&!%*@!!!! Websense blocks FSNavigator Site

[Guest victorwest]

We've got something called Websense here at work. It blocks us from viewing any unsuitable (or what the company deems unsuitable!) sites. I've thought at various times that I really should look into getting FSNavigator so I decided to have another look this lunchtime. Tried to access the site...."Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time. Reason: The Websense category "spyware" is filtered. URL: http://www.fsnavigator.com/"How ridiculous!! If I could get hold of Mr Websense I'd give him a piece of my mind!!! :-mad I'll just have to wait until tonight then.Victor

[dseagrav 0]

Why not, uh, you know, WORK at work, instead of wasting your employer's time on the Internet?

[victorwest2 0]

>Why not, uh, you know, WORK at work, instead of wasting your>employer's time on the Internet?>So which part of "so I decided to have another look this lunchtime" didn't you understand then? :(

[dseagrav 0]

The part I didn't read. (:() My bad.Where I work, we have an Internet policy that forbids non-work access at all hours. You aren't allowed to goof off, even during breaks or lunches. This is because we had to pay out almost a million dollars in legal fees and settlement because one of our ex-employees was running one of those music-stealing programs on his work PC after hours and the corporate IT team didn't figure it out before they were served with a lawsuit. It would have been a PR disaster (we are an IT school) so they had to settle out of court, and it wasn't cheap. Now the policy has things locked up tight with a zero-tolerance policy toward any misbehaviour.

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

So, am I to conclude that Websense does allow access to AVSIM?

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I helped test Websense when we implemented it on our WAN about four years ago. It has never blocked Avsim, although for a period of time it blocked Flightsim.com. The most recent updates removed the blocking on Flightsim.com. Odd sites remain blocked--ProjectOpensky.com is one site that comes to mind. But the forums there aren't blocked. I believe Websense examines each site for certain buzzwords, patterns and possibly even links. The word "Game" prevalent on a site vs. "Simulation" may be one, but I am not up to speed on how Websense works any more since I started spending most of my time in App Development.-John

[Guest GeekyFreq]

Victor,Have you tried asking your IT department? I work in IT as an IT systems security and capacity manager, and part of my job is to configure web and email filters. I don't use the same product as you mentioned, but I'm sure it could be configured to ignore the URL when it's filtering sites etc.Regards,

[Guest Erick_Cantu]

Edited by forum moderator.The language in the link was too offensive for some members here. Please keep in mind we have visitors here from age eight to eighty.-JC

[Guest DNelson]

I thought Websense could be customized by each company using it, but maybe not, since my experience has always been the same as John's. Avsim has always been fine. Flightsim had been blocked several years ago but has been accessable lately. I've noticed that many sites with "driver" in the URL are blocked (driverheaven.net, omegadrivers.net), which is a mystery to me. Corporate users need drivers too.

[Guest victorwest]

As FSNavigator is not work related I do not think it would be any use having a word with my IT department. As others have mentioned, I've never had a problem with Avsim but Flightsim was blocked under "games" until recently. It just annoys me that a legitimate site is blocked for being "spyware". If I were in charge of the FSNavigator site I would not be happy about this at all.Victor

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!Avsim was restricted from the libraries in the Lehigh Valley PA USA, but I put in a request for an evaluation in Allentown. I think the problem was more fear of child molesters than spyware that they had it restricted just because it was a message board. When they saw the excellent moderation, I guess they gave it an exception. No problem now, apparently they coordinate or something cuz now it works in Northampton and Slatington too. That's where I am now.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

[ShezA 176]

I wonder if it blocks sites worthy of being blocked like FS Planet. Why I say this is that I just noticed a bunch of files at FSPlanet (including my KBUR) which I know were not uploaded to other websites and have suddenly appeared at FS Planet. Oh well nothing can be done anyway...very annoying.Shez

[Guest victorwest]

Well someone must have had a word with the Websense people because I can now access it this lunchtime.Victor