Latest update for Spybot is causing problem for Spywareblaster (access violation)

[hotasy2k]

Just updated spybot detection update dated 16/04/08, after immunization, i can't open spywareblaster, it show access violation error, after i unimmunized it, spywareblaster can open normally, obviously latest update is causing problem for spywareblaster.
Had posted the same problem in Spybot's forum, hopefully they can find the problem casing it and issue a fix for it. Anyone using both software together? Do u face the same problem? If anyone know of any fix for it, pls kindly help me out. Thanks

[the mul]

Originally Posted by hotasy2k

Just updated spybot detection update dated 16/04/08, after immunization, i can't open spywareblaster, it show access violation error, after i unimmunized it, spywareblaster can open normally, obviously latest update is causing problem for spywareblaster.
Had posted the same problem in Spybot's forum, hopefully they can find the problem casing it and issue a fix for it. Anyone using both software together? Do u face the same problem? If anyone know of any fix for it, pls kindly help me out. Thanks

Hi hotasy2k,

I have updated spybot with the latest updates and immunized spybot as well and checked with spywareblaster version 4.0 and it loads perfect and updates as well with no issues at all on my system, maybe an uninstall and reinstall of spywareblaster is worth a try to see if this corrects the issue.

The Mul

[MikeRophone]

Yes, after uninstalling and reinstalling SpywareBlaster several times, I couldn't get rid of the "Access Violation" shut-down when Enabling Protection this morning.

I too installed the SpyBot update this morning.

Thanks to your post, hot, I "unimmunized" SpyBot and SpywareBlaster is working again.

I defragged my hard drive last night, and was blaming a write-error for this SpywareBlaster fiasco.

We'll see if SpyBot comes up with a solution.

Meanwhile, I would rather have SpywareBlaster working properly in the background than have an updated SpyBot S/D program which I rarely think to run.

Cheers, Mike

[MikeRophone]

Hi Mul...

Are you running SpyBot 1.5.2? Or 1.5, as your sig says?

SpyBot has put the weenie on SpywareBlaster here, just like hotasy2k.

Reinstall with a clean registry even does no good.

For me, it's a SpyBot SNAFU.

[hotasy2k]

It seem to me that the latest update for spybot added/updated its protection definition for firefox that is causing the problem, i did an unimmunization again for spybot and open up spywareblaster and disabled all protection, reimmunized
spybot and on spywareblaster part, i enable each protection one by one, IE & Restricted site can be successfully enbled but when i did the same to firefox protection, access violation again. i think could be spybot added some blocking(On the part on protection for firefox) to certain files that spywareblaster need to access.

[Atomas31]

Interesting! I just update Spybot and I also receive a "violation access error" when I try to open SpywareBlaster 4.0 And like all the other, If I undo the vaccination of Spybot than I can correctly open Spyware blaster

[PiCo]

I tried to do a workaround and after deimunizing default(Installations) AND default(popups) SpywareBlaster was able to start.

I think the only thing that wasn't updated with last update were the cookies. They remained at 189.

[MikeRophone]

Remember, after unimmunizing SpyBot, you are also removing some of the protection enabled in SpywareBlaster...so "Enable All" in SpywareBlaster after closing SpyBot.

[javacool]

Hi,

We've tracked down the cause of this error.


Problem Details:

This problem is being caused by Spybot S & D writing invalid entries to the Firefox hostperm.1 file.

Specifically, Spybot is writing entries using unicode characters, such as:
"meine-Grußkarten.de"

This is invalid. According to the specification, these International Domain Names should be properly encoded as punycode before being written to the file. In the case of the domain listed above, it should be written to the file as:
"meine-grusskarten.de"

Note that Firefox appears to pass some characters through an additional normalization/conversion process before writing them to the file (or using them in the browser itself), as is the case with "ß".

(More information on punycode, for anyone who's curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punycode)


Resolution:

For the time being, I would recommend undoing/disabling immunization for Firefox in Spybot S & D - to prevent Spybot from writing these invalid entries to the file.

This should allow you to fully enable protection in SpywareBlaster.


Other Notes:

A quick fix on Spybot S & D's end would be to simply remove those sites from the database, until the Spybot program itself can be fixed to write the properly encoded entries to the file.

Just to add: SpywareBlaster will also be fixed in an upcoming new version to be more resilient against unexpected entries in the hostperm.1 file.


Best regards,

-Javacool

[PiCo]

Very cool javacool, thnx for sorting it out

[hake]

hostperm.1 is easily edited.

Has Spybot inserted these Teutonic characters elsewhere while we are in blissful ignorance?

[riadsabti]

Thanks Javacool for saving the day.

After some experimentation, i recommend the following steps to maximize S&D immunization with full SB protection:

1. In S&D, check all boxes for firefox and Mozilla. Undo immunization.
2. Check all boxes except "default [Installations]" for firefox and Mozilla. Immunize.
3. Open SB and enable all protection.

Please do it as given. Simply unimmunizing [Installations] directly does not work. My S&D is 1.5.2 and SB is 4.

Waiting for the real fix from S&D

[DragonFan20]

it's happening to me too and i don't know what is causing the problem on mine for spywareblaster and how do i fix the problem before it keeps on crashing my spywareblaster.i've tried removing those 2 sites but they still come back after i disable firefox immunization

[PiCo]

The issue should be solved by tommorow with fresh updates from SB.

[javacool]

Hi,

As I added to my post above, we'll also be fixing this for the next version of SpywareBlaster (4.1), by ensuring SpywareBlaster uses more resilient handling of the hostperm.1 files.

(So this problem shouldn't crop up again, no matter what kind of entry is written to the hostperm file. )

Best regards,

-Javacool

[balo]

Post 12 solved the problem for me. Thanks

[1972vet]

Since this issue began, I have been unable to start SpywareBlaster. It installs ok now, but before the SB S&D issue was discovered the installation would not complete. On inspection, the folder contained only the executable and one other file (I don't remember now what it was). Now, after following the recommendations in post 12, I can install it but it won't open.

I've uninstalled both applications and reinstalled spyware blaster only...still can't get it to open on windows vista.

[the mul]

Originally Posted by MikeRophone

Hi Mul...

Are you running SpyBot 1.5.2? Or 1.5, as your sig says?

SpyBot has put the weenie on SpywareBlaster here, just like hotasy2k.

Reinstall with a clean registry even does no good.

For me, it's a SpyBot SNAFU.

Hi mike,

I am running the very latest version of spybot version 1.5.2.

THE MUL

[KillerXtreme]

This is the exact access violation for any of the devs that want to know..

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/537/63259785cf1.jpg

[mark5019]

12 dosnt help me at all

hope fix comes soon but thank you both for your programs

[Tonto]

I have just undone all immunization in S+D have enabled all protection in SB working fine now will wait for S+D fix.

They usually play very well together

[Shae]

Thanks for mentioning this. I too ran into this issue. Anyway, followed the steps mentioned above and SpywareBlaster is working fine now. Eagerly awiting new version.

[KaneD]

I hope this gets fixed soon anyway I found if I undo my immunization for firefox as javacool has said then run spyware blaster to get the protection back and re imunize firefox everything besides default installations spywareblaster still works.

[hake]

It is churlish to carp about faults in free software, generously provided for the greater good. Therefore, we must tolerate the occasional hiccups in what is generally reliable and very valuable software.

I am pleased to see that Spyware Blaster will soon incorporate improved bad data checking and handling.

[FanJ]

Hi all,

There was an update released on 17 April 2008 for Spybot S&D :

2008-04-17
Fix for Firefox and SpywareBlaster compatibility

I just posted it in the Update Alerts forum:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=206504

See also:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/u...ory/index.html