Maintain your barriers

Schedule a short review

1. Open the paper list, not a gambling site.
2. Confirm the extension still loads in Firefox or Chromium.
3. Confirm the phone restriction still asks for the passcode you do not hold alone.
4. Note one new domain or app, or write “none found”.
5. Close the tools. Tell your support person the review happened.

Keep the session short. A long evening in the settings screen is itself a risk. Put the next date on the calendar before you stand up.

Watch IPv4 and IPv6 together

IPv4 is the older address family many hosts files still target. IPv6 is the newer family a network may prefer. A block that names only one family can leave the other path open.

On a router you administer, look for separate DNS entries for each family if the firmware shows them. If you do not understand the screen, leave it and ask the person who set the router, or skip network blocking and tighten the device layer. Do not paste random address lists from forums.

Recheck DNS paths

DNS turns a name into an address. A hosts file or a filtering resolver only helps when the device actually uses it. Secure DNS inside a browser, or a private resolver on a phone, can bypass a home filter.

During review, open the browser’s DNS setting and the phone’s private DNS setting and write down what they use. If either points away from your filter, change it back or accept that the network layer is not active on that device. Update the gap list so you do not pretend the router covers the phone on mobile data.

Apply a simple OWASP habit

OWASP publishes widely used guidance on building software with fewer surprises. For this local tool, borrow only the habits that fit a one-person blocker: least privilege, no remote code, and input you can read.

• Reject a rules file you did not write.
• Refuse an extension that asks for every site when your list is short.
• Keep JSON in a folder you can delete without unlocking unrelated accounts.
• Do not add a telemetry endpoint “just to see if it works”.

If a download offers a finished casino blocker with an installer you cannot read, do not run it. Return to your own small file on Build rules.

Close the gaps you actually use

Workarounds that matter are the ones you have already used: a second browser, a work laptop, a tablet on mobile data. Ignore hypothetical tricks you have never touched. Add a layer only for a gap you wrote down.

If the same gap appears twice, the barrier is the wrong tool and the support plan needs a harder pause. Contact your clinician or the National Council on Problem Gambling path you already started. Then leave the software alone until that conversation happens.