Put Them On Notice

Every business needs to incorporate an acceptable end-user policy agreement into their employee handbooks. This policy should cover issues such as:

• Web Sites Allowed & Not Allowed to Be Visited While at Work
• Email Privacy & Acceptable Use
• Use of removable media such as flash drives and blank CDs & DVDs

You can download a sample template by clicking here: Carceron End User IT Policy Agreement

Watch Where They Go

Most firewalls, such as SonicWalls, have the ability to filter web content to the business network, thereby limiting which web sites users are allowed to visit. In the case of the SonicWall, the basic package comes with URL blocking (block specific web sites that you manually enter into the device) and keyword blocking (block web sites with specific keywords, such as “Viagara”). You’ll want to be careful with keyword blocking, especially in the medical profession, as certain sites that would be appropriate might be inadvertently blocked – for example, if you blocked the word “breast” you would also block all breast cancer awareness sites.

The more advanced version of SonicWall’s content filtering services operates much like anti-virus software. SonicWall provides the Advanced Content Filtering for an annual fee and for that fee they maintain a database of tens of thousands of suspect web sites that you can block by genre (e.g. hate groups, violence, nudity, sex, etc.). The annual fee ensures that you continue to get updates to this database, similar to an anti-virus software subscription.

Watch What They Do

For the extremely cautious or paranoid business owner, there is software that can be installed on computers to record “video” of all of the user’s actions. SpectorSoft is one such application. This will let you see everything that the user is doing on his or her PC during the day. Programs like SpectorSoft can email these videos on a daily basis or when a certain event transpires (logging onto FaceBook).

You’ll want to be more careful with this software in terms of privacy law. Consult with an attorney before implementing.

Customizing the Desktop for Maximum Productivity

An often under-utilized feature of the Windows Server operating system is Group Policy. This nifty feature allows network administrators to lock down desktops for the whole domain or only certain subgroups. Here are a few examples of the many things that you can do with Group Policy:

• Force “My Documents” Default Save Location
• Force standardized desktop wall paper (e.g. company logo)
• Remove Windows default games such as Solitaire
• Remove the “Run” options (especially good for security)
• Restrict color printer use
• Restrict use of macros on Office applications
• Deny access to the Control Panel or certain elements within the Control Panel, such as Network Settings
• Enforce password complexity (passwords must be x-number of digits long, etc.)
• Enforce password history (users cannot re-use the same password withing so many days of each other)

As an extreme example, one time we configured a client’s desktops to only run three line of business programs and nothing else. They had no Start button, no My Computer, no access to Control Panel or Network Settings, could not browse their drives… nothing. Needless to say, productivity soared!