All About Microsoft posted a news story that a problem with the Microsoft SmartScreen malware-thwarting technology in Internet Explorer 8 rendered countless users unable to access all kinds of sites throughout the day on November 4

SmartScreen Filter is a feature introduced in Internet Explorer 8 designed to help users avoid “socially engineered malware phishing websites and online fraud.” The filter checks sites against a “dynamically updated list” of reporting phishing/malware sites, and checks software downloads against reported sites. If a user tries to visit a site that is marked as malicious, a screen pops up advising that user not to continue to the unsafe site.

Internet Explorer 8 malware filtering problem hits users across the Web