How do I Control Internet access with BrowseControl

How do I Control Internet access with BrowseControl

With BrowseControl website access permissions can be customized for your network based on the user or machine used to access the website, giving you a flexible solution for blocking websites across your network.

You will first need to install the CurrentWare Console on the device you would like to use as the managing computer. This will act as the centralized console for implementing your Internet access restriction policies with BrowseControl. This will typically be the server or an IT admin’s computer.

Install BrowseControl

1. Install the CurrentWare Console on the manager’s computer

  1. Launch the CurrentWare Console setup file (CurrentWare.exe)
  2. Select “CurrentWareConsole” and click “Next”
  3. Select BrowseControl and Category Filtering solutions
  4. The Installer will proceed to install the CurrentWare Server, Console, and BrowseControl onto the manager’s computer.

2. Install the CurrentWare Client on the computers you would like to control

  1. Take the CurrentWare Client setup file (cwClientSetup.exe) and launch it on the computers that you would like to block websites on.
  2. The installer will ask you for the name of the computer that the CurrentWare console is installed on from step 1. Advanced users can also use the IP address of their CurrentWare Server.
  3. After the CurrentWare Client installation is complete, it will connect to your CurrentWare Console (the manager’s computer from step 1) automatically.
  4. Repeat this process on all the computers you would like to control with the BrowseControl software.

Now that you have the CurrentWare Console installed on the managing computer and the CurrentWare Client software installed on the machine(s) you would like to control, we will show you a few ways to block websites.

With BrowseControl’s web filtering tools you can manage the internet access of computers/users using a combination of methods, allowing and blocking specific websites or categories of websites to suit your unique internet filtering needs.

How to block a list of websites (also known as a “blacklisting”)

  • This method is best used when you would like to allow access to the majority of the internet with a small list of known exceptions
  • This method can also be used to customize your BrowseControl strategy alongside the category filtering method by blocking additional websites not included in your chosen categories

Instructions:

  1. Open BrowseControl from the left-hand menu.
  2. Click a folder from the Groups list.
  3. Set Internet  to “On” if it is not already on
  4. Go to the URL Filter 
  5. Add the URL (www.NameOfWebsiteToBlock.com) of the specific website you would like to block for the chosen computer(s) and/or user(s)

How to block websites by categories

  • This method is best used to block a large number of websites based on defined categories that are not suitable for your organization such as Social Media, Adult, or Games

Instructions:

  1. Open BrowseControl from the left-hand menu.
  2. Click a folder from the Groups list.
  3. Set Internet  to “On” if it is not already on
  4. Click Category Filter  in BrowseControl.
  5. Block the Categories that you do not want your employees to have access to.

How to allow a list of authorized websites (also known as a “whitelisting”)

  • This method is best used when the internet access of a given user/computer needs to be strictly regulated to a list of approved websites
  • This method can also be used to customize your BrowseControl strategy alongside the category filtering method by allowing access to specific websites that would normally be blocked in one of the categories selected in the Internet Category Filtering feature

Instructions:

  1. Open BrowseControl from the left-hand menu.
  2. Under the Groups menu, choose the group you want to restrict, click on Internet and select OFF. This will disable their Internet access completely.
  3. Click on the URL Filter to modify your Allowed list.
  4. Enter the URLs that you want to allow in the text box in the window. Click on the Add button.
  5. Click the “Allowed List” tab on the right pane.
  6. Select all the URLs you wish to make available to the Client computers,
  7. Click on the arrow button to move the entries to the Allowed List on the right pane.
  8. Click Apply to Clients.
  9. Once enforced, your end users will only have access to the websites on the Allowed List.


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