How to Unblock Websites & Access Restricted Content

In this article, we are going to explain how you can unblock websites and access restricted content anywhere in the world.

A virtual private network (VPN) is a private network connection that gives you privacy and anonymity from a public internet connection. VPN is used to censor your IP address so that your online activities will not be traced. 

Your system guard dog

It can also be helpful in blocking people from stealing identity information. These identity cyberthieves steal personal information and can take over accounts, buying things, filling personal data under your name. 

VPN can protect your data by creating an encrypted tunnel that is out of reach of cyberthieves. It is essential to secure login credentials using a VPN, especially in public Wi-Fi network, to avoid capturing sensitive information.

We have few reasons why we want to unblock sites. In this article, we will be discussing:

9 ways how to unblock websites and access restricted content.

1.   Using a Virtual private network (VPN)

To unblock your favourite sites, you must first sign up for a VPN-like service, and then, it can have a variety of VPN protocols to choose from. 

Download the VPN and launch it on your own preferred devices. Connect to a VPN server and surf social media sites, blogs without limits. It is best to look for a reliable VPN service like VPN.Surf. 

They are built with excellent security measures, guaranteed privacy while you surf the internet.

2.   Make use of a web proxy server 

A proxy web server is used to give access to a blocked website. This acts as a wall between the user and the browsing sites, thus penetrating the network restrictions. 

Web proxy servers are encrypted, and so this helps to avoid monitoring the network. It means that the user is the only one who can access the restricted website, but activities online are not tracked back to you. Web proxy servers are easy to set up, and most are a reliable way of surfing blocked websites.

3.   Recasting your URL

We sometimes encounter a website in a VPN mode with no verified SSL certificate that is installed. SSL certificate is a small code on the webserver that provides security then allows and enables an encrypted connection. 

For these instances, just change the address from www.xyz.com or http://xyz.com to https://www.url.com. This method may prompt a security message, but ignore it and proceed to the unblocked website. 

4.   Converting HTML to PDF.

There are numerous free online HTML to PDF converter services online. You can access a restricted website by downloading the website without directly accessing it. 

There is no need to install to convert HTML to PDF. It’s an easy way to unblock a website without a VPN. The downside of this method is that you cannot check the actual website. 

5.   Use Google Translate as a proxy

We often use Google Translate to understand a context better. For example, if you are reading a Manga or a Japanese comic book, you may want to use Google Translate to translate it to English or your preferred language. 

Often, we use Google translate for educational or work purposes. This tool is not seen as powerful enough to penetrate restricted sites. You can simply paste the URL that is needed to be translated and then click the URL link on the translated section. 

The downside of this side method is that it only works on computers and has no data encryption. It is only helpful when looking for information, such as an article, blog, or any sites with no interaction.

6.   Install Tor (The Onion Router)

This web blocker tool is completely free. You need to install it to start unblocking websites. Your identity is 100% censored, so do not worry about exposing your identity. 

Tor is next to VPN and proxies when it comes to unblocking sites. It is a popular browser to penetrate the dark web sites or the .onion sites which these are the site we do not normally visit. 

To have stronger security, you may want to both use Tor and VPN. This browser's downside is that it slows down the internet speed, and some sites block Tor nodes.

7.   Replacing your DNS Server

Default DNS is often used to block and filter sites for some reasons. These sites may contain adult-related content. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, the government requires ISPs to offer a family-friendly website filtering default. 

Downloading sites such as Torrent and filesharing sites are sometimes restricted due to court orders for breaking copyright laws. Changing DNS is very easy to do. You have choices whether to unblock one device or the entire device on a single network. 

The popular free DNS is the Google DNS, primary 8.8.8.8; Secondary 8.8.4.4. For IPv6, Primary 2001:4860:4860::8888, secondary 2001:4860:4860::8844.

8.   Instead of a URL, use an IP address 

Some sites block specific URLs instead of IPs. If this the case, restricted sites can be unblocked by the use of IPs. URLs are website addresses such as www.youtube.com, www.spotify.com, www.twitter.com, etc. while IP address is a sequence of numbers that is specific to the server host. 

You need to find the IP address of the website by following this method: 

• In your start menu type “cmd”.
• Open Command Prompt.
• Write “ping” and then the website you want to unblock.

9.   Making advantage of a dynamic IP

This method only works when ISP has given you a dynamic IP address which this address often changes. Commonly we restart our router when we can’t load a website and see if it works. 

For people with a static IP address, unfortunately, restarting the router will not work. To know if you have a dynamic IP address or static IP address, you can write your IP address and then compare it to the one after you have restarted your router. 

A great tip: in your browser search bar, type in “what is my IP address” to see the current IP address. 

There is no need to install this method, and it is entirely free to use. The downside of this method is that it only works for dynamic IP addresses.

Conclusion

In this short guide, we explained how you can unblock websites and access restricted content anywhere in the world. From the research that we did, we went through nine ways of unblocking content. We hope that you liked this article and if so, let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to keep your VPN on and happy surfing!