Block Unwanted Websites on the Whole Network with Untangle Web Filter
One setting on the firewall covers every phone, laptop and guest device on your network — no software on any PC. Here is the complete Web Filter setup: categories, department policies, pass sites and reports.
🎥 Watch the full setup in the video — Web Filter categories, Pass Site and reports, step-by-step
Installing a blocker on every computer is a losing battle — there is always one laptop you missed. The method in this video works at a different layer: the Untangle / Arista NG Firewall sitting at the edge of the network. Its Web Filter app inspects every website request leaving your office and blocks whole categories of sites — per department, so HR, accounts and guests can each have different rules.
Untangle Web Filter — HR Policy — Categories
Category Action
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Social Media Block
Gambling Block
Adult Content Block
Streaming Media Block
Job Search / Careers Pass
Business / Finance Pass
Illustration of the Web Filter category list on one policy — category names and actions are examples of what the screen shows.
1
Log In and Open the Right Policy
A gateway filter is only as good as the policy it sits on. In the video, three policies already exist from the Policy Manager setup, and the work happens on the HR policy — because a rule that is right for HR is wrong for the sales team.
Open the firewall web interface in your browser and log in with the admin username and password
Go to Apps and select the HR policy
Open the Web Filter app inside that policy — everything you set here applies only to the users in this policy
2
Block Categories, Not Single Websites
The Web Filter does not ask you to type thousands of website names. It groups the web into categories — Social Media, Gambling, Adult Content, Streaming and many more — maintained by the vendor's categorisation service. You simply mark a category Block, and every site in it is stopped for that policy.
In the Web Filter, open the Categories list
Tick Block for each category this department should not open — in the video, Social Media and similar categories are blocked for HR
Leave work categories (Business, Job Search) unblocked — HR's job is finding people, so job portals must keep working
Save the changes
3
Test the Block Before You Trust It
Never announce a filter you have not tested. The video first blocks all categories to prove the filter itself works, then relaxes it to the real list.
From a PC that belongs to the HR policy, open a website from a blocked category
You should get the firewall's block page instead of the site
Open an allowed site as well — it must load normally. A filter that blocks everything is just a broken network
4
Pass the Sites Work Actually Needs
Every filter blocks something legitimate sooner or later. The Pass Site list is the pressure valve: a specific domain you allow even though its category is blocked — without opening the whole category for everyone.
Note the exact domain that is blocked (the block page and the report show it)
In the Web Filter, open the Pass Site list for that policy
Add the domain and save — that one site now opens, the rest of the category stays blocked
5
Read the Block Event Report
The Block Event report is your proof and your troubleshooting tool. It shows which user tried to open what, which category stopped it, and under which policy — so a complaint of 'the internet is broken' becomes a two-minute check instead of an argument.
That is the complete loop the video teaches: categories block, pass sites forgive, reports explain.
🔴 One honest limit before you start: a gateway filter only sees traffic that passes through the gateway. A phone on mobile data, or a laptop used at home, is outside its reach. What this setup controls — completely — is your office network itself.
🎥 See It Done Live in the Video
The complete Web Filter setup on the HR policy — blocking categories, passing a site and reading the block report — is shown on screen in the full video.
No. The Web Filter runs on the firewall, and every device that uses your network is filtered automatically — office PCs, personal phones on office Wi-Fi and the guest network alike.
Can I block just one website instead of a whole category?
Yes. Alongside categories, the Web Filter keeps site lists: you can block a specific domain, and the Pass Site list does the opposite — it allows one specific domain even when its category is blocked.
Will this block websites on my home network too?
Only if this firewall is your home gateway. The filter protects the network behind it; the moment a device leaves that network, the rules no longer apply to it.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu video linked above • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments — that is where answers come from 🙏