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How to Turn Off Norton Safe Web in Norton Internet Security 2009

by Updated March 23, 2009

After a recent Norton Internet Security 2009 update, I found that I was now seeing green circle checkmark icons in Google search results.  When hovering over the checkmarks a Norton Site Safety box popped up alerting me that the site was safe (or not safe).  The green circle checkmarks indicate the site is safe, orange circle exclamation marks indicate "caution" and red circle x icons indicates that a website is unsafe.  

I soon discovered that these rating icons are part of Norton Safe Web and are enabled when the 'Enhance Search Engine Results' is turned on.  By simply turning off "Enhance Search Engine Results", you can make the Norton Safe Web rating icons disappear when performing a search.  Here's how you can turn it off:

  1. Open Norton Internet Security 2009.
  2. Within the "Identity" section click on 'Settings'.
  3. Now find the line that says "Enhance Search Engine Results" and click the adjacent On/Off slider so that it shows Off.
  4. Click the Apply button, then click OK.
  5. Close down your Web browser windows (Internet Explorer/ Firefox), once you reopen your browser the Norton Safe Web rating icons should be removed from your search results.

Hope that helps you quickly disable and get rid of Norton Safe Web icons from your search results (I know I found the Norton Site Safety pop-up boxes to be completely annoying).  In case your interested in learning more about Norton Safe Web, here's little bit more info from Norton Help Center:

Norton Safe Web displays the Norton rating icon when you are on a Web page. When you click the Norton rating icon on the Norton toolbar, a pop-up with information about the safety of the site appears. Norton Safe Web also provides a detailed report of the site safety. You can click the Full Report button in the pop-up window to view the detailed report. The report is displayed in the Norton Safe Web Web site.

For any Web site that you visit or want to know the site safety status, the Norton Safe Web Web site offers the following features:

  • Displays the community rating

  • Lets you add your reviews

  • Lets you view user reviews

  • Displays a list of keywords that are tagged to the Web site

  • Displays the general information and the threat information

 


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18 Comments

anonymous by Twocans on 3/22/2009
Thanks for the above Tip, I dont know why but it seem to turn itself on today 22 march 2009 with out me requesting it to be on, is this something that would have been with an update today, and if so I think it rude of norton to not make it clear they are giving this turned on. I wasted 10 min on this but finding your site and doing what you advised I learnt how to turn it off. thanks again
Doug by Doug on 3/22/2009
Hey Twocans,

Yeah, I believe it got turned on after an update (on my computer), because I know I didn't turn it on. I agree with you, it's pretty ridiculous for Norton to automatically turn Site Safety on.
anonymous by zodiac on 4/10/2009
I have the opposite problem. I want to have the green circle checkmark icons in my Google search results, but I don't have them although my Enhance Search Engine Results is ON. Any ideas?
anonymous by sammy on 5/20/2009
same here zodiac, and im using firefox but when im on ie its there, any nerds here who can help?
anonymous by Nina on 6/1/2009
Brilliant tip, worked perfectly, thank you
anonymous by Naica on 6/6/2009
Thank you so much! It helped me to get rid of this very annoying option. I have all those features (!) they use to add and then you have to spend hours to find how to get rid of them! And that;s not only for Norton, the same goes with Microsoft, Yahoo and list can go on. Thanks again!
anonymous by Dave on 10/3/2009
I agree it is a complete annoyance and doubly so because they force it on you without your choice. When companies do this they make enemies not friends. When will these idiots learn?
anonymous by MARIE on 2/24/2010
MY NORTON SITE SAFETY DOESN'T WORK BECAUSE I DON'T GET THE GREEN OR RED DOTS WHEN I AM ON INTERNET EXPLORER. sOMETIMES IT WILL BE ON UNTIL I CLOSE A TAB. WHAT'S UP WITH THIS
anonymous by Incredulous on 3/1/2010
I can't believe Norton is spamming people by downloading this without asking! Aren't they supposed to be stopping companies from doing this sort of thing?!
anonymous by Chris on 3/16/2010
You guys are unbelievable. You're upset because there's a green checkmark next to each entry in your search results?? People - do you know how easy it is to get malware on your computer? And do you know how it usually happens? By going to websites that are infected with it and programmed to shoot it right into your computer as soon as you pull them up. I'm a computer technician and even *I* don't always know if a site is safe or not before clicking on it. I mean, is this feature slowing down your PC or something? Why would you complain about something like this - something that's there to help you? I hardly see it as a nuisance at all. I'm actually here because I'm trying to figure out how to turn this feature on (I have NIS2010).
anonymous by brukster on 3/19/2010
The checkmark is fine. The tip popup is not. I'm guessing it's all or nothing though.
anonymous by malik on 3/22/2010
pls help me the problem is that when this green circle is there it impedes my log in to the sites i mean when i put my mouse cursor on the site already checked with this green check mark the cursor standstill arrow and never let me in so if i want at the same time get benefit of this feature as well as getting into sites safely how???
anonymous by Aussie on 3/29/2010
Thank you. Spent half an hour digging through their menus before I caved and went looking for instructions. You saved me quite a bit of time.
anonymous by timay on 4/26/2010
norton sucks so bad that it hurts
Doug by Doug on 4/26/2010
Hey timay,
haha, I have to agree with you. I finally switched to Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) about 6 months ago or so and haven't looked back.  MSE runs so much better than Norton on a Windows computer and it's free!  Here's my post about MSE.
anonymous by Joe on 6/2/2010
I have Norton Security Suite. So to day I log on , I have a desktop icon,a brand new Norton tool bar, and my wonderful pop up box appears in the upper left hand corner of my screen. Of course this is all unasked for and installed without my knowledge. DONT BUY NORTON!
anonymous by Robert on 1/15/2011
I'm in agreement with Chris' comments of 3/16/2010. I want the green check mark. Someone please provide detailed instructions how to get my green checkmarks back. Thank you in advance.
anonymous by Turtle on 5/17/2012
Norton's Site Safety is a great idea, but the Site Rating Icons are all too "loud" for me.

Too many "Nortons", too many Summary pop ups, too many bright green checkmarks.
This feature needs more control options under settings to tone it down.
It's enough I have the Norton tool bar at the top of the screen thanks!

Could the summary pop up be made a right click for those who really need to read it?

There is an option in settings to turn off the "Site Rating Icons in Search Results" under "Safe Search". This turns off all of the green checkmarks/norton/summary pop ups but you can still leave Safe Web on to block malicious pages.

Safe Web would work better for me it it only showed the untested/unsafe sites.

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