Preventing Clearing History and Cache

[tBM]

We have a employee that some folks believe is wasting company time by
surfing the web during work hours and is visiting sites that our policy
states are not allowed. Before the employee leave the "shared"
computer, they clear the history and cache. Does FF have way to disable
that function? The staff that shared computer are not Administrators on
said computer.

--
tBM :)

[g]

by default means or configured into firefox, no.

obtaining source, modifying source and compiling a special firefox, yes.


your post shows you using a linux system, therefore, if said computer is
running linux, a firm yes to installing additional linux software.

if system goes thru a firewall, yes.

if admin knows what sites said abuser is visiting, yes.

in other words, it is primarily an administrative procedure that can prevent
such violation of policy, not something that another user can do.


hth.
--

peace out.

tc.hago,

g
.

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[Chris Ilias]

There are a couple of ways. You can either hide the menu options or just
lock them.

Hiding the menu items is easier, but I don't think it will work on Mac.
Locking options is much more complicated. Here's an old post I wrote on
the subject <http://ilias.ca/blog/2005/03/locking-mozilla-firefox-settings/>
And a guide specific to Private Browsing at
<http://kb.mozillazine.org/User:Dickvl/Private_Browsing_disable>.

Some more info at
<http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2079485>

--
Chris Ilias <http://ilias.ca>
Mailing list/Newsgroup moderator

[g]

chris,

i can very well see how you have presented an easy solution. easier than
what i thought it might be.


not to throw discouragements, but i have questions;

1] what if system is linux, as op is using?

2] what is to keep offending user from creating his/her/their own
places.sqlite and swapping it with regular file?


if intent of keeping history is to show management that offending user/s
is actually using system against company policy, forgetting suggestions
in my 1st post, after giving further thought, best way may be to install
a network analyzing/logging program that would record site connections
along with ip of computer being used.

using such would not alert offending user that he is being watched because
network logging would have time stamps of when he/she/they where on system.

[Bruce]

On 09/30/11 5:59 AM... tBM did say:

Have you thought about looking at the router logs?

[g]

On 09/30/2011 11:13 PM, Bruce wrote:
> On 09/30/11 5:59 AM... tBM did say:
>> We have a employee that some folks believe is wasting company time by
>> surfing the web during work hours and is visiting sites that our policy
>> states are not allowed. Before the employee leave the "shared" computer,
>> they clear the history and cache. Does FF have way to disable that
>> function? The staff that shared computer are not Administrators on said
>> computer.
>

> Have you thought about looking at the router logs?

another good way.

with rereading op's post, there now appears to be a question that op
may need to answer to get a good/better/best solution.

op states *"shared" computer*, questions needing answers to;

1] what os is this computer running?

2] is computer connected to internet thru a network or direct?

[Chris Ilias]

On 11-09-30 6:51 PM, g wrote:
> not to throw discouragements, but i have questions;
>
> 1] what if system is linux, as op is using?

It should work on Linux, but the OP is using Mac.

> 2] what is to keep offending user from creating his/her/their own
> places.sqlite and swapping it with regular file?

Nothing, I guess. Aside from not knowing that is an option.

[g]

On 10/01/2011 06:51 PM, Chris Ilias wrote:
> On 11-09-30 6:51 PM, g wrote:
>> not to throw discouragements, but i have questions;
>>
>> 1] what if system is linux, as op is using?
>
> It should work on Linux, but the OP is using Mac.

this is true. i went back to his post to read source. if they are all mac
systems, it is close enough that what works under linux will work with mac.

then again, op could be posting from home on his own computer.


so additional info needed;

1] what os/type system is being used in office?
2] if networked, how? router, firewall, etc.
3] what of above applies to guest computer?

instead of 'tmi', 'nmi' applies.
[ tmi = too much information | nmi = need more information ]

>> 2] what is to keep offending user from creating his/her/their own
>> places.sqlite and swapping it with regular file?
>
> Nothing, I guess. Aside from not knowing that is an option.

well, if he/she/they know enough to clear history and cache, he/she/they
may/should/will know enough to swap places.sqlite and delete cash from
a file browser.

to really give op a solution, other than what has been offered, op
needs to supply more detailed information.

[tBM]

At work is all WindowsXP and Vista. Yes at home, was where I posted, I
have a MAC OSX 10.6.8 at home.

tBM

[Greywolf]

On 03/10/2011 9:12 AM, tBM wrote:
> At work is all WindowsXP and Vista. Yes at home, was where I posted, I
> have a MAC OSX 10.6.8 at home.
>
> tBM

Tools > Options > Privacy > Remember history

The cache is now kept by default. It cannot be changed from Options any
more.
Type about:config into the address bar. On "Here be dragons" warning,
click OK. Filter for cache.
Change value of
privacy.clearOnShutDown.cache
to false if set to true.
It will be about 2/3rds of the way down the page, depending on your
monitor size & resolution.
Restart FF for the settings to stick.

HTH
Wolf K.

[g]

wolf man,

i believe you may have picked up in thread too late.

you need to read op's op.

now knowing op's os at work, chris's reply appears to be an easy solution.

using firewall and/or router logs will give additional record of events.

[Ron Hunter]

It is still in the UI, but cleverly hidden where one wanting to get rid
of the cache wouldn't look.
Tools/options/privacy/ Click on clear history when Firefox closes, then
'settings', and uncheck all you don't want cleared.

[Greywolf]

On 03/10/2011 5:51 PM, Ron Hunter wrote:
> On 10/3/2011 8:48 AM, Greywolf wrote:
>> On 03/10/2011 9:12 AM, tBM wrote:
>>> At work is all WindowsXP and Vista. Yes at home, was where I posted, I
>>> have a MAC OSX 10.6.8 at home.
>>>
>>> tBM
>>
>> Tools > Options > Privacy > Remember history
>>
>> The cache is now kept by default. It cannot be changed from Options any
>> more.

[...]

> It is still in the UI, but cleverly hidden where one wanting to get rid
> of the cache wouldn't look.
> Tools/options/privacy/ Click on clear history when Firefox closes, then
> 'settings', and uncheck all you don't want cleared.

Ah, that's why I missed it.
Thanks,
Wolf K.

[Mikka Ella Gemanil]

I thought most companies have their way of monitoring the sites that
were visited by employees? I mean in our office, the IT people can
always tell if we are viewing or trying to view restricted sites. I
thought that's how it is for all offices. Even if an employee deletes
or clear the browsing history, our IT people would still track every
site they visited.