Industry Standard Computers
St. Clairsville, Ohio
(740) 695-1520
21 Years In Business - 21 Years Experience with Computers - 15 Years with Networks & Security
The oldest system builder in the area, maybe in the state!
Best Labor Rate in the Area, $25 Shop, $35 Outside
1. How does the Adult blocking software on the "Firewall content Filtering Server" work?
The content filtering works in two ways. First is by way of a blacklist, a group of web sites that have been found to have "adult only" material. Secondly the adult blocking software adds up the number of "sex wording" phrases or word on a page. Once the number reaches the threshold limit set at the "Firewall content Filtering Server" then you get a blank page with a single "Filtered" in the left corner.Sites that contain lots of conversation, especially sports, with lots of profanity will occasionally get blocked by accident.
Medical web research usually contain phrases that count as negative numbers, so one "breast cancer" might be -30 points.
2. I go to websites occasionally that have "Filtered" in small
print and nothing else on the page.
The "Filtered" page as the whole page means you have stumbled upon a web site that is currently on one of the activated blacklists. 99% of all businesses mark the following blacklists as normal... PORN, GAMBLING, PHISHING, SPYWARE, SCAM, VIRUS INFECTED, WAREZ.3. Sometimes web pages have the word "Filtered" inside of blocks on the page where I would see an advertisement or banner on my home computer. (Example www.wtov9.com)The second could come from too many "adult words" on the page and the total of the "adult language" or "sex wording" exceeded the limit that was set up in the adult blocker software installed on the "Firewall content Filtering Server." I real good example of sites that are often non porn, but get blocked anyway, are sports sites. Some writer uses some "F" adjective and then the adult blocker software on the Firewall Filter starts adding words. When the total of word scores reaches 100, 200, or 300 points the page is "Filtered."
These "Filtered" or blank blocks (actually a 1 X 1 pixel image) are from 2 sources. One the adult blocking software above most likely from the "SPYWARE" blacklist. Most spyware vendors are advertisers too. Many advertisers don't care whose money they take; so if they let spyware vendors advertise on their ad or banner rotation service they might end up in the "SPYWARE" blacklist.4. Sometimes web pages have the blank blocks on the page where I would see an advertisement or a banner on my home computer. I have also seen some pages goes from 3 columns down to 2 columns because all the advertisements are gone. (A good example of this is one of the main news stories on www.cbsnews.com. Under the header "Advertisement" you have nothing but white.) (Example www.wtov9.com, the missing banner where "sponsor" is located.)
To effectively block spyware, advertisement has to be blocked also. Pop-ups are blocked as well at the Filter level. People don't realize how much they waste time noticing advertisements. Now if there is a company reason you need to see the advertisements on a specific web site please ask to have it put in the non block list or whitelist. The advertising filtering program does use some generic pattern blocking that could block pictures out on the page by accident.5. I get a "503" red & gray error page once in a great while instead of a web page.(You should check your own web site, without it being on the "whitelist," to see what others see who would have good advertising blockers.)
"503 Connection Failed" error pages can be a variety of issues. Hit the "just try again" link. If it works then the web site you are trying to get to has a slow connection. The firewall will try to give an information page i.e. the 503 error to explain what might have happened.6. Sometimes I go to a site that just looks distorted. (Example: www.lycos.com)Another is the web site is currently down. Try again later in the day.
You could have typed in the wrong address.
What has been happening more and more often recently is when a legit web site closes the name is kept by the hosting company. That hosting company is one of the following: an open relay or scam site or advertising or spyware site that has been blacklisted by IP number. If the legit name was on the blacklist you would have got the "Filtered" as described above. Try www.usafamilycare.com you should get the error. If you do this address on your home computer you will get a web site that looks real generic with a bunch of links that are "pay per click" links to who knows where. (Pay clicks, trackers, and malicious "cookie" vendors are usually blocked by the "Firewall content Filtering Server's" advertising blocker or by way of the one of the anti-spyware features.)
This is due to site you are on is actually made up of several web sites and one or more of the sites are blocked due to the spyware or advertisement blockers. One site inside of bluefly.com was on the adult blacklist. I presume they have also advertise adult thing too.7. My Outlook or Mozilla Mail seems to be slower to retrieve.
This is due to the additional scanning of the email. Email is the world's largest source for the distribution of viruses. Email can also contain code that is not a virus but just as dangerous to Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express or AOL. ISC recommends changing over to Mozilla or Opera Mail programs to retrieve email and to better protect your business.If any web site caught by accident that needs to be unblocked can be. The general rule with the "Firewall content Filtering Server" is block everything that looks like, smells like or is evil; open up only what is safe or needed for company business.Email is first separated into its parts. Each separated part is scanned for viruses. Then the email is reassembled. This may cause some email to have pictures as attachments vs. embedded in the email.
The email is then checked for "SPAM wording" like "Viagra." Good email addresses can be added into the system to remove any possibility they are accidentally labeled; [SPAMD].
Various attachments known to be bad are removed from the email. If you lose an attachment from someone that you are expecting our system can be altered to allow such later. Be extremely careful before opening any Excel or Word document attachments, they could still be infected with dangerous macros.
The last part is HTML scanning of email. Spammers use coding in the email to extract information about you and to validate the email address so it is always on their list. Side effect of this is sometimes corporation email may also get the pictures removed from it because those pictures contain links or tracking code themselves. (This can be turned off should it become a problem. The programmers are working on a "non removal list" option.)
Email: sales11(at)ISCnetwork.com
Phone (740) 695-1520