Comments on: Haute Secure blocks Web threats

A new, free tool to block recently compromised Web sites emerges from beta. We found it to be a useful product, but not without drawbacks.

[sal-magnone]

Watch out

I've been using this project since the beta was available and found it useful. However, I had to uninstall it after the recent version upgrade. It locked all my machines up in different ways and times. Uninstalling did the trick for each box.

Another problem is that the system consistently complained that it had not been shutdown properly, even when a normal shutdown had occurred. It spend a considerable amount of time and cpu checking its files when the system came back up.

Lastly, it keeps a small file where it tracks information that is HIGHLY fragmented. This causes your defragger to take ALLOT more time to run. I like to defrag and I watch the results (I use the builtin and OO products) and the difference is fairly large. You can see the defragger pounding on this file; it's weird.

I'd be interested in trying it again but I'd warn users against installing if they can't sustain a few bumps.

[Dalkorian]

not interested

From the article:

"Founded in 2006 by former Microsoft security engineers ..."

I lost interest right there. Guess why.

[tel1078]

Slow Performance

I was very keen to install this software to test especially since I have 3 children surfing the internet, thought it would be good for them. After a day or so, I found my page file and over-all memory at almost 100%. Really didn't know what was causing this until I un-installed the software. Once I removed it my system was back to normal. Seems to work like it should, but takes up way too much of my resources. Ted

[MantovaniTX]

I did use Haute Secure for some time until I found WOT, Web of Trust. It is a browser add-on that warns about dangerous websites by adding a tiny icon next to the search result: red for dangerous, green for safe. When the user is about to enter a risky site, the system shows a warning screen that tells about the potential danger. If you have kids you can set the system to block the access instead of giving a warning. I have found WOT ratings accurate. The free add-on is available at www.mywot.com