Edited By Piyush Kashyap, Reviewed By Gulshan
With the Internet becoming our go-to option for access to fast and easy information, the world of information gathering has been revolutionized.
But what if portions of this great resource are sealed away - lost and inaccessible forever? Yes, we are talking about the dreaded “blocked” websites.
Have you ever had that sinking feeling when one of your favorite websites gets blocked?
We never want you to feel that way again, and hence, in this article, we'll be going through all the possible ways to access any blocked website in your country. But before moving forward, let us understand why websites are blocked in the first place. Some common reasons include:
It might also be worth noting that some websites can be temporarily down due to some technical issues and might not be blocked when accessing it. With all of that out of our way, let us now dive into the informative part. Here are all of the ways you can unblock a website:
1. Using the Opera browser
Make sure you have an updated version of Opera browser installed on your desktop before moving forward. Opera browser can be downloaded by visiting its official website. Now, users need to go to settings and enable the VPN option from there.
It should be kept in mind that users should not use personal details and prefer utilizing private mode while browsing the sites. This does not allow the browser to note any user data that might be important.
2. Using Proxy Servers
A proxy server is another great way to access blocked content online. Proxy servers function as a link between the user and the internet. Usually, users get directly connected to the website they visit, but when a proxy server is used, the proxy interacts with the website instead of the user.
Thus, when accessing blocked websites, the proxy server requests the website and not the user. As the proxy server's IP address is not blocked, the request goes through, and the connection is established. Proxy servers are great, but they don't encrypt the traffic, making it a little unsafe.
3. Using IP address instead of URL
Users can even connect to blocked websites using the IP address of the website they want to access as it happens many times that the URL is kept private. Users can get the IP address either by running the specific command in command prompt or using different Ping tools.
In some cases, the IP address might also be blocked so that this approach won't work.
4. Using browser proxies
Many organizations employ more than one proxy, which means that a few websites may be blocked on one proxy and open on another.
So switching from one proxy to another can aid you in accessing your desired web page. For this, go to your browser's network or connection settings, then choose the no proxy option or use a different one that's giving unrestricted browsing options.
5. Using browser Extensions
Browser Extensions are good when the user wants to access dynamic websites. ProxMate, Hola, UltraSurf are some decent extensions that can be adopted to infiltrate blocked websites.
6. Using DNS server
Domain name system or better known as DNS is a decentralized classification method for computers or different devices that are connected to the internet. It changes the domain names into IP addresses for browsers to load internet resources.
It is simple and secure to get around any websites that are blocked. There are many applications, namely OpenDNS, GoogleDNS, and the most advanced CloudFare's 1.1.1.1 DNS.
Four Easy Ways to Open Blocked Websites for FREE in 2020
7. Using Wayback Machine
What if you could travel back in time? Well, in reality, the answer remains no, but the Wayback machine can surely help. It is a digital archive of the World Wide Web that allows users to see the status of web pages as they were in the past.
This enables users to see the past version of the web page they want to access and browse the content.
8. Using the RSS feed
Simple Syndication or abbreviated as RSS is how users can access updates to websites in a computer-readable format. RSS lets users grab content from blocked web pages and broadcast them to the end user's device. Although it is a very obsolete way, it can still come in handy.
Users can utilize the website's feed or, if that is absent, they can design their feed, and view any content that arrives in from the source in a plain text format.
9. Using the infamous TOR
TOR is an acronym for The Onion Router, an open-source application for accessing the web. It uses several layers of encryption (that's why the name Onion) when transferring data from client to server and is one of the safest ways to browse online.
It also completely veils the user's important details, thus helping them remain anonymous. It can be set up to circumvent blocked websites.
10. Using portable Firefox
There are some cases where the parent institute or the organization prevents its users from browser installations. This prevents the user from installing any third-party software on their browsers, thus barring them from unwanted sites.
There is a clever yet easy workaround to this as well. All that requires to be done is that the user needs to install any web browser on their pen drives and then pair it with any unblock proxy service of their choice and voila!
11. Using HTML to PDF converter
Most people reading this blog might not be aware of this simple trick, so here it goes. There are many free HTML to PDF convertors scattered all across the web that users can use to their advantage.
Visit the site and enter the website you want to surf and press enter, it downloads the website on the user's PC without leaving the web page. SodaPDF is one of the free converters users can try out themselves.
12. Using Cache or Google Translate
If all of the things mentioned above don't work, users can try this efficient method. Visit Google.com and in the address bar type Cache: followed by the website URL they want to visit. What this will do is that it will load the most up-to-date cached version of the web page from Google's cache server.
Alternatively, users can go to translate.google.com (Google's translate website) to produce the equivalent outcome.
Summing Up
To conclude, there is an ocean of techniques by which blocked websites can be made accessible, and they are all fairly easy to implement. Nevertheless, each one of them is unique in terms of their usage and application, and depending on the user preference, one might choose to go for one option over the other.
However, we can all agree that the extent of choices is pretty broad - there's something for everyone out there. So, what are you waiting for? Get surfing!
