Is ther ea way to restrict IE browser?

[BiPolar_Nut]

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Free advice You get what you paid for.

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Agreed....In this and a couple other posts recently, I started coming up w/ a solution...then OP adds/clarifies objectives that complicate the process...next thing I know I have a solid solution....but not one I could implement over a message forum lol. A whitelist-capable content filtering firewall isn't exactly a "Go here and click this" solution...esp when you start configuring how to prevent people inside from getting around the proxies. (Running your own DNS, blocking port 53 traffic to anywhere but your DNS, blocking outgoung connections from anywhere but the web proxy and email traffic only to the corporate SMTP, etc). Kinda beyond the scope of a [ QUOTE ]
pseudo-anonymous internet forum

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[theblitz]

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Free advice [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] You get what you paid for.

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Just out of interest: this is actually a very old Talmudic expression (about 2000 years old!).

Comes from a case where Guy A beats up Guy B.
Guy A is (amongst other things) obliged to pay the medical costs of Guy B.

If Guy A turns round to Guy B and says "Well, I have a doctor who will treat you for nothing" then Guy B can reply "A doctor who treats for nothing is worth nothing".

Who says you don't learn deep, philosophical things from online forums?

[jjshabado]

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I really doubt he came here for advice on management. He wanted to know how to restrict internet access...

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As a general philosophy I try to address problems not symptoms. OP has a problem that I don't believe is just employees doing unauthorized web surfing.

Second, I don't treat these forums as OP asks a question and then gets answers, and thats it. I like discussions, debates, exchanges of idea, etc. This happens by not restricting yourself to exactly what the OP asked. The previous post made a very obvious point that if you expect your employees to do something and they don't, firing them is one solution.

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Ever think that it might be a little cheaper for his company to just keep his employees on task and not have to fire and re-hire 75% of them??

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Sure it could be. Of course if you've told them not to surf the web, and they still do, do you really think that making it impossible to surf will all of a sudden make them focus on their work? That seems unrealistic to me.

Anyway, did you ever think that maybe my post wasn't completely as serious as you seemed to have taken it? For instance, maybe I really do respect periods?

[goldtoes]

I understand what all of you are saying, and I agree with you. But the title of his thread isn't "Help! I need advice! My employees are surfing the net, ahhhh!". He specifically asked a question, and I know if it was me, I would just want a straight answer to what I asked.

Most likely he has already talked with, if not them, other management about what to do and they picket this route. But he just needs to know how to do it.

/gold

[jjshabado]

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I understand what all of you are saying, and I agree with you. But the title of his thread isn't "Help! I need advice! My employees are surfing the net, ahhhh!".

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You're right! His title asks for help restricting IE, but many of you took it upon yourselves to answer the broader problem of restricting complete access to external sites. (Not to mention that the first sentence of the OP is him saying that his problem is employees using the internet)

I made a comment about the still broader question of wether this is really what he wants to do. These forums would be ridiculously stupid if threads didn't grow and expand off original posts.

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He specifically asked a question, and I know if it was me, I would just want a straight answer to what I asked.

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Yup, and other people already did a better job then I could of answering the direct question.

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Most likely he has already talked with, if not them, other management about what to do and they picket this route. But he just needs to know how to do it.

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Maybe, but maybe not. Sounds like it could easily be a small operation. And I actually do feel strongly that this is a very bad approach to take in general to the problem of employees wasting time surfing the web. But I will freely admit that there may be circumstances that have forced the OP into using this approach.

[goldtoes]

thanks for the replies guys. but now that OP isn't coming back I am going to stop checking this thread. I agree with everything you say and it seems we all agree on the same stuff!

so OP, let us know how it goes. most likely you don't do what any of use recommended anyways.

/gold