SpywareBlaster 4.2 & FF3.5.3 Problem

[gray wolf]

Longtime user, first poster............. (state the obvious: I luv SpywareBlaster!)

I have noticed on my WINBlows XP machines (SP2 & SP3) that blocked sites for FF are turned off after I exit FF3.5.3

If FF is not open & I launch SB4.2, it shows 'partially blocked, 230 items have protection disabled'. If I 'enable all', life is good for SB.

If I close SB, open FF and then re-launch SB, all protection is enabled. But, the minute I close FF3.5.3 and relaunch SB, the disabling of FF (only) sites occurs.

This occurs in the above scenario, every time. I have looked In FF settings (preferences) to see if there is anything to set/change. Nothing appears 'evident' to me.

Anyone else seen this behavior with FF3.5.x + SB4.2? suggestions to fix?

Thanks!

[Firebytes]

See this thread and check if it pertains to your problem:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242232

[gray wolf]

Thanks, Firebytes:

This thread didn't show up when I did my search before posting. That (disabling site preferences in options/clean) did the trick as far as SB is concerned.

My only question is whether that is a good thing or leaves stuff behind that I really do/should want cleared? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

P.S As a 'known issue' for SB users who use FF3.5.x, is this noted in the documentation?

Thanks!

GW

[Firebytes]

See this thread for further information:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=242232

[1steven]

Hi--I have done as suggested and verified that neither of these settings was checked in my FF options and I still have the same problem. Is anybody else still experiencing these 230 items remaining unprotected? THANKS!

[Howard Torbiner]

I am running XP sp2 with Spywareblaster 4.2 along with Kaspersky Internet Security 7. I cleared the site preferences but I still receive the 230 items disabled in SWB. I am up-to-date on ALL software. Any suggestions?

Thank you,

HT

[Howard Torbiner]

The suggested fix does resolve the problem of the 230 unprotected items (sorry it appeared not to be working when I first tried it:blink: ). Will this be fixed in the next release of SWB? I use SWB for the excellent extra layer of protection that it provides and am still uncomfortable with disabling the site preferences in Firefox. Thanks again for the assistance.

HT

[javacool]

-{ Quote: "The suggested fix does resolve the problem of the 230 unprotected items (sorry it appeared not to be working when I first tried it:blink: ). Will this be fixed in the next release of SWB? I use SWB for the excellent extra layer of protection that it provides and am still uncomfortable with disabling the site preferences in Firefox. Thanks again for the assistance.

HT" }-

Hi,

The "Site Preferences" in Firefox *include* the protection that SpywareBlaster adds. If you check the box in Firefox to clear them, you will remove SpywareBlaster's Firefox protection.

To hopefully help clarify:

The "Site Preferences" in Firefox are included in Firefox's cleaning options for completeness, but are almost always *not* anything you should clean or would want to clean.

They include per-site allow/block settings for cookies, images, pop-ups, etc. SpywareBlaster's Firefox protection (and Spybot S & D's) utilizes these preferences to provide protection against cookies (etc.) from certain sites.

The "Site Preferences" do NOT include: the actual cookies, or anything similar.
They just store information like the following:

"allow popups from <yourbankingsitethatneedspopups>"
"block cookies from <ad_network_that_tracks_you>"

If you clear them, you not only lose any per-site allowances you may have explicitly added for your favorite sites (ex. so they'll be able to display a necessary pop-up), but you also lose any per-site blocks that you & other programs (SpywareBlaster/Spybot) have added. This is why, after deleting "Site Preferences" in Firefox, SpywareBlaster shows its Firefox protection disabled and you have to re-enable protection (i.e. re-add the appropriate "block" entries).

If you really would like to clear out any Site Preferences you explicitly set, you can clear them once in Firefox - and then re-enable SpywareBlaster's protection. But there's little reason to set Firefox to clear them constantly. Not only are they almost always wanted, but they also don't just appear by themselves - you have to perform an action in Firefox (like allowing pop-ups for a site, or explicitly allowing cookies from a site) to create them. If you don't do those things, they won't be created - and you'll be left with just SpywareBlaster's protection (block entries) in your Site Preferences. And you almost certainly don't want to clear those. :)

Best regards,

-Javacool

[JJ2K]

Hm but the problem is, most people strive for this "completeness" you talk of, e.g when we are cleaning up we want to clean everything up!

For example you can re-iterate the function of the Site Preferences feature until you're blue in the face, but there are many users who just as Howard suggested will feel uncomfortable in unchecking this box.

Honestly I think if it is possible to modify SB so it doesn't interefere with "Site Preferences", you should take this path for it's next release.

Because currently the:

-{ Quote: "If you really would like to clear out any Site Preferences you explicitly set, you can clear them once in Firefox - and then re-enable SpywareBlaster's protection." }-

solution isn't really optimum, however I understand it may not be physically possible based on the way browsers might work! If this is the case then my post can be ignored!

[dizzy7]

Javacool,

Thanks for the clear explanation of the problem and it's simple solution. Until I thought to check this forum I was going nuts trying to figure out why 230 items in Firefox kept having their protection disabled the next day when I had enabled them the day before. Unchecking the site preferences block on Firefox is something I would never have figured out for myself and solves the problem. (As a side benefit, it also explains why I've been having to constantly renew the exceptions to allow popups on sites where I want to allow them.)