The Site Restrictions Tab
As its name implies, the Site Restrictions Tab allows you to restrict user access, via a variety of methods, to Internet sites.
A few things to keep in mind when working with this tab:
- You can determine whether or not an individual computer will be subject to Site Restrictions, but you cannot have different sets of restrictions for different computers-each is subject to all restrictions or none at all.
- A good rule of thumb to remember is: "More restrictive wins." In other words, if you enter "playboy.com" in both the Blacklist and the Whitelist (described below), the more restrictive blacklist rule will win-nobody will be able to get to playboy.com.
- New user restriction settings are enforced as soon as you return to WinProxy's Main Screen.
- When checking out new WinProxy restrictions with a browser, use the Reload or Refresh button instead of the Back button to ascertain if the new settings are working the way you want. The Back button returns the document from the local browser cache, while Reload returns it from the original site.
SmartFilter
SmartFilter uses a list of known URLs to decline access (when access is declined, a message appears in the browser stating the reason why).
WinProxy has five basic categories of SmartFilter. Each contains a list of sites that have content about that subject. When you select SmartFilter and choose the option Enforce this list, access is refused to any site you check in that list (Hatespeech and/or Drugs, for example).
Figure 4.9: The Site Restrictions Tab allows you to place certain limitations on user access. The Site Tab opens to SmartFilter, which allows you to restrict access by site type.
The box to the right, Edit SmartFilter Exceptions, provides an access method to individual sites appearing in the list. This allows you to access certain individual sites and block the others. It also allows access to a location which hosts several kinds of sites, one of which appears on a restricted list. If you find that you cannot access a site that seems otherwise innocuous, try listing it here. You also have the option to list individual sites that users will not be permitted to access.
A fully-functioning version of SmartFilter is included in WinProxy's 30-day trial version. When you purchase the software, Smartfilter will be enabled for six months, including any free updates. SmartFilter works only during the licensed period. Thereafter, licenses must be purchased for additional time periods and upgrades. If the license lapses, you'll no longer be able to use the old filter list for access control. Licenses can be purchased from the WinProxy website or directly from our offices.
Blacklisting
The Blacklisting feature forbids access to selected sites by comparing all requests to previously blacklisted names and IP Addresses. If the host name, IP Address, or an alias is contained in the blacklist the connection is forbidden.
Figure 4.10: The Blacklist forbids access to specific sites. It does not come preloaded with specific settings.
Access to specific Internet servers can be denied. To do so, we recommend using an actual IP Address (see the example below), since aliases are not always reported correctly in Windows TCP/IP stacks. A hacker (or the office hacker wannabe) could use an alias to circumvent the blacklist.
A wild-card character, *, can be used in Blacklist-but carefully! You can use the wild-card character anywhere to the left of the root-level domain (i.e., the com, gov, org, or country designation, the last thing to appear before any following slashes). You cannot use it to replace the root-level domain. You can also use the wild-card character to the right of the root-level domain.
In the string www.WinProxy.com/resellers, for instance, you could use the wild-card in place of the www or in place of www.WinProxy, but nowhere else. If you used *.com as a blacklist entry, access would be denied to any site with a .com root-level domain. As a special case, if you simply use * as a blacklist entry, nobody could get anywhere.
Also, you should be aware that words to the left of the root-level domain are not case-sensitive, but words to the right are case sensitive. If in doubt about capitalization, make two entries-one spelled each way-just in case.
Whitelisting
The Whitelist comes at things from another direction. When it's enforced, your users get only the sites listed and no others. Sites or rules are listed in the same manner as in Blacklist. If you listed *.gov and *.net and *.org, for instance, then the users can get to those places but not to any place with a .com or an .edu. The Whitelist can be powerfully limiting.
Figure 4.11: Whitelist allows access to specifically-listed sites. It does not come pre-loaded with specific settings.
BannerBlocker
BannerBlocker is another restriction-but with a twist. It doesn't prevent access to any specific site, but is intended to remove the majority of banner ads. It relies on the fact that most of these ads actually come from a different server than the rest of the page (Each www page is composed of many files, including text files, html files, picture files, and sometimes ads).
When a requested file is listed in BannerBlocker, WinProxy will not download that file. It replaces the file with a transparent image. In most cases users are unaware that a banner was ever there. In a very few cases a blank box is left.
Figure 4.12: BannerBlocker removes annoying banner ads.
BannerBlocker itself doesn't know if the declined file is an ad or something else. Indeed, if you listed intel.com in the BannerBlocker list, anybody who tried to access the Intel site would get a blank page and a document done message from the browser. (It's only funny the first time.)
If you'd like to add ad servers (or other servers) to your BannerBlocker list, it's easiest to do so with an IE browser. Right-click on the offending ad, then click on properties. IE will show you the URL for that file. If it can be distinguished in some way from the rest of the site, you can add your entry to your BannerBlocker list.
