Google, Site Advisor and IE7 Beta2

I really, really wish that Google had been the ones who bought SiteAdvisor.com.  It would have been an ideal match up.  I love Google and I use it everyday.  Usually, I can tell what web sites not to visit but god help the average computer user.  Google doesn’t verify if sites in their ads or on their results page are safe or suspicious. Site Advisor provides this function and is still available for free at http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ie_learnmore.html

Sample Google Search with SiteAdvisor installed
 
When searching Google, Site Advisor will add the colored tag pictured above to let you know how safe a site might be.  I was sad to see that this feature is now broken on the latest version of IE7 Beta2

It would be so natural to have this functionality build directly into a Google results page.  Instead, I have Google Toolbar and a separate Site Advisor IE Add-on.  Currently, Site Adviser is free and simple to install. Now that McAfee has their hands on Site Advisor, what other features will they try and add to make it a premium product.

I love simple programs. I shudder with fear anytime I have to install a new program on my system. Each time I remove or install a program something breaks.  Most of the time is seems to be my internet connection.  I have enough experience that I can usually fix the problem but what to other people do?  Usually they reboot, re-install, reformat, or sometimes end up buying a new computer.

My rant today is mostly do to the hour it took me to update to the newest IE7 Beta2 preview.  All appears fine now but that wasn’t the case when I first followed the instructions to remove the previous “public” beta.  After multiple reboots things seem ok.  Public beta’s or (cough)”Preview releases” are becoming more common.  Anytime a company makes a public release they should have an easy upgrade policy in place and not expect everyone to be professional beta testers.