Evil Corporate security blocking MSN Messenger

woo

be thankful you got a payrise..

nickmack

From what you've written, you don't sound happy with your work or loyal to the company. Maybe you should consider a move?

There's great debate about whether personal messaging should be allowed, in cases where I have installed firewalls and routers I have at the request of the company nearly always blocked messengers.

In my new role, I use messenger to communicate with other employees around the world, so it does have it's purpose. It's still logged though, so misuse could result in a warning.

tomstickland

Companies are far too concerned about messenger and internet usage etc.
People are not robots, and as OP said, sometimes will use messenger whilst waiting for a background task to complete. It's good for morale to allow staff some slack. Full time abusers will be spotted as those who never get anything done.

wolfman

I actually use it mostly either to talk to people on the otherside of the building, or people working from home. That's not to say I don't message my brother etc... but it's still a form of communication I use and need at work.

[Deleted User]

We use Microsoft Office Communicator for internal messaging (it's the corporate MSN messenger). Yes, you're right, i don't especially like my company and I am considering a move, but it'll take another year of experience before I can move were I want to

rygon

thank yourself lucky thats the only things that are blocked..our company has blocked any .mov .rm etc from playing, bbc radio station and any bbc video. Java and flash interactive webpages.
Makes trying to do any decent research (especially for my OU as their tutorials use java) virtually impossible. Let alone playing around on the net

Bob63

My company encourages IM use as an alternative to email & telephone. I have AOL and Skype turned on all the time so colleagues (and sometimes friends) can get hold of me whenever I am sat at my desk. IM is a great business tool if used correctly. Companies that block it are either uneducated or shortsighted.

Mike

pin

Firstly it is the companies computer, not yours. It is also you using their network. While at work you company can determine what you can and cannot see.

It is nothing about being a big evil corporate.

As for blocking stuff like messenger, etc, one reason many companies block it is for worries about getting viruses, etc.

Companies spend many thousands of pounds a year on virus protection and an easy way to curb it is simply to block certain sites.

As for using proxies, etc, they can be seen as a breach of your IT usage terms.

BTW I use www.meebo.com at work.

movieman

Companies that block it are either uneducated or shortsighted.

Or concerned about the number of worms spreading through IM software. I was reading an article only yesterday about hackers using worms to exploit bugs in IM software to install spyware and spam-mailing software on remote machines: not something I'd want inside my company network.

ddavis

ringo_24601 wrote:

I just noticed i put this on the wrong board, should have put it on Tech. My bad.

My firm regulally makes people on 40 hour contracts work more than 48 hours (I know of 90 hour weeks having occured).. They are pretty evil in that respect. The only time i've known them crack down on messenger clients is because of virus threats.

The hunt continues.. this is an IT firm, so someone will figure it out eventually

Depends how clever your IT team are.

I know for a fact that there is no way around it here.