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Xbox Live is an online digital media delivery and multi-player gaming service developed and managed by Microsoft Corporation.

It was first introduced with the Xbox video game console. An updated version of the gaming service was made available for the Xbox 360 console. It comes in two versions, the Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Live Silver. In addition, each country has its specific pricing regulation to play the game.

Xbox Live Features

Xbox Live comes with several features including:

ActiveX is a set of technologies used to facilitate the interaction of software components in one network. It is installed by default using Internet Explorer. You may still need to configure its settings. To configure:

1. Open Internet Explorer. Click on the Tools menu located at the upper right portion.

2. Click Internet Options.

3. Go to the Security tab. The Internet zone will be chosen by default.

The Concept of “Websensing”

Whenever a user attempts to access a specific website, a request is produced and is forwarded through a firewall. Websense checks this request and allows access if the requested URL is in the database of the software. Websense relies on the fact that the firewall will pass the request in a single time. If the whole request is not forwarded at one time, the software would not allow the packet to pass, as the packet does not seem like an HTTP request.

While Websense is helpful in filtering access to certain websites, it can also be bypassed to visit popular websites.

Bypassing Websense Through a Web Proxy

One simple method employed to bypass Websense is the use of Web-based proxy sites. With a proxy, Websense would think you are browsing on the Web proxy and not on the website you are actually browsing. The reason why these proxies can bypass the software is the ‘S’ in the HTTP address (https://). The ‘S’ signifies secure connection and the software does not block such secured sites. Using Web proxies is the easiest way to bypass Websense as it takes just a little time.

Here are the steps to bypass Websense through a Web proxy:

1. Find a proxy site. You can access the proxy site, and then access the restricted site through the proxy. You can otherwise use a program called vpntunnel to run programs like games and BitTorrent.

2. Once you are able to access a proxy site, key in the URL that you want to visit in the space provided for in the proxy site. If you are using vpntunnel, install and log in with the program.

Since Websense updates the list of blocked proxies from time to time, you should join a mailing list to be updated on which proxies are already blocked by Websense.

Bypassing Websense Through HTTP Tunneling

Another way to bypass Websense is through HTTP Tunneling programs that work well in bypassing Websense. Most of these programs have options to delete the user's history of Internet-related activities on Windows. With HTTP Tunneling programs, you are ensured of comfort and security with your activities on the Internet. You can also spoof the information on your Web browser to help prevent hacking activities. You can download HTTP Tunneling programs from the Internet. Downloading these programs is easy and inexpensive.

192.168.0.1 is among a number of IPv4 addresses designated for use only within a private network. The following are the private IP address ranges defined for IPv4:

Using NAT (Network Address Translation), routers intelligently route incoming packets from the Internet to the right device on the private network. The network as a whole is identified by its public IP address.

Like 192.168.1.1, 192.168.2.1 belongs to the range of private IPv4 addresses with the first two octets as 192.168. Private means these appear only internally within a network and cannot appear on the Internet publicly.

Routers use NAT (Network Address Translation) to intelligently route incoming packets from the Internet to the right machine. The router itself has a public IP address leased by the Internet Service Provider. This public IP address is also the address by which computers within the network are identified when accessing the Internet.

Like any IP address of the form 192.168.x.y, 192.168.1.1 is a private IPv4 address. Devices on different networks can have this same IP address, but only one device on an internal network can have it.

Typically, this is the address of routers manufactured for home use by companies such as Linksys. Note that a router actually has at least two IP addresses visible to other devices: one for devices within the network and the other for the Internet.