We all hate to attempt to access a website only to get that annoying "This Page is Blocked by Websense" or other similar website filtering programs when attempting to access such sites at work, school, universities, libraries, or the office. When I myself was faced with such a problem, I looked long and hard for ways around the hated Websense block. These are the Top 4 Methods that I have used and taught others how to circumvent these annoying filters.
Sites most typically blocked include many or all of the following:
Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, eBay, Blogger Blogs, You Tube, TypePad, Orkut, Pandora, PhotoBucket, Flicker, last.fm, sports sites, gaming sites, and many more. Hell, at my job they even block recipe sites!
So down to the Super Secret Tips and Tricks I Use to Get Around Websense.
#1)
Ultrasurf - This amazing little program can be found at
http://www.ultrareach.com/, but most likely that site will be blocked by Websense, etc. because most programs will block this site as it falls in the proxy / avoidance category. So do a search for it and try link after link until you can download it from an unblocked site. I myself have found that I could download while at work from
Major Geeks. This is a stand alone proxy program, just run it and wait for it to connect, then minimize it. Be sure to go to options and "Hide the Golden Lock" so that it disappears from the corner of your screen and you are now able to go anywhere and do whatever anonymously and leave no trace in your browser's history!
This is the best program I have found due to its simplicity, ease of use, and reliability. While using it, always choose "do not update to new version" upon startup as this can crash your program and force a redownload. Upon exiting it always choose "Keep IE and close" for the same reason. While using this program, somes sites may not appear instantly, just be patient and learn to use the F5 function key and reload the page. This program is safe, secure, and a stealthly invisible proxy to avoid all those annoying restricting programs. I also recommend changing the folder name to something less obvious and to bury it deep in some other folders so that it won't be easily stumbled upon, if you are sharing a computer terminal.
If you cannot find a website to download from on the restricted computer, then here is another option. Purchase one of the very inexpensive
Portable Flash Drives and download the Ultra-surf program from home. Then like a stealthy ninja, sneak it onto your computer
, or just access it from your Flash Drive for even more security. Portable Flash Drives are very cheap and are under $20 and even as low as $6.
#2)
Google Cache - This is a nice little trick that I learned before I found out about Ultrasurf. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't it just depends on the website and your restriction levels. All you do is attempt to go to the site you want to navigate to. Then, if it is blocked, the blocking program will list the full url of the site and say that this site is blocked. Copy and paste that full url into the search engine at google.com. When the results pull up, click on the little colored - "Cache" button. Sometimes you can access the snapshot of the page that google takes every few minutes. You will not be able to click on any links, but you can see the snapshot of the page that was stored by google. Test it out, if you don't want to use the proxy route.
#3)
Google Reader - If google reader is not blocked, then this is an awesome way to be able to view your favorite pages that are updated regularly. Just create your google reader account and add all your favorites pages and blogs into your subscriptions. Then every time one of those pages is updated, it will appear in your google reader viewer. This one is an excellent option for those of you that are into reading blogs daily like I am.
#4)
Sports Reader Option - Many companies block sites that are in the sports categories like mlb.com, espn.com, nfl.com, and cbssportsline.com. These sites are tagged as "Sports", so they are easily restricted. Here is another option that could work for you. Go to your team's city news page or newspaper Site. These sites are labelled as "News" and are often not blocked. Example:
I can't log into mlb.com, but if I want to check the scores and wrap-ups on the Phillies baseball games, all I have to do is go to Philly.com and click on the sports tab and I've successfully thwarted another attempt to censor what I can and can't read at work!
So I hope this article has been a great help to you. Enjoy your secret knowledge and continue to thwart the man trying to keep you down!
