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Web Shield and its function with Browser Extension


Userlevel 4
With a phising/malware filter in the Browser Extension, what is Web Shield module in WSA really used for? The documentation is unclear about this (it's probably outdated, click Web Shield to the left to see more info).
 
It seems to me the Web Shield is obsolete since the Browser Extension was released as a part of WSA. If it's not, can anyone explain it's role in WSA? Any thoughts of this?
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Best answer by Shawn 17 June 2014, 23:25

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Userlevel 4
@ wrote:
@ wrote:
It was as I suspected then! Hopefully the settings for ID-shield and Web Filter will be more logical eventually... and perhaps the Web Shield will be removed entirely. :D 
 
Anyhow...
 
Thank you for an answer! I think many of us needed to hear this info!
Sorry if I sounded harsh truly I'm not that way I'm just passionate about the things I know and can remember about WSA and all the way back to the Prevx years! LOL
 
Cheers and have a Goodnight,
 
Daniel ;)
No, it's okay. 🙂 We're all very passionate about WSA/PrevX. That's why we're discussing it; because we care and want to help Webroot making WSA even better! The fact that English is not my first language didn't make it any easier. 😃
Userlevel 7
Shawn wrote:

For the excellent question about what does the Webthreat Shield toggle button do in the WSA agent, it appears to require a captcha to change the color of the GUI and nothing more.:D I was still able to get search annotations and blocked web pages, I even tried disabling the ID Shield and Phishing Shield just in case they were assisting.



@

 

My experience is different. Disabling the Web Shield disables the phishing protection that is the URL blocking feature but keeps the URL checkmarks in a search enabled. Disabling the extension disables both the phishing and the checkmark features. Please refer to http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/webroot-secureanywhere-discussion-update-thread.364655/page-4#post-2383096 and http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/webroot-secureanywhere-discussion-update-thread.364655/page-4#post-2383149
Userlevel 4
At the same time I can confirm that the Web Shield is broken with Internet Explorer 11.
 
I just installed Chrome and it works properly. When turning off Web Shield in user interface the URL-blocker is disabled in Chrome, as is intended.
 
Devs should probably investigate if it's an IE 11 issue or not. Not sure what browser you tested with Shawn.
Userlevel 7
@ wrote:
At the same time I can confirm that the Web Shield is broken with Internet Explorer 11.
 
Devs should probably investigate if it's an IE 11 issue or not. Not sure what browser you tested with Shawn.
@I have just tested with IE. I can also confirm this. Good find @. The problem is only with IE. With FF the shield works as intended.
Userlevel 4
@ wrote:
@ wrote:
At the same time I can confirm that the Web Shield is broken with Internet Explorer 11.
 
Devs should probably investigate if it's an IE 11 issue or not. Not sure what browser you tested with Shawn.
@I have just tested with IE. I can also confirm this. Good find @. The problem is only with IE. With FF the shield works as intended.
I'm glad we could find the reason why I and everyone else misunderstood the problem. 🙂 Devs will fix this now once we've located the issue! Thanks for confirming ams963!
Userlevel 7
@
No prob my friend. Teamwork!:)
So, just to verify what I understand and seem to be seeing.
 
The Web Shield slider in WSA under PC Security does absolutely nothing except change the color of the Webroot Console and trigger an alert/warning.
 
Additionally, the two tick boxes under Advanced Settings, Firewall:  "Detect and block malicious websites" and "Show safety ratings when using search engines" - ALSO do absolutely nothing except for what's listed above.
 
The only thing that actually seems to control the web url filtering and the green checkmarks next to search engine results seems to be the Add-on for IE, and the extensions for Chrome and Firefox.  The only time URLs are filtered for me is when the extension is installed and enabled.  The tick boxes and sliders in WSA do not have any effect on the results.
 
Is this correct?  I'm running Win 7 x64 with latest versions of Chrome, IE, Firefox, and WSA Internet Security Plus 8.0.6.28.
Userlevel 4
@ wrote:
So, just to verify what I understand and seem to be seeing.
 
The Web Shield slider in WSA under PC Security does absolutely nothing except change the color of the Webroot Console and trigger an alert/warning.
 
Additionally, the two tick boxes under Advanced Settings, Firewall:  "Detect and block malicious websites" and "Show safety ratings when using search engines" - ALSO do absolutely nothing except for what's listed above.
 
The only thing that actually seems to control the web url filtering and the green checkmarks next to search engine results seems to be the Add-on for IE, and the extensions for Chrome and Firefox.  The only time URLs are filtered for me is when the extension is installed and enabled.  The tick boxes and sliders in WSA do not have any effect on the results.
 
Is this correct?  I'm running Win 7 x64 with latest versions of Chrome, IE, Firefox, and WSA Internet Security Plus 8.0.6.28.
Very much correct. It's just a gimmick in the GUI of WSA for novice/average users. The more features in the GUI the better the product must be, right? Empty features that no normal user will notice...
 
6 months now and no fix to the problem. Sales are important I guess!
 
Well, that's really quite disappointing, and at the very least, it should be made absolutely clear that the Extension is absolutely needed for the filtering to work (because the extension does everything).

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