# WOT - Web Safety



## JustBonee (Sep 19, 2013)

WOT stands for web of trust, a program to easily install on your computer, any computer, any browser, and it is something to use for safe browsing on the Internet.  .. It does nothing to slow down your computer ever.   
I mention this easy help site, because of the computer problems that seem to be happening on this board lately. ..not that anything alone stops viruses from happening. 

When you google something, WOT gives you a green circle for website safety if something is rated,  and 100% safe, and also other colors for varying degrees of safety.  It doesn't install any database on your computer.

Now, when you google THIS website, you get a *? .*.. not what you want to see. ...They say a question mark can mean that it just hasn't been rated, or it's not kid friendly, or something along that line. .. so it does not  mean danger especially, but I have often wondered about it when I sign on here...  
I otherwise avoid sites with the ?.

Maybe Matrix can help explain the web safety, rating system,  and why Senior Forum is a ?.

This is the website for Web of Trust, if you are interested https://www.mywot.com/ .


----------



## SifuPhil (Sep 19, 2013)

WOT ratings are based 100% on users, so if a WOT user has never visited this board before that would explain the "?".

WOT ratings also show up in a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) programs that I use, so it's fairly trustworthy as far as not being malware. It DOES however leave a cookie in your browser, so be advised.


----------



## Fern (Sep 19, 2013)

I've used it for years without any problems.


----------



## JustBonee (Sep 19, 2013)

> It DOES however leave a cookie in your browser, so be advised.



Yes it does.






  ..  

Just  trying to think of some added safety.


----------



## Fern (Sep 19, 2013)

A good article on Cookies.

http://lifehacker.com/5461114/fact-and-fiction-the-truth-about-browser-cookies‎


----------



## JustBonee (Sep 19, 2013)

Good information Fern ... Cookies are part of life on the Internet.  What I hate is when a website sets up shop on your computer! ... those databases that take up a lot of space ... usually 5 MB and more, and they do it secretly.

It's good to check every once and while to see what you might have that you don't know about....  
...computer security, under preferences.


----------



## SeaBreeze (Sep 19, 2013)

I don't know much about these types of websites, but I understand that they are just reviews or ratings given by regular people.  Some people use sites like WOT to give certain websites a poor rating.  Some "user" ratings are very biased, such as, if an anti-gun person doesn't like gun forums, they will go to WOT and give an unfair report.  After just reading ratings of products I want to buy, or have, on places like Amazon, I have very little regard for stranger's opinions.  Some bad reviews give reasons that really don't even make any sense at all.

When I just went to WOT and looked at this site, it said "trust = unknown, child safety = unknown...be the first to leave a comment, LOG IN and REGISTER HERE."  Well, as much as I like Senior Forums, I have no desire to make an account with these people just to give my review.  And also, keep in mind that this forum is very young.  I personally have had no issues whatsoever with using the forum, and I was one of the first members to join here.

This is Senior Forums rating on McAfee Siteadvisor:



I use Norton Antivirus, and have no issues at all with the forum.


----------



## SifuPhil (Sep 19, 2013)

Boo's Mom said:


> Good information Fern ... Cookies are part of life on the Internet.  What I hate is when a website sets up shop on your computer! ... those databases that take up a lot of space ... usually 5 MB and more, and they do it secretly.
> 
> It's good to check every once and while to see what you might have that you don't know about....
> ...computer security, under preferences.



I think what you're talking about is a script, a malware or "bad" one that mines information from your computer then sends it back to its owner. That's a lot different than a cookie.

That being said, cookies are not always the fluffy-puffy innocent little things people make them out to be. They can be used in conjunction with malware to begin a hack on your favorite sites since they contain certain vital information for logging in. Yes, in theory they are just harmless tracking codes, little blocks of text, but they can be used as part of the toolkit of a hacker. If you don't visit the site anymore then delete the cookie - no use having it sitting there doing nothing, in any event. If you don't know how to delete cookies there are free programs that will do it for you.



SeaBreeze said:


> I don't know much about these types of websites, but I understand that they are just reviews or ratings given by regular people.  Some people use sites like WOT to give certain websites a poor rating.  Some "user" ratings are very biased, such as, if an anti-gun person doesn't like gun forums, they will go to WOT and give an unfair report.  After just reading ratings of products I want to buy, or have, on places like Amazon, I have very little regard for stranger's opinions.  Some bad reviews give reasons that really don't even make any sense at all.



Very true. I had one bad review on Amazon on one of my books that I am pretty sure corrupted a lot of sales, since it said that "15 people found this useful". The problem is that the reviewer expected my book to be a _video_ and ranted on and on about how he couldn't learn anything and how the book was just so much WORDS.

Yes, he actually said that. So it doesn't matter how biased or plain stupid the source is, reviews can take down your sales or your rep quickly.



> When I just went to WOT and looked at this site, it said "trust = unknown, child safety = unknown...be the first to leave a comment, LOG IN and REGISTER HERE."  Well, as much as I like Senior Forums, I have no desire to make an account with these people just to give my review.  And also, keep in mind that this forum is very young.  I personally have had no issues whatsoever with using the forum, and I was one of the first members to join here.



Exactly. Some things you SHOULD pay attention to when you're browsing, but I don't usually look at WOT ratings for anything. If it's an e-commerce site I'll look for Verisign and certified SSL designations - those are what carry the weight in e-commerce.

It's a bit harder for blogs and forums to offer assurances, but usually the bad ones will soon be gone.

I've never had any issues here either, except for That Guy beating me to the punchline, but that's just a question of time zones.


----------



## JustBonee (Sep 19, 2013)

> I think what you're talking about is a script, a malware or "bad" one that mines information from your computer then sends it back to its owner. That's a lot different than a cookie.
> 
> That being said, cookies are not always the fluffy-puffy innocent little things people make them out to be. They can be used in conjunction with malware to begin a hack on your favorite sites since they contain certain vital information for logging in. Yes, in theory they are just harmless tracking codes, little blocks of text, but they can be used as part of the toolkit of a hacker. If you don't visit the site anymore then delete the cookie - no use having it sitting there doing nothing, in any event. If you don't know how to delete cookies there are free programs that will do it for you.




My Mac stores cookies and databases with their own information separately and all cookies go away daily.    I'm didn't say what they store is harmful (databases),  just taking up space unknowingly.  

Windows is different,  and affected by more viruses then the Mac is. ...
So just trying to think of Internet safety for anyone using Microsoft/ Windows.


----------



## Matrix (Sep 19, 2013)

Boo's Mom said:


> Maybe Matrix can help explain the web safety, rating system,  and why Senior Forum is a ?.


SifuPhil and SeaBreeze explained very well how WOT works. WOT used to sell ratings - for $29.95~$49.95/month, a website will be guaranteed to have a good rating.

Web security is a very complex issue. If a bunch of people can determine whether a website is safe by looking at it for a few minutes, it must be a joke. And more importantly, a website that's safe today may be dangerous tomorrow, actually the most common security problems are caused by good websites that are hacked and placed bad software, obviously there is no way for a rating-based service to detect that.

The only security checking service I trust is by Google. They have required technical resources to do that, to give you a basic idea what Google does, take this small forum as an example, Google scans and analyzes *1300* pages on the average per day. To use Google's service, simply use Firefox or Chrome, you will get a warning not to proceed when you visit an unsafe website.

As for trust, if you spend 5 minutes browsing a site, you would know better than WOT.

WOT did very good about one thing and one thing only - marketing.


----------



## JustBonee (Sep 20, 2013)

Thanks for the help, and peace of mind with that ... appreciate it!:thumbsup:


----------



## That Guy (Sep 20, 2013)




----------

