My friend contacted me with a problem – her employees were using the Tor browser to visit some objectionable websites. Not only this used up the network bandwidth, but they also wasted their time on such site instead of being productive. She asked me what could be done. I came up with a simple solution – blocking the Tor related applications from being run. This can be done easily using a freeware application called Process Blocker. The Process Blocker software monitors your system for specific programs and blocks them from being run even when you rename them or change their file path. You can set it to look for a specific application based on file path or the application CRC checksum.
You can download Process Blocker from its dedicated website. The download is a setup installer available for both 32-bit as well as 64-bit Windows systems. After the installation, it would require you to restart Windows before you can start blocking applications. After Windows is restarted, you can launch the Process Blocker configuration utility from the Start Menu shortcut or you can search using Windows Charm.
In the configuration utility, you can add as many applications to be blocked as you want. Just click on the Add button and browse for an application on your computer. You can use wildcards and environment variables in the application path. It will automatically calculate application’s CRC value. If you select the option Block other applications with identical CRC then it checks the CRC checksum to block applications. This way you can block programs even if they have been renamed or moved to a different folder.
Now when you try to run a blocked application, the application does not run and Windows shows a message that the specified application was not found on the system. A notification message is also shown in the system tray area telling you about the application that was blocked. To be more surreptitious, you can turn off displaying of this message in the Process Blocker settings.
Process Blocker is a handy tool to block unwanted programs from being run on your system. You can use it to block the games that your kids play all day long or you can use it to block browsers, proxy tools (like Tor) and chatting clients that your employees use at work to waste their time. Either way, it can help you become more productive both at home and work.
You can download Process Blocker from http://www.processblocker.com/.