About Safele.com

Pronunciation

Some people pronounce Safele so that it rhymes with the word Safe followed by the sound of the le in Google®. Other people pronounce Safele to sound exactly the same as the word Safely. Either way, we don’t really mind as long as you find the service useful in the way that it helps you avoid computer viruses!

Purpose

The purpose of Safele.com is to provide a front-end to the standard Google® search which warns the user about out-of-date browser-related software running on their computer, and tells them how to fix it. Having out-of-date browser-related software is a major vector for the spread of viruses and trojans on the internet. In many cases, the mere act of viewing an infected website is enough to get your computer infected. Having a firewall wont stop such an infection, and many antivirus programs wont detect such an infection until long after it has already done some damage. Computer viruses and trojans are used more and more often these days as a means for criminals to commit crimes such as identity theft, internet banking fraud, credit card fraud, and corporate espionage. Of course, there are many viruses which merely delete or corrupt your files, or cause your computer to crash. Keeping all the software on your computer up-to-date is one of the best ways to avoid getting affected by these problems.

History and Statistics

The original functionality was in Beta on another website for one year (from November 2009 until October 2010). In the first year, the original site had over 30,000 visitors who made almost 110,000 page views and were issued with over 12,000 warnings. The statistics at the end of the Beta showed that over 15% of page views came from a computer that was running very out-of-date browser-related software.

Part way though the Beta, simple tracking was added to the links in the warnings to see if people were actually heeding the warnings. It revealed that people who heeded the warning messages included users ...

• of all the major browsers, i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, & Safari,
• of the major operating systems, i.e. Windows, & Macintosh,
• who were viewing pages written in Arabic, Traditional Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, & Spanish,
• whose browser languages were set to English, Portuguese, & Spanish, and
• who were from countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, United Kingdom, & United States.

Latest Statistics

Since the start of this new site in October 2010, there have been over 200 code changes and new additions in functionality to detect even more types of out-of-date software.

Safele’s most recent statistics show that ...

• 90% of new visitors have a computer that’s running very out-of-date browser-related software (thus putting them at high risk of getting, or already having, a virus or trojan), and
• each new visitor has an average of 2 pieces of out-of-date software.

Thanks

Many thanks to the Beta testers involved in the first year of the original site, and those who have used and commented on this new site! Your comments, suggestions, and mere usage of the site greatly help improve the site for future releases. We’re happy to have helped you keep your computer safe from viruses and trojans!

Safety

How do you know whether this website is safe?
Ask Norton! ... Look at the Norton Safe Web page for Safele.com!

Author

The Safele website is written and designed by Andrew White from Sydney, Australia. Andrew has 30 years computer experience and currently works as a freelance I.T. professional around the globe. His personal website is whitey.net.

How do I know who really owns this website? Ask the registrar! ... Look at the WebDomainNow Registration Information for Safele.com!