Member Avatar for uthman4u2nv

How do i stop downloading on my network?Acess Control List wont be effective cos i want people to be able to surf the net but i need to prevent downloading of softwares and other stuffs cos it slows down my network.

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You cannot allow web browsing but forbid “downloading” in general; the browser itself is constantly downloading page assets. is right. What you can do is block or throttle the specific things that eat bandwidth (P2P, file lockers, video) and lock down installs so users cannot run downloaders. DNS filtering is the quickest first step: point your router’s DNS to a filtering service and block categories like P2P/File Sharing and Video, then whitelist exceptions as needed. OpenDNS lets you do this network‑wide from its dashboard. ()

If you do not want to hard‑block, shape. On a consumer router running OpenWrt, enable SQM with “cake” and set rates to about 90% of your tested up/down; this keeps web and VoIP snappy while large transfers get de‑prioritized. pfSense offers a similar approach using FQ_CODEL limiters you can attach to firewall rules per host or subnet. (openwrt.org)

For and anyone blocking only youtube.com: HTTPS hides the URL path, so simple URL/extension blocks are unreliable without TLS inspection. That is why some “YouTube downloader” apps still work. Consider three fixes:

  • Force fallback from QUIC (HTTP/3) to TCP by blocking UDP/443 on the firewall; many web filters only work on TCP. Cisco documents both the Chrome policy (QuicAllowed=0) and the firewall approach. (cisco.com)
  • Use an app‑aware gateway/proxy to block P2P, web‑file‑sharing, and streaming categories rather than single domains. Palo Alto’s best‑practice example shows explicitly blocking QUIC and unsanctioned sharing apps. (docs.paloaltonetworks.com)
  • As suggested, stop installs. On Windows, enforce allow‑lists with AppLocker (EXE, MSI, scripts, etc.) via Group Policy, ideally starting in audit mode. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick example (Linux/OpenWrt shell) to disable QUIC network‑wide:

iptables -A FORWARD -p udp --dport 443 -j REJECT

If you can share your router model and whether you can run OpenWrt or pfSense, folks here can map this to your exact UI, .

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for MidiMagic

The two are synonymous. Surfing the web IS downloading material.

What you could block instead is INSTALLING anything. Check your firewall settings.

Another way is to make sure that only a system administrator has an administrator account. Normal user accounts are usually prevented from installing anything.

Once you have user accounts, you can also remove all of the players and player plugins that are needed for some of the bandwidth wasters. This can be a problem if QuickTime is installed. It installs itself in a way that it can't be removed, so a system rebuild is needed to get rid of it.

Member Avatar for cguan_77

it's quite hard to monitor all workstation..one way to enforce a restriction...pass a memo..any one caught downloading will be suck...

Member Avatar for yasirjanjua1

block router firewall i.e router connected to internet,mostly in linksys routers you can block torrent files,java and many others.this way you can save lot of shared bandwith on same network and internet works faster.

Member Avatar for amir wali

hwo to stop the downloading on domain networking of other computers

Member Avatar for suley04

Well, you could do it either by the router's web interface, or by setting the permissions in your anti-virus software.

If none of those solve the problem, then you will have to get back to us with more detailed information of what you are trying to do, so we can give you a better answer.

Hope that helps.

Member Avatar for grandtex

I have blocked youtube site on my Linksys router but one workstation still visits the site and downloads videos using youtube downloader. How do I stop him? Urgent please

Member Avatar for Member #921280

Try using separate computer and set up Application-Level Firewalls or proxy and then block

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