Current Version: 0.4.1
LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool: an extension for the Firefox web browser designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. (You know: the ones that rhyme with 'Blue Cube', 'Pie Face', 'Space Hook', 'Hash Pot', 'Sticky Media', and the like.) All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.
You can specify up to six sets of sites to block, with different times and days for each set. You can block sites within fixed time periods (e.g., between 9am and 5pm), after a time limit (e.g., 10 minutes in every hour), or with a combination of time periods and time limit (e.g., 10 minutes in every hour between 9am and 5pm). With the 'lockdown' feature, you can block sites immediately for a specified duration. You can also set a password or random access code for LeechBlock's options, just to slow you down in moments of weakness!
The sites to block can be specified using wildcards (e.g., *.somesite.com) and exceptions (e.g., +allowme.somesite.com).
LeechBlock also keeps track of the total amount of time you have spent browsing the sites in each block set.
Here's how to get started with LeechBlock:
That's it! You're good to go.
Visit the examples page for some examples to illustrate the different settings or visit the FAQ page for answers to some frequently asked questions.
If you like this Firefox extension, please review it.
Note that the password feature is not intended for security purposes, but only to make it more difficult to bypass the blocking in haste — to delay you just long enough for your reason/conscience to wrest back control from your baser instincts! So a lengthy but memorable password will be most effective. Suggestion: try 'antidisestablishmentarianism'. It works for me! Alternatively, try one of the random access code options.
Important note #1: LeechBlock is not designed for parental control or for blocking offensive content. You are advised not to try to use it for these purposes.
Important note #2: Although LeechBlock prevents you from browsing sites (at the specified times) it may still allow your Firefox browser to briefly connect to those sites (so that, e.g., your IP address may still be logged by the blocked site). If you want to prevent any such connection, you should use some lower-level blocking method (e.g., install and configure a HOSTS file manager like HostsMan).
Note that the time spent on a site is calculated by summing the time that pages from the site have focus in the browser, rather than the time that those pages are loaded in the browser. Note also that the time spent on a page is only added to the total when that page loses focus and that pages are only blocked when they are first accessed. So the extension will not 'interrupt' your browsing by blocking a page that has already been loaded (e.g., the page was loaded before the start of a time period but that time period has been entered since the page was loaded). However, a block will be applied to any subsequently accessed pages on the same site or on other sites in the same block set. (There are both technical and practical reasons for this policy.)
You can direct queries and feedback to or to the MozillaZine Forums (but please review the examples page and the FAQ page before asking questions).
This project was inspired by Gina Trapani's Invisibility Cloak user script for the Greasemonkey extension.
I'm proud to say that LeechBlock was recently honoured by PC Magazine in their Top Ten Useless Firefox Extensions! (Note, however, that version 0.2 added options to disable the 'Disable' and 'Uninstall' buttons in the Extension Manager.)
A more flattering review of LeechBlock was given by PC World.