Website Blocker

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A Rust-based application with a user interface for Windows that allows users to block specific websites.

Features

• Add websites to a block list
• Remove websites from the block list
• Toggle blocking on and off
• Set timed blocks for websites
• Persistent storage of blocked sites
• Automatic blocking of common domain variants (www, m, app)
• Hosts file backup before modifications

Technical Details

• Language: Rust
• UI Library: Iced
• Blocking Mechanism: Modifies the Windows hosts file
• File Path: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Dependencies

• iced = "0.10"
• serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
• serde_json = "1.0"
• url = "2.4"
• chrono = "0.4.39"

Usage

1. Run the application with administrator privileges
2. Enter a website URL in the input field
3. Optionally, specify a block duration (e.g., 1s, 1m, 1h, 1d)
4. Click "Add Website" to block the site
5. Use the "Enable Blocking" / "Disable Blocking" button to toggle the blocker

Installation

1. Ensure you have Rust installed on your system
2. Clone this repository
3. Run cargo build --release in the project directory
4. The executable will be available in target/release/webblocker.exe
5. If you don't have Rust installed or prefer not to install it, a release build is included in the repository.

Notes

• The application requires administrator privileges to modify the hosts file
• A backup of the hosts file is created before any modifications
• Blocked websites are saved to a JSON file for persistence across app restarts
• it is advised to first select disble blocking then removing the sites.
• hence user is advised to resart the app once for unblocking to take affect

Installing Rust

To install Rust, follow these steps:

1. Install Rust using rustup

Rust uses rustup for installation and version management. Run the following command in your terminal:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

HOW TO USE

• run the .exe file as adminsitrator
• it should look something like this.

• follow the steps in order RED YELLOW GREEN

  

• should look something like this

• CHECK!! , if does not work , close and restart your browser and/or perform the following code on terminal (admin)

  ipconfig /flushdns

• TO DELETE

• follow the steps in order RED YELLOW GREEN

• IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO CLOSE AND RESTART THE SCRIPT IN ORDER FOR UNBLOCKING TO TAKE AFFECT !!!

• • CHECK!! , if does not work , close and restart your browser and/or perform the following code on terminal (admin)

  ipconfig /flushdns