HomeHow ToHow To Access Blocked Websites & Bypass/Unblock Them

How To Access Blocked Websites & Bypass/Unblock Them

As we know that now most of the Internet Service Providers (ISP) are blocking some websites. In colleges and universities, social networking websites and other websites are blocked. They use a firewall like Cyberoam etc.

Some of the firewalls are blocking websites using their DNS Servers while some uses IP Based Blocking. Other advanced firewalls can detect the keywords in the URL and content and block dynamically according to the rule.

So to access blocked websites we can use many methods which are given below.

Various Methods to Access Blocked Websites & Unblock Them

1. Using Google Cache

Thepiratebay Google Cache

You might be knowing that Search Engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, etc. crawls websites regularly and stores its cached copy. You can use this cache to view & access blocked websites so here is how to do that. For example, wikipedia.org is blocked by your ISP then follow the steps given below:

Note: This method is not applicable if you are seeking to open Facebook, Twitter, etc. sites which need login credentials.

  1. Open Google.
  2. Paste URL that you want to open and click search.
  3. Click on the downward arrow given near URL in the search result and click cached.
  4. Hurrah! A cached version of the desired version is on your screen.

2. Using Proxy

There are many online proxy services available on the web to access blocked websites like SafeIP, HideMyAss, etc. You have to just open that proxy site and just paste the URL that you wanted to open & select a proxy location, and there you go.

Proxy

3. Using Tor Browser

Tor Browser

According to Wikipedia:

“Tor is free software for enabling online anonymity and resisting censorship. It is designed to make it possible for users to surf the Internet anonymously ( access blocked websites ), so their activities and location cannot be discovered by government agencies, corporations, or anyone else.”

Follow the instruction given below to set up and configure Tor Browser on your computer:

  1. Download Tor Browser.
  2. Install it like normal software.
  3. When you open it the first time, it will ask some questions related to your ISP and network. (This will ensure the connectivity to Tor Network)

4. Using Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Before proceeding further let’s have a quick view on what is VPN (Virtual Private Network)


Protect Your Online Privacy With Surfshark
[The VPN that we use here at Tech Arrival]


According to Webopedia:

“VPN is a network that is constructed by using public wires — usually the Internet — to connect to a private network, such as a company’s internal network. These systems use encryption and other security mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access the network and that the data cannot be intercepted.”

The new definition of VPN: It can also be used to access blocked websites. ;)

We are sure that you already have heard about Hotspot Shield. It uses VPN to access blocked websites. As we know that high-quality VPN software is highly priced, but there is also free VPN software available on the market. Some of them are NordVPN, Hotspot Shield, HideMyAss, etc.

Note for Cyberoam Users

– Before changing your IP address from VPN software, first, log in to the Cyberoam and then change IP.

– Recently we have tested Hotspot Shield to bypass Cyberoam and to access blocked websites. Unfortunately, it is not working. Check out other VPN software.

How to create VPN connection in Windows

  1. Open Control Panel -> Network and the Internet -> Network and Sharing Center.
  2. Click “Set up a new connection or network”.
  3. Select “Connect to a workplace” and click next.
  4. Now, choose “No, create a new connection”.
  5. Select “Use my internet connection”.
  6. Type Internet Address. (How to obtain Internet Address is given below)
  7. Type desired Destination Name.
  8. Select Remember my credentials & Allow other people to use this connection and then click Next.
  9. Now enter Username & Password for dialing up VPN Connection. (How to obtain Username & Password is given below)
  10. Now enjoy new VPN Connection.

How to obtain Internet/Server address with Username & Password

  1. There are many Free & most anonymous VPN are available like WebsiteVPN, VPNonline, SurfEasy, VPNbook, MyBestVPN, etc.
  2. Open any free VPN provider website.
  3. There you can easily find Server Address, Username & Password.

Note: If you have to log in to the portal to use the internet and it automatically logs you out after some time like Cyberoam. Then you can only use VPN until it logs you out. And since you are connected to VPN you cannot sign back in. To fix this problem, you need to bypass VPN connection for that URL or IP where you have to log in. For that follow the steps given below:

  1. Note down the URL or IP address of your Internet Login Portal and Gateway IP address. (You can find Gateway IP by going into details of connection from network and sharing center)
  2. Open Command Prompt (CMD) as Administrator.
  3. Type this command route add “URL or IP address” “Gateway IP” and hit enter. For example : URL/IP address : 172.16.16.1 & Gateway IP : 10.208.1.1. So you have to type route add 172.16.16.1 10.208.1.1.
  4. Now login to Internet portal and then connect to VPN connection.

5. By Changing DNS Servers

Most of the times ISP uses DNS method to block access to certain websites. However, most of the people don’t know about this. You can simply use external DNS servers to bypass the block. You can use any DNS servers like Google, OpenDNS or any other. Here is how you can do so:

Google DNS Servers are 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4.

Change DNS on Windows Computers:

Windows Network Adapter Ipv4 Settings
  1. Open Network and Sharing Center.
  2. Click on the Network Adapter that you are connected to.
  3. Go to Property settings and select Internet Protocol Version 4(IPv4).
  4. Now in Use the following DNS server addresses and enter the DNS servers and hit enter.
    1.1.1.1
    1.0.0.1

Change DNS on Android Smartphones:

Pepe Dns Changer
  1. If you are connected to a WiFi then there is a traditional method to change the DNS server like that of windows. But here we are going to use a method that is not very well known.
  2. This will work on both mobile data as well as WiFi. Download Pepe DNS Changer from Play Store.
  3. Open the app, select the DNS servers that you are going to use and hit activate.
  4. It will ask you for VPN permissions grant it. This will create a loopback VPN with specified DNS servers and you are now ready to go.

6. Using IP Address

Hostnames or domain names may also be used to block the websites by certain ISPs. But most of the times these websites can be directly accessed using their IP address. Here is how to do so:


Protect Your Online Privacy With Surfshark
[The VPN that we use here at Tech Arrival]


1. Open cmd on your windows computer or terminal on your Linux computer.
2. Type “ping techrrival.com”. (Use website URL instead of techrrival.com and don’t specify any protocol like HTTP or https)

Cmd Ping

3. You will get an output like this.
4. Note down the IP address and use it directly in your browser to access the website.

Important Note: Due to security reasons many of the websites block direct access through IP address. However, you can try your luck!

7. Using Secure Connection (HTTPS)

Ssl Tech Arrival

While conducting a little hunch on the internet, we found out that the website that was blocked by the ISP can be accessed by using https. This method may not work on your ISP but believe us it works in many cases.

You will just have to change http://yourwebsite.com to https://yourwebsite.com. This is that easy. If this works for you let us know about your experience as well as your ISP.

8. Wayback Machine – Internet Archive

Wayback Machine

Have you ever wondered how a website looked like a couple of years ago? If yes then you can find out using the service called Wayback machine. It fetches and stores websites on their archive so that later they can be viewed.

However, you can’t find the latest content there but you can find the latest copy of the website on the Wayback machine and probably just try it out. Here is a step by step guide:

  1. Go to http://web.archive.org.
  2. Type in the website name and hit enter.
  3. You will see a calendar like structure. Click on the latest highlighted date and the website will open.

Let us know if this works fine for you.

9. RSS Feed

If you are a regular reader of a website that has been blocked by your ISP then probably this is the best method for you. Most of the websites that publish articles on the internet have their RSS feed.

Generally, these feeds are crawled by many RSS readers on a regular basis. You can use these RSS reader services to read your favorite website. As we mentioned in our previous article on best android apps for geeks, Feedly is the best choice among the RSS Readers.

10. Google Chrome Extensions

If you are a fan of the Google Chrome browser, then there is good news for you. There are several extensions of VPN, Proxies and other bypassing extensions are available which will let you surf any blocked website on the internet using Google Chrome. Some of the major extensions that you should know about are Hola, ProxMate, etc.


Protect Your Online Privacy With Surfshark
[The VPN that we use here at Tech Arrival]


11. Opera Browser

You might be wondering that what the heck Opera browser can do that other browser can’t?

And the answer is the inbuilt VPN. Opera browser provides inbuilt VPN service for various locations for free and they are amazingly fast. You just have to follow these simple steps:

  1. Download and Install Opera Browser.
  2. Open up the Opera and go to settings from the Menu option or just press Alt + P.
  3. Go to Privacy & Security Tab and Tick Enable VPN. You will see a little text VPN on the address bar. From there you can select the locations as well as enable or disable the VPN.

12. Google Translate

You will be amazed to see what a Google Translate can do or at least how we are going to use it. :P

  1. Go to translate.google.com.
  2. Type in the URL that you want to visit.
  3. Click on the link on the second column i.e. translated area.
  4. You are good to go.

Have we missed something, do notify us by commenting below.

Thank you for reading this post and keep connected to Tech Arrival to continue enjoying excellent posts. Share your views on this post in the comment section below. If you are still having any query throw it in the comment section.

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