Hi i am trying to block websites locally via the host file. i have done lots of searches for this but have had no luck getting it to work. any help would be great here is my host file below.

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 www.cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com)

your current host file should block cnn.com.

Just add lines after your cnn.com line in the same format:
127.0.0.1 blahblah.com

then close the file and save it.