Much of the spyware problem results from users visiting sites that turn out to be untrustworthy or simply malevolent. I'm certainly not inclined to blame the victimized users ... it's hardly their fault that sites run security exploits, offer undisclosed advertising software, or show tricky EULAs that are dozens of pages long. But the resulting software ultimately ends up on users' computers because users browsed to sites that didn't pan out.

How to fix this problem? In theory, it seems easy enough. First, someone needs to examine popular web sites, to figure out which are untrustworthy. Then users' computers need to automatically notify them ... warn them! ... before users reach untrustworthy sites. These aren't new ideas. Indeed, half a dozen vendors have tried such strategies in the past. But for various reasons, their efforts never solved the problem.

A new company is announcing a system to protect users from untrustworthy web sites: SiteAdvisor. They've designed a set of robots ... automated web crawlers, virtual machines, and databases ... that have browsed hundreds of thousands of web sites. They've tracked which sites install spyware ... what files installed, what registry changes, what network traffic. And they've built a browser plug-in that provides automated notification of worrisome sites ... handy red balloons when users stray into risky areas, along with annotations on search result pages at leading search engines.

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Some Screenies


I'll give it ...

Sweet. Signed me up!

Testing now ... and am I as please as punch PCReview gets a green light.

Oh, and it is NOT OS specific ... as I am using Linux & Firefox ... this is a darn good browser "add-on" and I can see it being a necessity to any new user to the internet.

It is best used when searching via Google ... you get to see before visiting a site what to expect, you'd be pretty dumb to click on a "red-flagged" site ... if you use a URL typed straight into your address bar instead, then keep an eye on the bottom right corner of your browser, you'll see a neat little green, yellow or red button.

More comments to follow ...

seems like a good idea, im just waiting for the email

A great plug-in nobody should be without. Works like a charm!

Thank you Mucks!

forgot to add earlier thats its working perfectly, great find Mucks

Who’s a clever boy then? Discovery of the year nice Christmas present Mucks!!!

nice find and if you are on a site which you know is good you can send it to them to look at, great plugin!

Click on a Green one, like PCR, and leave a friendly comment too.

Also, you can see links to other sites that have, or have not, been 'tested' yet.

Need to have ian leave a comment under the "Are you the owner of this site?" bit