Google Toolbar, Safe Browsing, or McAfee SiteAdvisor?

JR - Does this help at all? http://support.siteadvisor.com/support-center/index.php?mod_id=2&id=168&kb_rating=yes

 

Hi Steve,

YES....I really appreciate that link. It definitely helped shine some light on the fact that this IS a "known" problem that is common for other users and is not specific to me.

I'm sure I'm gonna give SiteAdvisor a try again sometime, but first, I'm gonna reinstall the Google toolbar since it doesn't seem to cause any problems. I'm still not so sure about that "GoogleToolbarNotifier" STARTUP program, though! I'm thinking that it doesn't need to startup with the PC and run resident....since it isn't that big of a deal (to ME, anyway) if the search engine is changed to MSN. I've used Yahoo search in IE for years now without any problem like that!. Besides, WinPatrol will alert me to any changes to my IE home and search page. But I'm just not sure if this "ToolbarNotifier" is used EXCLUSIVELY for that purpose! What do you think

 

Siteadvisor is known to cause issues with firefox. Had to completely remove it for Firefox to work for me again.

 

How were you able to do that, tobacco? I couldn't even get Firefox to open once SiteAdvisor was installed...either by trying in normal OR "Safe" mode. So I couldn't go to "Tools > Extensions" and remove it! And I didn't see or recognize anything in the extensions file to remove, delete or uninstall the extension...that's why I did a system restore (which worked). But if you've got a simpler or more effective way, then I'd sure like to hear it....because I may give it a shot again at some point (which means I'll probably encounter this problem again at some point )

 

In my case, i could open firefox for a few minutes before it would freeze up and stall which gave me time to uninstall that extension.

 

Here's one from 'Comodo'. Still seems to be adding to their list but seems to check any site when it comes time to enter info such as Banking, Paypal sites.

http://www.vengine.com/

 

So far siteadvisor has been working well with my firefox 1.5.0.6 I haven't noticed any problems at all.

 

Hi BigC,

I'm running 1.5.0.6 as well, and while I'm glad to hear that you're not having any problems with it....I think your post may fall more into that "thanks for rubbing it in" category

@tobacco - thanks for the link, I'll check it out

 

Nope it is not a rub it in post at all. It was simply to state that siteadvisor doesn't have issues with all installs of firefox.

 

i cannot confirm that google toolbar conflicts with siteadvisor.

google, netcraft and siteadvisor are all working fine w/o problem.

its probably a different extension thats conflicting, JRCATES.

 

Yeah, I know...I was just messin' wit ya. From the link that Steve provided earlier, it sounded like it was simply an "unexplained and random phenomina/occurence".....

Hopefully they'll find out what causes it, and it will be fixed by either Mozilla or McAfee soon.....

 

FF works fine for me to with SA.

Here is an article that explains what to do if having a conflict between the two:
http://support.siteadvisor.com/support-center/index.php?mod_id=2&id=168&kb_rating=yes

Acadia

 

Here's a screenshot of 'Comodo's' Verification Engine. I like it.

 

There is talk that Comodo "MAY" change the way that VerificationEngine works/installs. Currently, it's a seperate startup program....but many people seem to be pushing for it to be more like SiteAdvisor, and install as an "extension" for browsers.

Speaking of McAfee's SiteAdvisor...they've got some pretty big problems that need to be worked out.

Remember how I downloaded the FIREFOX extension for SiteAdvisor, and Firefox wouldn't open? Well, last night, I tried downloading the INTERNET EXPLORER SiteAdvisor version.....and guess what? I COULD NOT OPEN FIREFOX! With NO Firefox SA extension installed, only the one for IE (which worked well, BTW). Really a shame, though, because I did like it quite a bit for the whole 10 minutes or so that I tried it....

 

UPDATE:

OK, I've successfully installed SIteAdvisor for Firefox, and it's working now. For anyone who reads this thread and has been or does experience the same problem, here is the solution/workaround (courtesy of support.siteadvisor). I've added a little more detail, since their instructions were short, sweet and simple...but without very much detail:

If Firefox will not start after installing or updating McAfee SiteAdvisor...

Problem
I install or update SiteAdvisor then, when I try to restart Firefox, it will not start. I press Ctrl+Alt+Del and see that the "firefox.exe" process is running, but Firefox itself never appears. How can I get Firefox to start?

Solution
There is currently a conflict between SiteAdvisor and automatic proxy configuration scripts in Firefox. To get SiteAdvisor installed you need to temporarily disable your automatic proxy configuration script.

First, if you have already installed SiteAdvisor and Firefox will not start/open.....make sure there is no active process for Firefox listed in Windows Task Manager. If there is, kill it. Then open Firefox in safe mode and navigate to "Tools > Extensions"....highlight McAfee SiteAdvisor and Uninstall to remove the SiteAdvisor extension.

Now, to reinstall it:

1. Install SiteAdvisor from: http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ff_preinstall.html
2. Upon completion of installation, exit the extensions list window and Firefox
3. Start Firefox in Safe Mode (Start, All Programs, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode)) and change the connection setting (Tools, Options, General tab, "Connection Settings") to "Direct connection to the Internet"
4. Exit and restart Firefox (in Safe Mode); you should be prompted to accept SiteAdvisor's license agreement.

Now, just for good measure, I'll add and recommend this, since this is what I experienced. It may be different for others, but if anyone else encounters this:

5. With Firefox still in Safe Mode, return your connection setting to your automatic proxy configuration, then restart Firefox in normal mode.

All should be good now, and in fact it's working for me fine now....but there was a little trial and error, as well as some uneccessary drama involved

Here is the link that provided the details that I followed on how to install SA for FF....albeit they are the most desciptive (that's why I added the parts about making sure that Firefox wasn't an active process via Task Manager, the part about opening again in Safe Mode, or the "Security alerts"....):

http://support.siteadvisor.com/support-center/index.php?mod_id=2&id=168&kb_rating=yes

 

Ok, maybe i'm not such a expert but i don't understand one only thing:

- Why a lot of security pros recommend the Google crappy Toolbar ? It's a part of some kind of a conspiracy or what ??

- Let's take a look at the Google Toolbar features:

* Popup blocking - IE6 block popups, Firefox & Maxthon too...
* Enhanced Search Box - a enhanced search box ?? use Whonu
* Google Safe Browsing - what's safe in the web ? nothing, everything, ex: Softpedia is ''safe'' but you can download a ''Mega Booster Kazaa Accelerator'' from Softpedia and get some bad spyware. Safe browsing ? use your brain.
* Subscribe to Feed - Woawuu! I can subscribe to a feed! We are in 2007 and i can subscribe to a feed only using GT!
* WordTranslator - use Google Language Tools or BabelFish

and more useless stuff..............Without talking about the privacy:

- How's called this ''feature'' in our poor people language ? We say about the X program that IS CALLING HOME

- May collect or does actually COLLECT where i go ?

- Another ''May'' ? We are in August, Google Toolbar Privacy....

- So, Google Toolbar DOES collect information about web pages that i visit.

So i ask again the security pros why recommend GT? Want to know what exactly is the Google Toolbar ? Take a look, is a just a great way to get visitors back to your site, to advertise your site, to see which product the X user is looking for so next time Google can display a nice banner..