I browse in one window only, and I close the window completely when anyone comes near. Too many times have I nearly gotten busted when someone has come in here and actually needed me to access the internet in their presence. Alt-tabbing doesn’t cut it in those instances.
I also keep my bookmarks and history clean, after the time my boss used my computer to access the internet and thought something he was looking for might be in my history, and so he scanned through it. :eek:
I use google to get here, and everywhere else I want to go.
I have two computers. One cannot be seen by anyone, and one sits sort of sideways and can be seen.
I might keep the boards up all day…and when I’m on a long conf call I might surf and reply through dead spots.
I don’t take breaks or even lunch alot, and I don’t make personal calls. I am senior mgmnt and I make my own schedule. That might mean I am thinking about a project at 11pm and making a call or sending e-mail at midnight.
How come you don’t have two browser windows open? One for here, one for work. Make the work one the big window and make the play one the smaller “floating” window.
I hate to display the depths of my computer illiteracy, but how do I clean my history? My bookmarks are fine, but just in case, it’s always good to know how to clean my history. Not that I’m going anywhere that’s not permitted, mind you; it just is another detail my paranoid little mind would like to know.
Get a mouse with a scroll wheel (most have one these days).
Have your real work window open and maximized.
Have the SDMB window smaller and in front of the work window.
When someone approaches, just move your pointer into the work window and scroll down. The SDMB window instantly disappears since your focus has been changed to the work window. AND, you don’t hear that telltale click that might reveal you are hurriedly trying to cover something up.
Thanks, ivylass. I had one of those duh-hey moments and checked the help file myself (and saw what you quoted), and also noticed that some idiot had set the history on this computer to 20 days. We mustn’t have THAT, now! So it’s set to a more reasonable 3 days, and my history will be cleared on a regular basis.
Apparently, even though this office wants people to be highly literate in WordPerfect, they don’t expect you to understand anything about anything else. I mouse left-handed so had reset my mouse buttons, and when I pointed it out to our computer guy when he went to do something on my machine, he offered to switch them back for me. Are there really people who don’t know how to reverse mouse buttons???
But anyway, back to goofing off since my desk is clean, clean, clean today! Yay to surfing the SDMB at work – and not getting in trouble for it!
I’ll second this. I’m a programmer, and have gotten some valuable answers by polling my fellow Dopers. Sometimes the programming oriented message boards out there are not very well surfed and the answers don’t come very quickly, so the SD can actually be a good reference tool.
Now about the other 99% of the time I spend here…well, I just use common sense. I don’t spend much time here, I get my work done, and sit farther from the door in a 2-person office. When someone comes in I have plenty of time to shut down IE or bring up another window.
I like to surf the SDMB when work is light or I just need a few minutes break. I keep the SDMB in a reduced-size browser window sitting squarely on top of a legit business related browser window. Anytime I hear someone coming or there’s a knock on my door, a simple click or an alt+tab solves the problem.
My office also has strict internet monitoring software, but luckily I figured out a way around that particular problem.
Officially, we don’t have internet access at work, except for when the Websense thingy shuts down (about 75% of the time). But I don’t browse then. If I do have time or the inclination to go online (here or elsewhere) I telnet to my school account and use lynx. Old-fashioned, but it generally works…except now I have an irritating, incompetent co-worker who hangs over my shoulder ALL freaking day, asking me “what’s that? what are you doing? can you show me?” (she’s new, and somehow expects me to show her how to do everything without bothering to actually try and learn it herself. Even things she doesn’t need to know. urrggh).
So anyways, that’s what I do. I much prefer sitting here on the couch with the laptop and watching TV as I skim through multiple tabs in firefox.
Nobody cares what I’m looking at while at work, provided that it’s not porn or any other inappropriate thing. My work seems to happen in concentrated bursts, rather than steady, all-day work. Frequently I have nothing else to do but browse the SDMB. I don’t have to worry about my history being spied upon, because I don’t think the IT guy has time or reason to check everyone’s history. There’s a record on the company server of all the webpages everyone visits, but no one’s ever said that I couldn’t come here. So here I am!
On the off chance that someone noticed what I was doing (slim), cared that it wasn’t work (slimmer), and was willing to actually say something about it (almost zero), I have a standard excuse ready-to-hand:
I was just taking a smoke break.
I’ve only had to use it twice in 15 years, and it works like a charm.
So it’s set to a more reasonable 3 days, and my history will be cleared on a regular basis.