One Way Not to Get Exploited

very good
key review info
application features
  • Monitors open Internet connections
  • (3 more, see all...)

Web surfing is no longer safe. Old news or not, many users still think that what you can't see cannot hurt you. In web browsing it is exactly the opposite. The very malware you do not see will definitely do some damage.

The possibilities of hijacking your browser, of leading you into a trap or simply of stealing your sensitive data are all due to unsafe web browsing or lack of adequate protection. The market is flooded with tools designed to keep you protected against all the evil on the web. Web browsers have been enforced with antiphishing capabilities plus an allergy to malicious code that strives to get to your computer. And with all that your machine is still at risk. The second protection layer is the very antivirus with spyware deflecting capabilities. And yet malware still finds a way to your computer.

So the Exploit Prevention Labs decided to create a product that would scan the pages before they are downloaded to your temporary folder. If malicious elements are detected, the user is immediately alerted and the download stopped. Sounds pretty good.

The name of the miracle application is LinkScanner and it is available in two versions, a free one and a commercial one. Lite edition is equipped with only two features out of five as opposed to Pro edition which comes with permanent exploit blocking instrument, Internet connectivity monitor and a real-time site risk analysis.

The heftier of the two (Pro version) can be fully tested for a period of 15 days, with absolutely no restrictions. And if you decide not to buy it but still want to use it all those features will be reduced to web search results inspection and on-demand URL scanning. That is better than nothing. In fact that is exactly the Lite version of the software.

Once started, the monitor will place itself in system tray and do all the web checking in the background without hindering your activity. Its context menu will give you access to the console of the program. The interface is nothing much and if you are looking for bells and whistles, then keep looking because you are not going to find anything like that here.

The five tabs available in the console will come to your help if you need to scan certain web links and learn if it is safe or not, check on the network activity of different applications, see the exploits that have been prevented from taking over, the sites that have been blocked and configure the application to your liking.

Scanning a link to see if it is safe to browse is piece of cake. Simply type in or paste the address in the appropriate window, press Scan Address button and wait. Shortly after the operation is finished you will be given the verdict: either there are some threats detected or the page is safe to browse. As you can see from the picture below, www.softpedia.com is cootie free and can be safely browsed.

As I already knew that I decided to change the address with a known spyware infester. LinkScanner's verdict was short and concise: "LinkScanner detected threats on this site" and blocked the IP for avoiding misfortunes. The software is linked with an online Whois server which can track the source of the IP in no time. This way you will know who tried to harm your computer.

Network Activity tab displays all the programs detected by LinkScanner as sending and receiving data over the web. Expanding the applications will show you more details, like the protocols used, the status of the ports and the number of bytes sent and received.

LinkScanner proves to be a flexible application that allows you to modify its behavior. Admit it! You would have hated all the websites containing threats to be blocked just because some web monitor says so. Or to fully give up all the protection just to get crazy and surf in dangerous waters. A bit of adrenaline rush and hazard is a must in our lives.

The program also wants to give you the necessary freedom to surf whatever website you want so it makes available the option of not blocking the sites it deems malicious, but only displays a warning. With exploits the same story is available. If you really want to infest your computer and practically hand it without the slightest form of resistance, you can uncheck Block Exploits and there will be no more scanning. But no matter how crazy you can get, I suggest you keep this box checked while surfing turbulent websites.

The alerts can also be configured and these can either be audio warnings or pop-up displays. The automatic updates can also give a sign when incoming.

A very interesting and useful component available in LinkScanner is the SearchShield. It is actually a service that alerts you of the state of the results in the search query in Google, Yahoo and MSN (LiveSearch, actually). As soon as the results of your search are displayed in the page, they will be marked as safe or unsafe to browse.

Despite the fact that LinkScanner is compatible with all the web browsers out there, this service is functional only in IE and Firefox. In Opera, Safari and the rest of the the pages will be displayed normally. More than that, the context menu in these two browsers is modified and appended a supplementary function that allows you to scan the link with LinkScanner.

The Good

There is no complication in making your browsing sessions safe. The minimum of options allows you to surf only the good websites while the bad ones can be instantly blocked.

Each link or web page is verified in real time. That is if an overnight change occurs and a safe site suddenly decides to host malicious elements and share it with every user, LinkScanner will warn you about the danger.

LinkScanner Pro can check the credentials of each site using CallingID technology so you can learn the whereabouts of the website owner.

The Bad

Your browser will no longer sprint towards opening a page for you, as the application needs some time to scan the page. All the good stuff is available in pay version and all the free edition is left on-demand scanner and the SearchShield.

The Truth

Easy to use and handle, LinkScanner is quite something. It is not the best web surfing protection on the market, but it definitely is among the best of them.

It does not do a good job when it comes to phishing sites, but if you are an IE7 or Firefox user there isn't too much of a problem, is it?

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 5
features 4
ease of use 5
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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