Are you trying to connect to a website but can’t see anything? Maybe it is a blog or a web page that you have already visited several times in the past, but which now seems to have disappeared into thin air? The site in question has most likely been blocked by your internet provider or system administrator.
Many sites are often blocked by their Internet provider, because they publish illegal or copyrighted material, a classic example is that of pirated streaming sites. Even completely legal websites can be blocked, such as social networks, this often happens when you connect to the internet from the local school or office network. In the latter case, it is not the internet provider who obscures the site in question, but the system administrator.
In both cases it is possible to get around the block, just know all the steps to be taken. These are not complicated procedures that can only be performed by experts in the sector, but very simple operations within everyone’s reach. In the next paragraphs of this article, I’ll explain everything in detail, showing step by step all the procedures to be carried out.
How to access blocked sites
As written at the beginning, websites can be blocked by your internet provider or in the case of a local network, by the system administrator. The two cases require different procedures, but still both very simple.
See the sites blocked by the provider
In most cases, to access websites blocked by your internet provider , you just need to change the DNS servers .
If you don’t know what DNS servers are, just know that they are protocols that allow you to associate a web address with an IP address. In even simpler words, they allow you to “translate” the real address of a specific website into a domain name, in this way, to access a Web page you will not have to type a long numeric string, but only the domain name.
There are many DNS servers available, generally the most used are those of Cloudflare, Google’s DNS or OpenDNS. To access a blocked website, I suggest you use Google DNS or OpenDNS.
Google DNS
- Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8
- Secondary DNS: 8.8.4.4
OpenDNS
- Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222
- Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220
Change DNS on Windows
To change the DNS on Windows , the procedure to be performed is as follows:
- Access the Windows Settings, to do so: click on the Start button, then click on the “Settings” icon , the gear-shaped one in the Start menu. Alternatively, press WIN + X from the keyboard , then click on “Settings” ;
- Click on “Network and Internet” ;
- From the left sidebar, select the “Ethernet” item ;
- Click on the item “Change card options” ;
- Right-click on the “Ethernet” icon , if you use a wireless network, click on “Wi-Fi” , then click on the “Properties” item ;
- Select the item “Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” ;
- Click on the “Properties” button ;
- Select the item “Use the following DNS server addresses” ;
- Type the above addresses in the “Preferred DNS server” and “Alternative DNS server” fields ;
- Click on “OK” , click on “OK” again.
Change DNS on macOS
If you are using a Mac, the procedure to follow to change the DNS servers on macOS is as follows:
- Click the Apple icon at the top left;
- Select the item “System Preferences” ;
- Click on “Network” ;
- From the left sidebar, select Ethernet or Wi-Fi;
- Click on the “Advanced” button ;
- Select the “DNS” tab;
- Click the “+” button , type the primary DNS server address, then press ENTER . Subsequently, click again on “+” , type the address of the secondary DNS server and press ENTER ;
- Click “Apply.”
Access sites blocked by the system administrator
If you are using a local network and some sites have been blocked by the system administrator. You can get around the block by using a web proxy .
In very simple terms, the proxy server intervenes in the normal communication flow between the clients (your PC) and the website servers. In this way the direct connection between the client and the destination server is eliminated, thus bypassing the blocks imposed by the local network.
There are tons of online services that offer great Proxy servers, many of which are completely free and easy to use. In most cases, in fact, you just need to connect to the Proxy server page and type in the form on the main page, the address of the blocked website.
The free Proxy servers that I recommend you try are the following:
- KProxy : allows you to choose between ten different servers. The service is completely free. All servers are quite fast and stable.
- Hide.me : the best known and most used online Proxy server. Very easy to use and always very stable.
- FilterBypass : This service is also completely free and easy to use. FilterBypass, in addition to giving you easy access to any blocked web page, allows you with a simple click to quickly access YouTube, Facebook, Twitter Dailymotion and see the content blocked in your country.
