UPDATE: We now have a program that will automate this entire process, so nothing goes wrong. We've also added multi-language page blocking and Chrome support, so there really is no way to get onto Facebook, Facebook games, or even the Facebook blog. Get the Facebook Blocker Program here.

So the day has come where your child has grown up enough to realize what Facebook is. Your heart starts beating a bit faster, and you feel a tiny sweat forming on the palms of your hands. You knew this would come up sooner or later. But why so soon? You can't help but think "Does my child really need to be on Facebook?"

Take a deep breath, count to ten, and relax - you can do something about it!

The first approach is easy, but you need to make sure you have administrative access to the computer. With said credentials in mind, try the following:

• Open the hosts file using Notepad or other plain text editor. (This is located at C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7)
• Copy the following:
  # block facebook
  127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com
  127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
  127.0.0.1 blog.facebook.com
  127.0.0.1 apps.facebook.com
• Paste it into the Hosts file after 127.0.0.1 localhost
• Save and close the Hosts file. (On older versions of Windows, you may have to restart your computer)
• Try to open Facebook in a browser.

If you have Google Chrome on your computer, you might need to take another step. Website Blocker (Beta) allows you to block any website you want to in Google Chrome.

Features:

• Block the URL including the specified character string.
• Block only between the specified time.
• You can change the warning message.
• You can switch ON/OFF of each function.

You can get it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/website-blocker-beta/hclgegipa...

Please keep in mind, these are not substitutions for paid parental control programs. These are just some simple methods - for free - that might help.

UPDATE: We've revisited this topic, since it's such a hot topic. See our updated blog post on this: I need to block Facebook - Revisited