How can my work spy on me?


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i'm running win98, i'm connected through a network to a server, which is running 2k pro i believe.

what can they see and what can't they see? can they see specific website data, or just that there is activity? is there any way they can see what's on my screen, or does there have to be some type of software running on my computer (i don't see any). just curious...

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im quite sure they can see your internet history, at least my work could. Also My Uni library had a program called "Big brother" which actually allowed them to see what was on display on EVERY monitor in the room, when i told them it was an invasion of each others rights and wasnt mentioned in the user agreement signed they pretty much told me to f off. ******s.

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lol, yeah i'm pretty sure it's possible for them to be watching you, just don't be getting in to naughty stuff, alright ;) also, get a firewall.

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They can monitor your emails, webhistory, temp internet files etc quite easily as your profile is going to syncronise with the server (if your using group profiles - which wud mean you have to login)

We monitor clients at work and we can use pcAnywhere to see what they're doing if we want to but we just use it instead of getting off our arse's and walking to the machine. Can't do it on windows98 though - not with pcAnywhere anyways...

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I don't think most works permit installing a firewall on a single machine, i may be wrong but i wasnt allowed to install any software that wasnt directly related to improving my work capacity on the machine... i did get away with having SOF2 installed for like 5 months though ;)

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hmm, interesting. does anyone know what kind of software allows them to do this? they don't spend a lot on computers, i doubt they have anything fancy...

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They can see what websites your visiting. I doubt they can see your exact desktop without you noticing in some way.

Oh no, you can view someone's desktop without them knowing it. At my previous employer, we used VNC for remote usage; we had a "hacked" (or modified) version of the taskbar icon that didn't turn black when we connected to the desktop (the normal version would turn black when someone connected to you).

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If they have it setup correctly - they can see every site you go to, every program you have installed/ran, every file you have looked at - and if wanted, what is on your screen at any time. Is it your machine - or works machine? If works, and your at work - and your working, who cares?

HPMcomm - suggest he get a firewall?? Highly doubt that would be allowed for a user to configure his own firewall on a WORK owned machine ;) Sure wouldn't happen on any of my users machines.

Every company has different rules - but if its their hardware, their network - they should have every right to make sure your working, when your suppose to be working. All machines at my company has a notice when you log in that anything and everything on this machine is owned by the company, etc.. etc... And is to be used for company business only, etc..

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They can monitor your emails, webhistory, temp internet files etc quite easily as your profile is going to syncronise with the server (if your using group profiles - which wud mean you have to login)

We monitor clients at work and we can use pcAnywhere to see what they're doing if we want to but we just use it instead of getting off our arse's and walking to the machine.? Can't do it on windows98 though - not with pcAnywhere anyways...

Also, we could tell what machines connected to what websites via the firewall logs, so clearing out your browser cache, deleting the cookies, etc. wouldn't do you any good. The only way you could destroy the evidence would be to destroy the firewall (good luck). Also, we used Websense, which was a filtering proxy, that also kept logs of who tried to access the forbidden websites.

Your best bet is to just not play around. These days, it's not worth getting caught because alot of employers warn you up front about inappropriate usage of systems that belong to them (it's their right to do so) and can terminate you for 1 infraction of that (because you were warned up front).

Not to mention that you're getting paid for doing a job, I seriously doubt that non-work related websurfing is a part of that.....

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If they have it setup correctly - they can see every site you go to, every program you have installed/ran, every file you have looked at - and if wanted, what is on your screen at any time. Is it your machine - or works machine? If works, and your at work - and your working, who cares?

HPMcomm - suggest he get a firewall?? Highly doubt that would be allowed for a user to configure his own firewall on a WORK owned machine ;) Sure wouldn't happen on any of my users machines.

Every company has different rules - but if its their hardware, their network - they should have every right to make sure your working, when your suppose to be working. All machines at my company has a notice when you log in that anything and everything on this machine is owned by the company, etc.. etc... And is to be used for company business only, etc..

budman: it's work's machine, and i understand that it's their right and all, i was just curious. i prolly do a little more surfing than i should, but so do the bosses, and they haven't said anything yet. if i get fired, oh well, this job sucks :p

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Exactly - they could be watching every keystroke you make, if they wanted. Does not mean they are. And I would hope you would atleast get warned - if your spending too much time on personal websites, etc.. Before they walk into your office and say seeya!

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Thats the spirit. :)

haha, isn't it?

i have to print out so much crap, so would i rather sit and watch the ink on the paper dry, or surf neowin a little? no harm in that i say, i still get my work done.

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If they have it setup correctly - they can see every site you go to, every program you have installed/ran, every file you have looked at - and if wanted, what is on your screen at any time.  Is it your machine - or works machine?  If works, and your at work - and your working, who cares?

HPMcomm - suggest he get a firewall??  Highly doubt that would be allowed for a user to configure his own firewall on a WORK owned machine ;)  Sure wouldn't happen on any of my users machines.

Every company has different rules - but if its their hardware, their network - they should have every right to make sure your working, when your suppose to be working.  All machines at my company has a notice when you log in that anything and everything on this machine is owned by the company, etc.. etc...  And is to be used for company business only, etc..

Amen to that. I used to be Internet/network co-ordinator for a company here, the number of people who thought the computer they used in the office was their own personal property was unbelievable. You only had to walk around to see people installing their own software etc. In the end it got that bad that we locked down all the PCs so that only admins could install software etc. We even had to disable floppy/CD drives in most cases (unless they could prove that they actually needed it for their work, which obviously most people couldn't) It was a long job, but it cut the number of helpdesk calls by around 3/4 .. Quite a lot in anybody's books, especially when we were on a WAN that stretched throughout the whole of the Northwest right up to cumbria, and including some parts of South Wales.

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At my work, i actually have to do the monitoring. :D

Its easier than you all make it out to be. I just install a copy of RADMIN (Remote Administrator 2.1) and hide the tray icon (believe it or not there is an option to hide it). The users dont even know its there (until they get caught and fired). The program allows you to view whatever is on the remote computers screen in real time. I have had a couple users suspect things and end all tasks on the PC, but i have a way to get into their PC and restart the service remotely. Also, if your company is smart they have a filter on their firewall that records all incoming and outgoing internet requests, even if they are not successful. This is called AUDITING! Most companies do it...

Oh i forgot, RADMIN also lets you view the entire contents of a users hard drive and/or gives you telnet access... It's 100x faster and better than pcAnywhere or VNC.

NO ONE IS SAFE!!!

P.S. Radmin also has good uses, i use it to remote into my home machine and get info or check e-mail when i need to and i'm not home.

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We can see every single thing you do / run / store.

Interestingly, certain elements are legally considered the users property, as far as privicy goes.

For example, you'd be suprised to learn that looking inside an employees home area on a file store is actually illegal without the correct authorisation (in the UK). Crazy, but true.

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Actually you would see r_server.exe in the task list. BUT, there is a way to hide that as well... you cant ALWAYS see whats running in the task list in Win9x and in 2000/XP you can limit users so they cannot end tasks. They wont know what r_server.exe is if they see it in 2000/XP, and if they do, you can rename it to something that sounds convincing, like v_scan.exe or system_service.exe...

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Oh yea, i forgot to mention. RADMIN 3.0 is coming out soon with LOADS of new features, including remote printing to YOUR printer and blanking the screen of the remote pc so they cannot see what you are doing... :D

I cannot wait for the new version! I use this software 24/7.

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Yes, and no...

Remote desktop allows you to remotely control a PC, but not monitor a without the user knowing. AND he mentioned he had windows 98, not XP...

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You can monitor everything you need to monitor via the admin shares, access to the registry, and remote access via mmc's. There is no need to 'see' the desktop to monitor a users activity, unless your a typical windows monkey ;)

There is no 'yes and no'. We do it, all the time.

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