[Smoofer]

Vaguely OT, but does anyone have good information regarding how to identify or block scam/shady websites?

My grandfather tends to fall victim to these types of things - not even always explicit scams like this, but believing hugely inaccurate political websites ( think Obama impeachment conspiracy type BS ), and buying into wonder-products or just the general drivel you see in spammy ads on AOL.

I'm probably going to start by cleaning up his computer some and installing Ad-Block, but most of the links to the websites are coming from his emails - any advice from someone that have dealt with similar scenarios?

[lucaspiller]

Although it may seem a bit harsh, maybe it's better to just have a whitelist. My dad started using a computer a few years ago and I've been worried about the same as he gets older. The number of sites he browses is minimal though. It's not as if he needs to go on a massive search to figure out the best practices for X new technology and read a load of blogs.

[minikites]

I use Pollock's HOSTS file: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

It blocks a handful of spam/scam sites but it's mostly for malware, maybe there's another sort of HOSTS file for spammy sites?