WORKPLACE SOFTWARE GIVES CYBER-LOAFING THE BOOT.

Byline: Marc Gunther Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

It was a funny thing, Jamey Cribbs thought. No matter how much disk space he bought for the computer networks he manages at a sprawling Michigan hospital system, it always filled up in a hurry.

Then a worker called to complain that her computer was short of space. The trouble was, she had loaded a byte-gobbling golf game onto her terminal.

Now Cribbs uses a software program for businesses that eliminates games like Solitaire from office PCs.

The age-old struggle between bosses and slackers has gone high-tech. Surveys show millions of workers use their office computers - which are supposed to promote efficiency - to play games, surf the Internet or worse. Best of all, they can look busy while goofing off.

So companies are cracking down. Many firms now have strict policies prohibiting personal use of office PCs. And they are enforcing the rules.

Kmart dismissed a programmer in charge of its World Wide Web site for linking the corporate message to an erotic picture. Transit police officers in Minneapolis were disciplined for playing a strip-poker game on their workplace computers. An ABC News producer lost his job after 23 years with the company for sending pornographic pictures over the office network.

And what computers giveth, computers can taketh away. DVD Software of Irvine has sold hundreds of companies its UnGame software, which seeks out and erases computer games from office PCs. A company called Webster Network Strategies of Naples, Fla., builds electronic filters into office networks that prevent workers from using the Internet for such things as viewing sexy pictures or sports scores.

To companies that don't think they have a problem with Internet abuse, Webster offers free audits of employees' usage. The results are remarkably consistent, says sales manager Julie Novak.

"The sex sites are the highest in most cases. Sports usually follows, not too far behind. Then on-line sales: lingerie, sex toys, maybe things people are too shy to buy in a store," Novak says. "You can really see the priorities of people." What really steams up bosses is when they learn that employees use the Internet to scan help-wanted ads.

The actual scope of the problem is hard to gauge. Webster's audits find that workers at some companies average 90 minutes a day of wasted time. Some of the most popular World Wide Web sites, such as ESPNET SportsZone and the Playboy site, report that usage peaks during daytime business hours. And a survey of computer game players by Coleman & Associates, a consulting firm in Teaneck, N.J., found that 23 percent last played on their office PCs.

But Emily Coleman, who did the study, doesn't worry about workers who spend a few minutes relaxing with Doom or Minesweeper. "If you're thinking at work, you can't be a robot," Coleman says. "You've got to take a break. The real question should be, is the work getting done?"

At least, she says, workers are developing computer skills and staying at their desks. "I've worked in offices. I know how much time people spend at the coffee machine. This is progress. They're at their desks. At least they can answer the phone," she says with a laugh.

Others note that the spread of PCs into the home means that more and more employees are taking their office work home.

But Yossi Hollander, a 38-year-old programmer who came up with the idea for the UnGame software with his wife, Dana, says unauthorized game playing and Net surfing are serious matters. They not only erode productivity but overload office networks.

He scoffs at the idea that games played at lunch or after hours don't interfere with business. "OK, so you're playing a golf game at lunch," he says. "You're on the 17th hole. You're about to break the course record. Lunch is now over and the phone rings. What are you going to do, answer the phone or play the 18th hole?"

UnGame has been sold to corporations, government agencies and colleges.

Greg Scott, information services manager for Oregon State University's college of business in Corvallis, installed the anti-game software after demand for the 140 computers in his lab outstripped supply. "Seat time is exceedingly valuable," he said. "This is one more tool in my quiver."

In Minneapolis, the strip-poker game played by transit cops led to an agency scandal. Female co-workers brought suit for sexual harassment, in part because the computer-generated women who bared their cyber-cleavage were named after real-life workers. A supervisor was disciplined after trying, and failing, to delete evidence of the game.

While Internet surfing is a newer problem, Webster's Internet filter program, introduced last summer, has already been sold to such big customers as Boeing Co., Northeast Utilities and the Florida Department of Transportation.

Novak, the sales manager, said the software was invented to block pornography, but that its sales are now being driven by concerns about productivity and office networks that are strained to capacity.

Some corporations are reportedly rethinking plans to give employees broad Internet access. Texaco Inc. reviews network logs to monitor worker surfing and Frigidaire Corp. postponed plans to provide employee access, according to the trade magazine Network World.