AVG LinkScanner can detect malicious short URLs

URL shorteners may be handy for your tweets on Twitter. But they're also known security holes since they don't display the actual address of your destination. A free tool from security vendor AVG may provide a solution.

AVG has updated its free LinkScanner tool to detect malicious pages hiding behind shortened URLs. The company said the tool checks the actual destination of each URL link to make sure the page is legitimate.

More than a dozen URL-shortening services abound on the Net, including TinyURL and Bitly. With its 140-character limit, Twitter automatically shortens URLs in each tweet via Bitly. Other services like WordPress also include a built-in URL shortener.

But Web browsers don't display the true address of a shortened URL, so you have no idea whether or not the destination page is safe. Hackers have easily been able to use the obscure nature of shortened URLs to conceal hazardous Web pages behind them.

"The problem with shortened links is that they usually don't bear any resemblance to the original URLs, which means that users don't always know what they're clicking," said Roger Thompson, chief research officer at AVG Technologies. "People click with the intention of going to a specific site, but the link can be easily hacked to send people to a site containing Trojans, spyware, rootkits, and other malware instead."

AVG, formerly known as Grisoft, bought LinkScanner in late 2007 as part of a larger acquisition. The tool has already proven helpful to Web surfers by analyzing Web pages behind each link that is either clicked on or typed into the browser.

Other solutions do exist to reveal the truth behind a short URL. The Web site LongURL can display the long version of a short URL. A Firefox plug-in called LongURL Mobile Expander can also translate from short to long.

But according to AVG, LinkScanner is now the only security tool on the market that can find poisoned Web pages behind a short URL. The company says it does not rely on blacklists and instead checks each link in real time.

Originally posted at News - Security

Opera prepares Unite for release

Opera Unite was going to change the Web, according to the hype from the Norwegian browser maker. Despite only being available for a number of months in a beta separate from the main Opera build--and the Internet looking more or less like the same place in the aftermath--the release of Opera 10.10 beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux indicates that Unite is about to become a standard Opera feature.

File sharing from the first Opera Unite beta in June 2009.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Unite is basically a peer-to-peer system designed through the browser, but its API allows users to create feature-rich apps using only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. By default, Unite comes with six apps: photo sharing, an instant messenger based around My Opera, file sharing, a Web server, a media player, and "the fridge," a communal place to share short notes with friends. When Unite was released during the pre-Opera 10 beta testing period over the past summer, it was generally stable and didn't significantly impact Opera's performance. A free My Opera account is required to use the Unite features.

Users interested in creating Opera Unite apps can check out Opera's tutorials. If you've used Unite, or built an app for it, tell us about it in the comments below.

Trillian IM: Apple's sitting on our iPhone app

(Credit: Cerulean Studios)

Trillian IM users on the PC or Web who have been waiting to chat with Trillian on the iPhone will have to wait a while longer.

According to Trillian maker Cerulean Studios, Apple has been sitting on Trillian's submission for the last two months without a peep to indicate a problem with the app's content or the quality.

Apple has become known for hemming and hawing over apps that may compete with Apple or with AT&T's services, but Trillian is by no means the only all-in-one chat app trying to make it in the App Store. Palringo, Palringo Lite, IM+, and Beejive have been live for months.

It is also not unusual for apps to be approved in two or three weeks. For Cerulean Studios, which is eager to take its chatting experience to-go, any news at this point is good news.

Trillian Astra is a freemium multinetwork instant messenger that provides basic services for free and unlocks premium features in a paid pro upgrade.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

WinZip 14 preps for Windows 7

One of the best-known Windows utilities, archive creator and manager WinZip updates to version 14 with the future in mind--the future of Windows. The new features in WinZip 14 are aimed squarely at Windows 7 users, with extensive support for Windows 7 libraries, recent archives in the jumplist, and tool tweaks to bring them more in line with the new operating system. Certain file types can be previewed from within an archive in Windows Explorer, and basic touch screen support.

WinZip 14 includes extensive Windows 7 support.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

With archive previews, you can click on an archive and the files it contains will appear in list form in the preview window. The jumplist features your most recently opened archives from across your system, tasks such as opening an existing archive, creating a new one, creating a new WinZip job, and burning a new ZIP to CD or DVD.

Included in those WinZip jobs are linking Windows 7's libraries to ZIP files, making it possible to keep up-to-date archives of specific files or entire libraries. The job scheduler and automatic e-mail options are restricted to WinZip Pro, but it's still handy to be able to create and run library archives.

WinZip 14 also includes minor security enhancements. New automatic wiping keeps confidential data secret by "shredding" the temporary file that WinZip creates by default whenever it opens an archive. This prevents those temporary files from being recovered. The shredding uses U.S. Department of Defense standard DoD 5220.22-M.

WinZip 14 archive preview in Windows 7

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

WinZip 14 now also supports the built-in AES encryption in Intel-based computers, speeding up the time it takes to encrypt an archive. This builds on the encryption overhaul from last year's version, which included customizable password requirements and enhancements for determining how, if at all, encryption would be enforced.

WinZip 14 retains its large feature set, including drag-and-drop support, content-sensitive previews, better JPEG compression that can see JPEG-only archives up to 20 percent smaller, Zip from Camera, and the deep context menu support enables you to perform most of WinZip's functions on the fly. Zip from Camera, and automated archiving for backup purposes, are limited to the paid upgrade, as is rotating and resizing of images within an archive. Keep in mind that multitouch support on Windows 7 is limited to rotating pictures previewed from WinZip archives.

While installing you should keep an eye out for the Google Toolbar and the "WinZip Computing" that collects anonymous usage data--both are opt-out screens. Even with these drawbacks and the useful features that are restricted to WinZip Pro, WinZip 14 remains among the best compression programs available, providing all the features necessary to create easy backups, compress e-mail files, and manage downloaded files fro

Chrome Mac beta nearer; Win 7 features recede

Programmers have mostly overcome a crucial hurdle to releasing a beta version of Chrome for the Mac, printing support, but several Windows 7 features won't make the cut for the present 4.x version of Chrome.

The Mac printing support is now added, according to the Google browser's issue-tracking system, though there are "minor remaining issues" and the new features aren't yet distributed with the software.

Google has cited Mac printing support as one holding back a Mac version of the browser. Mac support is important for the company's ambitions to spread the browser and its fast-Web philosophy to mainstream users. The Linux version, while less mainstream now, also is important since it's the foundation of Google's Chrome OS project to build a browser-based operating system for Netbooks.

But on the Windows side of the shop, a number of planned features to support Windows 7 were pushed back to the next version Chrome on Wednesday. That includes support for showing thumbnails of open tabs on the task bar, showing "jump lists" for quick actions such as links recently or frequently visited pages, pinning thumbnails to the task bar, and overlaying a download progress status bar on the Chrome icon.

The present beta and stable releases that Google issued Monday, Chrome version 3.0.195.27 (download for Windows only), are members of the 3.x family. The developer preview is in the 4.x family (download for Windows or Mac OS X). The Windows 7 features had been slated for the 4.x series, but now are planned for version 5, according to the issue-tracking system.

The change doesn't indicate the features have retreated into the distant future, though; Chrome version numbers change relatively rapidly, as evidenced by the move to version 4 in just over a year.

Also pushed back to the 5.x series is built-in support for discovering when Web pages have RSS feeds, one of Chrome's most-requested features. Its absence is ameliorated by a Chrome sample extension for RSS, though.

Extensions remain a work in progress. New ones are arriving steadily, and existing extensions such as Lastpass for filling in passwords and forms and AdSweep for blocking ads is progressing. But Google recently switched interfaces, dropping the use of a toolstrip across the bottom of the browser with pop-up "moles" in favor of browser actions, small icons along the top of the browser.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

How Chrome users can scrub Yahoo logo off Flickr

Those of you who hate the recent arrival of Yahoo's logo on Flickr now have an easy way to erase it--and get a number of useful features--as long as you're using an edgy version of Chrome.

Fittr Flickr lets you click 'EXIF' to expand a box below the image to show photo details.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Chrome extensions let people customize the browser's behavior, and the Fittr Flickr extension from Gmail programmer Dan Pupius whips Yahoo's photo-sharing site into shape. Some people use extensions for using Delicious bookmarks, banishing ads, and filling out forms, but this is my favorite Chrome extension so far.

The Yahoo logo is ugly but not too bothersome in my eyes. Instead, what I like best about Fittr Flickr is its keyboard navigation options. Once the extension is installed, you can type "?" to see the options, but the two I now use a lot are "." and "," to navigate forward and backward through a person's photostream. Typing "s" will star a photo as a favorite, and in a nice Google touch harkening to the vi text editor, "/" will put your cursor in the search field.

To use Chrome extensions, though, you must be using the developer preview version of the browser, since extensions are something of a work in progress. (Click to download for Windows or Mac OS X.) I've had to restart Chrome sometimes to enable the last two extensions I tried out.

Another nice feature for pixel-peepers such as myself is the addition of an EXIF button below the photo that reveals camera, lens, and exposure details without navigating away from the photo. Nearby are direct links to the small, medium, and large version of the photos.

There are some other nice tidbits, too, involving viewing photos against a black background, comments, and other matters.

Yahoo has to make Flickr appeal to a large swath of people, most of whom probably don't care about these options. But for me, they unlock some of Flickr's potential.

Firefox users who want similar technology can try Dustin Diaz's Quickr Flickr script, which requires the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox to be installed before the script can be added. Greasemonkey fans also can use a number of scripts that will un-Yahoo the logo.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

AVG Free 9 offers speed, lacks etiquette

After giving its paying customers a few weeks to upgrade to version 9, AVG has announced its update for AVG Free 9.

For those unfamiliar with the popular freeware security tool, it provides only the bare necessities for protecting your PC, but that should be enough for savvy Windows users. AVG Free 9 introduces few new features, with improvements focused on performance, including claims of faster scan and boot times. AVG is claiming that scans are 50 percent faster compared with AVG 8.

That ad in AVG Free 9 can be easily hidden.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

AVG comes with a combined antivirus and antimalware engine, the proprietary LinkScanner for Web browsing safety, and e-mail scanning. Developed independently and bought by AVG in 2007, the LinkScanner tech performs two functions. It protects you from third-party code exploits before they load in your browser and it ranks search results.

Annoyingly, the AVG LinkScanner toolbar commandeers your default search choice and your home page, decidedly inappropriate behavior that a security vendor should really know better than to do. LinkScanner can be downloaded separately from AVG, too. The scheduler is robust, automating both scans and updates with multiple options.

The interface in AVG Free 9 remains nearly untouched from the last version, and generally it's easy to use. From the main window, though, you must double-click to get further information on any feature, whether virus scanning, LinkScanner settings, or updating. Streamlining this to one click would be helpful.

LinkScanner gives AVG some useful browsing protections, but it also overwrites your home page and search engine.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

When starting a scan, a slider makes it easy to jump between Slow, Automatic, and Fast scans: the faster the scan, the less comprehensive it is, so it's a good idea to take the program's advice and optimize your scans when you install. This will make that first scan faster. A slow scan took nearly two hours, while the fast scan completed in under an hour. A progress meter for these regular scans would've been useful, though. Should a virus create serious problems, AVG creates a rescue disk to scan your computer in MS-DOS mode.

Besides the LinkScanner problem, there are some other concerns with AVG. It doesn't tax your system in an obvious way when scanning or when running in the background, although CNET Labs determined that it will significantly slow down your system's boot time and will slightly delay shutting down. AVG detected some image files as threats, when two other security programs decided they weren't--these were fairly obvious false positives. There is an advertisement to upgrade at the bottom of the program window, but it can be easily hidden using the Hide Notification button.

AVG might not be the fastest or the most effective free security option, but it still gets the job done and you're better off with it.