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Searching for Screensavers Risky, Viagra is Safe

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12:01 PM - May 29, 2009 by Jane McEntegart

Some words make for a safer search than others.

McAfee recently released a report entitled The “Web’s Most Dangerous Search Terms,” in which the security company endeavored to find out which searches put us most at risk when it comes to viruses, scams and malware.

McAfee searched for more than 2,600 popular keywords, with these words being ranked in two ways: the average risk of all results and the maximum risk of the riskiest page of results. The report revealed some interesting findings, along with some that were pretty obvious. For instance, searching for anything with ‘free’ in the title (free ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers etc) is pretty risky as is searching for music to download. If you’re already looking for something to download, you’re not making things difficult for cyber criminals.

Obvious stuff aside, McAfee reports that spikes in news coverage can also drive even consistently popular keywords out of the “most risky zone.” For example, three popular female celebrities are Angelina Jolie (8.3 percent maximum risk) Oprah Winfrey (10 percent) and Beyonce Knowles (10 percent) however a search for Gwen Stefani’s daughter, Zuma Rossdale, can be as risky as 25 percent, suggesting that malicious or unscrupulous players
pay attention to news events in order to target unsuspecting searchers.

McAfee found that the riskiest set of keyword variations was “screensavers” with a maximum risk of 59.1 percent and an average risk of 34.4 percent compared to the study averages of 10.0 percent and 1.7 percent. Surprisingly, McAfee says that searches using the keyword “Viagra” yielded the fewest risky sites. Perhaps scammers think that men shopping for viagra have enough problems without adding viruses to the mix?

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
the_one111 05/29/2009 6:14 PM
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-9+

Thank god!

I'm safe from internet STDs whilst I buy mah love potions!

Emusnacks 05/29/2009 6:20 PM
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-6+

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is the list..

http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/mcafee_da [...] _terms.jpg

hellwig 05/29/2009 6:34 PM
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-2+

ScreenSavers? Those are kind of old tech now days. Seriously, if you aren't using your computer, why not have the screen turn-off instead of wasting electricity showing a photo-slide or whatever screen saver you might have?

With LCD flat panels all but universal these days, you don't really need to do any screen saving, and shutting the monitor on and off isn't going to wear it out like it would an old CRT.

tenor77 05/29/2009 6:49 PM
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-11+

Funny because half the junk mail I get has to do with Viagra

grieve 05/29/2009 7:14 PM
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-6+

""Perhaps scammers think that men shopping for viagra have enough problems without adding viruses to the mix?"

LOL nice!

hixbot 05/29/2009 7:37 PM
Show
cracklint 05/29/2009 8:13 PM
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-1+

Quote :McAfee says that searches using the keyword “Viagra” yielded the fewest risky sites. Perhaps scammers think that men shopping for viagra have enough problems without adding viruses to the mix?


Actually I hear that Viagra helps whether you need it or not. Not that I would know or anything.

ProDigit80 05/29/2009 8:21 PM
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-1+

[citation]"Perhaps scammers think that men shopping for viagra have enough problems without adding viruses to the mix?"[/citation]
I think that more people are disgusted by all those viagra scams that noone actually uses the internet search engine to try to find viagra. Those who need it probably have to open their mailbox in the 'junk mail' section to find where to get it!
Besides you can buy it in a local pharmacy, no need to use the bankcard over internet to dodgy sites.

Honis 05/29/2009 8:35 PM
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Screensavers were popular with CRTs because they have a start-up and a warm-up time. The CRT usable start-up time in a cold server room could take minutes. Mine at room temps usually misses the bios if I turn it off instead of letting go into stand-by mode the night before. A full warm-up time takes between 5-10 minutes also dependent on room temps. Full warm-up time meaning the brightness and colors are as good as it gets.

LCD and LED monitor warm-up times are almost equal to the start-up time and takes seconds. My 40" TV takes 5-10 seconds to pop a picture up, and the colors and brightness are as good as they get by the time I login. It just makes sense to turn LCDs off to save power (either in place of the SS or manually).

I use both an LCD and CRT monitor for my computer and use a SS because I do like the slide show of the 3 million wallpapers/pictures I have accumulated.

The_Blood_Raven 05/29/2009 9:28 PM
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--1+

If you are looking for screensavers go here:

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper [...] o=disabled

Tons of great screensavers that are updated frequently and can come in a variety of different resolutions which is insanely useful, yes even 2560x1600. It is the only screensaver website I use and is virus free.

IronRyan21 05/29/2009 10:00 PM
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-1+

LOL Viagra, I think this is a ploy by Pfizer to boost sales.

Anonymous 05/29/2009 10:29 PM
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The only screen saver I use is the Windows logo on my PC at work. At home I have the screen saver and power management disabled because they interfere with playing games and watching videos. I just turn the monitor off when I am not using the PC.

@The_Blood_Raven:
That site has wallpapers, not screen savers. I am confused as to why so many people continue to mix up those terms.

eddieroolz 05/30/2009 12:14 PM
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Quote :Perhaps scammers think that men shopping for viagra have enough problems without adding viruses to the mix?


Epic :D

blaze589 05/30/2009 8:42 AM
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What they lack in search, they make up for in emails.

psyndrome 05/31/2009 12:41 PM
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LOL...I can just picture those guys now..."Thank god, I'm in the clear"

ProDigit80 05/31/2009 2:12 AM
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screensaversarepasse :
The only screen saver I use is the Windows logo on my PC at work. At home I have the screen saver and power management disabled because they interfere with playing games and watching videos. I just turn the monitor off when I am not using the PC.@The_Blood_Raven:That site has wallpapers, not screen savers. I am confused as to why so many people continue to mix up those terms.



I use blank screensaver at home.
The only other screensaver I like is the fishtank. But I don't really use it.

anamaniac 05/31/2009 5:09 AM
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I gave up on screensavers a while ago.

10 minutes and it just turns off.

Good to know I can buy my male-enhancement pills with comfort.

zodiacfml 06/01/2009 11:15 AM
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-1+

same here...gave up screensavers a year ago and set also to 10min. probably me, saving electricity, even if this lcd monitor uses only 60W.
one more thing, also gave up wallpapers, using only a black background.
maybe, i spend so little time on desktop and more on the browser these days.

EnFoRceR22 06/02/2009 4:12 AM
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-0+

hixbot :
Dude LCD suffer from burn-in just as much, if not more than CRT.



Are you high? LCD's do not burn in. There is nothing to BURN in on a lcd they are subject to something i call a myth since i have yet to see it happen no matter how long i leave on my LCD (stuck picture) kinda like burn in where a picture seems to be stuck on a lcd. However turning it off and letting it cool and turning it back on again normaly gets rid of it.

So my question remains.. are you high?

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