# blocking aol im

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blocking-aol-im/174276>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 10, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blocking-aol-im/174276 "2003-05-10T04:52:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blocking-aol-im/174276/21 "2003-05-11T22:54:53Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by dauerbach \*  
> \*\*OK, I think I know what to do now. My question is, how do I access my hosts file? How and where do I find it? \*\*

I’ve emailed you the hosts file you need. Just put that file in your windows directory on your C drive.

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**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blocking-aol-im/174276/22 "2003-05-11T23:09:30Z")

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BTW, AIM will sometimes freeze up when it can’t reach the server.

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**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blocking-aol-im/174276/23 "2003-05-22T07:45:15Z")

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Any luck, **dauerbach**?

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blocking-aol-im/174276/24 "2003-05-22T11:13:44Z")

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You could use zonealarm (free firewall program) and have it block aim (but easy for her to allow access again unless zonealarm can be password protected).

Also if you use a hardware firewall/router/switch/whatever to split a high speed internet service to multiple computers you should be able to set filters or port blocking, which should disable aim - but I don’t know how to actually do it but also know it’s quite easy.

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