Why does SiteAdvisor act like malware?? (re:SecureSearch)

[mangus]

Hi Community peeps,

Can anybody tell me why SiteAdvisor keeps throwing me a notice about Secure Search??

It has no X to close and ignore.  It does not respond to close window option from taskbar.  It only responds the button on the notice.

I tried "Secure" Search a few weeks back when the first pop-up came along.  Unfortunately, it simply hacked all my browser search settings to Yahoo.  (How is Yahoo even still in business?)

Is this a genuine function of the software?  Or is it malware for real?

This is the second issue I have had recently of McAfee software acting like malware, so it doesn't inspire trust.  The last occasion McShield mysteriously appears and jams up my processes for a month until I realise something's really not right and go fishing for the blighter.  Really disappointed when it was McAfee branded because it took me so long just to extricate pre-installed McAfee trial version.  Is it just plain old company policy to make malware-style products now?

Thanks gang, I just really wanna know whether I can trust the one bit of McAfee software that I find really useful.

[exbrit]

If you look two posts above your other post one user found a solution.  If there are no buttons to set this as you wish then something's wrong with the display.    I suggest you contact Technical Support if that doesn't help.  It's free of charge and linked under Useful Links at the top of this page.

[Hayton]

SiteAdvisor and Yahoo as the default search engine in Secure Search : out of our hands. Someone did a deal, and that's what we got.

The Secure Search pop-up : Annoying, I agree. I saw it earlier today just after SiteAdvisor updated to a new version. I think that's the only time I ever see it, and I just ignore it. The pop-ups themselves are Marketing's idea of discreet prompts and reminders - you know, nothing garish or intrusive

[mangus]

There are plenty of dicreet prompts popping up in bubbles from my system tray, whereas this is, to use your term, 'intrusive'.  It covers the corner where SiteAdvisor sits in my browser and refuses to shrink to background.  It has a button, which as I said, I don't trust because of the previous actions it took.

My main question though: Is this a genuine pop-up?

[Hayton]

The one I saw was undoubtedly genuine. If you have any doubts about what you see then hit PrtSc next time it appears and take a screenshot, then we can tell you if it's the real thing or not.

Edit -  Oh, and

Is this a genuine function of the software?

Yes. But you don't have to accept it. If you do then change your mind later, in SiteAdvisor options you can undo the choice. It's something you're being nudged to accept not forced to accept.

Message was edited by: Hayton on 24/08/13 02:36:02 IST

[Hayton]

What was it I said?

just after SiteAdvisor updated to a new version. I think that's the only time I ever see it

I take that back. The b**sted thing keeps popping up like a jack-in-the-box at random intervals and it's beginning to be annoying. I don't think there's any way to stop it, short of hunting through the registry to look for whatever key it keeps checking. And I doubt that Marketing will listen to pleas to turn off the pop-up, although I'll give that a try.

It's not SiteAdvisor that's to blame, it's the marketing analysts who are convinced that these pop-ups are a brilliant idea

[washgirl]

For the last week, I've been having a pop-up appear every time I browsed a page.  Problem was, no text appeared inside the pop-up.  The header, a red stripe, finally reminded me of McAfee and I ended up here and found a picture of the SiteAdvisor pop-up box.  It matched my pop-up box and had prompts in the same spots, just no text.  So, there was no way I could tell the pop-up what it wanted to know.   A post here suggested hitting the button next to the McAfee logo and selecting options to turn SiteAdvisor off.  I had no button next to the logo.  Then I tried to uninstall McAfee SiteAdvsor, but I couldn't.  The uninstall box was, again, empty of all text.  Finally, I found a community post which led me to the Consumer Products Removal Tool. http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?lc=1033&id=TS101331   I used it.  It told me it didn't remove all McAfee from my computer.  However, it seems to have stopped the SiteAdvisor popup.  Hope this helps.    Also, I restarted after using the tool.

Message was edited by: washgirl on 8/30/13 6:49:28 PM CDT

[Hayton]

No text in a McAfee box is probably something to do with Internet Explorer, which McAfee uses for all its displays. Have you got it installed, and which version if so? It could also be caused by the default IE font - I think Helvetica causes McAfee to go and sulk, for some reason.

[washgirl]

I have IE 10 installed and my default fonts are Times New Roman and Courier New.  It's a mystery.

[Peacekeeper]

Post a pic next time it happens please.