merlin

Anyone know a good IM client that can get through firewalls at work...?

MSN IM was blocked long ago. Yahoo IM used to work by switching to the client meant for another country such as Singapore. Now those IP address have been blocked too. Also tried Trillian using port 80 to one of the yahoo hosts. That worked for a while but now even that has been blocked... help...

mega_stream

You might get away using ICQ over standard http ports.

ChrisB

http://go.icq.com/ any good?

Trotty

Do you know the type of firewall?

We've had hours of fun trying to get MSN working through ISA Server - bloody impossible!

MrDeference

If you want MSN Messenger though ISA, use the firewall client. All the filters (MSN/AOL/etc) required are installed by default, you just need the client to inform ISA about the ports dynamic ports etc, plus take care of the H323 call setup. Then it should work out of the box.

Most of the companies will be locking down the server IP addresses, rather than blocking ports as most of the chat clients do P80 tunnelling now.
As such, you would be better off trying to make a business case for its use and get your corporate firewall policy changed, rather than have both you and your IS dept waste time chasing each other around in circles.

Jeff Wiltshire

I would suggest that you check your employment contract before attempting to bypass a Corporate Firewall....

People get fired in some companies....

I'm assuming that your not the Firewall admin



Jeff

Trotty

MrDeference - yup, your right in what your saying. According to M$, the right filters are installed by default and I'm using the Firewall Client but with no luck at all. I also found some information regarding additional packet filter setups at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q277812&
but it still doesn't work.

You also need to add the Messenger executable to the Application Settings tab and set it to give the external IP address rather than your internal one (which it can't do).

I've tried all the above and it still wont work!

Ah well, never mind eh!

Ian

MrDeference

When it works out of the box it's great. When you spend days banging your head on a monitor, it isn't.
Being far from an expert, I can't offer any advice, just empathy

vmax

It's not worth the trouble, Jeff is right You could be dismissed. I assume you have signed a AUP for internet access.

In fact you might be in trouble already just by installing IM clients.

snowcrash

http://www.trillian.cc

merlin

Thanks guys for all the replies. http://go.icq.com/ is working at the moment. Hopefully admin won't block that one too quickly.

Maybe someone can explain why using IM at work is such a big issue assuming you only use it during your own time over lunch. What is the difference between having a chat with someone online and surfing scoobynet? I don't hear any complaints about smokers who in my company seem to spend most of their time in the car park chatting away to fellow smokers. I also read something recently that many white collar workers are more productive if the boss is more relaxed about what people do with their time at work.

DominicA

Trotty, we use ISA and MSM here no probs....

DominicA

r u running ISA in integrated mode (firewall and cache) ??

DominicA

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q309347

any help?

Jeff Wiltshire

Merlin

There are security issues with using a IM....So this presents 2 problems.....one is that you may get hacked or have a virus having knowingly broken the AUP/Security Policy (possible a criminal offence under the computer misuse act) and the other is your misuse of company equipment/company time for personal use.

If you are working in a major corporate you may be seeing a P45 sooner than you would like.....

Jeff

Foot_Tapper

Merlin, the firewalls are obviously set up to block certain
ports. The policy for computer use/misuse is sometimes strictly enforced. Obviously depends on company. If you were to attempt to
hack from inside, you may as well put your notice in.
The network/security admin staff can easily monitor firewall
transgression attempts, and trace to your user account or IP address. There may be just a technical reason why you cannot use
IM from yahoo etc. But to most large corps this is a great sec risk, as you can also file transfer company data etc etc.

MrDeference

Merlin,
It isn't a big issue for most people. But then some bosses time how long employees spend in the toilet.
Most decision makers don't understand computers, and as such IS guys know their butt is on the line if anyone gets in. They will be as zealous as possible, and get rid of any non-critical functions.
Really, there is very little sense of balance unless you work in a technology company where the bosses understand computers and all the employees can be trusted to drive a computer competently.

MarkO

Yeah, but do you? Most people like IM software because it allows them to chat to their mates all day with impunity - since it looks like they're being productive. MSN even has a 'boss-key'.

There is a difference. It's possible to dip into SN every now and again (e.g., your lunch hour) and read a few threads, and then close it. But IM, by its very nature, is there the whole time.

But I think the point that's more relevant is that you're clearly lucky that your IS guys haven't blocked SN via WebSense or whatever. There's a good chance that whilst they haven't banned it, reading/posting on SN may be a breach of your employment terms and could lead to dismissal too.

Actually, quite a few companies clamp down on this now. Some don't allow any cigarette breaks at all.

When I worked at Skandia a few years back, they introduced a policy that all smokers should monitor their *** breaks and make up the time. The breaks were monitored by management, and anyone caught taking too many without doing overtime to make up for them would be dismissed. In the end, most smokers decided it was too much hassle and just smoked at lunch and before/after work.

It's probably true. But it depends on the type of person you are, and the type of company you work for. I do a fair bit of surfing at work, and read a few email discussion forums too. However, it doesn't interfere with my work - I usually surf whilst I'm waiting for a compile to finish, and so on.

If you're in an environment where people aren't trusted to manage their own time or where their constant attention is required (e.g., a call centre), then you'll find the restrictions are far harsher.

Trotty

@ DominicA - yup, we run in integrated mode.

I've looked at that kb page in the past but thanks anyway.

It seems strange, I've looked at pretty much every option available and it's never worked. The only route I haven't tried yet is opening up ISA fully - and I haven't done that for obviously reasons!

Tis strange...

DominicA

Assuming you've created a protocol rule to allow MSN messenger, the only difference in our setups is that my ISA server is running in firewall mode, hence no deskside client....