Solved: Bypass Cold Turkey Blocker (5 Ways) + Preventions

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I’ve been using Cold Turkey Blocker as my main source to block adult content. Before Cold Turkey Blocker, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to stop myself from watching adult content. The usual way of using will power just wasn’t for me. It’s not that I don’t have willpower. It was more so that there were times in which my desires would generally overtake that will power. Typically, these times included moments of extreme boredom and loneliness. In those times, will power only seemed like an imaginary concept.  Because of this, I’ve had many slip ups and it has been the very difficult and long journey.

For me the solution was clear. I had to find something that would prevent me from watching adult content. I knew I had an addiction and it was fueled by watching adult content. If I could access adult content, there generally was nothing stopping me. If I couldn’t access adult content, I would never relapse. This led me on a journey to find the best adult content blockers on the internet. My search landed me to the Cold Turkey Blocker software.

What is Cold Turkey Blocker

what is cold turkey blocker

So for those of you that don’t know, what exactly is cold turkey blocker? Cold Turkey Blocker is a software that allows you to block distracting content from the internet. What makes cold turkey different from all other software or web blockers is how tough it is to bypass – so it claims.

How Cold Turkey Blocker Works

Cold turkey blocks websites, games and applications in a few ways. First, it forces you to install an extension and all applicable browsers. Once a block is set, cold turkey blocker will not allow you to use your browser unless the appropriate extensions have been installed on them. Browsers that do not have extension capabilities are forced closed. Cold turkey also allows you to block websites and applications in a variety of ways. Websites can simply be blocked by entering the website URL or by including wild cards such as asterisks in the URL, to capture broad searches. Applications can be blocked based on their windows title, by file, or by location of a file.

Once you have compiled the list of items you wish to block, you can simply turn it on to initiate the application. This initial block is fairly loose and can be turned off by simply clicking the button you used to turn it on.

Cold Turkey Blocker Features

To make cold turkey even tougher to bypass, you can lock your blocks with a few security layers. Options for this include:

  • Timer – blocks are locked until a specific time in the future
  • Random Text – block requires you to enter a random text to deactivate
  • Time Range – prevents or allows changes to the block within a time window
  • Restart – Unlocks the block when you restart your computer
  • Password – use a password to lock the block

Once a block is locked, it cannot be bypassed. This means that the software cannot be uninstalled until the block is unlocked. It also means you will not be able to visit a site or open an application that is blocked.

Cold Turkey Blocker Built-in Bypass Features

Now while this may sound scary, the are certain features you can set to unlock the blocker while it is locked. These include:

  • Setting the block on for a certain time period and unlocking it at certain time
  • Allowing for “Breaks” during the block to unlock the block

If you wish to use Cold Turkey to its full potential, these built-in bypass features should not be turned on.

Having used cold turkey blocker for it full potential for many years, I can attest that it can be hard to bypass for the average computer user. However, if you have a little bit of computer savviness, there are many ways to bypass the blocker.

In this blog, I will go through all the ways to bypass Cold Turkey Blocker and what you can do to prevent each bypass. I will also show the best way to block the software to prevent bypass.

Let’s get started!

1. Disable Cold Turkey Blocker Timer Lock

So one of the ways cold turkey blocker makes it hard for its users to bypass its software is by implementing a timer lock. As mentioned previously, timer lock blocks and lots the software until a specific time in the future. Personally this is one of my favorite features of the software because it allows you to set it and forget it without having to remember passwords. Once the timer has reached its duration the blocker can simply be unlocked and relocked again.

The only downside about using the timer lock that it heavily relies on your computer’s Date and Time feature. This creates an easy bypass for the timer lock.

Here’s how to bypass Cold Turkey Blocker’s timer lock. Let’s say I set my Cold Turkey timer lock to block a list of websites and applications all the way up to January 31st 2025. In order to bypass the timer lock, all I have to do is change the date and time of my computer to a date after the timer lock. This means that if I block all of the website and applications all the way up to January 31st 2025, I can bypass the timer lock by setting my computer date to any day after January 31st 2025. Once the computer Date and Time is set, Cold Turkey will automatically unlock when you restart it.

This is one of the easiest way to bypass the code turkey blocker. I highly recommend not using the timer lock unless you try one of the below preventative measures.

How To Prevent Bypass of Cold Turkey Block Timer Lock

How To Prevent Bypass of Cold Turkey Block Timer Lock

One way to prevent bypass of the timer lock is to use the block time changes built in protection feature. All this does is it forces a close of the Date and Time settings of your computer when you open it to make changes to it. Here is how to turn it on

  1. Navigate to the Settings > Blocking
  2. Turn on Block Time & Language settings when a block is enable

After this is turned on and a lock has started, the Time & Language window will force close until all your blocks are unlocked. Note that the settings cannot be turned off while a block has been enabled.

2. Uninstall Cold Turkey Blocker

Another way to bypass cool turkey blocker is by simply uninstalling it. However once the block has been locked it cannot be uninstalled. Cold turkey can only be uninstalled once all blocks have been unlocked.

Luckily, if you regret installing and locking Cold Turkey, there is a way to uninstall the software and take back control of your internet. The software developer of Cold Turkey created instructions to uninstall cold turkey software in this case. On their website, they have instructions to uninstall and reinstall Cold Turkey blocker if you wish. There is a dedicated uninstall software specifically made to remove Cold Turkey blocker from your computer. It is called “Blocker Remover Tool”. You can use this software to remove Cold Turkey from your computer.

Here is how to uninstall Cold Turkey:

  1. Go to https://getcoldturkey.com/support/.
  2. Scroll down to Technical Solutions and click “reinstall instructions”
  3. Download the uninstall software on the following screen
  4. Use the Blocker Removal Tool software you downloaded to uninstall Cold Turkey Blocker

Once Cold Turkey has been uninstalled, you can remove the browser extensions and use the internet free, without restrictions.

Note that even if the Blocker Removal Tool has been blocked, it can still be used if you boot your computer in Safe Mode and use it there. It is recommended to download and save the tool in a google drive or thumb drive in case you use the below preventative measures to block the uninstall.

How to Prevent Cold Turkey Blocker Uninstallation

If you wish to prevent cold turkey blocker from being uninstalled using the Blocker Removal Tool, you have to implement a few things.

  1. In one of your block lists, under Applications, add “Cold Turkey Blocker Removal Tool” as a windows title to block
  2. In one of your block lists, under websites, add https://getcoldturkey.com/support/reinstall-instructions/ as one of your blocked websites.

These measure only work if there is no trace of the removal tool. Note that even with these measures in place, you can use Safe Mode to access a copy of the removal tool from a thumb drive. Cold Turkey Blocker does not work in Safe Mode and the remover tool can still be used to uninstall the software in Safe Mode.

3. Using Browsers to Bypass Cold Turkey Blocker

While cold turkey blocker is compatible with most browsers, there are many others that it is not. Cold Turkey’s true potential comes from being able to use its extension on browsers. Ones Cold Turkey browser extension has been disabled it is pretty much rendered useless. This is especially true for browsers that are not recognized by the Cold Turkey software.

For cold turkey to work properly it checks each browser software and confirms if its extension has been installed in that browser. If a browser is recognized by Cold Turkey and has an extension for it, it will prompt you to install that extension. If a browser is recognized by Cold Turkey but does not have an extension for it, it will force the browser to close. Lastly, if a browser is not recognized by cold turkey and there’s no extension for that browser the browser can be used on detected by Cold Turkey’s blocker.

This creates an easy way to bypass Cold Turkey’s blocker after it has been locked. The most common browsers facing this problem are portable browsers. However, they are other non portable that can also bypass Cold Turkey.

If you are looking to find a browser that can bypass Cold Turkey Blocker, here are some I found:

  • Brave Browser
  • X-Firefox Browser
  • IceDragon Browser
  • SRWare Iron Browser
  • Firefox portable browser
  • Comodo Browser
  • UR Browser
  • Opera Browser
  • Any browser from Microsoft Store
  • Any portable browser from portableapps.com

If these browsers / applications are not blocked, they can easily be installed and used to bypass cold turkey, even if Cold Turkey Blocker is on and locked. This acts as a way to use a browser to bypass the blocker.

How to Prevent Browsers from Bypassing Cold Turkey Blocker

If you want to prevent browsers from bypassing Cold Turkey Blocker, you simply have to block those browsers. It will not be enough to block the websites of the browsers. This is because the browser software can be downloaded from many different sites. As a result, it is best to block the file of the browser or the window title of the browsers.

In this instance, here is how you block some of the browsers listed above:

  • Open a block list, then go to Applications tab
  • Click add window title and add the following titles to block the browsers mentions:
    • Brave*Installer
    • *X-Firefox*
    • *setup – brave portable*

You get the idea. Adding these will prevent you or anyone from installing the browsers on your computer. That way, you are forced to use only browsers that are compatible with Cold Turkey blocker.

4. Bypass Cold Turkey Using Task Manager

The next way to bypass Cold Turkey Blocker is by using windows Task Manager. Windows Task Manager allows you to end tasks running in windows background that you may not be aware of. One of these tasks is an application that allows Cold Turkey to run properly.

There are two main processes that control Cold Turkey Blocker in the task manager. One is “ServiceHub.Helper” and the other is “ServiceHub.Power”. “ServiceHub.Power” is the main source that controls Cold Turkey Blocker’s browser extensions. Once it is deleted, you should be able to remove the Cold Turkey extension from your browser and use your browser freely. Note though that even after “ServiceHub.Power” is deleted and you have a locked block, you will not be able to unlock the block or uninstall Cold Turkey normally. You still have to use the Cold Turkey remover tool to uninstall the program if you wish. Also any programs, folders or windows titles that have been blocked, will remain blocked.

This method is effective in bypassing Cold Turkey if it is locked with a password, timer or any other locks preventing you from accessing the internet freely.

You can bypass Cold Turkey Blocker with Task Manager using these steps:

  1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del on your keyboard to access Task Manager
  2. Under tasks or processes, find “ServiceHub.Power”
  3. Right click the task and click End Task
  4. Go to the Cold Turkey directory: C:\Program Files\Cold Turkey
  5. Find the “ServiceHub.Power” file and move it to your desktop or another place
  6. Remove your Cold Turkey browser extension after steps 5 is completed
  7. If you want to restart the browser block, simple put “ServiceHub.Power” back into its original folder

Using the Task Manager to bypass Cold Turkey only allows you to use the internet freely again. Folder and application that are blocked will remain blocked.

How to Prevent Bypassing Cold Turkey Blocker with Task Manager

How to Prevent Bypassing Cold Turkey Blocker with Task Manager

One way to prevent bypass of Cold Turkey with Task Manager is to use the Task Manager blocker that is built into Cold Turkey. All this does is it forces Task Manager to close when you open it. Here is how to turn it on:

  1. Navigate to the Settings > Blocking
  2. Turn on “Block Windows Task Manager when a block is enabled”

After this is turned on and a lock has started, the Task Manager window will force close until all your blocks are unlocked. Note that this setting cannot be turned off while a block has been enabled. This also works in Safe Mode so you won’t be able to open Task Manager to end “ServiceHub.Power”.

Even if Task Manager has been blocked, it is possible to download 3rd party task manager softwares to access and delete “ServiceHub.Power”. To prevent this, you should make websites rules in Cold Turkey to block the phrase “task manager” and its variations.

Note however that in Safe Mode, the “ServiceHub.Power” file can be removed without ending its task in the Task Manager.

5. Ultimate Way to Bypass All of Cold Turkey Blocker Locks

The ultimate way to bypass all of Cold Turkey Blocker’s locks is to do so in Safe Mode. Safe Mode pretty much renders Cold Turkey useless. This is by design. In case of a computer issue, it may be important to use your computer freely in order to run diagnostics. The author of Cold Turkey choose to disable the software in Safe Mode to allow you to freely resolve computer issues without restrictions.

Bypassing Cold Turkey in Safe Mode is very easy. Here is how to bypass Cold Turkey if all the above methods are blocked:

  1. Boot your computer in Safe Mode.
  2. Go to the Cold Turkey directory: C:\Program Files\Cold Turkey
  3. Find the “ServiceHub.Power” file and move it to your desktop or another place
  4. You can now remove your browser extension without your browser force closing after step 3 is completed
  5. If you want to completely remove the software, while in Safe Mode, use the Cold Turkey Remover Tool to completely remove Cold Turkey blocker

Ultimately, your ability to use the remover tool is what can bypass all of Cold Turkey’s blocks. As long as you are in Safe Mode, you should be able to use the remover tool to uninstall Cold Turkey and its locks.

How to Prevent Bypass to all of Cold Turkey Blocker Locks

best way to block adult content on your computer forever. How to Prevent Bypass to all of Cold Turkey Blocker Locks.

Now that you know how to bypass all of Cold Turkey’s blocks, is there a way to prevent them? Yes there is! While Cold Turkey is a great website blocker, it still needs a few helpers to make it absolutely impossible to bypass.

I’ve found a 3 layer strategy to prevent Cold Turkey Blocker from being bypassed. The 3 layers are:

  1. First Layer – Wifi DNS Filter
  2. Second Layer – Cold Turkey Blocker
  3. Third Layer – File/Folder Blocker with Safe Mode capabilities

If you have these 3 layers in place, Cold Turkey Block will be nearly impossible to bypass. Let me explain how this works.

First Layer – DNS Filter

If you are using Wi-Fi and want to limit adult content, you first need to alter your DNS through your Wi-Fi to an IP that limits adult content. I’ve been using CleanBrowsing’s free Adult filter DNS and it works perfectly without comprising my internet. It does not block proxy or VPNs, nor mixed-content sites. Sites like Reddit are allowed. Google and Bing are set and locked to the Safe Mode. Malicious and Phishing domains are blocked.

Everyone’s Wi-Fi setup is different so I will leave you to research how to add a DNS filter to yours.

Once your DNS setup is done, you can add the website that you used to access your Wi-Fi settings into Cold Turkey as part of the lock. You can also change the password of your Wi-Fi settings and send it to a place you cannot easily access it. I send my Wi-Fi settings password to a time in the future using Futureme.org. This gives me a good streak of not being able to tweak or change the settings. In an emergency, I can always reset your router, however, the pain of re-configuring my Wi-Fi is enough to deter me from resetting it.

To make this filter even harder to break, I recommend adding the phrase “VPN” and its variations to your Cold Turkey Blocker list. This is because the DNS filters can be bypasses using VPNs.

The premise of using a DNS filter is that even if Cold Turkey Blocker is compromised, you will still be protected by the DNS filters.

Second Layer – Cold Turkey Blocker

Once your DNS filter is setup, you can set up your Cold Turkey Blocker. It should be setup to block access to the Task Manager and changes to the Date and Time (if you are using the Timer lock). If you are using a password for the lock, it is best to pick a password that’s hard to remember and send it into the future. I send my password to Futureme.org to later remind me of the password in case something goes wrong.

Up until this point, you can still remove Cold Turkey Block in Safe Mode. Remember, Cold Turkey is rendered useless in Safe Mode and you can simple remove it using the remover tool regardless of the blocks you have in place. So, it is best to remove all traces of the remover tool at this point. This means blocking the site where you can download the remover tool. It also means deleted any copy of the remover tool or keeping it in a place where you cannot easily access it.

With no access to the remover tool, you simply need to lock “ServiceHub.Power” in the 3rd layer to prevent all bypass.

Third Layer – Folder/File Blocker with Safe Mode capabilities

The final layer to prevent all bypass to Cold Turkey is to block access to the the Cold Turkey Blocker directory. The Cold Turkey directory contains all the files that controls how Cold Turkey works. Removing Cold Turkey Block in Safe Mode will allow you to remove the browser extension and use the internet freely. To prevent this, you have to block the Cold Turkey Blocker folder from being accessed in Safe Mode. The only tool I’ve found that can do this so far is Folder Guard.

Folder Guard is a 3rd party software that allows you to restrict access to files and folders. It requires a one-time payment to use after the free trial but it is totally worth it. Out of the box, it doesn’t work in Safe Mode, but in setting, you can turn on “Enable Protecting files in the “safe mode”” to use the software in Safe Mode. This is what you want.

Here is how to use Folder Guard to block access to Cold Turkey’s directory folder.

  1. Download and install Folder Guard
  2. Choose a password that is hard to remember and write it somewhere (this password will be sent to the future)
  3. In settings, turn on “Enable Protecting files in the “safe mode””
  4. From the side panel, choose “Restricted”, click add folder and add the entire Cold Turkey folder (C:\Program Files\Cold Turkey). Keep the folder Visible ( very important) and make the access Read-only (very important). If you restrict it any other way, the Cold Turkey browser extension will not work and you be able to use the internet freely.
  5. Close and Run Folder Guard to protect your folder
  6. Send your password for the software to the future using Futureme.org and remove all traces of the password from your computer.

Now up until today, I have no clue how to bypass Folder Guard nor do I care how to. After paying money for it, I am less motivated to find a way to bypass it because that would be a waste of money.

With this protection in place, you will not be able to delete the “ServiceHub.Power” file in Safe Mode. You will also not be able to use the remover tool to uninstall the software. Both cases will give you an error and say you don’t have permission to do so. Even if you try removing the Read-only attribute in the file’s properties, it will revert back to Read-only. Folder Guard is a fail proof layer to protect bypass to Cold Turkey’s browser extension and its uninstall.

If you followed the instructions to these three layers correctly, it should be nearly impossible to bypass Cold Turkey without breaking a sweat. Eventually, you will give up, which is the goal.

Conclusion to Solved: Bypass Cold Turkey Blocker (5 Ways) + Preventions

In conclusion, while Cold Turkey Blocker is a powerful tool designed to help individuals focus by blocking distractions, there are situations where users might seek ways to bypass its restrictions. However, it is important to remember that bypassing these controls can defeat the purpose of using such tools in the first place—improving productivity and limiting procrastination. If Cold Turkey Blocker is hindering progress, hopefully these prevention methods will help. However, Ultimately, finding the right balance between using blocking software and fostering self-discipline is key to maintaining productivity while avoiding unnecessary distractions.

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