Okay, I mixed it up with the TV station, LOL...it is CA antivirus LOL.

Oh and I didn't even think about trying it in safe mode...I will do that when I get home. I am thinking she got the adware from some stupid myspace codes site. Popups come up all the time, it is ridiculous!

Ahhh...well that makes much more sense! Computer Associates. You should be able to remove it in safe mode. If not, just give me the breakdown here and I'll see what I can do.

Since you are doling out free computer advice, I wish you would tell me how to disable surf control. I am probably screwed since it is a corporate thing but if there was a way I would love to know how!

Do you always connect to the internet through a corporate network? If you are going through them then surf control is installed on a server within the corporate LAN. You can't actually disable it per say being it is not on your computer. You request an object on the internet, it matches that object to a list of blocked sites and denies you access. You are going through them and they control the door to the internet. It is like being at a bar with just one entrance and there is a bouncer deciding who gets in.

There are complex solutions (like having a friend that is not blocked add third party software (a circumventor) and your website requests go to them and then on to the blocked site, but I think that is beyond the scope of the question.) Also there are proxies that can be used, but again the complexity level rises and good administrators are quick to expand the list of known sites used for circumvention.

If you are surfing from your own internet connection and are still not able to go where you want, then there is more then likely a client application installed on your laptop that is restricting access. If that is the case, something could be done to get around the access control by removing the offending software.

The weird thing is that my husband now has a work laptop and the IS guy came over and put his computer on my modem and he does not have surf control on his, so it must be installed on my computer. I have surf control when I am on the road in a hotel too. I have not sent my computer to corporate in about six months so the surf control must have been sent via VPN. I have not talked to my co-workers about surf control, it is something that a corporate office installs right? I just want to make sure I did not pick it up somewhere and not know it.

Well, if you are using the VPN to connect to the internet then you are going through your corporate server and then out to the internet. Is that the case?

Everything I read about SurfControl tells me it is installed on a server and not on client machines.



Looking at this diagram, you can see that using VPN you connect to the corporate network and then back out to the internet. This allows them to filter and track your actions, and create reports on your daily internet usage.

Are you serious?????? I had no idea they create reports on usage, that sucks but not surprising considering the ethics changes since Koslowski the crook stole 460 million from our company. There have been all kinds of changes.

I do not connect to the VPN to use the internet, just to access outlook and the contract system to write pricing for customers. So would a report be sent up to corporate when I connect to the VPN or could they track me on the regular internet?

Lots of reports. That used to be my job. Even came with screenshots that were taken so you can see exactly what people were typing. At my last company I actually helped set up a system where much like a security camera setup, an administer could sit in front of a bank of monitors and watch people's desktops in the IT room (8 at a time.) They would randomly flip by and if you saw something that was "of interest" you could pause and view. Also, every time they picked up the phone it would record their desktop and what they were saying on the phone....

Don't even get into IM clients. All recorded and scanned for "keywords" that would alert administration.

Ok...how about this: HOW do you connect to the internet at home. AOL? Road Runner? Municipal Wireless?

...and don't say, "I click on that dial up VPN thingy icon." as we have already covered where that leads.