McAfee SiteAdvisor

Works on:
Internet Explorer & Firefox

While it’s no surprise to see a big name like McAfee winning our Group Test, it’s certainly not the case that SiteAdvisor is perfect or that it walked all over the competition. What it did manage to do, though, was cover the areas of protection required, while offering all the expected features – and all in an excellent, easy-to-use package.

When you’re downloading the software, the McAfee site helpfully identifies the browser you’re using and selects the correct version of SiteAdvisor automatically.

The first layer of protection comes in the form of the integrated status icons. When using a supported search engine, little traffic light-coloured status icons appear next to each link, with each colour denoting a level of risk. Hover the mouse cursor over the icon and a balloon appears explaining the rating.

The McAfee program uses a mixture of recorded spam emails, malware and links to other known sites as its guide for rating and provides further analysis from a link within the balloon. SiteAdvisor also provides additional protection with pop-up warnings when browsing dangerous sites – irrespective of how you got there – as well as pop-ups to warn against downloading or installing dangerous ActiveX controls and programs.

A reasonable range of common search engines is supported – AOL, Ask, MSN Live and Google were some of the ones we tested – but if your search preferences are broader you’ll find the list is far from exhaustive. However, this criticism could be levelled at every one of the tools on trial here.

Ultimately, it’s the breadth of protection provided that makes McAfee the clear winner. Many other programs would happily let you install problematic items like phone diallers – something that McAfee would always advise against.

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