McAfee SiteAdvisor

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SiteAdvisor for IE

SiteAdvisor for Firefox

SiteAdvisor is an Internet service formerly provided by SiteAdvisor, Inc. and acquired by McAfee^[1] on 5 April 2006 that warns users when downloading software or filling out forms on a site may make them victims of malware or spam.

Time Magazine named SiteAdvisor.com among the 50 coolest websites of 2005.^[2]

1 Overview
2 Privacy
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Overview

Most of SiteAdvisor's data is gathered through automated testing with Internet Explorer COM objects controlled by Python running on virtual machines.

The plugin is available for Internet Explorer and Firefox and displays a color rating for each site visited^[3]^[4]:

Green - Safe: We tested the site and didn't find any significant problems.
Yellow - Caution: Our tests revealed some issues you should know about. (Example: a site tried to change our browser defaults, or sent a lot of non-spam e-mail)
Red - Warning: Our tests revealed some serious issues that you'll want to carefully consider before using this site at all. (Example: The site sent us lots of spam e-mail or bundled AdWare with a download).
Grey - The site has not been tested, or is in the process of being tested.

[edit] Privacy

SiteAdvisor, while protecting a computer, keeps a log of browsing history. McAfee puts the websites visited on the list of sites awaiting testing^{[citation needed]}.