EarthLink has launched a new tool for Mac OS X, bringing its TotalAccess toolbar to the Mac platform. TotalAccess 2005 for Macintosh gives EarthLink’s Mac customers a variety of utilities to counter viruses, phishing schemes, and other Internet scams, as well as an RSS news reader and other tools. From EarthLink:
ScamBlocker blocks users from accessing known or suspected phisher sites and redirects them to an EarthLink generated Web page that provides additional information about phishers and similar online scams, and what actions subscribers can take to further protect themselves from online fraud. This newest EarthLink Task Panel feature works with both the Apple Safari Internet browser and the Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 for Mac.
Through the new Protection module Mac users can also access EarthLink’s Virus Blocker Web page, which also provides solutions to block the latest viruses and worms.
The new RSS-enabled news reader deploys a real-time Web content feed through both an application window and as a ticker that runs along the EarthLink Task Panel. Now members can access and quickly view their news, blogs or other Web-based information, while filtering out unwanted advertisements, from a single, easy-to-use tool that can be customized to fit an individual user’s viewing preferences.
TotalAccess 2005 for the Mac also has an enhanced and innovative synchronization tool that enables multiple EarthLink profiles to combine the address books of friends and family into a single address book. This feature allows members to better manage their EarthLink spam-fighting program, spamBlocker, by enabling them to easily add new groups of members to their list of recognized and accepted e-mail addresses.
The new address book features also work in conjunction with Apple’s iSync synchronizing software, allowing the newest entries to easily upload from a user’s desktop to other Macs, cell phones, iPods or PDAs.
Other feature upgrades include a new, modularized EarthLink Task Panel that includes icons that enables subscribers to choose which modules, such as their Protection, E-mail or Web icons, they want to display or hide. Additional EarthLink Accelerator enhancements improve performance for Apple Safari users.
You can download TotalAccess 2005 at EarthLink’s Web site. The software is free to EarthLink customers, but can be downloaded by anyone. Activating it requires an EarthLink account, and the software provides a mechanism for opening an account. EarthLink is also providing versions of the software for both dial up and broadband users.