How to Override Websense
Websense is a content filtering mechanism that prevents users from accessing various websites. Clients might wish to prevent their computer users from looking at sites such as You Tube or Facebook while working or at school, or Websense might be used to block access to gambling or pornographic websites. Sometimes, though, it can block useful websites that users might need to access while studying or doing their work. Therefore, it can be useful to find a way around the filter to access these websites.
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Instructions
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Find a proxy server. There are a number of lists of free public proxies available via the Web (see Resources section). This will have to be done on a separate computer, as it is likely that Websense will block access to the sites that provide these lists.
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Select an appropriate server. You will want a transparent or anonymous proxy type that works for "http" traffic, usually over port 80 or 8080. Choose several of them to compensate for the possibility of Websense blocking one or more. Write down the proxy server's URL and port number, and take that information to the computer blocked by Websense.
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Set up your browser to use the proxy. In Internet Explorer, select "Options" from the "Tools" menu. Then choose the "Connections" tab, and click the "LAN Settings" button. Check the box that says "Use a proxy server for your LAN," and then enter the proxy URL and port into the appropriate boxes.
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Test your server. It is possible that you will have to try several different proxy addresses before it works.
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Tips & Warnings
There are also sites that you can go to and just type in the URL you wish to view, and the site performs the proxy avoidance for you. This can be useful if you don't need to log in somewhere or are only going to use it once or twice.
Be sure that you are allowed to use a proxy server to avoid Websense on the computer you use. Employers and schools generally do not approve of proxy avoidance methods to circumvent the measures they put in place to prevent certain types of Web browsing.
