Besides cookies and temp folders is there any way your boss can know that you are using the internet if so how can you get rid of it?

Answer 1

Spyware- and you can't get rid of that.

Expanding: Many companies use tracking applications that constantly monitor network activity, including pages visited. This is a standalone server side application that you would only be able to disable by telling the program to ignore your PC. The admin for your network can tell just about anything about your computer usage. If you're on a company computer and you like your job, it's good sense to use it the way they tell you to. Unauthorized activity can cost you your job. Just not very sensible. If it is on a company network, ie not a stand-alone computor, the only way you could do it would be if you had system administrator privileges, which by your question, you haven't. There are two sides to this: one is making sure that your computer doesn't store information on your browsing and two, making sure your employer doesn't eavesdrop on your Surfing at some other point in the company network.

For the first problem, it is advisable to try and boot a different operating system from a thumbdrive or DVD, so that any software that is installed on the hard drive to supervise your surfing will be inactivated. You may do this only if you manage to get access to your computer's BIOS and allow booting from an external device. You can do this by either resetting the BIOS password (there is software that can do that and you could also try your luck and disconnect the battery from the CMOS inside your computer, that eliminating the password). You should not try this is if you own your laptop, as they are much more tamper-resistant and could become "bricked" if you are unsuccessful. If you are not able to somehow boot a different operating system, you should assume that you are being monitored as there is no way to insure against it under such conditions.

The second problem is solved by using encryption between you and the sites you surf. Tor (from torproject.org) is currently the best free solution for encrypting your communications and re-routing it such that it is very hard to trace.

Also, while setting up any such solutions, make sure that there aren't any cameras pointed at you. Many employers have security cameras that are not only a theft-deterrent but may "accidentally" watch employees as well. There are a lot of ways your boss can track your online activities: history, cookies, temp folders, redirected URLs, autocomplete data, forms history, etc.