[ramblerman]

- on linux/osx its /etc/hosts

- on windows its c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

If you add a line in it like

     0.0.0.0 reddit.com www.reddit.com

You tell the computer to use 0.0.0.0 (your own address) for those domains, and they subsequently won't load.

[fulafel]

0.0.0.0 is the "any" address. Binding to it means you want to receive connections from all interfaces, sending datagrams to it means you want to broadcast to all hosts, and so on.

[TeMPOraL]

Note for Windows users: hosts file requires admin privileges to edit. So launch e.g. notepad as admin (launching as admin should be available if you right-click on the notepad icon), and go find the file. Also remember that you need to switch the dropdown to "All files (.)" in the Open File dialog.

[QuasiAlon]

Thank you very much for your reply. I magic barred it on my mac and couldn't find it. A little more help? Know the direct path? Is it global or per browser? Thanks again.

[seba_dos1]

Those are the direct paths and it's system global.

BTW. 0.0.0.0 is not "your own IP", that would be 127.0.0.1. 0.0.0.0 is non-routable, so always resulting in error.

[QuasiAlon]

Strange. Neither sportlight or alfred can find it. (and alfred does search though system files)

[philipps]

The file name is just “hosts” and it’s located in a folder called “etc” - maybe that helps? I think there is also a macOS setting that hides certain system files. You may have to unhide it first.

[TeMPOraL]

Open terminal, type:

  cat /etc/hosts

if it outputs something that has to do with network, you know the file is there :). It might be that default user-facing tools on Mac don't look for system files?