Question

Hello,

I am trying to use web filters to whitelist a website. For my example, I would like to only whitelist www.google.com. I want all other sites to be blocked. Using the router web pages, I navigate to Services -> Web Filter, I enable Site blocking, set the mode to Whitelist, and add a rule for www.google.com and enable it. Below is a screenshot of my configuration. I save, then reboot the router using System -> Reboot.

After the router is back online, I confirm that my latpop Wifi is turned off. When I navigate to any website, I still have full access. I am only expecting www.google.com to be accessible, but that's not the case. Putting my browser into private mode or clearing the browser cache doesn't help either.

What am I missing?

Thanks,

Tony

p.s.: RUT240 is on FW ver.: RUT2XX_R_00.01.12

Answer 1

Hello,

Just checked the functionality - everything should be working as expected.

Since "web filter" functionality only blocks DNS requests passing through the router and not actual connection attempts, try to clear computer's DNS cache so that computer would have to resolve hostname through the router again after "web filter" functionality is enabled. That can be done by opening "Command prompt window" and using "ipconfig /flushdns" command. Of course, afterwards continue to use private/incognito web browser's window.

Another option would be to try to access different websites, which previously was not opened on this computer.

Comments

Hello,

Thank you for the prompt response. This is to confirm that flushing DNS on the machine solved the issue indeed, and web filter is behaving as expected.

Thanks,

Tony

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Does this suggest that if a users device has previously accessed a site through other connections, there is in fact no way to block that site when accessing through the router? Our situation is a public access hotspot with 2 whitelisted sites. It sounds like the whitelist will not be effective in this use case.