[PrinceRameses]

It there a way?

[bearone2]

nope, you can't tell but https sites are pretty safe.

[PrinceRameses]

what do you mean https?

[PrinceRameses]

What about in the source? If I looked through it, is there something to look for?

[gr277]

Originally Posted by PrinceRameses

What about in the source? If I looked through it, is there something to look for?

No there isn't anything to look for...by their nature these are malicious software. Well hidden..

If there was a way to tell, you wouldn't have antivirus or antimalware software competing for your custom, and you wouldn't have so many computers getting infected.

[blues_harp28]

If it's one site you are concrened about.
http://linkscanner.explabs.com/linkscanner/default.asp

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

[Blackmirror]

you can use something like site advisor


http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ie.html

[PrinceRameses]

thank you.

[ferrija1]

Site Adviser is good, otherwise there is no hard and fast way to determine if a site is safe or not. Many types of attacks come through JavaScript though, and you can mange JavaScript, along with Flash and Java, with NoScript (Fx only) . HTTPS (instead of HTTP) appears in you address bar in encrypted sites with a 'secure sockets layer'. Whenever entering 'sensitive information' you should ensure this appears at the beginning of the site's address. Your address bar may also change to a light yellow color with a padlock. This change makes certain that data you enter on any forms there is securely passed between your computer and the website.

NoScript: http://noscript.net/
More Info On HTTPS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS

[bearone2]

Originally Posted by PrinceRameses

what do you mean https?

banking statement/transactions, paying credit card bill online, many sites where you'll pay by credit card.

[calvin-c]

Don't, however, trust a site simply because it uses secure HTTP (https). Basically, all that means is that the site's tech expert is reasonably competent. It says nothing about his/her honesty.

The problem is that a malicious site is, well, malicious. Occasionally 'honest' sites get infected, just as 'honest' computers do-but more often they're infected because they're designed & built by malicious people. If those people are also technically competent (surprisingly few are, thank whomever) then there's few technologies that they can't use. About the only one I can think of off-hand is the certificates from eTrust, Verisign, etc. And I don't know enough about those to tell whether or not they're legitimate.

[ferrija1]

Yes, HTTPS only secures that data from your computer to the site's server, it does not control what is done with the data at either end.

[jmw3]

You could also update your Hosts File. All known bad sites are blocked. This way if you inadvertently click on a site that is listed in the Hosts File, it wont open.

Have a look Here.

[mrss]

A website can show up on siteadvisor as green and be temporarily hijacked with malware links.

I ran across a URL that Google linked as a popular PC hardware vendor site (third link). Sitadvisor had it OK. When I went there, it was a "Your PC is Infected! Click Here!" site. The site was fixed a few days later.

So you still need to be careful.

[Gizzy]

Originally Posted by mrss

A website can show up on siteadvisor as green and be temporarily hijacked with malware links.

I ran across a URL that Google linked as a popular PC hardware vendor site (third link). Sitadvisor had it OK. When I went there, it was a "Your PC is Infected! Click Here!" site. The site was fixed a few days later.

So you still need to be careful.

which is why a program like linkscanner posted by blues_harp28 earlier is either better to use or good to use alongside siteadvisor since it scans the site for exploits in realtime,

though like you said you still have to be careful even those two together could miss some things,

and since no one posted this yet http://www.freedrweb.com/browser/ it can scan websites or downloads for viruses.