Suppose you had the ability to possess any superpower. Would you opt for the power to read people’s thoughts on demand? Although we cannot give you this power (at least not yet), we can provide you with the knowledge to monitor internet traffic and activity through your router. This capability is not too far off from reading minds instantaneously, is it?
Question is Can You Monitor Internet Activity Through a Router?
A simple answer to the above question is, yes.
However, if you’re seeking information on the specific search queries entered by every user who has ever connected to your router and the corresponding websites they visited, this may not be possible. Unless you have a newer router that supports these functions, older models may not have this capability readily available.
It’s important to remember that there are ethical concerns involved in attempting to snoop on someone’s browsing history.
That said, one can relatively easily access certain types of internet activity information via a router, such as the IP addresses of devices that have connected to it and internet traffic. If you’re curious about reviewing attempted connections made to your router from outside your network, this is possible by examining your firewall logs.
If you’re interested in gaining a detailed understanding of a website that a particular device accessed at any given time and similar browsing history data, a standard router may not be enough. It is recommended to use parental control family security software with these advanced capabilities.
That said, it’s possible to block access to certain websites from your router by navigating to your router’s settings.
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How to access your router’s settings
To review your router’s history, it’s necessary to access the router’s settings page. This process may sound intimidating, but it’s quite simple.
To begin, navigate to your router’s settings page. Please note that you’ll need to input your IP address to proceed with this step.
In case you don’t already know your IP address, a quick solution is to type “what is my IP address” into a search engine such as Google, which will provide you with this information.
Once you have accessed your router’s settings page, the next step is to input your login credentials. If you are unfamiliar with them and if your router was installed by someone else, the documentation that arrived with your router should contain both the username and password.
In case you no longer have that documentation (and there’s no judgment here), it’s worth trying the default login credentials, which are arguably the most common, Like Username: Admin or admin and Password: 1234 or Password itself.
If neither of the solutions work for you, then you can try performing a search engine query for your specific router model’s default login credentials.
If these methods are unsuccessful or if somebody altered your login information and you don’t recall the new details, you might consider resetting your router. This process will require reconfiguring the SSID and password.
This is an excellent opportunity to enhance the security of your router’s login credentials by creating more secure and sophisticated username and password combinations that can’t be effortlessly guessed or even located with a search engine.
At this stage, you’ve likely determined a method for logging into your router. Congratulations!
Also Read: How to Check System Uptime on Windows
How To Block Websites Using Just Your Router?
Once you have successfully accessed your router’s settings page, you should see an option labeled “Content Filtering” on the main page’s menu. After selecting this option, there should be another option available labeled “Block Sites.”
From there, you can input the domains or keywords within a domain name that you want to prohibit access to. Also, there should be an additional option allowing you to choose whether to block these domains all the time or restrict access to them according to a set schedule.
In case you aim to prohibit access to certain websites for some wireless router users while allowing other users/devices uninterrupted access, you may include dependable IP addresses to ensure that this group is not restricted.
How to check what websites are visited on your WiFi router?
The answer would be affirmative, although it is contingent on the router you use and its age.
Accessing your wifi router’s online settings, you can view the IP addresses that logged into your network connection and the times at which these actions took place. Additionally, several routers can furnish information on the sites visited by each IP address connected to the router.
Advanced routers can provide a wealth of information about the websites accessed, their visitation times, the pages visited within a particular domain, among other specifics. Nonetheless, the degree of detail obtainable depends on the type of router employed.
Consequently, it’s crucial to bear in mind that when connecting to a wifi network, someone monitoring the router’s internet usage could potentially see the websites you visit. For routers and networks that offer limited security and those that are public, you might consider refraining from accessing sensitive websites, whatever that entails for you.
Also Read: What is RMM? | Remote Monitoring & Management Definition