By work computer, I mean one that you have very limited control over - can’t install anything, or add extensions, etc.
For example, there used to be a trick where you could run a Bing search of a YouTube URL and the results would include an embed of the video but with Bing’s own video player, and something about that made the ads not work. Which was great - ad free YouTube on a computer I can’t install ad blockers on!
That doesn’t seem to work anymore, but makes me wonder if there are things like that - just little roundabout tricks to make the experience less trash, on a rig where my options are limited to what’s already there.
Asking about any tricks, not just YouTube or ad related ones (but those too if you know any!).
Thanks all!
Make the case for ad and tracker blockers as bandwidth saving and don’t leak data.
I think that DuckDuckGo do this for video but I’m not sure
Install a vm (or use wsl) and just work in Linux in there.
You get root, and can use software that respects you. For a speed penalty of course.
He can’t install a vm
If you’re at home, set up pihole or use an content-blocking DNS on your router. But then if you’re home, you should be using a personal device for non-work stuff. There are also a bunch of alternative (and some sketchy) front-ends for various websites.
I’ve honestly given up on getting around corporate controls and just completely separate personal stuff from work devices, especially nowadays when companies are going full big brother because of people using AI tools/agents and the chances of someone accidentally uploading stuff that shouldn’t be out there is getting increasingly common. So they are locking down stuff more and more, and increasing monitoring/surveillance.
If you have physical access to the hardware, the world’s your oyster. Until you get caught anyway.
Probably best to give a nice gift to one of the top IT folks - or be buddy-buddy with them - for the Admin password with the assurance that you’ll take care of it if you mess the system up. Or better, that you won’t in the first place.
This got me a good deal of leeway once upon a time, but then, maybe things are a lot harder to circumvent these days.
One of my other employers had all company functions on an RDP server and staff could do whatever they needed, heck, wanted - within reason - with their desk PCs with everything else securely away in a window on their desktops. The solution doesn’t scale well though, especially when the company server can’t use the processing power of the desk PCs, so that might not be right for your company. Indeed, the company in question eventually had people doing their work on the bare metal, so to speak.
By that point I was VNCing to my home PC instead in a weird reversal of the previous setup.
Wipe it.
Install Linux.
Get fired because you removed your works spyware.
Don’t underestimate how much liberty you can get if you just install it via Microsoft store.
There’s portable Firefox (lots of apps actually) packages also, no install necessary in the first place. Bummer if they are only allowed to run pre-approved applications. In this case OP would have to live with the ads. Although I’d question why such a locked-down environment wouldn’t block ads via firewall in the first place.
Because legit ads aren’t malware. The edge protection devices actually filter and monitor the ad traffic like any other Internet traffic, scanning for known or heuristic attacks.
Blocking ads at the Enterprise is more expensive than it’s worth. When legit traffic is blocked, it makes work for the team, and avoiding that makes the filters too permissive to be useful.
Portable apps will get you fired, don’t use them if you’re not authorized.
There’s portable Firefox (lots of apps actually) packages also, no install necessary in the first place.
I’m sure we went through a phase at the day job where the (windows, ugh) machine was unable to execute apps not in the approved (unwritable) locations; local admins can execute a file saved specifically in C:\windows\tmp or so, just for installs. I’m not sure that’s still in-place after the 10->11 downgrade, but I wouldn’t be surprised. We’re pretty locked-down, and while we can request exemptions for work-derived stuff, we have a large agreement confirming we never use the work gear outside of work stuff so I haven’t needed to test the boundaries lately.
I work remotely and there’s no such reg covering side-gig or home gear used for day-job stuff; can’t be, if you think about it. So I KVM the pretty monitors and comfy keyboard over to the work box in the 9-5 and leave it absolutely untouched outside of that. It’s even in its own DMZ because we’re a small section of a larger shitbag global exploitation company and they could demand some whackadoo spy shit on us without us knowing, until we find out and tell the union.
So.
- you maybe can’t run third-party apps without a local admin account
- KVM switch. I use the one also available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNS4RRY1 as HDMI is my floor tech level, but there are myriad variations to choose from.
That’s it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, and hit the merch table in the lobby.
portable apps might work and also if the screen saver comes on outside your control you can fullsize a video or a presentation and then put something over it.
Running portable apps is a good way to get a call from the security team when endpoint protection blocks the unauthorized executable.
I said it before. Work laptop has 64 GB ram and an nvme, and an i7. Slower than windows xp on 512 mb ram, hardly joking. I used my powermac g4 with 512 mb ram the other day, it was about the speed of my work laptop. 800 MHz CPU.
My 15 year old PC with Linux, lighting fast.
Windows is cancer. Everything has truly gone down the shitter except open source and Linux.
I don’t think you need admin rights to install plugins in browsers, have it put Firefox, add the ublock origin plugin yourself. Or sync plugins from your Firefox on another computer.
Oh, they do. We are only allowed to use Edge, and most extensions are blocked.
The user also mentioned this is in a medical setting, not sure I’d be doing personal stuff on that computer at all. Do your work.
right, even for your own safety, but wanting ublock is reasonable
If you are using it on your home network, you could still use network level adblocking with something like adguard or pihole. That won’t work if you are hybrid or fully in the office, but I share your pain. Windows is hell from the first login all the way through to the “these apps are preventing the computer from shitting down” screen.
As for watching YouTube, an alternative frontend like invideous may help. Alternatively, you might try duck duck go. I think they relay the video through their own server.
I just found stuff that isn’t blocked that I found entertaining, like reading random Wikipedia articles or playing on MS paint or poking around with the command prompt.
Also speaking of CMD, sometimes it will be blocked but Powershell won’t be, and you can run any traditional DOS commands as well as powershell cmdlets.
Messing with work computer can get you into legal trouble. Best check the policy.
Assuming you’re dead set on getting fired for using corporate resources outside of approved methods, forward port 443 to an SSH server at home, use an SSH tunnel to connect to RDP or Xwin or VLC or whatever remote desktop, and run your home apps via local remote desktop.
If your org is running a well configured layer 7 firewall, they might block this as well.
if you have an unlimited data connection on your phone, use usb tethering, set the network interface priority to lowest, and configure ssh to tunnel through your phone (run sshd on termux). Use ssh -L from wsl
You folks are typing your personal passwords on work computers?
/c/shittytechtips
