AMLinington

Have you reviewed the Layer-7 application blocking protocols that were released in the Smoothwall a year or so ago?

Any product is only as good as its configuration and maintenance. Over time requirements change and people have a habit of requesting exceptions to be added until your endpoint protection is so full of holes it may as well not be there. Doesn't mean one product is 'worse' than another, just that the configuration of whichever product you're using needs to be overhauled regularly to make sure it is still meeting the needs of the business. @trekmad - sounds like some key firewall and port rules were missing - a simple fix tbh. @mjk see above. Proxy bypass programs exist to get around firewall blocks by exploiting any holes you've opened up. A product will only ever be as good or effective as its administrators are at keeping on top of exception requests. This is purely a configuration and user maintenance issue. If the business doesn't have an interest in protecting their network security by overriding your objections to opening up gigantic holes in the firewall then you shouldn't worry about it. That's on them.

Basically, yes.

From the comments above, it seems as though in order to decrypt and inspect SSL traffic, you will ALWAYS need a proxy, so in the case of non-proxy solutions, you are relying on Black/White lists for your SSL filtering? SW on the other hand has the capacity to do it, just subject to the installation of certs. Looks like iBoss relies on an internal proxy to decrypt so I suspect this isn't 'out of the box' or 'Apple: Just works' - you will still likely be faced with complex exceptions in either case. Depends whether the SSL with iBoss is included or separate. Worth seeing it in action AND looking at how the policies are configured.

It's all about saving money after all... ;-)

Unless you and your significant other have both used CTM?

I can't watch stuff about the MS Scam without getting PTSD from the horrific, abusive phone call I endured at the hands of one of these scammers. Being told they know where I live and how they're going to have me raped is pretty much a big fat NOPE.

The time I spilled an entire pint glass of Ribena over a wireless keyboard while writing my dissertation...

That was incredible. I want one now.

I don't know if it helps, but there is a tool called the 'Problem Steps Recording' tool inbuilt in Windows 7 - it takes screenshots (30 is the default but you can change it in the settings to whatever you want). Search in the start menu for psr.exe. You end up with a step by step screenshot record of steps. It's not a video but it's perfect for making articles showing how to do something. Worth a look. I only found out about it a couple of weeks ago lol. You learn something new every day.

Nope. People are morons. Day after a car transporter lorry pushed me into the crash barriers on the motorway, I'm sitting at a roundabout where the lane directions are clearly defined. I'm in the outside lane which is a Straight on or Right. Moron in a silver car in inside lane that is marked straight on only. Lights change, Moron literally swerves in front of me to turn right. Cue total emotional meltdown, lots of vans honking and another near-write off LITERALLY the day after I was taken out on the Mway. IMO Lanes at roundabouts ought to have physical fences separating them so you pick your lane and are forced to commit.

Targeted advertising at its finest. Crispy M&Ms FTW. I'd rather have money to throw at my hobbies. I already work on them little enough as it is. Since the Human head is already roughly the size of a Watermelon, I'll go with Watermelon. WYR Own a massive home in the UK with a pool, or have a modest home in the UK but own an elaborate villa somewhere hot and sunny? and for fun: WYR have unlimited internet access and ability to download all the things, BUT have to use IE, or be able to use whatever browser you want but be stuck behind a strict proxy?

Very short cords plugged into Armor-core extensions?

As someone who wears the same clothes all year 'round I'd go with Winter clothes. On a geeky superhero note: WTR Have full control and power over Water, or Fire?

When I was at Smoothwall I had a lovely Dell Vostro with 16GB of RAM and an additional 1TB harddrive. Non-domain machine with full admin access to do whatever I wanted... *sigh* I miss it mightily. I'm on a standard Staff build here with 4 measly GB of RAM and a clunky remote deployed build that takes forever to decide to do anything, can't install stuff without logging a support ticket either. Can't complain though, at least I get Office 2013 here and I have recently acquired 2 delightful iiyama 24" Widescreen monitors because I do a LOT of spreadsheet work (because I gotta have good reasons obvs). I also have Outlook again. I'd forgotten how much I missed Exchange. At my previous place (post-Smoothwall) they were still using Lotus Notes *shudders*. Otherwise, it's an Intel Core i5 3.10Ghz, with 4GB RAM and onboard gfx. 500GB HD but when you have access to TBs of network share space the local storage is irrelevant. The roaming profile kinda helps too...

I left EE and went to GiffGaff and haven't looked back. When I finish paying for my phone all I'll end up paying per month is the £15 goody bag and my phone is totally network-neutral. I don't know why I didn't do it before. My service coverage is pretty good - no better or worse than any other network and there is a handy (optional) text option that pops up on the screen after you make a call telling you how many minutes and how much credit you have left (you put credit on the account to cover calls made to numbers not included in the minutes, but the inclusive minutes packages cover a LOT - 0800 numbers are actually free and 0345 and 0845 are blocked if you have no credit so you can't get yourself into trouble). I bought the LG G3 and love it. A lot of people have said the speakers are rubbish - if I want to listen to music out loud I'll put it on the Sonos. It's perfect for me. Good battery performance, lovely clarity on the screen, responsive and quick.

As a fellow short sighted person, I'm -3.00 and -2.00 in Left and Right eyes respectively. The other numbers are simply related to the curvature of your eyeball and how light refracts through the lens as the shape of your spectacle lenses will need to make sure the light is sent to the right part of the eye. A lot of factors can affect these measurements including blood pressure, dehydration, irritated eyes etc. A lot of it is subjective too. They work out the prescription by trying different lenses and asking 'better or worse'. You REALLY need to 'play the system' to get it spot on. Rather than saying 'can't tell', get them to give you the options again and if it's even SLIGHTLY blurred, say so. Don't be afraid to challenge the optometrist - this is your vision and health. I recently had a problem where a pair of my glasses were slightly too strong, which mean't my right eye got used to not having to try, then I saw a different optometrist who said 'that prescription is too strong' and reduced the values in my right eye - total nightmare. Made me throw up. Had to get the lens remade to the old prescription. I certainly wouldn't trust prescription 1 - it seems really far out compared to the other two...

That is less than my physio costs - £90 and £55 respectively. I should point out this was the physio the solictor sent me to. I'm going to a different one: http://southamptonphysiotherapy.com/Cost.html Prices are the same as you've been quoted and they are really good - my dad went there after his knee op.

I can't believe this isn't an elaborate April fools? It looks like a way of using your phone as a stereoscopic viewer (which is a thing used in aerial imagery analysis) but I can't believe it's not a wind up...

Depends if you want it 'current' and kept up to date or if you want to do it as a one-off. You can set up Smoothwall boxes as replication pairs which will replicate all the policy settings (or any setting you specify in the replication profile) but if they are not on the same LAN I'm not sure you can set them up as a replication pair through the WAN. I'd check the manual. Alternatively you can use a backup archive taken from one box to restore settings to another box, but be careful what you restore as it can overwrite network settings.

What is this 'Paid' concept you speak of? I'm vaguely aware that I spend my days doing 'stuff' and that a sum of money comes in and goes out again and the bank doesn't foreclose on our house, so I assume I must earn something but I'm told that the government takes most of it in something called 'Tax' and the bank takes the other half in something called a 'mortgage'.

^^ THIS. I agree. Or a Microchip like Cats have.

LOL Nope. Although as @SovietRussia points out, many places have these systems in place, they just need tying into a lookup system based on the NFC/RFID chip. Call it a 'Castle in the sky'. It would also be REALLY COOL. Lots of places do an ID Card login service - no more forgotten passwords. Think of the possibilities that open up to you with ID cards....

You could use the ID cards as a registration tool. I know loads of schools use them to count class attendance. You could also use them in an e-timetable way with contactless readers and flat screen monitors where a student places their card and they get told where they should be, in which lesson, with a little campus map and any outstanding homework. Win.

I now work for the University of Southampton and we use our ID cards for EVERYTHING. Building/Door access (staff have higher levels of door access than undergrads and other students), cashless catering, bus passes, club and society access, printing, Library loans, etc. Super handy. I know a lot of people have an irrational fear of ID cards 'cause 'Big Bruvva iz watchin' but to me they represent convenience and safety. I love having an ID card.