How can I do virtual tours when my computer says I need plug ins. Is this safe?

A member asks…

I tried to do a virtual tour on a site and the computer said i needed plug-ins. Is that safe? Thanks for your answer. Ms. Penny

If you’re in the market to buy a house, you may opt to do a ‘virtual tour’ before actually going to the house. Real estate agents and brokers do this all the time. But how do you know when plug-ins are safe to do virtual tours?

Click on this virtual tour to see what it is like.

Quick answer: It is probably safe if the website you are visiting belongs to a business or entity that you know in the physical world. Virtual tours are very popular in the real estate business and other type of business that wants to show you what their ‘world’ looks like. But look closely at the URL (the box in the top of the web browser that shows you the website address) and make sure it lists a bona-fide online entity – meaning the company or agent’s website address that you intended to visit.

Issues of Concern

• Be aware of Phishing by making sure you are visiting the real website of the real business or entity.
• Make sure your computer is updated – not just the operating system (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X), but also the apps, programs and plug-ins that you’ve installed.

If you are not sure if a specific plug-in is safe, don’t install it. Please use the comment section below and give us the specific website you are visiting, and we can tell you whether that site is safe or not.

Here are two plug-ins that are commonly used which you might need – Adobe Flash Player and Apple Quicktime Player (click on the images to visit their websites):
Lots of websites out there are providing video right on their website, just like us. But one of the best ways to use a ‘virtual tour’ video like you mention is for real estate agents, who can walk you through a property online. This can be an awesome experience, giving you a really good feel for the house without you having to make the trip to its physical address.

Yes, you will most likely need one or more plug-ins to watch a virtual tour. Read on for more info and advice.

One important caveat: Phishing is big business these days – so make sure you are visiting the real website of the real business or entity. Hackers are spending time and effort wildly creating fake websites that look exactly like the ‘real’ one, and then when you click a link and are taken to the fake website, your only indication is that the website address (URL) is different. If you don’t notice that, you end up giving away your personal information or worse. In the case of installing something like a plug-in, you could install something that totally compromises your computer’s security and your stuff.

Although there is a new standard for website design that includes the capability for video, that is only slowly making its way out to the hundreds of millions of computers in the world. This is called HTML5, but is not fully supported by every web browser available. If you are using an older version of any major web browser (Internet Explorer, Safair, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Opera), be sure to update to the latest version – this makes good sense from both a usability and a security perspective.

For everybody else, you need a ‘plug-in’ to watch video in a website. There are several types including Apple Quicktime, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave, DivX Plus Player, and VideoLightBox. We recommend you install any needed plug-ins directly from the manufacturer’s website.

As part of the setup of your computer, you should already have gotten Quicktime and Flash Player (the two pictures above). The majority of video on the web will use one of these two plug-ins. And there is one more potential plug-in, Sun Java – but be aware that many people don’t need to install the full-fledged program, many current web browsers include the basic Java capability to use on websites. The full Java program is mostly needed for playing video games inside a web page.