Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the LeechBlock extension.
Check out the examples page.
Please direct bug reports to: [enable JavaScript for address]
If your version of LeechBlock is 0.5.1 or newer, you can recover your password from Firefox's own password manager:
If your version of LeechBlock is 0.5 or older, you can recover your password as follows:
Yes, by appending a path to the domain name of the site.
For example, you could enter google.com/reader to block all Google Reader pages while allowing all other Google pages.
Yes. The wildcard character (*) can be used match any number of characters except forward-slashes (e.g., *.com will block all dot-com sites and * on its own will block all sites).
If you want to match any number of characters including forward-slashes, use two wildcard characters (**).
Yes. The exceptions prefix (+) can be used to specify sites to allow rather than block (e.g., *.com +www.somesite.com will block all dot-com sites except www.somesite.com).
LeechBlock won't recognize a time period like 2100-0600 because it expects the time period to be within one calendar day. Bear in mind that there is no obviously correct interpretation of a time period like 2100-0600 when only some days of the are selected for blocking sites.
However, you can probably get the result you want by splitting up the time period like this: 0000-0600,2100-2400
The Load from URL field allows you to obtain the list of sites to block from a URL (e.g., a text file on a web server). The list will be loaded every time a new browser window is opened. This feature is useful if you have LeechBlock installed on multiple machines and want to avoid having to update the settings on each machine in turn whenever you need to change the list of the sites to block. (Note also that if you put $S in the URL it will be replaced with the number of the block set and $T will be replaced with a UTC timestamp in milliseconds. The latter can be useful for avoiding caching problems.) If you don't understand any of this then you almost certainly don't need it!
If in doubt, just leave the Load from URL field blank.
Since version 0.6, the countdown timer has been redesigned as a toolbar widget. To display it, follow these steps:
The options are disabled because you selected the option Prevent access to options for this block set at times when these sites are blocked and now those sites are blocked (hence the options are currently inaccessible). The purpose of this option is to allow users to prevent themselves from easily changing the settings once the sites have been blocked, but in a way that doesn't prevent access to all LeechBlock options.
If you really need to change the settings for the block set before the blocking period has ended, you can do so as follows:
If you can't access about:config then you need to swallow the red pill.
I occasionally get reports of this and I haven't been able to figure out what causes it. However, it's easy to fix the problem. Start Firefox in Safe Mode and uninstall the LeechBlock extension. Now restart Firefox normally and install the latest version of the extension. All your previous settings should be preserved.
To block all cached pages, add **search?q=cache to the list of sites to block. To block only cached pages from a particular site, e.g., www.somesite.com, add **search?q=cache*somesite.com to the list of sites to block.
There are several ways of doing this on Windows. (If anyone knows of any solutions for Linux or MacOS, please pass them on to me!)
On Windows, if you're not a member of the Administrators or Power Users groups then (by default) you shouldn't be able to change the system clock anyway. If you are able to change the clock, you could try one of these solutions:
Right-click on the Taskbar, select Properties, and uncheck the option Show the clock. Easy to undo, of course, but adds an extra layer of inconvenience.
You can restore the original permissions by re-editing the policy and adding the Administrators and Power Users groups back to the list.
Note that the Group Policy Editor is not included in the Home Edition of Windows XP, Vista, and 7, in which case you could try...
Go here for detailed instructions (scroll down to "Option Two").
I've never used Clock Guard and I can't vouch for it, but it may do the job for you.
Carefully follow these instructions to start over with LeechBlock:
Sorry, no. I simply don't have the time, inclination, or expertise to port LeechBlock to other browsers.
However, LeechBlock isn't a sophisticated piece of software by any stretch of the imagination, and it's open source, so my hope is that someone else will create versions of LeechBlock (or something even better) for other browsers.
Yes, here: http://www.phpbbplanet.com/thebuzz/viewforum.php?f=10
Note that this community support forum is not maintained or monitored by the developer.