Both modes exist in the same tool, and choosing wrong is its own problem: an allowlist on a research desk strangles it; a blocklist on a billing PC protects nothing. This page makes the decision desk by desk.
✍️ Technical Anshu🪟 Windows 10 / 11⏱️ 7 minute read
🎥 Watch the full video — Website Filter Pro setup and allow mode, step by step
Website Filter Pro, like most filters, offers both directions: block mode (name the bad sites, allow everything else) and allow mode (name the good sites, block everything else). Offices usually pick one mode for every PC, which guarantees it is wrong for half the building. The honest answer is that the right mode follows the desk's job. Fixed-job machines — billing, exams, kiosks — belong on allowlists. Variable-job machines — a manager's PC, a research or marketing desk — belong on blocklists or no filter at all, with policy doing the work instead. Here is the reasoning, desk by desk.
The one-line test
Can you write down EVERY website this desk needs
on a visiting card?
YES → allowlist. The job is fixed; lock it.
NO → blocklist (or policy only). The job is varied;
an allowlist will be switched off within a week.
If the site's list cannot fit on a card, allow mode will generate daily friction until somebody disables it — usually permanently.
1
Desks That Deserve an Allowlist
These desks share one trait: the work is a closed set of sites, repeated daily.
Billing and accounts PCs — bank, tax portals, webmail. Highest value, highest risk: allowlist, no debate
Exam and lab PCs — the portal during exams; allowlist in the exam profile
Kiosk and public desks — one service for strangers; allowlist by definition
Data-entry and form-filling PCs — two or three portals all day; allowlist removes both distraction and phishing surface
Reception enquiry PCs — the directory or booking system only
2
Desks That Belong on a Blocklist or Policy
These desks legitimately roam. Forcing an allowlist here does not create security; it creates a disabled filter.
Managers and owners — banking one hour, a supplier's new site the next; a blocklist for known time-wasters plus policy is the honest fit
Marketing and research desks — the job is the open internet; blocklist for the worst categories at most
IT's own PC — needs vendor sites, forums and downloads daily; professional judgement, not a list
For these desks, protection comes from antivirus, updates and user sense — not from pretending a list can describe their day
3
The Hybrid Pattern Most Offices End Up With
Real offices are mixed, and the mature setup reflects it instead of fighting it.
Fixed-job PCs on allowlists, each with its own short list and a named approver
General PCs on a blocklist of the obvious categories — or no filter, with a written internet-use policy
Standard user accounts everywhere, so whichever mode a PC uses, its settings survive the week
One person owns the lists; changes are small, logged and quick — slow approval is what pushes staff to bypass
4
Review the Decision Twice a Year
Desks change jobs. A PC that was billing-only gains a research duty; a roaming desk becomes a counter PC. Modes should follow.
Ask of each filtered PC: is the visiting-card test still true?
If an allowlist PC needed exceptions five times this month, its job changed — reconsider the mode instead of growing a Swiss-cheese list
If a blocklist PC only ever visits four sites, tighten it to an allowlist and gain the protection
Keep the review short and scheduled; drifts nobody reviews become holes nobody chose
🔴 The failure mode to avoid: one angry week with a wrong-mode filter convinces an office that 'filters do not work here'. They do — when the mode matches the desk. Choose per desk, announce the policy openly, and the tool from the video covers both directions without extra cost.
🎥 Watch the Full Video Guide
The complete Website Filter Pro walkthrough — download, allow mode and testing — is shown live in the video.
Can different PCs in the same office use different modes?
Yes, and they should. Website Filter Pro is set per PC, so the billing machine can run a strict allowlist while the manager's PC runs a light blocklist. Matching the mode to each desk's job is the whole point.
Our allowlist keeps growing exceptions. Is that normal?
A few considered additions are normal maintenance. Constant exceptions mean the desk's job is not fixed any more — the visiting-card test has failed. At that point the honest move is switching that PC to a blocklist rather than keeping an allowlist so full of holes it protects nothing.
Which mode is safer against phishing and fake sites?
The allowlist, by a wide margin. A blocklist only stops sites someone already listed, so a brand-new fake bank page sails through. An allowlist refuses everything unlisted — including fakes invented this morning — which is why money-handling desks belong on allowlists.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu video on allowing only selected websites • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments — answers happen there 🙏