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how can you trust websites

3 min read

This thread's last reply is from . Advice, software, and links below may be out of date — treat specific steps and download links with caution.

Post #1
is there anyway to know how trustworthy/untrustowrthy a website is before you sign up to it? ie will it spam you, give you viruses etc?
Post #2
There are a few ways to minimise the risk, but there is no 100% solution, apart from not going on the web, the pro's may have further advice, but here are what I use on systems to minimise the risk, some are not completely reliable, so common sense is the greatest weapon you have, but between them they will help.

Host's File; adds known bad sites to you're hosts file, check the site for updates on a monthly basis.
SpywareBlaster; adds flash based risks similar to the Host's file previous.
SiteAdvisor; not always right, sometimes paranoid, but it explains why they list a site as bad, simple traffic light system added to you're browser.
WOT; similar to the previous, not always right, but they will make you aware they suspect an issue at least, but the issue is not always directly aimed at the specific site, sometimes it may find a link (often outside of they're control) somewhere on the site that leads to another site that has been known to have risks, so don't instantly panic when these flag up issues, take you're time too examine what it's telling you then decide if it is valid to you or not, hope this helps a bit anyway.

Another great tool, possibly the most essential tool for most, is Iconix, this helps separate fake emails from real ones, especially where eBay\PayPal and banks are concerned, obviously the company (eg bank) you use has to subscribe to this service, it is free too you, and company's are signing up all the time, but it checks emails from subscribed company's and marks them as valid, or more importantly invalid (eg a scam), works with most all email clients AFAIK, even online ones like hotmail, so a great tool for most IMHO.
Post #5
Never heard of it personally, but it sounds similar to MailWasher which is a great tool for separating the junk and binning it before it ever touches you're PC, and you can add each address to friends or mark it as spam (if it hasn't already), once told it pre-marks all future mails from that source appropriately, so you can instantly see what you have coming before you get it, you can delete from within it, just mark the mails according to what you want, and when you process you're mail it bins the junk so it never touches you're system, then it goes onto launching you're email client to collect what you do want, fantastic tool, but others may of come across the one you have mentioned, hope it helps a bit anyway.
Post #6
thanks for the reply. mailwasher was okay but you have to pay for the premium service which is a shame. also, i prefer having cleanzer in my browser and being able to check emails etc without actually opening the email provider (hotmail, yahoo etc). you should definitely check it out. appreciate your feedback anyway. cheers
Post #7
Here is a better breakdown in the difference between the pro and free version, unless you have more than 1 account it does all you really need, I have the last free multi account version, it just sits on the task bar, auto checks for mail every 10 minutes and flashes when there is some, but it does not open any email account until you process the mail, you simply open MailWasher and it shows you the mail in a preview pane, no pictures are shown only text, which can aid in spotting scams etc, as it only shows the image address, but if you have something that does what you need thats all that matters. :thumbup: