One of the best ways to focus on work is to ignore websites that will waste your time. To be honest, it is very difficult to ignore or not open social media sites because our friends, favorite personalities, pages, or profiles share stuff on them. We are interested to know what is happening around us, in our country or in the world. Although knowing things is good, it doesn’t help us in any way. For example, if something has happened somewhere, you will be helpless as you’re situated far away. Why waste time on social media sites or reading things that don’t help us? Blocking website is possible with or without a software. In the first case, you will have to make some changes to the Windows/Linux hosts file. The 2nd method i.e. using a software is a better option.
Cold Turkey, one of the most popular website blocking software, will by default block a domain or subdomain for the full day unless you turn off the extension or buy the software’s activation key and activate the Pro edition of the application and configure its schedule feature. As Cold Turkey free edition doesn’t support schedules, I started looking for its alternatives. After trying out several free site blockers, I decided to keep LeechBlock and removed others. Why did I keep this extension? I have shared the reason in the following paragraphs:
LeechBlock has around 60k users, according to the Chrome and Edge webstore. To block a website with this extension, you must configure its options. The settings page/section may appear confusing when you look at it for the first time, but it is very easy understand. The page boasts 6 “Block sets”. The sets are numbered 1 to 6. Each set can have as many domains or sub domains as you want. The extension allows users to name a block set. If you name a blockset, LeechBlock will replace the tab name with the one you specify.
Here are the features of LeechBlock that made me use it:
Wild card match: You may want to block the subdomain as well as domain without entering the two in the Block Set.
Time based blocking: Cold Turkey’s most important feature according to me is the schedule-based blocker which will make the extension/software prevent access to websites of your choice between two timeframes. For instance, you can make LeechBlock allow access to web portals after work hours i.e. from 9 AM to 5 PM. This feature works like a charm for each website you’ve added to the blacklist.
In addition to custom time, the extension can filter a site for X number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks. You have to enter the value of X.
Blocking website on certain days: LeechBlock can prevent you from opening websites not only between certain timeframes but also on specific days. The extension flaunts the names of the days next to the checkboxes. You must choose the checkbox (day) on which you don’t want to open a certain site.
Notice page: When you open a site which is in the blacklist, LeechBlock will display a page which ships with the extension. You can configure it to show a custom page or even a blank page.
Filters: Instead of showing a notice page, the extension can apply one of these filters to the entire tab instantly – blur, sepia, grayscale and invert. You must ignore the filters option because it won’t prohibit you from visiting Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Password: Disabling the extension is one of the ways to remove restrictions enforced by it. Another way to do so is by setting a password. When you set a password, LeechBlock will let you access the website after you enter the correct password.
Options access: Someone may modify the settings of LeechBlock when they’re using the browser. There’s an option to prevent this.
Countdown timer: The extension can let users visit a website for a certain duration. To keep users up to date with the time, it can display a countdown timer. LB supports three countdown timer sizes – small, medium, extra-large, and large. It also supports these four timer positions – top left/right, bottom left/right.
What didn’t I like about this product? You can disable the extension easily. Once you do so, no one will stop you from wasting time on social media portals.
Why according to the title of this page LeechBlock is better than its counterparts? The reason why LeechBlock is better than Cold Turkey and other website blockers is that it is completely free product. You can use the scheduling feature of the extension for free and even set a password.
