AIM Blocker

This program is just a little something I threw together because I was tired of my brothers being on AIM all the time monopolizing the computer. Basically what it does is modify the hosts file (I believe this only works in NT/2000/XP) to redirect all requests for the AIM logon server back to localhost, effectively preventing communication with the logon server, and therefore disabling access to AIM.

When the program is run, it checks to see if the hosts file has already been modified. If it hasn’t, it modifies the file (blocking access to AIM) and exits. If it detects that AIM is already blocked, it prompts the user for the password to unblock. If the password is correct, the blocking entries are removed, if not, the program exits.

Links to the source code (with comments) and a compiled executable are below. Feel free to use them in your own home/office, just please give me credit, or drop me a line saying how helpful this program was at bill@billda.com

AIMBlocker source code (AIMthing.cpp)

Compiled AIMBlocker software for Win32 (AIMthing.exe)

About the Author

I'm Bill D'Alessandro - an entrepreneur, former investment banker, and current tech and cloud computing guy. Checkout the about me page for more on my background and the things I'm working on, and follow me on Twitter (@billda). If you liked the article you just read, you can subscribe via RSS, and I'd appreciate if you shared it with your friends using the icons above. Thanks!

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