Good Free Email - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

REDVAN · 05-20-2008, 10:00 PM

With a twist... my work blocks all my email addresses (gmail, hotmail, live.ca, ucalgary webmail, etc...)

So I am looking for a free email that is pretty good quality but will fool the work filter, because my work is boring. Bonus points to the email client if it can grab my emails from ucalgary webmail and/or hotmail too.

Any ideas?

Azure · 05-20-2008, 10:10 PM

wierd that they would block all those.

If could install Thunderbird or something, you could set it up so that emails from each of your accounts come through it to your computer.

REDVAN · 05-20-2008, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure

wierd that they would block all those.

If could install Thunderbird or something, you could set it up so that emails from each of your accounts come through it to your computer.

Yeah I was thinking of that. The problem is that I think the servers might still be blocked. I'll try it out tomorrow unless someone thinks of some wicked free email client I haven't heard of.

Draug · 05-20-2008, 11:04 PM

What about using Remote Desktop to your own PC at home?

llama64 · 05-21-2008, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draug

What about using Remote Desktop to your own PC at home?

You could do this, or even look into setting up a SSH tunnel for HTTP connections.

Thing is, most workplaces have a provision in their IT policy that explicitly states that such circumvention of in-place filters/blocks is termination worthy.

Is browsing your email/Facebook worth the loss of your job?

I know, not terribly helpful, but it's worth consideration.

mykalberta · 05-21-2008, 08:59 AM

Just an FYI for corporate IT policy.

They normally wont fire you for circumvention of IT resources for personal use, but its more there as a reasoning in case they need to fire you.

Just a question, are your USB ports on your computer blocked as well so you cannot plug in a flash drive etc?

I know a few IT shops that run like that. If you are a small operation, 1 or 2 IT they wont have the time for active monitoring so remoting your home machine likely wont be a problem unless they have a keener network admin that monitors that outgoing port traffic.

Buff · 05-21-2008, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Just an FYI for corporate IT policy.

They normally wont fire you for circumvention of IT resources for personal use, but its more there as a reasoning in case they need to fire you.

Just a question, are your USB ports on your computer blocked as well so you cannot plug in a flash drive etc?

I know a few IT shops that run like that. If you are a small operation, 1 or 2 IT they wont have the time for active monitoring so remoting your home machine likely wont be a problem unless they have a keener network admin that monitors that outgoing port traffic.

Where I work, we have it setup so only IT staff can RDP anywhere. We don't care which sites you go to though. I should say that we are trusting that you won't go to any "bad" sites.

ken0042 · 05-21-2008, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draug

What about using Remote Desktop to your own PC at home?

Quote:

Originally Posted by llama64

You could do this, or even look into setting up a SSH tunnel for HTTP connections.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if they have gone so far as to block web based email sites, they either have already blocked these options, or would be a severe offense to try to circumvent the policies in place.

mykalberta · 05-21-2008, 11:29 AM

I use VNC, there are alot of different options. Yes RDP should be blocked if the IT department knows what the are doing (its very flaky and not run over a secure connection). Radmin and Dameware are another 2 options. You just need to make sure that your home router port forwards the correct port to your home computer.

Its peculiar they block personal email addresses, unless you have a lot of issues with employee sabatoge when they are leaving etc. Doesnt make much sense to block those unless you have an iron fist grip on the USB ports etc.

Do you run with dummy terminals or is there an actual computer that you work at?

REDVAN · 05-21-2008, 01:09 PM

I am still looking for a good online free email client.

I tried to go-around with thunderbird and no-go.

The only thing I can think of is to connect via IP... can comeone get me the IP for this site: www.webmail.ucalgary.ca

Ayrahb · 05-21-2008, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REDVAN

I am still looking for a good online free email client.

Can you access canada.com? It has a free email service.

old-fart · 05-21-2008, 03:30 PM

Have you tried a web based proxy? Just google is, (or try this one: http://www.anonasurf.com/) then put in whatever web address on the web address line (gmail or whatever).

Should work for you, and if that one doesn't there are only about a million web based proxy servers out there. The won't have blocked them all.

Ozy_Flame · 05-22-2008, 08:21 AM

Outlook can redirect your home mail. I receive both my Hotmail and Gmail at work through this redirection. Works beautifully.

My work actually blocked the Inbox part of Facebook the other day. Not Facebook itself, just the inbox portion. How lame is that?

llama64 · 05-22-2008, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if they have gone so far as to block web based email sites, they either have already blocked these options, or would be a severe offense to try to circumvent the policies in place.

If you know what you are doing, a SSH tunnel is very difficult to block. Thing is, to a network admin who knows what they are doing (a rarity...), SSH traffic is easy to spot.

The last place I worked blocked Facebook and then fired someone for using a SSH tunnel to route his web access to an external machine. The mere circumvention was enough to fire him. Didn't help that no one actually liked the guy.

gottabekd · 05-22-2008, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llama64

If you know what you are doing, a SSH tunnel is very difficult to block. Thing is, to a network admin who knows what they are doing (a rarity...), SSH traffic is easy to spot.

Yes, the real leet tunnel their traffic over DNS. I doubt many network admins watch DNS traffic too closely. Though if they ever came across some metrics for your machine, and saw that 90% of your traffic was DNS, that might raise an eyebrow.

As for the original question...no, I don't know what email services are good. As mentioned, some online proxy would likely work. Keep in mind though, that whoever runs the proxy will be able to view all your traffic, steal all your passwords (SSL won't save you if running through a proxy). Potentially. Just something to keep in mind.

Barnes · 05-22-2008, 10:30 PM

If you have a gmail account, set up an igoogle.com home page and you can view your gmail right there through the mail widget.

Facebook messages, twitter etc would work as well....

Boblobla · 05-23-2008, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Outlook can redirect your home mail. I receive both my Hotmail and Gmail at work through this redirection. Works beautifully.

My work actually blocked the Inbox part of Facebook the other day. Not Facebook itself, just the inbox portion. How lame is that?

Almost as lame as Facebook itself.

Azure · 06-02-2008, 09:26 AM

To bump this again, couldn't you write an https script for Gmail, install greasemonkey as an addon for Firefox, install the script and access Gmail without the filters picking it up?

How does that work?

mac_gurl · 07-16-2008, 07:28 AM

BUMP. Looking for more help accessing gmail at work... they JUST blocked it on me. Are the sites like http://www.anonasurf.com/ safe do you think? What other options should i try.

Azure · 07-26-2008, 03:24 PM

https://mail.google.com

Everyone owes me beer for showing you that.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/0...ty-easier.html