Works Blocking Most Websites

[vaporfox99]

Hey guys, I just started a new part time job yay *oozing with sarcasm*. Well, I have effectively unlimited time to access the internet, however 90% of the sites I use are blocked. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, if not for the fact that 90% of my day is spent being bored out of my mind. Thus, I now come to you for information.

I am by no means an IT specialist, nor would I classify myself as an IT intermediate. However, I can follow instructions, I'm just curious how, if at all possible, I can get around this blocker so I can make my work hours go by just a little bit quicker.

This, is the message I get whenever I click a link the block doesn't approve of:

"Web Page Blocked!

You have tried to access a web page which is in violation of your internet usage policy.

URL: www.youtube.com/
Category: Streaming Media and Download

To have the rating of this web page re-evaluated please click here."

I'm not sure if this a per-computer based block or a router block. Please help those who hate having to kill time the old fashion way, by actually doing their jobs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

 

[USAFRet]

I'm not sure if this a per-computer based block or a router block. Please help those who hate having to kill time the old fashion way, by actually doing their jobs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

There is a filter (I'll not name the likely one) on the .... that prevents any system inside the network form going to the identified sites.

I can think of a few ways around it. But that would probably be a fireable offense for you.
Tread lightly.

Do something else with that time. An online class maybe, rather than mindless crap at youtube.

 

[manofchalk]

Find a proxy server.
Its basically a website that retrieves data from other websites and displays that data through itself. If your work hasn't blocked it (which is likely, you might have to search to find one that isnt), from there you can view anything.
http://www.publicproxyservers.com/

You may want to be careful though, depending on the size of the company your working for, its very possible they are monitoring network traffic. If they see a massive amount of traffic from this previously unknown website, chances are they will investigate and you will have to find a new proxy.
Using the good thing too much will make it go away pretty much.

 

[bill001g]

That message sound like a bluecoat proxy server. They all pretty much work the same. The company buys a service that categories sites into classes..ie porn, hacking, streaming...etc They can then just pick they general types they want to block.

As stated above you can use a proxy site.....BUT they have already anticipated this. There is a category called proxy avoidance that they can select. It pretty much has all the commercial VPN sites in a list and blocks them all. So you only hope is to set up your own private proxy either in your house or in a hosting site. You want to use ssl/tls vpn..openvpn has this ability. This looks like https so it will be allowed and since you are going to some random address basically it should not be in any lists. You next issue is they may have the machine blocked to prevent installation of the vpn software. You then need to get a java or activex client. Hard for them to turn off activex or java. Not sure if there is a free sslvpn that loads activex clients, both cisco and juniper commercial devices do but they are big bucks.

 

[vaporfox99]

I'm not sure if this a per-computer based block or a router block. Please help those who hate having to kill time the old fashion way, by actually doing their jobs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

There is a filter (I'll not name the likely one) on the .... that prevents any system inside the network form going to the identified sites.

I can think of a few ways around it. But that would probably be a fireable offense for you.
Tread lightly.

Do something else with that time. An online class maybe, rather than mindless crap at youtube.

I'm not that interested in "trolling" youtube, it just happens to be one of the major blocked addresses. I would love to be able to take online classes, however, they block pretty much everything it seems. I can't get on any forum site, no yahoo answers, google just so happens to work, but about the first 50 results for any particular search are blocked. I do not live in communist China, so I would like to be able to do a Google search to help a customer find something and not have to tell them "Sorry, our corporation hates the internets with extreme prejudice." Also, to be honest, I'm not, in general, worried about them firing me, since I achieve in 5 minutes, what most of my other coworkers take hours to complete. So, in all fairness to the company, I'm just looking for something to do to eat up time at work, and getting around their block was on my mind this day, mainly so, I could check MY personal email. (Which most email providers are blocked). Also, they have it so I can't even use the computer to run a backdoor on my personal laptop or desktop and do things at home while at work, like install software or work on work for my regular job.

 

[vaporfox99]

That message sound like a bluecoat proxy server. They all pretty much work the same. The company buys a service that categories sites into classes..ie porn, hacking, streaming...etc They can then just pick they general types they want to block.

As stated above you can use a proxy site.....BUT they have already anticipated this. There is a category called proxy avoidance that they can select. It pretty much has all the commercial VPN sites in a list and blocks them all. So you only hope is to set up your own private proxy either in your house or in a hosting site. You want to use ssl/tls vpn..openvpn has this ability. This looks like https so it will be allowed and since you are going to some random address basically it should not be in any lists. You next issue is they may have the machine blocked to prevent installation of the vpn software. You then need to get a java or activex client. Hard for them to turn off activex or java. Not sure if there is a free sslvpn that loads activex clients, both cisco and juniper commercial devices do but they are big bucks.

To be honest with you, you completely lost me at "You then need to get a java or activex client. Hard for them to turn off activex or java. Not sure if there is a free sslvpn that loads activex clients". I'm not literate in IT in any way shape or form for the most part. So, you are talking far above my head there. I would love to be able to install some software on the computer, but that I'm sure would not be a good idea, so I've just passed over it. However, if I could figure out how to make a backdoor/remote desktop work on the machine so I could just access my laptop or desktop while at work, that would be fine. Well, that and being able to access my personal email accounts. But, thanks for the help, even if I didn't understand the "meat" of it.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm not sure if this a per-computer based block or a router block. Please help those who hate having to kill time the old fashion way, by actually doing their jobs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

There is a filter (I'll not name the likely one) on the .... that prevents any system inside the network form going to the identified sites.

I can think of a few ways around it. But that would probably be a fireable offense for you.
Tread lightly.

Do something else with that time. An online class maybe, rather than mindless crap at youtube.

I'm not that interested in "trolling" youtube, it just happens to be one of the major blocked addresses. I would love to be able to take online classes, however, they block pretty much everything it seems. I can't get on any forum site, no yahoo answers, google just so happens to work, but about the first 50 results for any particular search are blocked. I do not live in communist China, so I would like to be able to do a Google search to help a customer find something and not have to tell them "Sorry, our corporation hates the internets with extreme prejudice." Also, to be honest, I'm not, in general, worried about them firing me, since I achieve in 5 minutes, what most of my other coworkers take hours to complete. So, in all fairness to the company, I'm just looking for something to do to eat up time at work, and getting around their block was on my mind this day, mainly so, I could check MY personal email. (Which most email providers are blocked). Also, they have it so I can't even use the computer to run a backdoor on my personal laptop or desktop and do things at home while at work, like install software or work on work for my regular job.

I get that. But that is, for whatever reasons, their policies. it may suck, but that is their policy.
If you're going through their pipe, on their equipment, they can see 'something'. They may not know exactly what...but a lot of new traffic to a different proxy somewhere might tweak the interest.

Tread lightly. I personally know people who have been fired for doing exactly this.

Bottom line - Work sucks. Deal with it.

 

[netwalker0099]

Logmein.com install the free client and remote into your home machine and browse. Won't work great for streaming video. That or setup a VPN to your home machine via openVPN and use it when you are at work. (Assuming VPN ports aren't blocked or filtered).

The really fun thing to do is find out if they use some kind of remote access then use the same thing makes catching the traffic a lot harder. VNC RADMIN Logmein etc.

 

[bill001g]

They likely block logmein.com as well as things like teamview. Most those require some access to the main site even if they setup a direct vpn. Remember it is people like me who setup these blocks...we know all the tricks too so we block the easy ones. Most VPN is blocked thats why you need to use a vpn over https which he did not understand in my post. "Fortunately ?" it takes quite a bit of skill to get past most corporate filter systems.