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McAfee WebAdvisor

Website safety report software From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

McAfee WebAdvisor
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McAfee WebAdvisor, previously known as McAfee SiteAdvisor, is a service that reports on the safety of web sites by crawling the web and testing the sites it finds for malware and spam. A browser extension can show these ratings on hyperlinks such as on web search results.[1]

Quick Facts Developer(s), Initial release ...

The service was originally developed by SiteAdvisor, Inc, an MIT startup[2] first introduced at CodeCon on February 10, 2006,[3] and later acquired by McAfee[4] on April 5, 2006.

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Usage

Prior to mid-October 2014, the functionality of SiteAdvisor could be accessed by submitting a URL to the website at https://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/, but can now also be accessed through a downloadable Browser Plugin.[5][citation needed]

Sites are rated in levels of Safe (green tick), Suspicious (yellow exclamation mark) and Unsafe (red "X").

Additional features include:

  • Rates email and IM links
  • Indicates sites potentially harmful to your computer
  • Allows users to safely shorten URLs when sharing links
  • Alerts users to possible phishing and identity theft scams
  • Redirects you away from red and yellow sites (if Protected Mode is enabled).[citation needed]
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Products and services

McAfee WebAdvisor is available as a free download on McAfee's website[1] as well as bundled with McAfee Antivirus Plus, McAfee Internet Security, McAfee Total Protection, McAfee McAfee+ Premium, McAfee+ Advanced, McAfee+ Ultimate, and McAfee Business Protection.

Orther features of McAfee WebAdvisor include:

  • Download Protection - This can stop downloads which are considered to be slightly, probably or possibly risky depending on setting determined by the user.
  • Protection against accidental clicks
  • Blocks malware and phishing websites if you accidentally click on a malicious link.
  • Protection against typos - Warns you if you enter a web address incorrectly and points you to the correct one.
  • Social Media Protection - color-codes links in your social media feeds to show you which ones are safe.
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Games and quizzes

In March 2006, McAfee launched a JavaScript-based quiz which has users pick between sites rated as safe and unsafe.[6]

A flash-based memory training game called "WebQuest" was launched around 2007.[7]

Studies and research

WebAdviso has published various reports regarding online threats such as typosquatting, where mistyped domains may lead to sites ranging from harmless pay-per-click and domain parking sites to pornographic and malware sites.[8]

Criticism

False negatives

The very nature of WebAdviso and the long periods between site crawls mean that even if the WebAdviso tests were 100% accurate a Green rating offers no guarantee of safety. Malicious code and browser exploits often spread fast over large numbers of websites,[9] meaning a Green rating may not be up to date and may provide a false sense of security.

To resolve this McAfee WebAdvisor now uses McAfee's AI technology[10] to analyze site content before a website is opened.

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TrustedSource

McAfee WebAdviso now makes use of the TrustedSource website reputation organisation, to act as something like a 'cloud' intelligence software to get the most up-to-date information on websites as possible, very similar to McAfee's Active Protection (Artemis) system.[citation needed] The details of this system are not known.

Awards

  • Time magazine named SiteAdvisor.com among the 50 coolest websites of 2006.[11]
  • Popular Science awarded SiteAdvisor the "Best of What's New" award in the Computing category for 2006.[12]
  • PC World ranked SiteAdvisor at #15 in "The 100 Best Products of 2007."[13]

See also

References

External links

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