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Safe Options for Surfing While on the Road? 54

Posted by Cliff from the browsin'-while-truckin' dept.
Sooner Boomer asks: "My oldest brother is an over-the-road truck driver. He subscribes to several wireless services at truck stops (Flying J, Pilot, etc.). I've tried to help him and educate him as much as possible, but he still has two problems; connectivity (poor signal strength) and security. His truck has a fiberglass shell, so that is not the problem. He has to run IE because this is the only browser supported for the log-in process. We've talked about wireless routers with reflectors on the antennas to boost signal strength, and to help with security. I'm still looking for better security though. Are there "live" linux browsers that can be run once a connection is made in windows? It's really gotten annoying because he has to reformat/reinstall about every two-three months. Ideas? Good trucker jokes?"
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Safe Options for Surfing While on the Road? More

Safe Options for Surfing While on the Road?

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  • IE only? (Score:4, Informative)

    by benj_e ( 614605 ) <walt DOT eis AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday January 18, 2006 @03:05PM (#14502275) Journal
    I've used my iBook at Flying Js all over the midwest. Safari worked fine to log on. Is he sure about needing IE to log on?

  • Anonym.OS (Score:2, Informative)

    by non-poster ( 529123 )
    A recent article [slashdot.org] on Slashdot talks about Anonym.OS [theory.kaos.to], which is supposed to keep your web activities anonymous. Maybe he should look into it.
  • What Does A Schneider Truck & An Orange Barrel Have In Common?
    They both have a dirt bag in them!

    Ohhhh... comedy gold!

  • ok, a joke (Score:5, Funny)

    by sfjoe ( 470510 ) on Wednesday January 18, 2006 @03:11PM (#14502367)
    Since I don't have any ideas for you, here's my trucker joke:

    A truck driver stopped at a roadside diner for lunch and ordered a cheeseburger, coffee, & a slice of apple pie. Three bikers came in, and one grabbed the trucker's cheeseburger out of his hand and took a huge bite from it. The second biker drank the trucker's coffee, & the third biker wolfed down the apple pie. The truck driver didn't say a word, just paid the cashier & left.
    When he was gone, the bikers snickered & congratulated each other for being such bad asses. As the cashier walked up, a biker growled, "He ain't much of a man is he?"
    "He's not much of a driver neither," replied the cashier. "He just backed his 18 wheeler over three motorcycles."

  • And just use the pre-built Browser Appliance virtual machine.

  • IE on linux (Score:2, Informative)

    by JTorres176 ( 842422 )
    I use IE in debian using crossover office from Codeweavers [codeweavers.com]. I have to travel now and again for work and some hotels use the same setup where it requires that you use IE to make your connection (and yes, safari works too, but I don't have a mac)

    All I have to do is make a connection to google with IE, then I use FF for everything else.
    • If Safari works, would Konquerer? They are almost one and the same, though I don't know if you could run Konquerer or not...
    • If Windows is installed natively on the computer, you can run one of the freely-available Linux VMs in VMWare Player. They even have a Linux setup solely for browsing.

      So if IE under WINE/Codeweavers doesn't work with the signon for some reason, then VMWare would be my next resort.
  • User agent switcher [mozilla.org] is an extension for FireFox that will allow you to fake the "user-agent" string identifying your browser.
    • And if Firefox still doesn't work, you can still run Opera on Linux and use that browser's built-in agent switcher (actually I think it defaults to reporting as IE).

      Its possibe you could find Opera more compatible with an IE-specific site.

  • trucker joke (Score:5, Funny)

    by frangipani ( 729691 ) on Wednesday January 18, 2006 @03:28PM (#14502559)
    I'd tell you my trucker joke, but it's only semi-funny.

  • A few things.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SillyNickName4me ( 760022 ) <dotslash@bartsplace.net> on Wednesday January 18, 2006 @03:32PM (#14502601) Homepage
    Well, this should be little different from securing any other Windows machine connected directly to a public network..

    Indeed a router might help here, provided it also has some decent firewall functionality. I would myself go for a WRT54GL with OpenWRT, setup as a wireless client and with its wireless connection firewalled and doing address translation.

    It would be very nice if you could get around the authentication problem by directly posting the authentication info with some script, woudl also remove the need for IE, but will probably take a bit of scripting in perl or the like, might even be able to solve this one with just some bash script and tools like wget. You'll have to figure out what the authentication page expects from the client. Makes you wonder of course why they aren't supporting WPA and 'enterprise authentication' so that clients get authenticated at the wireless network level and get to use proper encryption. Sould not be difficult to support considerig that many ISPs use some radius server for authentication already anyway and that is all they really need.

    When using a router/firewall, the connection will stay up regardless of you rebooting the laptop, so you should be able to switch OS or whatever else you want to do.

    But in the end, reinstalling Windows every few months should not be needed provided the WIndows machine has some important tools installed, such as a decent personal firewall, anti-virus tools and some adware/spyware blocker/remover.

    Also, you can authenticate using IE, and then use Firefox for browsing I'd say, so unless there are other compelling reasons, I see no reason why running another browser would mean running another OS.

    Of course, you could also use something liek vmware or such and run a live linux distro on top of Windows. Refer to the many 'which live CD to use' discussions of the last years for info on that, or just try a few.

    • Since you named WMWare, I think there's another option: Install linux as host, then WMWare for linux and install Windows inside that.

      Then use your fantasy.
      You will probably be able to browse from the Linux host once the connection is up.
      And failing that, you can still just use windows and avoid the reinstalls by saving a snap image of the virtual machine right past installation.

      Sure, you'll loose all bookmarks and stuff as with a real reinstall.
      But the reinstall process itself will be a blink (just a

      • Running Windows as guest may be the smarter way to do this indeed, provided Linux runs well on that laptop (depends.. at times it works really well, at times it is a real pain)

        Sure, you'll loose all bookmarks and stuff as with a real reinstall.
        But the reinstall process itself will be a blink (just a file copy).

        THe 'technically advanced' solution would be to run samba on Linux and use a roaming profile to store those things outside of the 'Windows world'.

        Maybe a bit overkill for the situation, but also nicel
  • Go here. [vmware.com] A free VMWare player that runs an image of Linux running Firefox. Once you're connected up, do all your browsing with that.

    If it won't accept that, use the User Agent Firefox module to pretend you're actually running IE.

    What is he actually doing that's causing him problems? Downloading spyware apps? Not sure there's a fix for that.

  • Get a data plan and a PCICMA card from Verizon or Sprint and use that. A lot of the interstates are have EVDO coverage.
    • I'm not a huge fan of the price of such services, but my dad has the Verizon service. We were camping at Watkins Glen, and were able to listen to the internet broadcast of the race we were watching. Has worked all over the east coast, quite nicely. something in the neighborhood of $80 though...
      • I agree but for a trucker he may get to write it off as a business expense. Also WiFi at truck stops currently isn't free. I just through it out as an option. Some cells will let you use them as a modem and just charge air time. Us it at night and on weekends and it is free.
        • Verizon won't officially let you- if you don't have a PDA designed for tethering, they won't sell you a plan- I can get EVDO "dial-up" on my LG 8100, but they won't sell me a plan for it. They also don't charge data rates, because officially, I can't tether it :-D

          Their reaction? Try to block the tethering...(took a minor hexedit to re-enable, nothing too bad)
    • Get a data plan and a PCICMA [sic] card from Verizon or Sprint...

      I would recommend Sprint as they're the only carrier with an unlimited data plan.
      Also, if he already has a cell phone it's quite possible he can hook it up to his laptop via bluetooth or an adaptor cable.
      I travel a lot and have a PowerBook and Treo 650 connected via bluetooth. Interestingly, even though the Blazer browser is truly horribly slow, that is actually due to the proxy server they use for
      • Cellular One has an unlimited data plan ($15/m) and an unlimited minutes plan ($50/m).
      • I would recommend Sprint as they're the only carrier with an unlimited data plan.

        I just bought a new phone and plan with Cingular. Their unlimited data plan is $20/month, but well worth it for me as I use it for email, light web browsing, and even as a bluetooth modem for the laptop when there's no WiFi. I get a pretty solid 115k connection.
  • A hitchhiker gets picked up by a trucker. After a while of small talk, the truck driver looks over at the hitchhiker and asks if he'd like to see something cool. The hitchhiker shrugs, and says ok. Then the driver reaches across to the glove compartment, opens it, and a small monkey jumps out. Very quickly without warning the truck driver punches the Monkey, and just as quickly the Monkey pulls down the truckers pants and gives him a blow job.

    The hitchhiker is taken back by this, and just sits quietly tryin
  • The best suggestion I can muster, short of many layers of security, is the VMware Browser Appliance: http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/vm/browserapp.html [vmware.com]

    As a sidenote, my nephew is doing the same thing, and his iBook works just fine. His employer has a contract with TA, which is where he has his personal wireless subscription. There's no IE-only problems there for him.
  • Which Windows is he using?

    If he does not have XP, then install ZoneAlarm for him from ZoneLabs. There is a free version.
    • Its been about a year since I last used it, but ZA was a pain in the ass. It blocks things that I've told it not to block, and doesn't block things I've told it to block. It also doesn't work transparently - that is, when you say 'disable firewall' ZA doesn't disable itself, but still firewalls things. It doesn't seem to be related to my lack of being able to come up with the correct settings, but rather that ZA is just stupid sometimes. IIRC, it also dumps all of your open connections when enabling/dis

  • FlyingJ only works with IE??? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dr.Dubious DDQ ( 11968 ) on Wednesday January 18, 2006 @04:04PM (#14503015) Homepage

    Odd - unless they've changed it in the last year, I'd been using Konqueror to get onto it just fine...

    It's possible many of them just SAY the site "only works with IE" because that's all they test on, but if you ignore the message in some cases you may be able to get in anyway...

  • He has to run IE because this is the only browser supported for the log-in process.
    If IE is only needed for the log-in process then he could close it and run Firefox after logging in. Logging in usually just allows traffic from a certain MAC address to use the network once authenticated.

  • I have a guide on setting up a secure proxy through SSH here [the-engine.org]. I use this whenever I'm out on insecure wireless networks.

  • The XP built-in one works, but if he's moderately savvy then I highly recommend that he get one that will block both outbound and inbound connections. I use Kerio Personal Firewall, but I know there are others out there as well.

    Basically what he should do is treat it as learning for the first while and "teach" the firewall what applications are allowed to connect out. Email client? Let it connect out for SMTP/POP3/IMAP; *maybe* let it connect out on HTTP/HTTPS but I don't advise it. Firefox? Let it connect
  • I notice you don't mention any usage of security tools... If he must use IE, then build him a reasonably secure Windows system. (If he's reformatting/reinstalling that often, he's running a horribly configured system.) Get him Zone Alarm, and an AV program.

  • Since all of my ideas have already been stated, I'll offer a dumb trucker joke. It works better recited, but I'll try to convey it in text:

    A queer couple is hitchhiking on the side of I-80, trying to get across the country to California. A big, friendly trucker stops to pick them up. He offers them a ride all the way to California, and they gladly hop in. After some time on the road and enough idle chit-chat to break the ice, one of the queer gentlemen says "oh my god, I have to fart".

    The truck dri

  • Set him up so that he's not an admin. See Aaron Margosis's blog [msdn.com] for details. Another option is to introduce him to the RunAs functionality, though it's not needed much if you set him up as a non-admin.

    If you're willing to do a bit of legwork, you can use Windows as an administrator. It's much, much safer.

  • I've run IE6 rather well under Wine, though it often requires some work to get up and running. If it is an issue of the browser requiring activeX or some other stupidity perhaps you could run IE under wine to get things up and running?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • use DropMyRights to lower IE to a LIMITED account privlidges.
    Get it from Microsoft Here [microsoft.com]

  • When most people think of trucker songs, they think of the ones recorded by Red Sovine. Dale Watson has a few good ones too. Here are a couple:

    Truckin' Man [archive.org]
    If I was a Truckin' Man, I'd be a gearjammer with a one-armed tan,
    I'd spend my nights in the roadhouse, Days on the lost highway,
    Hey, If I was a Truckin' Man, I'd have my radio screamin' on the A.M. band
    All night drivin' by dashboard lights, If I was a Truckin' Man

    I can't let my life slip away,
    pushing these Number 2 pencils every day
    This rat

  • Other Options (Score:2, Informative)

    by mkosmo ( 768069 )
    What about other options, such as cellular internet? Its cheaper nowadays, and is as simple as plugging in a pcmcia card. With this you can use it nearly anywhere, any time, at broadband speed... and youre not sharing the pipe with the other truckers. We all know what its like at a LAN party when one guy sucks all the available internet bandwidth for porn.... well if we had our own connection we wouldnt have to fear :)
  • As others have noted, Flying J's service definitely doesn't require Windows or IE. It's also gotten better; I used to have a lot of trouble logging in with anything other than IE, actually, and luckily still had it on the OS X partition of my iBook's drive (which itself I luckily still had at that point ;)).

    However, the big problem was actually reaching the login page itself; that login / signup page was reached by automatic redirection when you tried to attach to the wireless network. That is, you'd start

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