Check for rogue or malicious websites

Platform : Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Type: freeware

Manufacturer: AVG

Size: 869Kb

Rating: 3

Verdict: Works differently from, say, McAfee SiteAdvisor where it will check a remote website to see if it's potentially rogue or malicious

System Requirements:

Receiving pro-active information about a destination website is nothing new. McAfee SiteAdvisor is a plugin for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox that enables you to obtain information on whether a destination website is good, bad or indifferent, based on user reviews. Run a Google search and you can quickly see whether users rate a website as potentially bad, enabling you to avoid the site.

That’s providing the site has been visited and rated by SiteAdvisor users. If not, you might be the first unlucky person to end up on the scamming site and have to report it yourself, to warn other users. Surely there must be a better way?

AVG LinkScanner is a module that was included in AVG AntiVirus 8 and enables you to scan forward on Google and Yahoo search engine results, so you can see whether AVG LinkScanner thinks a destination website is safe and legitimate or unsafe and a potential minefield. AVG have decided to launch LinkScanner as a standalone product, so you can use with your other AV software.

Problem is that it can slow your web experience. As an example, run a Google search and you’ll have to then wait for LinkScanner to scan the destination sites before it attempts to rate them on your behalf. If you’re an advanced Internet user, you’re not going to need a tool to check destination websites on your behalf. You can make that judgement yourself (much like the spam letters sent to you by post stating you’ve won the lottery). If you’re a novice user, or someone who’s rather gullible, this might be for you.