[JayBern]

this organisation has been blocking off sites which i visit sometimes.
some of which is planetvids.com where all funny videos are posted to watch .

but when this organisation was launched. i couldn't go there ! .
does anyone knows how to stop this organisation from blocking sites which i do not want to ? .

please help me.
thanks in advanced.

Edited by beanie, 27 May 2005 - 08:40 AM.

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anyone experience this before? ?

please help me.
the organisation website is safesurf.com

[JayBern]

anyone experience this before? ?

please help me.
the organisation website is safesurf.com

[Major Payne]

Are you saying that safesearch.com is blocking you from visiting some sites like planetvids.com? Are you sure that you or someone has not installed an Internet Filtering program on your PC which uses safesurf.com's rating system?

Are you using your own PC or one located at a library, work or school?

Ron

[JayBern]

im using my own pc.
i use avg anti-virus (free edition) and
i use norton anti-virus (complete version 2004)

yes, it says " The website you are trying to access has been blocked by SafeSurf."

[Major Payne]

Have you check in Control Panel under Add?Remove Programs to see if this program has an uninstaller listed?

Maybe look in the Startup Menu and see if you can untick a related program that is set to run at bootup.

Try doing a full hard drive search using the keyword "safesearch" and see if it shows up.

The program had to install something to block certain sites. Check your browser's Restricted Zones and see if your favorite site(s) is listed there.

Ron

[JayBern]

of all, i only checked the Add and Remove Programs.
i didn't see any of safesurf uninstallation stuff.

how do i check the startup menu ?
and when i search for safesurf , where do i search ?
and under what type do i search ? (e.g: documents, or folders, or what? )

[Major Payne]

Was the name safesurf even listed in the Add/Remove programs at all?

To view and or control the programs and elements of XP's startup process, study the information delivered by msconfig which is a menu of locations that control startup loading of programs :

General tab : select from
Normal startup : load all device drivers and services
Diagnostic startup : load basic devices and services only
Selective startup : role your own

Launch System Restore : create a restore point or restore back to a restore point
System.ini tab
Win.ini tab
Boot.ini tab
Services tab : another method to disable services
Startup tab : which programs are automatically loaded disable / enable all or selectively

Start -> Run -> msconfig to access. Select the Startup tab and see if anything is there you don't recognize or even comes close to safesurf.

As far as searching, read this :

HOW TO USE WINDOWS XP: USING THE SEARCH TOOL

This may help you too :

SafeSurf Help

Ron

[JayBern]

i've tried searching:
SafeSurf.rat
RSACi.rat (which i saw on some webpage)
safesurf
netsafe
netwatch

but i found nothing that can stop it.
i've tried to set the content advisor to allow visiting at unrated sites.
but i still cant.

what else can be found or done ? .

[Major Payne]

You're not giving me the feedback from my posts.

1) What did you find in the Startup menu?
2) Did you check within IE's Tools, Internet Options for any banned sites in the Restricted Zones. I would disable its Content advisor or at least check the Content tab and see if it's Enabled.
3) Possibly you have a security program which has this site listed as restricted. Norton Security, firewall, something. Could be an issue with SP2. But then, you said safesurf warns you the site has been restricted. Kinda grasping at straws on this one.
4) You said you tried searching Try searching for *.rat files and see what comes up. This will return all files with the .rat extension. I really don't understand how the safesurf.rat file was not found on your hard drive when it tells you that you've been blocked by safesurf. It has to be somewhere on there. Do you have XP set to show you all files including the hidden files?

Running out of ideas at this time. Hopefully, some fresh ideas later today by others.

Ron

[phybyr0ptyk]

i use avg anti-virus (free edition) and
i use norton anti-virus (complete version 2004)

You should never run more than 1 AV program on a single machine. Eventually you will have compatibility issues. I recommend the AVG personally but ultimately the choice is yours. As for the second problem you have, I appologize I can not help.

[JayBern]

sorry for the late reply, but my avg is the free version. =\

i have tried closing both AV prog but i still cant go inside the website that they blocks.

[JayBern]

i really need help here. and i hope all computer professionals will take a look into this problem. it's really getting on my nerves.

[Major Payne]

I've been following this thread for weeks and I've yet to get answers to questions replied to in a step by step way so I know what you have done and how you have done it. It seems the results are getting away from your original post until now.

If you do not know how to search in detail for a program or file, please said so. My apologies if I missed something you've posted that may be relevant, but this is why I try to itemize my questions. It's a way to keep up on what has been done, how it was done, and what the results were for each question.

Since this is your personal PC and safesurf is a program that's blocking you, then somewhere along the line, you installed it unless someone else has access to your PC.

Maybe if you delete all your user Profiles and create a new one, this might help. I just don't understand how you can not find this program or its related files in a search unless you have XP set to not to show you common file extensions. I don't use XP and refuse to for now because of the aggravation of correcting the problems on legacy programs and machines.

If you don't get an answer posted that will specifically solve your problem, I suggest backing up all the files you want to keep to external storage, like e-mail addresses, favorites, My Documents files, etc. and, once done, re-install Win XP and allow it to reformat your HD. Or re-format it yourself first and then re-install XP.

Ron

[cassykins]

Thing is - SafeSurf is NOT a program. It is a service provided by Starhub, and as quoted from PC Magazine's February 2005 magazine - 'The SafeSurf service is a server-based system that filters out undesirable websites at Starhub's end of the wire.'

I've been having these sort of problems myself too - plenty of websites I used to frequent are now completely blocked off from my computer, and the only thing I get when I try to access them is a message saying 'This website has been blocked by SafeSurf blahblahblah'. It is tremendously annoying, and I'm afraid that unless you choose to terminate your Starhub Broadband service, there really isn't anything you can do with it. The worst thing is, Starhub really think that they're doing their users an immense favor by blocking off these websites. Sigh.

[Major Payne]

Thing is - SafeSurf is NOT a program. It is a service provided by Starhub, and as quoted from PC Magazine's February 2005 magazine - 'The SafeSurf service is a server-based system that filters out undesirable websites at Starhub's end of the wire.'

From SurfersNet SafeSurf Help Pages :

SafeSurf Help

SafeSurf is a voluntary rating system designed to give parents control over the types of Web sites their family views. The following information will help explain the rating system as well as show you how to set up your browser.

SafeSurf rating system
Setting up Netscape Communicator
Setting up Internet Explorer 4.0
Setting up Internet Explorer 5.0

If you all would check the setup for these browsers, you will see some stuff is required to be downloaded and is not all server based.

Now, if the person having problems would just follow the instructions with graphics in reverse order, they may be able to solve the problem unless someone else implimented this safeguard and password protected it. In that case try to contact SurfersNet :

Contact SurfersNet for Assistance

All this good information is available at the link previously given. For those with reading problems, here it is again :

http://www.surfersne...rs/safesurf.htm

Cheers...Ron