Internet Explorer 8's SmartScreen blocks 2 million malicious URLs per day

While you might not be a fan of Internet Explorer 8, there's no denying it's a better browser than its predecessors. One key upgrade in IE8 is its improved security and safety features - like SmartScreen.
In case you haven't heard about it before, SmartScreen is designed to keep IE users from wandering onto malicious websites. Sites like those which repeatedly turn up in Facebook scams. And it certainly appears as though SmartScreen is helping, based on what Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch posted on the MSDN blog.
According to Dean, SmartScreen blocks more than 2 million malicious URLs every day.
If you have friends or family who swear by IE but still haven't upgraded to version 8, this might be just the thing to change their mind. After all, is there anyone who doesn't want a little added security when they're browsing the web?
In case you haven't heard about it before, SmartScreen is designed to keep IE users from wandering onto malicious websites. Sites like those which repeatedly turn up in Facebook scams. And it certainly appears as though SmartScreen is helping, based on what Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch posted on the MSDN blog.
According to Dean, SmartScreen blocks more than 2 million malicious URLs every day.
If you have friends or family who swear by IE but still haven't upgraded to version 8, this might be just the thing to change their mind. After all, is there anyone who doesn't want a little added security when they're browsing the web?












Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsGardiner WestboundNov 27th 2009 11:20AM
I believe FireFox has had this feature for quite a while directly and through extensions.
r3loadedNov 27th 2009 11:30AM
Meh - all modern browsers have this feature.
LadronNov 27th 2009 8:23PM
A feature that should have been implemented years ago. IE5 on up. Very late to the game.
whiskeyNov 27th 2009 8:24PM
Wait a minute...
How do they know how many pages are being blocked?
Does IE8 phone home?
QuikboyNov 28th 2009 10:36AM
Good to know. Of course, haters will still rag on IE and security, but at least they're pretty much wrong. I don't know why any individual would not upgrade to IE8 by now from either IE6 or IE7 unless they just aren't aware of its existence.
kaiNov 28th 2009 5:29PM
Guys, no offence, but you don't know what you're talking about. Smartscreen is the best blocking malware because it blocks both websites and most of the downloads(exes). On the other hand, Firefox and Chrome's downloads blocking ability is very limited. If you don't believe me, hear over MalwareURL.com and download some nasties (I should warn you though, this is VERY DANGEROUS and you should run your browser inside a Virtual machine. The nasties listed on the website are widespread malware collected on daily basis, most of them are zero day threats undetected by many antivirus)