Using Different Internet Browsers in ITB

donfarrell · 13-09-2011 11:46am #1

As you probably know we are forced to use IE which can be a pain in the hole but found a way to get around it, can I publish how on this so people can have the choice?

brendanL · 13-09-2011 12:13pm

found a way??? lol... compsci students been using other browsers for a long time my friend.

donfarrell · 13-09-2011 12:46pm

Ok to clarify, they blocked firefox and chrome and proxy sites this year and I know how to get around the security for the aul joe somebody who probably doesnt know how to

13-09-2011 1:43pm

Sure just publish it. Why would it be against rules? This is not a college forum. Might be against forum rules, but I doubt it...

brendanL · 13-09-2011 1:54pm

well you can still download chrome/firefox over the wireless.. and my firefox on my x drive still works... also.. so does installing either on a flash drive... unless you mean they literally blocked the sites where you download them.. I haven't noticed a difference.. I'd go ahead and post.. if it's too risque then a mod... -cough- konfusion -cough- will chop it out

13-09-2011 1:56pm

brendanL wrote: »

well you can still download chrome/firefox over the wireless.. and my firefox on my x drive still works... also.. so does installing either on a flash drive... unless you mean they literally blocked the sites where you download them.. I haven't noticed a difference.. I'd go ahead and post.. if it's too risque then a mod... -cough- konfusion -cough- will chop it out

My Firefox on the X drive didn't work yesterday. Only tried to open Google, didn't load, so I forgot about it.

brendanL · 13-09-2011 1:59pm

Odd my chrome worked.. only used it for about 10 seconds to check emails / play with win7. I'll check it again tomorrow.

MobyDick · 13-09-2011 2:02pm

Can you not just use something like Opera@USB on a usb stick?

brendanL · 13-09-2011 2:10pm

well I didn't check the usb variant..but I would find it unlikely that itb is checking every packet to see if the request was coming from IE or not. That would just be too much of an overhead.. so having not deffinately tried the usb stick method this year yet.. I'd still say it's more then likely that the usb option still works.

KonFusion · 14-09-2011 12:43pm

I believed they have simply blocked downloading .exe's and various other file types (like flipping pdf's for flip sake!!! PDF'S!!! :mad:)

Or maybe the firewall is just a set a bit mental for the next week or 2 while all the students settle in.

Therefore since if you bring in chrome or firefox on a USB stick they should work fine, and once you're not bypassing any firewall or the like, it's not against college rules, or the rules of this forum. Discussing how to get past firewalls etc would not be allowed as a general rule of thumb. /tips mod hat

As for chrome not working, chrome (unlike firefox) seems to take forever to detect the proxy settings, so it may just appear to not work, however after 5-10 mins it should.

I'll do some testing with the various browsers etc and post up my results here of what works and what won't.

Also, if someone could pm me contact info for the IT guys(Brendan?), I'll contact them and see what the craic is.

Also, as a side note, facebook seems to be blocked (rather poorly I might add as "www.facebook.com" will be denied, however "facebook.com" won't be?), however viewing facebook in https rather than http means you can view it. Whether this is intentional as https would have better security, or whether it's a loop hole the IT guys didn't realise when they were blocking domains is another matter. I will email for confirmation (or maybe I won't in case they block both, haha).

TLDR: No discussing how to bypass ITB firewalls/security, apart from that post away. I'd also prefer if people PM'd me in future if they were unsure about the rules regarding a topic/thread, BEFORE starting said thread :P

Using Different Internet Browsers in ITB

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