Hi RR,

Sorry about that. It wasn't supposed to come across badly, but more tongue in cheek. (I guess I could use more smilies?) :wink:

I for one know how much work there is and that it's not just a matter of flicking a switch.

John

PS. Congrats on your 2500th post.

If you see ANYTHING on your screen, then its going into the "cache" of the web-browser, that means it could be viewable by anyone.
You could press "Delete Temporary Internet Files" after each time a page is viewed. The problem there is many work machines are set up to retain everything, depending on various factors. Some are also set up to scan everything, to monitor what people are looking at.
Some don't monitor anything.

But for ANYTHING that comes up on a screen on a computer, that is generally retained, unless the user gets rid of it, in several places.
One also has to delete the History, etc.
Bascially, if you can see it, then it stays there, unless you know how to manually delete it in several ways, and the system can be set up to block anyone from doing that.
So the short answer is the computer guys can see anything anyone does on their computers if they want to.
Depends on the type of company.

For example, Landmark would surely monitor every word typed on their machines, and likely collect the data, and graph it by Employee. If they want to, they can monitor and graph exactly what people do on their machines, how much time they spend on Hotmail, etc.

But most normal companies don't do all that, just crazy ones.
Its better to have a cheap personal laptop with dial-up access for personal business.

that being said, there do appear to be some software solutions to increase personal privacy at work. Looks like the Firefox browser has some options, or using something called Torpark running off a USB drive.

[lifehacker.com]

Quote
ezdoesit
Hey Anticult,

I do a spam sweep several times a day. Sometimes I do one at work. Here's my question, (from a lesser of the computer literate): Is there any possibility this garbage gets onto my boss's computer where he might be able to pull it up? I never click on the links, of course, but the clips and urls are certainly viewable on the screen before I delete them. I'm afraid my boss might think I've been looking at porn on his machine. What's the chance of that?


EZ

also, just to be clear, I was not criticizing this website over the spam, but just wanted to make sure no one presses those LINKS, unless they want to install some corrupt malware on their computer.
The spam and malware is out of control these days, and its hard for an independent website to control it.
Even fulltime IT people have their hands full.

Anti, my company has software that tracks everything every computer there does - screen shots, emails, web sites visited, printed documents, etc. Its pretty common practice in mid- to large-sized companies, not crazy ones.

EZ, if your boss has anything like this, he will be able to see what you are doing. Even clearing your cache won\'t work - all info is communicated to the server as soon as it happens.

The best thing to do is make sure you know your work policy about internet use, and stick to it.

Passionate, let me take that back. Its not that they are crazy, but many companies allow employees some privacy on work machines out of basic decency, like making some personal phone calls at work...etc.
They don't want to be like Big Brother, even though they can. That being said, there are some hostile workplaces that are like Big Brother.

But if the company tells you straight up that everything goes to the server right away, then they are doing that for a reason, and I agree, just follow it to the letter.

Yeah, the reason was because people were using the internet more than working. Now we know how long they are using it, what their content is... and their productivity has doubled. We do allow some personal calls and internet use, just not excessively.

The computer is in an employee lounge and a lot of people use it for various reasons. Housekeepers have been know to use it also, but it would be obvious to him that I was the one using it at certain hours. It creeps me out thinking he might imagine I'm looking at porn on his machine LOLOL.

Thanks for all the information and suggestions.


EZ