Google aims to warn users of potentially dangerous Web content


ASSOCIATED PRESS: Search engine company will roll out warning signs to combat sites that feature “unwanted software.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS: Search engine company will roll out warning signs to combat sites that feature “unwanted software.”

The latest weapon is aimed at websites riddled with “unwanted software” — a term that Google uses to describe secretly installed programs that can change a browser’s settings without a user’s permission. Those revisions can unleash a siege of aggravating ads or redirect a browser’s users to search engines or other sites that they didn’t intend to visit.

Google’s message begins, “The site ahead contains harmful programs,” and goes on to warn it might “attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience.” Google had already deployed the warning system to alert users of its Chrome browser that they were about to enter a site distributing unwanted software. The Mountain View, California, company just recently began to feed the security information into a broader “safe browsing” application that also works in Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers.

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