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JustinPL
Contributor
Message 1 of 70

SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Hey everyone,

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, however the section descriptions are a bit confusing.  I have SiteAdvisor (the regular free version) and I'm using it on Firefox.  Anyway, today I was looking for an HTML editor on CNET's download.com.  I tried downloading HTML-Kit when a SiteAdvisor message popped up saying "Potentially Dangerous Download Detected!  In our tests, this download contained programs some people would consider adware, spyware, or other potentially unwanted programs."  I quickly cancelled the download.  However, I quickly noticed a pattern.  It seemed that every download on CNET's download.com had been marked as "potentially dangerous," even programs I had downloaded before.

Here is a pic of the popup:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5856/problemdkf.jpg

Has anyone else experienced this?  Is it a bug or a problem on my end?  I tried searching the net, but could only find this Yahoo Answers Question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ar1bXquhug3LA2AtGWuyKitzaxV.;_ylv=3?qid=20100628210459A...

Thanks for any responses.

69 Replies
JustinPL
Contributor
Message 2 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Anyone else have any input?

PattyP
Contributor
Message 3 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

I am having terrible problems with this! I am a member of a worldwide art community, Deviant Art. Tons of free graphics and components for creating didgital art are shared there and every last one I download in a ZIP, PNG, PSD and 90% of the JPGs that open in a transition from the page where a smaller preview is posted to the page containing the actual picture, Site Advisor gives me the dang warning. It is driving me crazy! I may download over 100 items there in a day and have to tell McAfee to ignore the warning on every single one. The ones that don't give me the warning are the newer shares where the JPG pops up in a new window.

This has been going on for a week or two.

How do I contact the admin person who requested it above? He/she gives no email or link.


I figured out how to PM Samantha Price. Hopefully, she can help.

Message was edited by: PattyP on 7/13/10 3:51:37 PM CDT

Message was edited by: PattyP on 7/13/10 3:52:37 PM CDT
JustinPL
Contributor
Message 4 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Yea, I tried messaging her but she hasn't responded.  It's been a couple weeks, too.

SamSwift
McAfee Retired
McAfee Retired
Message 5 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Hi all,

I've been travelling and then on PTO so haven't been on the site much for the last week or so, sorry.

I've raised this with the Site Advisor folks and have asked them to respond here.

Cheers,

Sam

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 6 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Just a few cents-worth here.  There's a huge difference between "dangerous" as the header states and "potentially dangerous" as the actual pop-up states.  SiteAdvisor is just doing its job in my opinion, however it perhaps shouldn't be labeling every download as such, although that depends on how protected one wants to be I suppose.

Personally I'd rather get the warning than nothing at all.

Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 14/07/10 8:00:56 EDT AM
PattyP
Contributor
Message 7 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Ex_Brit,

You are correct that there is a difference, and usually MCAfee differentiates the difference with a red warning, a yellow warning, or a grey "unknown" when using a search engine with Site Advidor active. These notifications, however, are all or nothing - a screaming red box or no warning at all. If one is used to using SA while browsing, one knows that going ahead on a red warning is a a very risky step. This is a red warning, but no confirmation that the download is truly dangerous, and nothing specific about why it is suspect, just a general "could be". Having to click on "download anyway" 100 times per day is a real irritation for those of us who heavily use sites where this is a problem, and causes me to worry that at some point, I may automatically click "download anyway" on something that truly is a threat.

The situation never existed before the most recent update, where McAfee popped up a dialog box unprompted as I was using my system ( I don't think I was browsing) and asked did I want to update to a new something-or-other for Site Advisor, so I did allow it to update. This has been a continuing problem for me ever since.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Hopefully Sam's communication with the SA team will bring answers.

newjack
Former Member
Message 9 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

Hey everyone,I am also still experiancing a problem with site advisor also.There must be some kind of problem.I had a problem with site advisor for over a week now.Then my hard drive went so i had to fix that and reinstall Mcafee again.I am now finally updated to 2010!But I am experiancing the same problems as before.I have tried to download a program from 3 differant sites.All of the sites were marked green.But when i get to the part where you click download the red pop up appears.I have never had this problem and i have had Mcafee for years.If i ever encountered a red pop up it was probabley because the download was`nt any good.If not i was`nt going to try.In the past though i could use an alternate site & download what i needed.I have also seen many sites that are marked green.When i hover over the check mark it says many green downloads.But when i click the site report there are tons of red downloads???Something does not seem to be working correctly.Would appreciate any thoughts on this please.

                                                                                                                          Thanks Jack

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 10 of 70

Re: SiteAdvisor marking downloads as dangerous

It appears that it is merely warning you that all downloads are potentially dangerous, which is true.  However, I agree it is being a bit heavy handed about it.  You must remember that SiteAdvisor has no virus detection ability and is merely a warning system.  Hopefully SiteAdvisor are looking into this following the contact made by Samantha Price earlier in this thread.  Obviously a green site should suddenly have its downloads marked red.  More appropriately an amber alert perhaps.

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