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Cannot unblock site using admin tool
Hi, I blocked some sites using the security/block sites feature in the admin tool however the sites remain blocked after I removed them from the keyword list. I was able to do this in the past. I ...
Can you compare several web browsers?
This is Part 1 of a two part post:
I just did an experiment with Windows 11 Pro. Set up "ford" as a keyword to block and set to block "Always".
Opened Edge browser and entered:
Notice the "http" which forces the browser to look for an unencrypted connection:
The result is this:
Opened a new tab and entered this:
Notice the "https". This time, the Ford.com web site opened as expected.
So, let's try Opera:
The result is this:
now try encrypted:
Ford.com web site opens.
Let's try Chrome:
Oh, my. Chrome appears to switch to "https" when "http" fails to produce a connection. Helpful, but renders my site blocking attempt totally useless.
Firefox?
Oh, dear. Firefox also opens the encrypted web site.
This is the reason I concluded that Block Sites is essentially useful as a means of controlling what users can and cannot access. (There are other reasons as well.)
Part 2.
As another experiment, I entered a keyword for a web site that does not exist, sexykitten.
What happens with these four web browsers when I attempt to connect to the http (unencrypted) version of this non-existent web site?
Edge:
Opera:
Chrome:
Firefox:
Notice that all four web browsers returned a DNS lookup error. None of them remarked that the Orbi Firewall had clocked connection to this URL.
My conclusion is that the Orbi Block Sites mechanism only reports that the Firewall has blocked access to the web connection when the DNS lookup is successful. Personally, if I had been programming this, my choice would be to deny the DNS lookup up front and never attempt to make a connection at all.
(for me) this moves the investigation from Orbi Block Sites to "How do we establish that this web address is real?"