Dang It PepsiCo! No More AIM :(

[nikki]

Well... one of my worst fears has happened... I can no longer get on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) at work :whiner:

I work for Quaker Oats (recently acquired by PepsiCo) and we just moved to a new office building last Monday. AIM worked fine the first day, then on Tuesday, it was working and just quit. Now it's dead. And if I try to download a new one, I get the nasty "FORBIDDEN" PepsiCo screen. Damn PepsiCo has been taking over things slowly... looks like they just put their locks on Quaker's Internet Access last Tuesday. Thank God (can I say that?) I still have DRN. AIM and DRN have helped me keep my sanity in the fun world of accounting over the past two years. It's pretty much how I keep contact with everyone. This is a major bummer - oh well... guess maybe I can get a little more work done now. Corporate America sucks sometimes. :(

 

[RM_guy]

I've had the same ups and downs where I work. What they don't realize is that I'd be less productive without DRN at work :eek: Good luck:)

 

[JuliusPleaser]

:silly:

 

[70 marlin]

Ditto!

 

[XRpredator]

Tried either the MSN or Yahoo messengers yet?

Thank goodness I'm the only one with computer access where I work. :D

 

[nikki]

Well... just downloaded yahoo messenger :|

Downloaded fine... but when I go to connect - it just doesn't work. Same with my AIM - gets stuck on the "1) Connecting" screen then says a connection couldn't be made.

Damnit :whiner:

 

[XRpredator]

Now now, a purty gal like you shouldn't go a-cussin' like that! ;)

You still got the DRN Private Messaging and email. :) A tad slower, but at least it's something.

 

[bsmith]

Just hope Pepsi doesn't do URL filtering and cut off DRN :scream:

If they do, I'll switch my Pepsi Machine to a Coke Machine:)

Do you send instant messages to co-workers on site, if so, you can do a net send. Go to the start button, then click run, this will prompt the dialog box, delete what's in it and then type net send (username) (message). For example "net send bsmith2k wazzzup!!". The message will pop up in front of any program running on the user desktop in the form of a small box with the message in it. It won't work for long gossip sessions, but effective for small office chat :)

I don't know but if you have someones IP address you might be able to send out of the building, but I've never tried it.

 

[gospeedracer]

ooooh, that's gotta suck. :( Have you tried using tin cans and a string? ;)

I don't know what I would have done if I actually had to focus on accounting the whole time I was at work while at my last job! :confused:
DRN and AIM were my life blood! I didn't AIM too much though, had a hard time explaining those blinking boxes at the bottom of my screen when my boss would come in and want to look at a spreadsheet with me. :eek:
I don't understand why a company would do that. If it's used within reason I don't see why it shouldn't be allowed. Did they take the phone off your desk too? Heaven forbid you be allowed to reach the outside world! ;) I say if you want happy employees, ya gotta let them have some work place entertainment as long as the work is getting done. Just my opinion.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Originally posted by nikki
Well... just downloaded yahoo messenger :|

Downloaded fine... but when I go to connect - it just doesn't work. Same with my AIM - gets stuck on the "1) Connecting" screen then says a connection couldn't be made.

Damnit :whiner:

It's pretty common at big companies to set the firewall policies to block the TCP/IP ports used by all of the major instant messaging software (ICQ, ISPQ, MSN, AIM, etc) and most streaming media ports as well.

There is an upside though. Lots of companies use Netmeeting to conduct normal business so it's pretty common to leave those ports open. If your IP address doesn't change too often you might be able to send it to your chat friends and use Netmeeting (free from Microsoft if it's not on your system) as your messenger. You can put your friends in the NM address book and just gte them to load it at Windows start-up. It can just sit in the background waiting to answer a call. Really hardcore IT groups only let Netmeeting run inside the firewall on the intranet (i.e. people on YOUR network) but it's worth a try.

 

[truespode]

I finally stopped using AIM and switched my name to be something only I know b/c I was getting too many people IM'ing me who I didn't care to talk to.

Now I only care to talk to 4 people on AIM and I haven't told them my new logon yet.

Ivan

 

[dave186]

We had the same problems at school, but they should have known better, everytime they blocked something we found a way around it. Have you tried trillian? sometimes it will work when others wont. there is always a way around stuff like this. im guessing that you guys have Novell software?

 

[truespode]

There is only a way around it b/c your Network Admin is lazy.

Ivan