Internet: “Website unsafe” false warning

Self-tutoring about internet browsing: the tutor mentions a false positive, apparently from browser adware add-ons.

A few days ago I was browsing the internet with ie11, on this Windows 7 PC. I keyed in a website name I visit all the time – actually, my own. After a few seconds I was greeted with a red screen that said something like

This website has been reported as unsafe: this site hosts links to the unsafe domain #.######.com

The browser was telling me my own site is unsafe, because it links to another one that is.

I run McAfee internet security software, so I switched to Chrome and visited my site. I clicked the McAfee site report, which says it’s safe.

Next I opened a Windows 10 computer and loaded my site from Microsoft Edge. No warnings, no worries at all: “What is going on?” I wondered.

I have read somewhere that browser extensions (aka add-ons) can cause false warnings. In the ie11 browser that was complaining, I clicked the gear at top right (Tools), then Manage add-ons, wherein I disabled a couple of adware extensions, then enabled McAfee WebAdvisor.

My site loaded with no complaints. I guess the adware add-ons to ie11 were causing the “This website has been reported as unsafe” message.

Source:

fixyourbrowser.com