After a recent upgrade of Firefox, one of my favorite plugins, LeechBlock, stopped working. So I went in search of a new control system that would help me think twice before I surfed my day away.

I’m now in love with K9 Web Protection, a free internet filtering service. Sure, it’s made for parents to protect their kids, but as a professional with a bad web habit, I appreciate its ability to keep me from wasting my precious time.

You set sites that you’d like to limit, and you can eliminate entire categories of sites. I am particularly bad when it comes to reading news articles. I can read article after article and waste an hour or two… Time just slips away. With K9, you can allow access for 15 minutes or a certain period of time. That way you can pop in to check on your friends in Facebook, but soon you’re back at work.

And it’s free. I love free.

K9 Web Protection – Free Internet Filtering and Parental Controls Software.