Part Two is all about locking down Internet Explorer so it can only connect to the Internet through the Privoxy server and thus only able to access the websites you want. Then, we’ll look at ways of securing that connection so that people can’t circumvent it so easily. I’ll be working with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) on my Windows XP Home computer. However, the principles should also apply to Vista and Internet Explorer 8. They do work on XP Pro and IE6 as well.

Step One: Force the Connection in IE7

Open up IE7 and look for the Tools button near the top right-hand side. Click on it, then on Internet Options.

The Internet Options window will open. Click on the  Connections tab. Once you are in the Connections area, you’ll see a button at the bottom of the window called LAN Settings. Go ahead and click on that.

The Local Area Network (LAN) Settings window opens. This is where we will set the IP address and port number so it only connects to Privoxy. When you get to this window, the check box labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN… will be unchecked. Put a check-mark in it. It should already be set to the correct IP address and port, which is 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. Click OK to return to the Connections window.

NOTE: If there is anything listed in the Dial-Up and Virtual Private Network setting box, simply select it, click on the Settings button and set it to use the proxy server, just like you did for the LAN. This is especially useful if your user can connect with a cellular card, satellite Internet, or dial-up connection. Do this for each connection listed.

Now IE7 will connect only through the Privoxy server and will only access the sites on your white list. Let’s do some things to keep it that way.

Step Three: Edit the Registry

You read that right, we’re editing the registry to prevent others from removing your settings from Internet Explorer. We are going there. As always, don’t go in the registry unless you feel confident, and always back up your registry before making changes. I think I have to say that by law. So now that’s over with, let’s move on.

Click on the Start button and then on the Run icon in the start menu.

The Run application will open. Type in the command regedit and click OK.

The Registry Editor will open. Time to make the backup! Click on File > Export.

Name the file with something meaningful. You could use today’s date so you know when the back up was made. Click Save to, well… Save it.

Let’s make some changes.

We’re going to do this through a .reg file that we can merge with the registry. Sounds crazy, but it works. To write a .reg file, open up Notepad.

Now, copy and paste the following lines in exactly as they read:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftInternet ExplorerControl Panel]
“ConnectionsTab”=dword:00000001
“Connection Settings”=dword:00000001
“Connection Wizard”=dword:00000001

By setting the dword value to 00000001, you are telling the registry that, yes, you want to restrict access to the Connections Tab, Connection Settings and the Connection Wizard.

Now that you have that in your Notepad file, you need to save it as a .reg file. I suggest saving the file to your Desktop for ease of finding when you are done. Here’s what you need to do when you save it: name the file something good like disable_connections.reg

Seriously, we’re almost done. Find the disable_connections.reg file you’ve just saved. Right-click on it and click Merge.

You’ll be asked if that’s what you really want to do. It’s up to you, but if you’ve come this far, you might as well commit. Click Yes.

The Registry Editor is kind enough to let you know that the merge is done. Why don’t we thank it by clicking OK? That’s nice, isn’t it?

Just to make sure it worked and I’m not lying to you, open up IE7, click on Tools > Internet Options. Look! No Connections tab!

Try going to a few sites that aren’t on your white list to test it. Then try going on a few sites that are on your white list. It should work.

I hope this tutorial has sparked some interest in using this to increase your information security. There’s much more that you can do with Privoxy and the registry to enforce compliance to your Internet Acceptable Use Policy.

Yes, there are ways around what I just showed you, such as using Portable Firefox, but that can be disabled in the registry too. But, as they say — that’s another story.

Let us know if this worked for you. Or if you know any other cool, free software ways to control Internet access. That’s what the comments are for!

Image credit: delboy74

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 1] (6)
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I developed this system to deal with remote clients accessing non-work related websites via cellular-based Internet access. If your company has the means to implement a VPN, or to work with your service provider on a solution, that’s probably the best way to go. For small and medium sized business, this works just fine.

Part One: Implement Privoxy on Your Server

Privoxy is an open source proxy server that can help you control what your users connect to on the Internet. Since it is free for personal or corporate use, the documentation is somewhat limited, but that’s what this article is for. Go ahead and download Privoxy. I’m working on Windows XP, but this tutorial should be useful for other operating systems.

Step One: Install Privoxy

Once you have the Privoxy installer downloaded, find it and double-click on it to begin the installation.

First, you will see a screen with a warning. Read it carefully and click Next if it seems right to do so.

Next, you’ll encounter the Installation Options window, asking you what options you would like with your Privoxy. Want fries with that? By default, all three options are checked. There is no need to change them. Click Next, please.

Now, the Privoxy Setup will ask where you would like the program installed. I use the default location.

Once installed, you’ll see the final screen. Click OK, you know you want to.

That’s the installation part of setting up Privoxy. Now let’s move on to using Privoxy as a White List Proxy Server

Step Two: Configure Privoxy Server to Restrict Access To Websites You Trust

Yep, seems like a lot. Hang in there, sunshine. Once the installation is complete, Privoxy should open up a window that resembles Notepad more than a program. Click on Options > Edit Main Configuration.Now, Notepad will in fact open. It’ll be a configuration file in which you’ll need to change a few lines. The changes are simple to make, don’t panic. You can do it.

The first thing we need to change is the trustfile variable. Scroll down to 2.7. trustfile. Scroll down a little futher until you see the line #trustfile trust.txt. Just delete the pound sign (#) at the front of this line. Now save the document. We’ll come back to this in Step 3.

Now, look for the line that reads 4.1. listen-address. Scroll down a bit further from there and find listen-address  127.0.0.1:8118. That is your IP address and the port that Privoxy will listen for traffic on. If you are using this in your home, it’s probably best to leave it as it is. In the workplace, you want the IP address to be the static IP of your server. Once you have your IP address and port set, save the document.

Step 3: Set Up Your Trust List

To do this, you need to navigate to the trust.txt file. You’ll find that by opening your Start menu. Go to All Programs > Privoxy > Edit Config and click on Trust list. Yep, another Notepad file.

Look for the line that reads ~config.privoxy.org. This is where you start adding the sites you want whitelisted. If you put a tilde (~) in front of a domain name, Privoxy will allow access to only that domain. If you put a plus sign (+) in front of the domain, Privoxy will allow access to that domain as well as any domains to which that one refers.

Here’s a sample:

+guymcdowell.com will allow you to access guymcdowell.com and any sites linked to from it.
~makeuseof.com will allow you to access only makeuseof.com.

This can get tricky since some sites are dependent on subdomains to function. Hotmail is a good example of this. So, you may need to add few entries such as:
+*.hotmail.com – Allows you to access such things as mail.hotmail.com, blah.hotmail.com and more. How? Because the asterisk (*) is a wildcard character. Sneaky, huh?

So sit down and reflect upon what websites a person really needs to access to get their work done. Make a list and enter it in the trust.txt file accordingly. Remember to save the file as well.

That’s how you set up Privoxy as a whitelist proxy server. Stay tuned for Part Two where I show you how to force Internet Explorer to only use the Privoxy server as its gateway to the Internet, and make it very difficult to circumvent. We get into the registry! Super cool!

Are you totally confused or do you have any questions? Are you familiar with any better tool to restrict access to websites on your network or home PC? Go on and shoot them into the comments!

Image credit: delboy74

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• How To Restrict Access to Websites with Privoxy [Part 2] (11)
• OpenDNS Works As A Great Free Web Content Filtering Solution (19)
• One Network Admin’s Tool to Rule Them All (13)
• Monitor Log Files In Real Time With BareTail (Windows Only) (6)
• Measure Wi-Fi Signal Strength at Your Home with HeatMapper (6)

XeroBank

The xB Browser is a whole web browser based on FireFox portable. It routes you via the Tor network. The down side? The Tor Network can be a bit slow and unreliable, but for the most part it looks and works just like a regular FireFox portable installation. It deletes all traces after exit. XeroBank also offers a monthly plan for their private, faster network.

We covered XeroBank in more detail here.  [Windows]

UltraSurf

This has recently become my favorite software tool for bypassing blocked web sites. UltraSurf is seriously one of the best tools for the job. There is no install, so download the “exe” file onto a USB drive and run it whenever you need it.

When you open it up, it will open Internet Explorer with the UltraSurf homepage. From there the web is your oyster.

But why do I like it so much? First of all, it’s fast, it routes you through a possible three servers so you get highly reliable speeds. Second, it uses IE which is what you have if you’re on IT lockdown, so it doesn’t look suspicious and you don’t need to have two different browsers open at the same time. Also, since it uses your existing browser, things like Flash and Java will work like normal. Once you close UltraSurf it will erase your history and cookies. [Windows]

Remote Access

I wrote about remote access earlier, but it also works great for bypassing blocked sites. Simply log on to your home computer with LogMeIn’s Java viewer or whatever else you use and browse the internet from your own computer! It might lag a bit, but it works great! You can also use any software on your computer, too.

WebToMail

This one is interesting. If you have access to email, you have access to WebToMail. Just send an email to send@webtomail.co.cc with the URL as the subject and wait a few minutes and you’ll get an email with the web page. Unfortunately, it won’t work with sites that you need to login to, or websites with Flash or Java, but works with most other pages.

Bypass Firewalls using Proxies

There are literally thousands of proxy sites on the web. There are also sits that list proxy servers. Fact: 99.9% of them are blocked and the rest are going to be blocked by any decent filtering software. So you can host your own proxy with software like Glype proxy but for the most part they really don’t work too well.

These are some of the best ways to bypass websites that have been censored or blocked. But how do you bypass blocked websites?  Have I missed the best?  What do you think?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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• Proxy Servers: “Seriously baby, I’m on the beach in Jamaica!” (13)