Scan & Fix 50 registry issues FREECNET Editors' review
If you're worried that potentially pornographic images are lurking in your system's drives, this program promised to scan and find them. Although we encountered several false hits, the bigger problem was how many features are disabled in the demo version.
This install for this app is a 175MB file. It is made to be portable for thumbdrive use, and carries all fonts and such files for that purpose. It also carries files to run the app on Linux and Mac. It would have been nice for the publisher to separate the operating system packages.
On each run the app quickly installs updates. Unfortunately, testers complained that the app would go into a loop of downloading updates and restarting the app. Users must install an updater patch from the publisher's support site to correct the problem.
Operating SurfRecon is a mere matter of starting the scan and waiting. The app displays all images found in a series of tabs including those reviewed as Safe, Sexual, Child Porn, Gaming, and Personal. All images in categories other than Safe are pixelated. Controls to display those images are locked in the demo.
The app notes that images listed as sexual include those submitted by law enforcement, discovered by the publisher's Web crawler, or have been linked to porn sites. The publisher notes that pornographic images are found by comparing a file's hash to a list of hashes of images deemed porn. Testers found many false alarms as the app listed generic images as sexual. The evaluation mode pixelates all found sexual images, forcing users to look for the original files to check the content.
The demo locks down all features save the scan making it difficult to accurately test this app. Nevertheless, those concerned that porn may exist on their drives can use this program's easy-to-follow scan function to find images.
Publisher's Description
From SurfRecon:
SurfRecon is a rapid-image-analysis tool that you can use to quick and discreetly scan almost any computer - Windows, Macintosh, or Linux computer systems - for pornographic content. The application will fit on and can be run from a 1GB or larger thumb drive, making it highly mobile and easy to use. The value of SurfRecon is that it allows you to actively protect computer systems by scanning, identifying, and reviewing any pornographic content found on a suspect computer system. SurfRecon leverages the largest image-hash database, the IFID, with over 100 million image hashes in order to quickly identify and categorize any pornography discovered.
SurfRecon also includes a number of safety tools to limit an individual's exposure to dark and often-disturbing pornographic content, making it an excellent tool in corporate environments for those individuals who are tasked with reviewing suspect computer systems. You can only scan a set of pre-installed images. This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.
What's new in this version: This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.
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All versions:
3.7 starsout of 3 votes
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Current version:
3.7 starsout of 3 votes
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My rating:
Write review
Results 1-3 of 3
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"Stay well away from this amateurish rubbish"
Version: SurfRecon Pro Tools 1
Pros
It's un-installable!
Cons
This "evaluation copy" utility is utter rubbish, or worse. IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING! It's purely adware for the bought option, which may be out of this world. I hope so. I complained to surfrecon.com, and they had nothing to say.
Don't waste your timeSummary
CNET 4 stars? b.s. I only gave it a star because the page doesn't load without one. 0 out of 5.
I apologize for, and retract previous comments without reservation. I was running it on Windows 7, whereas the publisher's description clearly indicates it's designed to run up to Vista & NT. It's my stupid fault not to have realized the problems I had whilst running the trial were non-compatibility issues. I've no reason to disbelieve the high rating given if you run the utility on the correct OS. Sorry, Surfrecon people.
Updated on Jul 10, 2011 -
"Cool porn detection tool"
Version: SurfRecon Pro Tools 1
Pros
I didn't expect much but I was very pleasantly surprised. From what I have read, this is a home version of a tool used by Police to find porn on sex-offenders computers. it does a very impressive job scanning all the images on my computer, categorizing the images that are suspected pornography, and then letting me review all the content.
from what I have gathered, unlike other software, this doesn't look for flesh tone in images (because we all know that doesn't work) it just looks to see if any images from playboy.com, sex.com, hustler.com etc. are on your computer. These guys keep a database of all the images that get posted to over a million porn websites, that way if any of the images show up on your computer, you will know.
Cons
the software can be a little slow. I found that if you copy it form the thumb drive to the desktop it runs a lot faster.
Sometimes I get safe images in the sexual category. apparently that is because those safe images were on a porn site somewhere. At least I know what the kids are looking at.
last of all, I wish it were cheaper. I guess that is the price you pay for law enforcement grade software. All I can say is that my kids think twice about bypassing our filter because they know I can use SurfRecon to see what they have been looking at... Worth every penny.
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"I had a filter before but some porn garbage still got bypass them. This tool is really cool and powerful; it found so much hidden crap in a few seconds. Gotta love the feeling having a clean computer again."
Version: SurfRecon Pro Tools 1
