I am only asking because when using speedtest.net pingtest.net comes up in the ad space often used by the dreaded MacKeeper.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Windows 7 on BootCamp
Not familiar with that program, however, if you need to do pings, bring up Network Utility, on your hard drive in applications/utilties
Not sure, but I remember it needing to run an Applet, which would mean enabling Java in the browser. I keep Java disabled, as it's a known malware vector -- especially so lately with the newest Flashback Trojan exploiting Java.
I've used it once or twice with no obvious ill effects, but you can probably get all you really need to know just from the initial latency results on Speedtest.
WOT, which we've been discussing, gives it its hightest rating.
Thanks. Applet asked for something, decided not to tell it anything. On your advice have disabled Java. I don't need pingtest.net, this the only ad coming up in this space now. NO Google Get Chrome or MacKeeper for some time now, those two used to take turns occupying that space. MacKeeper is very cunning, as someone else pointed out. They are clever guys probably making serious money, must be if they can pay for all that advertising.
In general, it's a good idea to keep Java disabled. But if you're certain a site can be trusted, then you can enable it per occasion. For example, Verizon speed test, which I might use very rarely, runs with a Java Applet. I think it's probably safe to allow Java there.
One of the conveniences of NoScript for Firefox is it will set a placeholder for a Java Applet, so you don't need to go into the browser settings to enable Java. (NoScript will, by default, disable all plug-ins, creating placeholders for them.) But, in fact, I always have Java disabled both in Firefox and with NoScript.
For now, if you have the latest Java_29 installed, you are safe from the latest Flashback. But it may then try to trick you with some phony Apple certificate.
Maybe those ads get placed there on some kind of rotating schedule.
Is pingtest.net safe to use?
