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Feigning normality since 1973

AVG 8's LinkScanner

Filed in: Computers, Internet.

[screenshot]I updated my copy of AVG to version 8 recently, and discovered that they've added a while bunch of new features. One of these is LinkScanner. When you do a google/yahoo/msn search, LinkScanner inserts little icons into the search results to let you know if the site the link goes to is likely to be hazardous to your computer. This is pretty cool. Unfortunately it tests the pages by actually downloading them (and any javascript files they reference) so I suspect it's going to be unusable on a dialup connection. You can't turn it off, or AVG complains that you've turned off component.

There's a thread about it on Webmaster World, wherein it's shown that LinkScanner is actually quite easy to spot, so it would be quite easy to fool. Not only that, but it only scans search results, so once you go to a site, you're on your own.

The new GUI looks very slick though.

Posted May 21, 2008 11:57 PM

Comments

Have to admit that these comments are making me reluctant to upgrade...

Posted by: Thad Ritchards | May 23, 2008 10:58 PM

I keep getting people finding this page doing google searches for turning off LinkScanner too...

Posted by: Alden | May 24, 2008 12:36 AM

Also Firefox is noticeably slower when LinkScanner is running. Blah.

Posted by: Alden | May 24, 2008 12:38 AM

To remove component, click start run, then browse to the setup file. Your run prompt should read like below, taking into account the location of the setup file.

C:\Users\Coldtoast\Desktop\avg_free_stf_en_8_100a1295.exe /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSurf /REMOVE_FEATURE fea_AVG_SafeSearch.

All on one line obviously. From there just run the install as usual and it will remove the link scanner. Yay!

Posted by: Stuart Clark | May 28, 2008 2:29 AM

AVG installs linkscanner as an add-on in EI and Firefox. If you disable the add-on within the browser it solves the problems and does not show the fault condition in AVG.

Posted by: Brian Merriman | June 24, 2008 1:27 AM

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