its flexibility. It really can be fine-tuned to suit just about everyone’s needs.
For example, you could block twitter.com forever. But you can also limit access during multiple time periods (0900-1230, 1330-1700), or ration access to the site (allow only 5 minutes in 30, say), and apply these restrictions only on defined days of the week.
Setup is easy because you’re able to globally apply these settings to "Block Sets", lists of sites. Create a Social Networking block set, add Twitter, Facebook and whoever you like, and you can restrict them all in a few seconds.
There are up to six block sets available, giving you even more flexibility.
You might allow limited access to social networks, for instance, if they’re occasionally useful for work, but block gaming sites entirely.
LeechBlock even has options to import or export your block sets, handy if you’d like to share them with someone else.
This only affects web access in Firefox, of course. There’s no lower-level security involved, no HOSTS-file tweakery or anything else. If you’re determined to break the rules then there’s nothing to stop you firing up another browser and going wherever you like.
But, if you just need a gentle reminder that you really shouldn’t be accessing these sites so often, LeechBlock could be ideal. Give it a try.