The hosts file, family safety, DNS settings and browser policies for a clean Windows setup.
Windows resolves every web address through a local map called the hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts). Point domains at 0.0.0.0 in that file and they die before any browser can load them. Generate your block list with our hosts generator, open the file as administrator, paste, save.
For a supervised account, Family Safety (Settings → Accounts → Family) applies web filtering, app restrictions and time limits across the machine, and changes require the family-organizer account. It's the Windows-native answer to 'how do I keep this filtered without babysitting'.
Set your network adapter or router to a filtered DNS (Cloudflare 1.1.1.3, OpenDNS FamilyShield). Unlike the hosts file, DNS filtering also covers devices you haven't touched — phones, consoles, guests. Hosts file for precision, DNS for coverage.
Chrome and Edge honor system DNS and hosts. The gap: VPNs and some privacy browsers route around both — if that's a risk in your situation, the honest answer is accountability software (see our blocker comparison guide), which trades some privacy for verification.