AVG has released a new Link Scanner which is available as a add-in for both Firefox and IE to check the safety of links on the fly. AVG LinkScanner offers safety rankings for all search results on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The pages which are safe in searches will have green check marks next to them and unsafe ones will have red “X” and a pop up windows offer more information on why it is unsafe.The new LinkScanner works much the same as the original one did. Once you've installed the EXE, AVG's "Search Shield" returns search results from both Google and Yahoo with flags next to them. Green flags on Google indicate a result is safe to click through to, while Yahoo safe results display no flags. Links that are unsafe on both search engines will return red flags.
Hovering over a flag will pop open a window that provides further details about the link. Green flags will show you the IP address, the amount of time the scan took, and the date and time of the most recent scan. Red flags highlight the same information, as well as the risk category and the site name. Attempting to click through to a red-flagged page will take you to a warning screen that repeats most of the red-flag information--AVG calls this the "Active Surf-Shield".
Link Scanner works with most popular Windows OS including Win2k, XP, Vista (32 &64 bit) and Internet Explorer (6.0+) and Firefox (2.0+) browsers.
[via news.cnet.com]
