Jul262012

How can I circumvent restriction on Internet at my office?

Ras Magombe Steven asks:

The Internet at my office has been configured not to allow downloads using Internet Download Manager, Bit Torrent etc, it even blocks some websites. How can I get around this?


Browser: Firefox 12
System: Windows
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14 Answers -

0 votes

Bruce Epper

July 27, 2012

Talk to the IT department about removing these restrictions. Who knows, if you have a strong enough BUSINESS case for it, they may loosen the restrictions.

0 votes

hamad3914

July 27, 2012

You can ask the IT department in case you are needing it for a business purpose, other than that it is almost impossible because all internet traffic goes through a core switch which is most probably configured to block such programs and and unless you can get administrator access to the core switch (which is again close to impossible) you cannot allow as ports have been blocked. Also the Firewall is a wall which prevents such connections.

You can try to use ‘Tor’ and see if you can establish a VPN or a tunnel you may be able to establish a to download using a download accelerator.

Or you can try a firefox add-on which is un-blocked in most places. The add on is “DownthemAll”

0 votes

wayne hom

July 27, 2012

You can’t. You would need access to your internet server and/or firewall hardware in order to get access through normal channels.

If you can talk to your IT department, there could be workarounds that can be established.

1. IT could establish a separate internet connection. This would require you to disconnect from the regular network to use the “open” connection.

2. IT could establish a separate internet connection through wireless. You can set up a wireless connection on your computer (through built-in laptop wireless, or desktop USB wireless adapter), and you could keep both connections.

3. See if there’s a wireless signal from next door that you could jump onto.

Any of these options though may not be allowed by IT due to security issues. The reason for blocking downloads is to avoid virus/spyware infections, so if they already set this up, they’ve already made up their minds.

Just be ready with a very good business justification.

Otherwise, best to just download everything you need at home, and bring it in on a flash drive. Nothing is that urgent.

0 votes

Suman Acharya

July 27, 2012

why would they restrict if they were willing to give you permission for this. you may be thinking of trying to download personal stuffs…
i don’t think they would allow!!!

0 votes

Jonas Nordgren

July 27, 2012

have you tried a proxy site? you can use https://www.kproxy.com if downloading works through that, great. as for torrents they may have blocked the program, try a different client, (vuze, utorrent,) lol good luck ^^

0 votes

danielooi

July 27, 2012

hidemyass.com

danielooi

there is many proxy server out there… you can even try VPN software

July 27, 2012
0 votes

Declan Bullock

July 27, 2012

They’re probably using some DNS server like openDNS to block certain websites. It depends on how far you want to go… What I would do is (depending on whether you can install software yourself), either A) install a VPN client or B) install a VPN client in another OS like Ubuntu that you can boot from a USB drive. As far as I know that should both ‘unlock’ the blocked websites and for option B, would leave no trace.

0 votes

Praveen Kumar

July 28, 2012

Not possible??? Can’t be hacked???

0 votes

Kaashif Haja

August 15, 2012

Try torbrowser:
http://www.torproject.org.in/projects/torbrowser.html.en

It automatically sets a working proxy.
Don’t enter your details when you visit a website which requires log in.

0 votes

ras magombe

August 22, 2012

thanks all for your answers, have tried most of the options but no luck. its no big deal though as i wanted to use for personal stuff.

0 votes

venkatp16

August 26, 2012

This will be a bit difficult. In earlier days there were many proxy sites which will provide the acess indirectly. Now there are many tools which will block all these kind of ways . So better talk to network guys and check if they can allow.

0 votes

Alex Perkins

September 13, 2012

You could use a proxy to circumvent the blocked websites, but some admins block any page that has the word “Proxy” in it, including web searches.

0 votes

Umair Adil

October 3, 2012

You can use change the router settings to enable internet connection only on your PC.

0 votes

Freud Iomc

October 27, 2012

FWIW, IT departments put policies in place for a reason… stuff on the outside is kept outside for security reasons. You may proceed in trying this if you must, but if you succeed, you could very well find HR outside your cube, ready to escort you to the door.