Re: Hey Ian: Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar Available for Download

[Chris LeBlanc]

Gervase wrote: In the end, that's counter-productive - people are not going to install and leave enabled something that takes up over an inch of precious vertical screen real-estate. which prompted this response by Ian: Curiously, I gather that people do exactly that.  Many people I know have lots of bars set by default on the top of the browser, and they think I'm wierd for trying to turn them off, and reconfigure mailers to be tiled sideways instead of horizontally. I have to agree, to some extent, with Ian on this, people will leave the silliest things that take up "real estate" on their screens.  Think about these questions: How many people have the default IE interface with the huge buttons? How many people have accidentally dragged their bars, such as menu, into a different layout and can't figure out how to fix it? Let us face it, people want simple. My problem with the NetCraft toolbar has nothing to do with size, but rather complexity.  The first two button have nothing to do with showing security of the site, but rather with using the toolbar and/or communicating with NetCraft.  I think the first thing should be information about the server you are connecting to.  This could include reverse DNSing the server.  If there is no DNS, then it should show up in RED.  If people click on it, or even mouse over, it should say that since there is no real "name" for that server, it is very likely to be a fake site. That way, people could see the domain name of where they are at, or an IP address in red to alert them.  This won't stop all of the phishers, but it would be a start. I think it is a good idea, it just needs to be "dumbed down" for the masses. Thanks Chris LeBlanc