Managing Applets

Viewing loaded applets
Viewing applet properties
Killing an applet
Adding an applet to the Suspicious Applet Database

 

Viewing Loaded Applets

Any time an applet (Java applet or ActiveX control) is loaded by your browser, you will hear an alert sound.

To view the applet(s) currently loaded, double click on the SurfinShield Xtra icon in the system tray. The main SurfinShield Xtra window will appear, displaying an applet button for each applet loaded.

The button indicates the applet name, its type (Java or ActiveX control), and security status (green for benign and red for an applet that performed a security breach). You can view the details regarding the applet properties by clicking on the button (see next section).

Note that by default, SurfinShield Xtra prevents the loading of suspicious applets and kills any applet that performs a security exception. See the Security Settings section for more details.

Viewing Applet Properties

To view the properties of an applet (Java applet or ActiveX control):

  1. Double click on the SurfinShield Xtra icon in the system tray.
  2. Click on the Applet button in the main screen. The Applet Properties window appears.

 

Depending on whether it is a Java applet or an ActiveX control, the Applet Properties window will display the following information.

Tab Option Description
General Java Applets:

Code base URL: indicates the Web location from which the Java applet was loaded.

Document base URL: indicates the Web site of the HTML page containing the loading instruction for the Java applet.

Number of images in context: the number of GIF files currently in the system, as loaded by the specific Applet.

ActiveX Controls:

File Name: The name of the ActiveX control.

Class Id: The class ID number assigned to the control.

Version: The version number of the ActiveX control.
Security Danger Level: Displays the Applet Danger Level.

Mark as Suspicious: Allows you to mark the applet as suspicious, thus entering it into the Suspicious Applet Database and preventing it from being loaded in the future.

Killing an Applet

By default, any applet that attempts to perform a security breach (such as write to a blocked file) is automatically killed.

However, you can kill any applet or control even if it does not breach security. This can be useful for annoying applets that consume memory, or simply distrupt your work.

To kill an applet:

  1. Click the applet button on the main screen.
  2. Choose the security tab in the Properties window.
  3. Click the "Kill Applet" button in the Applet Properties window.

Note that you can also add annoying applets to the Suspicious Applet Database, so that they will not be loaded in the future. See the next section for details.

Adding an Applet to the Suspicious Applet Database

By default, any applet in the Suspicious Applet Database is prevented from being loaded. (This is controlled by the "Prevent loading of Suspicious applets" option in the General Settings window.)

The Suspicious Applet Database consists of:

To view the Suspicious Applet Database click the Settings button in the main screen and then select the Applet Database tab in the Settings window. You can add, modify, or remove entries in the database, using the buttons at the lower part of the screen.

To add an applet to the Suspicious Applet Database:

  1. Click the applet button in the main window.
  2. Click the Security tab in the Applet Properties window.
  3. Check the "Mark As Suspicious" box and click OK. The applet is added to the Database and will be prevented from being loaded in the future.

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