Surf With Safety!

I recently came across another weapon in the war against spyware that's so useful I can't help myself from telling you about it.

In this era of drive-by installs and unannounced browser hijacks, surfing the Web can seem like tiptoeing across a minefield: one wrong step, and you've got serious problems. For the past couple of years, I have been hoping someone would develop a tool that tests Web sites for potential safety issues, so when I found a Firefox plug-in called SiteAdvisor, I was excited. Even better, once I started testing it this tiny add-on actually exceeded my expectations, which is rare.

The short story on SiteAdvisor is that it gives you the dirt on more than a million Web sites. Its test bots constantly check sites to see whether they send unsolicited e-mail, bury users under a blanket of pop-ups, and--perhaps most importantly--contain software that could compromise your privacy. Whenever you visit a URL, SiteAdvisor's browser icon flashes one of three colors: green (safe), yellow (caution), or red (extreme caution). Then, with a couple clicks, you can head to SiteAdvisor's home page for more detailed information. According to the company, about 90 percent of the sites tested so far have scored a green rating, whereas only 5 percent haved earned the red flag for bad behavior. My favorite part about the plug-in is that it rates sites directly from search engines such as Yahoo and Google, which reduces your chances of falling victim to a drive-by install. By the way, did I say that it's FREE?

(Used with permission from CNET Networks, Inc., Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.)

Addendum: SiteAdvisor is also available for Internet Explorer. You can find it by clicking here: (SiteAdvisor for Internet Explorer)

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