Category Archives: Mac OS X

How do I block Google Analytics on my local machine/testing environment?

You’ll need to add the google servers to your host file.

For Mac:
I manage mine with Gas Mask for Mac (download):

You’ll need to add these two lines:
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

If you’re on a PC:
Open your hosts file with a text editor to windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts

You’ll need to add these two lines:
127.0.0.1 www.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com

Restart your browser, especially if you’re using IE.

To turn on hidden files in finder, open Terminal and paste the following:


defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

To restart Finder from command line, type:


killall Finder

When it restarts you’ll see all your hidden files with a prefix of “.”

To turn hidden files off, open terminal and paste this:


defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false