Q What is SiteAdvisor?
A SiteAdvisor is a tool from McAfee that protects Internet users from all kinds of Web-based security threats and annoyances including spyware, adware, unwanted software, spam, pop-ups, online fraud and identity theft. SiteAdvisor is a plug-in to your web browser that will help you decide when to visit websites and when to avoid websites.
Lots of times when users stumble onto a bad website, they can't tell the difference between a good website and a bad website - one that has viruses, spyware or spams you when you provide them your email address etc. This is where SiteAdvisor comes in. SiteAdvisor has already done the research and has their labs continually test the sites, download files, and enter information on sign-up forms. This easy to use software for Internet Explorer summarizes safety results into intuitive red, yellow and green ratings to help Web users stay safe as they search, browse and transact online.
Read the rest of this FAQ to become familiar with SiteAdvisor ratings and you'll have a much safer Internet surfing experience.
Q How does SiteAdvisor help me search the Internet safely?
A The software is your personal security guide to the Internet. As you search, browse, or transact online, SiteAdvisor continually displays safety ratings about the site you're visiting, so you stay safe and in control. When you search using popular search engines, SiteAdvisor's safety results appear next to search results. And if you're interested in more detailed information on a site, test results are documented on report pages.
Hovering over the icon will display a quick report for the site. Clicking on the icon will bring you to SiteAdvisor's website and display the full report showing exactly why it received the rating by SiteAdvisor.
As you browse the Internet, the SiteAdvisor icon will display the safety rating of the site you are visiting. Then, you can make the decision to not download from a site if you see SiteAdvisor rates the site as poor or questionable. You can click on the icon to view the site's full report.
Q How will I know if a site is dangerous or safe?
A SiteAdvisor will be visible on your Internet Explorer toolbar; it will read McAfee SiteAdvisor. Once you type in an address of a site; this icon will change colors according to the site’s safety rating received.
SiteAdvisor has 3 different ratings for sites and one indicating a site has not yet been tested. If at any time you want to know why a site was rated the way it was, just click on the safety rating icon to bring you to the SiteAdvisor report.
While searching, here are the 4 icons you will see to the right of your search result indicating the safety rating of that site. Keep in mind that sometimes well-known safe sites can be hacked or contain redirects to malicious sites and this will cause a warning even for sites marked as safe. While surfing, the color of the SiteAdvisor icon in the browser indicates the safety rating:
GREEN: This site has been tested and found no significant problems with adware/spam/viruses/downloads etc.
Or
YELLOW: This site has been tested. Use caution when using these links. If you really want to go to the site, read the SiteAdvisor report first before proceeding. You may change your mind and find another site that has the same content you want.
Or
RED: This site has been tested and found to have failed too many of SiteAdvisor's safety criteria. We'd recommend avoiding these sites altogether. You can always click on the safety rating icon to read the full report.
Or
GRAY: This site has not yet been tested by SiteAdvisor. You can submit this site for testing by SiteAdvisor to get an accurate report of the risk of browsing this site.
Or
Q How do I obtain a SiteAdvisor Report?
A If you are surfing the internet and you type in an address that results in the
SiteAdvisor icon turning yellow and you would like to read the report, simply click on the icon and the results will appear. On that same page you may also type in other web sites to obtain a report from SiteAdvisor. Basically, you can open the SiteAdvisor at any time, type in an internet address to learn the safety rating to help you determine if you want to proceed to that site or not.
Q What criteria does SiteAdvisor base its safety rating on?
A SiteAdvisor determines a Web site's safety rating by looking at a wide variety of information. First, a Web site's e-mail and download practices are evaluated using proprietary data collection and analysis techniques. Then the site is checked against lists of known 'phishing' sites. Next, the Web site itself is examined to see if it engages in annoying practices such as excessive pop-ups. Then an analysis of its affiliate relationships is performed to see how strongly the site relates to other sites which might be flagged as red. Finally, this review is combined with feedback from other users, to alert you about sites that are deemed suspicious.
You can see all the criteria that SiteAdvisor rates the site on by clicking on the SiteAdvisor safety icon. Here are all the criteria ratings used to determine the safety rating:
E-mail tests — Total amount of email and spam received once an email address is submitted to site via sign-up forms.
Download tests — Do files downloaded from the site contain viruses, adware, spyware or other unwanted programs?
Online affiliations — Does it link to other bad/good rated sites?
Annoyances — Does it use 3rd party cookies?
Reviewer comments — Such as: spam, adware, spyware, browser exploits, bad shopping experiences, phishing or excessive popups)
The website owner's comments — Website's owner's can comment on the safety of their own site.
Q How much of the Web has been tested?
A SiteAdvisor has evaluated more than 8 million Web sites covering more than 95% of Web traffic; Downloaded and tested more than 5 million pieces of software; Provided unique e-mail addresses on more than 7 million registration forms. SiteAdvisor hasn't scanned everything yet, but is well on the way, and continues to perform tens of thousands of new tests every day.
Q What percentage of web sites are dangerous?
A SiteAdvisor's safety tests have shown that about 5% of Web traffic is to either red or yellow sites. But many popular Web categories (examples: screensavers, free games, contests) have a much higher percentage of red and yellow sites.
Q When I go to a "green" site, I get redirected to a McAfee SiteAdvisor warning page with a "red x" on it?
A This is a case where you really want to be careful. One possibility is that the original "green" site, was recently hacked and now has code imbedded in it to redirect you to a malicious site that will attempt to breach your PC. You wouldn't know this was happening in the background, but because McAfee SiteAdvisor is aware of these malicious sites, it was able to warn you BEFORE being redirected to the malicious site.
For example, say you want to go to http://www.somewherethatssafe.com. When you attempt to go to that site as you've done in the past, instead of seeing their home page, you get the following warning:
This tells you that the initial page you attempted to go to (somewherethatssafe.com) was hacked and now contains a redirect to the site googlerank.info that McAfee blocked for you.
In this case, based on the fact that you KNOW you didn't want to go to googlerank.info, you wanted to go to somewherethatssafe.com, you do NOT want to override this warning and continue to the site. Best advice is to find another site to go to that has the info you want until the owner of the site fixes their website.
(Did you see how the hacker in the example above tried to make their site sound legit by naming it "googlerank.info"? This site is in no way connected to the company "Google, Inc." but most people probably wouldn't know that this is a well known hacker site in Russia.)
Q How do I make SiteAdvisor work for me?
A As you search or surf the Internet, always being aware of the SiteAdvisor rating will be key. Never go to sites marked red as they are known to have failed the safety checks. Stay away from yellow sites if you can - or research why they have been rated yellow by clicking on the rating and reading up on the info found for that site.
Q How do you rate pornographic or adult Web sites?
A SiteAdvisor is specifically focused on safety issues. Sites are not rated for the content they offer or whether content is appropriate for minors. If an adult Web site fails one or more tests for spyware, spam, exploits, viruses or scams, the site will then be rated red.