Surfshark's web content blocker on Windows

The web content blocker is a Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ feature that allows you to block access to your chosen website categories. These include, but are not limited to:

• Malicious websites
• Scam websites
• Phishing websites
• Adult, drug (including tobacco), gambling, hate, profanity, and weapon websites.

NOTE: As long as the web content blocker feature is on, you cannot access any of the website categories you selected to block. 

Setting up Surfshark's web content blocker

1. Open the Surfshark app and click Settings (cogwheel icon) in the left navigation menu.
2. Select Web content blocker:
   
   
    
3. Click Continue:
   
   
    
4. Select the categories you wish to filter by checking the corresponding boxes, then click Save:
   
   
    
5. A notification will appear in the app confirming that Web content blocker is now active:
   
   

Managing the allowlist

You can add specific websites to an allowlist to prevent them from being filtered:

1. Open the Surfshark app and click Settings (cogwheel icon) in the left navigation menu.
2. Click Web content blocker:
   
   
    
3. Scroll down and click on Allowed websites:
   
   
    
4. Click Add:
   
   
    
5. Enter the URL of the website you wish to exclude and click Add again:
   
   
    
6. Once added, the website will appear in your list. To remove it at any time, simply click the X icon next to the URL:
   
   

How web content blocker works

The feature automatically monitors your traffic. If a website is restricted, you will receive a notification:



NOTE: The “Snooze” option is visible only if the notification was shown more than once during the same day.
 

View details

1. Click View details on the notification to see why a specific site was blocked:
   
   
    
2. If you trust the site, click Unblock to add it to your allowlist immediately. Otherwise, click Got it to dismiss the alert:
   
   

Pause notifications

1. To temporarily silence alerts, click Pause notifications for today. This will stop alerts from appearing until midnight:
   
   
    
2. To resume alerts, navigate to Settings > Web content blocker and click Resume to turn notifications back on:
   
   

Web content blocker troubleshooting on Windows

Web content blocker will not work if another VPN is active on your device.

Turn off any VPNs you may have and restart web content blocker through the Surfshark app:



 

Network availability Issues

You can’t turn Surfshark's web content blocker feature on or off without an active internet connection. So it may not work if you have underlying network connectivity issues.

What should you do if all websites stop loading?

1. Restart web content blocker by turning it off and on again.
2. Turn off any additional VPNs you might have enabled.
3. Restart the Surfshark service and the Surfshark app:
    
   1. Open the Task Manager by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC, and choose Task Manager when the menu appears.
   2. Click “More details” to see all the hidden processes and apps.
   3. Look for the Surfshark app and click it to highlight it. Click “End task.” 
   4. Click the “Services” tab on the left side of the Windows Task Manager.
   5. Look for Surfshark.Service and right-click it.
   6. Select “Restart” in the context menu.
   7. Launch the Surfshark application.
       
4. If web content blocker is disabled and websites still do not load, follow these steps:
    
   1. Press Windows + S and search for “Control Panel/Network and Sharing Center/Change adapter settings.”
   2. Find active network adapters (not greyed out and without a red cross).
   3. Right-click on the adapter and select Properties.
   4. Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click “Properties.”
      
      
      
      NOTE: If Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) is unchecked, please check it to enable it, since Surfshark supports IPv4 and IPv4/IPv6 dual networks but not pure IPv6.
   5. Click the checkmark next to “Obtain DNS server address automatically” and “Obtain an IP address automatically” to turn off any custom DNS servers and IP configuration that might interfere.
      
      
       
   6. Restart your computer and try enabling the web content blocker feature.

Settings synchronization delay

Web content blocker settings on your device may not sync immediately with the settings in the Surfshark web application. Synchronization can take up to an hour. Open the Surfshark app and the web content blocker settings screen to force synchronization.

Browser caching

Because of browser caching, websites may not be blocked immediately after you enable web content blocker. The browser may still be displaying a cached version of the page. Check out our guide on how to clear your browser’s cache.