Question

Maybe its something to do with getting old, but I keep getting distracted by things on the internet and finding hours have gone by and no work gets done. But I do positively need access to certain sites for my work, and sometimes I have free time and am happy to allow myself to look at stuff for hours. I have considered editing/re-editing the "hosts" file to temporarily block certain time-killing sites (news/etc) but it seems very clumsy - and you can only block entire domains and not specific things within those domains. So for example I'd like to block "www.google.com/reader" but not block "www.google.com".

Any suggestions? Is there some software that would help me out?

Answer 1

LeechBlock, for Firefox, allows you to set up time-limited, or simply block, blocking filters.

Answer 2

Sometimes I have the same problem, too many distractions. I am not sure a software will help us.

Maybe a book like "Find Your Focus Zone: An Effective New Plan to Defeat Distraction and Overload"

A Review Summary

"With technology exploding, the single biggest productivity challenge workers face is the ability to focus on a single task long enough to see it through to completion. Find Your Focus Zone is a seminal work in the science of attention and a must-read for every distracted professional. Focus is power."

-- Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, "The Productivity Pro®," author of Leave the Office Earlier and Find More Time

Answer 3

You should be able to block subdirectories on domains with the HOSTS file, I use it to block ads..

ex:

127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com

-or-

127.0.0.1 content.yieldmanager.edgesuite.net/atoms/

Just disclude the ht*tp://w*ww. in your entry.

I use Windows XP SP2.

For more info: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hostsfaq.htm

Answer 4

Trusty old Proxomitron is still one of the finest and most efficient web filters available.

It just works reliable for any web browser.

You can download a recently updated configuration file here.