Internet censorship has grown drastically over the past few years. Government censorship is also on the rise. Some network administrators also prevent users from accessing certain websites which they believe are of no use in places such as schools, colleges and sometimes, even offices. In such times, you may need to access a website that is blocked. This article explains how.
Which websites are most commonly blocked?
The most commonly blocked websites include websites about pop culture, health, medicine, women, religion and politics. Social websites are also often blocked and include the likes of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Quora!, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Blogger (Blogspot). Sites like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Google News, Wikipedia, Wikileaks and eBay! are also blocked at certain places.
1. TOR: TOR or The Onion Router is a free software that protects the privacy and security of its users by channeling data through multiple nodes to prevent the original data from being unscrambled. Although browsing through TOR is a bit slow, it is one of the most effective ways of bypassing website restrictions and protecting your privacy.
2. Web Proxy websites: There are many proxy websites (anonymizers) which open blocked websites on their servers and present the data to you. This hides the address of the website you are trying to visit from the blocking software as well as your internet service provider. A simple web search with the keywords "free web proxy" will provide you with enough choices for accessing most blocked websites.
3. VPN software: VPN or Virtual Private Network can be described as a tunnel under the public network that offers more anonymity than proxy websites as it also encrypts the data transferred by the blocked website. Although most VPN software are available as paid software only, several free VPNs are available online. A simple Google search with the search terms "Free VPN" is likely to return a lot of useful results. You can also try Opera, a browser with inbuilt free VPN, for accessing blocked websites on Android and desktop computers.
4. IP hiding software: Sometimes, websites block users on a particular IP address from visiting them. In such cases and otherwise, free IP hiding software like UltraSurf can be used to visit blocked websites. While free software offer very less features as compared to paid ones, they are still effective for overcoming most common blocks.
5. Cache method: Most search engines maintain a cache of web pages indexed by them. You can search for a blocked website on Google, Yahoo!, Bing or any other search engine that maintains a viewable cache of the indexed pages and click on the cached link that is given next to the result. To load the web pages more quickly, you can visit the text-only version (if the search engine of your choice provides this option). Since the website is provided from the search engine's servers, this method can be used to overcome IP address and URL based filtering.
6. Internet Archive (Wayback Machine): Internet Archive is a non-profit organization which stores websites in an archive form using which you can see how a website looked at a specific time in the past. This is similar to a saved copy of the website on your local hard drive. Just visit Wayback Machine and enter the address of the web site you wish to visit to see if a cached copy of it is available. Internet Archive can also be used to access websites that are suspended or facing outages.
7. Opera Mini Simulator: Opera Mini, the mobile browser for users with a slow internet connection, can be installed on your computer. You can use this PC version to visit blocked websites as Opera Mini accesses content from intermediate Opera's servers instead of accessing it directly from the servers on which the website is hosted. Most websites will load through this method but the quality of the results obtained may not be that good for JavaScript heavy websites.
8. Access blocked websites with Google Translate or Bing Translator. You can use translation services to visit blocked websites. To do so, enter a language different from the website's language in the 'From' field and English in the "To" field. You can also use this method to bypass software that block websites on the basis of specific keyword mentions. Just translate the URL you wish to visit to a different language to overcome the keyword block.
9. Create a 2 layered unblocker: Go to Google Translate or Bing Translator, open any proxy website in it using the method above and then use that proxy website to access your blocked website. In this way, you can achieve two layered website unblocking.
10. Use RSS Readers for accessing restricted blogs: All blogs syndicate their content via RSS feeds which you can subscribe to in RSS readers to access blocked content. A simple Google search with the search terms "Free RSS Readers" is likely to return a lot of RSS readers that you can try to access blocked blogs. For example, the RSS feed of this blog is located at http://feeds.tweakandtrick.com/tweakandtrick and can be subscribed to in any RSS reader.
11. Change DNS servers: A common way of blocking websites is preventing DNS servers from giving the location of the blocked website's servers. In such a scenario, changing your DNS servers to those of OpenDNS or Google DNS will be your best option to get over the block. As an additional advantage, this can also increase your internet speed.
12. Edit your host files: Some malware and blocking software edit your host files and add a website's address in them to prevent you from visiting it. In such a scenario, you can edit your host file with Notepad by visiting “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc” if C is your system drive. In Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8(.1), Windows 7, a warning from UAC might be displayed.
13. To access a blocked website, you can try entering its IP address instead of the URL in your browser's address bar (in the format http://IPAddress). This can bypass most basic forms of website blocks. However, if the blocking software maps the IP address to the website domain, the website will still remain blocked. Additionally, some websites will not reply to IP address based calls due to shared hosting and other safety reasons. You can still try entering the IP address of the blocked website in your browser to see if it gets unblocked. To get the IP address of the website, ping the website domain name in the Command Prompt in Windows (Terminal in other operating systems) and note its IP address. Example: Execute ping www.tweakandtrick.com in the Command Prompt to ping www.tweakandtrick.com and get its IP address.
14. Use IP Address to Decimal conversion: If you cannot access your blocked website by entering its IP address, you can enter the decimal equivalent of the URL's IP address in your browser's address bar (in the format http://DecimalEquivalent) to get access to it. Search Google for IP address to Decimal converter. On any of the results obtained, enter the IP Address (obtained using the method mentioned above) of the banned website to get the decimal equivalent of its IP address. Enter that into your browser's address bar and see if the blocked website opens. Do note that some websites will not reply to IP address based calls.
15. Change HTTP to HTTPS: If the blocking software is blocking websites on the basis of URLs and is not blocking the secured channels, then this method will come in handy. Just replace http://tweakandtrick.com with https://tweakandtrick.com to unblock the website of your choice (where tweakandtrick.com is the address of the blocked website).
Which websites are most commonly blocked?
How to Access Blocked Websites at School, Work or Anywhere
There are many genuine reasons for which you might want to visit blocked websites at your school, home or office. Given below are the ways you can use to regain access to the blocked website you wish to visit.1. TOR: TOR or The Onion Router is a free software that protects the privacy and security of its users by channeling data through multiple nodes to prevent the original data from being unscrambled. Although browsing through TOR is a bit slow, it is one of the most effective ways of bypassing website restrictions and protecting your privacy.
2. Web Proxy websites: There are many proxy websites (anonymizers) which open blocked websites on their servers and present the data to you. This hides the address of the website you are trying to visit from the blocking software as well as your internet service provider. A simple web search with the keywords "free web proxy" will provide you with enough choices for accessing most blocked websites.
3. VPN software: VPN or Virtual Private Network can be described as a tunnel under the public network that offers more anonymity than proxy websites as it also encrypts the data transferred by the blocked website. Although most VPN software are available as paid software only, several free VPNs are available online. A simple Google search with the search terms "Free VPN" is likely to return a lot of useful results. You can also try Opera, a browser with inbuilt free VPN, for accessing blocked websites on Android and desktop computers.
4. IP hiding software: Sometimes, websites block users on a particular IP address from visiting them. In such cases and otherwise, free IP hiding software like UltraSurf can be used to visit blocked websites. While free software offer very less features as compared to paid ones, they are still effective for overcoming most common blocks.
5. Cache method: Most search engines maintain a cache of web pages indexed by them. You can search for a blocked website on Google, Yahoo!, Bing or any other search engine that maintains a viewable cache of the indexed pages and click on the cached link that is given next to the result. To load the web pages more quickly, you can visit the text-only version (if the search engine of your choice provides this option). Since the website is provided from the search engine's servers, this method can be used to overcome IP address and URL based filtering.
6. Internet Archive (Wayback Machine): Internet Archive is a non-profit organization which stores websites in an archive form using which you can see how a website looked at a specific time in the past. This is similar to a saved copy of the website on your local hard drive. Just visit Wayback Machine and enter the address of the web site you wish to visit to see if a cached copy of it is available. Internet Archive can also be used to access websites that are suspended or facing outages.
7. Opera Mini Simulator: Opera Mini, the mobile browser for users with a slow internet connection, can be installed on your computer. You can use this PC version to visit blocked websites as Opera Mini accesses content from intermediate Opera's servers instead of accessing it directly from the servers on which the website is hosted. Most websites will load through this method but the quality of the results obtained may not be that good for JavaScript heavy websites.
8. Access blocked websites with Google Translate or Bing Translator. You can use translation services to visit blocked websites. To do so, enter a language different from the website's language in the 'From' field and English in the "To" field. You can also use this method to bypass software that block websites on the basis of specific keyword mentions. Just translate the URL you wish to visit to a different language to overcome the keyword block.
9. Create a 2 layered unblocker: Go to Google Translate or Bing Translator, open any proxy website in it using the method above and then use that proxy website to access your blocked website. In this way, you can achieve two layered website unblocking.
10. Use RSS Readers for accessing restricted blogs: All blogs syndicate their content via RSS feeds which you can subscribe to in RSS readers to access blocked content. A simple Google search with the search terms "Free RSS Readers" is likely to return a lot of RSS readers that you can try to access blocked blogs. For example, the RSS feed of this blog is located at http://feeds.tweakandtrick.com/tweakandtrick and can be subscribed to in any RSS reader.
11. Change DNS servers: A common way of blocking websites is preventing DNS servers from giving the location of the blocked website's servers. In such a scenario, changing your DNS servers to those of OpenDNS or Google DNS will be your best option to get over the block. As an additional advantage, this can also increase your internet speed.
12. Edit your host files: Some malware and blocking software edit your host files and add a website's address in them to prevent you from visiting it. In such a scenario, you can edit your host file with Notepad by visiting “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc” if C is your system drive. In Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8(.1), Windows 7, a warning from UAC might be displayed.
13. To access a blocked website, you can try entering its IP address instead of the URL in your browser's address bar (in the format http://IPAddress). This can bypass most basic forms of website blocks. However, if the blocking software maps the IP address to the website domain, the website will still remain blocked. Additionally, some websites will not reply to IP address based calls due to shared hosting and other safety reasons. You can still try entering the IP address of the blocked website in your browser to see if it gets unblocked. To get the IP address of the website, ping the website domain name in the Command Prompt in Windows (Terminal in other operating systems) and note its IP address. Example: Execute ping www.tweakandtrick.com in the Command Prompt to ping www.tweakandtrick.com and get its IP address.
14. Use IP Address to Decimal conversion: If you cannot access your blocked website by entering its IP address, you can enter the decimal equivalent of the URL's IP address in your browser's address bar (in the format http://DecimalEquivalent) to get access to it. Search Google for IP address to Decimal converter. On any of the results obtained, enter the IP Address (obtained using the method mentioned above) of the banned website to get the decimal equivalent of its IP address. Enter that into your browser's address bar and see if the blocked website opens. Do note that some websites will not reply to IP address based calls.
15. Change HTTP to HTTPS: If the blocking software is blocking websites on the basis of URLs and is not blocking the secured channels, then this method will come in handy. Just replace http://tweakandtrick.com with https://tweakandtrick.com to unblock the website of your choice (where tweakandtrick.com is the address of the blocked website).