IE8 Restricted Sites is empty.

I installed IE8 2 days ago successfully. Because of reports that a large Restricted Sites list could cause IE8 to hang, I took the precaution of disabling all protection in SpywareBlaster, and disabling all immunizations in Spybot in IE7 prior to installing IE8. (I confirmed that the Restricted Zone in IE7 was indeed empty after doing so).

Now that IE8 is up and running well, I find that even when I re-enable all protection in SpywareBlaster, the IE8 Restricted Sites remains empty. Is SpywareBlaster actually protecting me when using IE8 under these circumstances?

This is using XP SP3, and SpywareBlaster 4.1, both fully patched/updated.

 

Hi,

I reproduced the steps you mentioned here with a fresh Windows XP SP3 install, and I'm afraid I can't reproduce the problem. (Everything worked fine in my test.)

A few questions:

1.) When you say that the IE8 Restricted Sites remain empty, I'm assuming you mean the list that can be accessed through "Internet Options"?

2.) Can you try browsing to http://www.doubleclick.com/ , and see if the little "Restricted Sites" icon shows up in the bottom-right area of the IE window (instead of the normal "globe" icon next to the word "Internet" to indicate the site is in the Internet Zone)?

(Note: Please check to ensure Restricted Sites protection is fully enabled in SpywareBlaster before doing the above test.)

3.) Did you have any additional sites in your Trusted Sites / Restricted Sites lists that you added yourself? (i.e. Not through SpywareBlaster or Spybot.)

Best regards and thanks,

-Javacool

 

Hi Javacool, and thanks for responding.

1) Yes, I'm referring to the list accessed through Tools>Internet Options>Security tab>Restricted sites>Sites button.

http://naut.homestead.com/files/sites.JPG

2) When I browse to http://www.doubleclick.com/ with all SpywareBlaster protection enabled, I get a page that says:
"Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" plus a "Diagnose Connection Problems" button. The Status bar at the lower right shows only the globe icon and "Internet": no "Restricted Sites" or icon.

3) I have no additional websites in my Trusted or Restricted Sites. I have had some in the past, but cleared them all out prior to installing IE8.

 

Update:

I forgot that www.doubleclick.com was in my mvps Hosts file, hence the "cannot display the webpage" message. After removing this entry from the Hosts file, I was able to open the doubleclick website, and it was indeed in my Internet Zone. This despite all protection supposedly enabled in SpywareBlaster.

While at the doubleclick website, I was able to manually add it to my Restricted sites list, where it is now the only site listed. When I now visit doubleclick, I see the restricted icon at the bottom right in the status bar.

I have also tried disabling all protection, and re-enabling while in Safe Mode. No joy.

I have no trouble populating the Restricted sites with Spybot's Immunization, but of course this slows down IE8 drastically, and I have un-immunized again from within Spybot.

I conclude that SpywareBlaster is not protecting me with IE8, due to some conflict. Any other advice?

 

Hi,

Thanks for the update.

Please try the following:

1.) Disable all Restricted Sites protection set by any other program.
2.) Disable SpywareBlaster's Restricted Sites protection.
3.) Check to ensure the Restricted Sites list is empty in IE. (If it isn't, remove any remaining entries.)
4.) Open regedit (Start Menu > Run... > Type "regedit" (without the quotes) and press enter)
5.) Browse to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains
6.) What do you see? Does the "Domains" key exist, and does it contain any subkeys? (If possible, a screenshot would be appreciated.)
7.) Right-click on the "Domains" key, and choose "Export". Save the file somewhere you can easily access, as "domains-before.reg".
8.) Close regedit.
9.) Open SpywareBlaster and enable the Restricted Sites protection. Ensure SpywareBlaster sees the protection as enabled.
10.) Repeat steps 4-8 above, but save the export this time as "domains-after.reg".
11.) Open Internet Explorer and check what it sees in the Restricted Sites list. (A screenshot would be appreciated, as before.)

Then, could you please send the "domains-before.reg" and "domains-after.reg" files to bugreports@javacoolsoftware.com ?

Best regards and thanks,

-Javacool

 

Thanks for the info. I have done all you asked.

The Domains-before.reg was 35.9 KB; the Domains-after.reg was 1.27 MB. I have emailed both as attachments to mailto:bugreports@javacoolsoftware.com

Here are the requested screenshots:
http://naut.homestead.com/files/Domains-before.JPG
http://naut.homestead.com/files/Domains-after.JPG

My restricted sites in IE8 remain as empty as ever:
http://naut.homestead.com/files/sites.JPG

 

Re: IE8 Restricted Sites is empty. (Solved)

I discovered the problem, thanks to some diligent work by fellow Dell poster ky331.

Prior to installing IE8, I had emptied my restricted sites using ZonedOut.exe (from Funkytoad.com) (involving entries presumably placed there by ie-spyad, not SpywareBlaster or Spybot).

However, at the top of the ZonedOut program, Current Key was set to Local Machine, not to Current User. Changing it to Current User solved the problem (and eliminated the "Some settings are managed by your system administrator" message at the bottom of my Restricted Sites, resulting from my incorrect use of ZonedOut.

SpywareBlaster now populates (and de-populates) my restricted sites correctly, and the "system administrator" message is gone.

 

Hello,

I also picked up on a forum comments suggesting not to run SB with IE 8.
In the meantime however i had already upgraded from IE 7 => IE 8.
I unistalled/reinstalled SB and disabling/enabling Restricted Sites is no problem here on XP Home sp3.

Could i have any opinion about eventual issues when using a HOST file simultaneous with SpywareBlaster ?

Thank you for any comment on this subject.

Berny +++

 

will javacool make a fix in spywareblaster for ie8 to stop this problem or do we just have to do the work around and uninstall it-reinstall it and unimmunize the restricted sites in ie8?

robin

 

Hello,

There are also reports that IE8 will not start fast or even may freeze if user’s system is immunized using Spybot S&D.
This could create some confusion for users who are using multiple layers like SB together with Spybot.

Berny +++

 

Let's clearly distinguish the difference here between the impact of SpyBot's immunization vs. SpywareBlaster's, in terms of applying these to IE8:

The problem is specifically with a "VERY LARGE" collection of Restricted Sites in IE8.

At present, SpywareBlaster adds 4,810 items to the Restricted Sites zone. The number added by SpyBot can vary, depending on the number of active AND INACTIVE "User Accounts" on the machine. As an example, on one of my systems, SpyBot is adding 104,900 items to the Restricted Sites zone (spread over 5 user accounts) --- that's almost 22 TIMES as many as the amount added by SpywareBlaster!

On that system, here's my approximate timing for IE8 to load:

a- with BOTH SpyBot's Immunization, AS WELL AS SpywareBlaster's: about 20 seconds for the first web-page to display, and about 40 seconds for all 8 tabbed "home-pages" to load.

b- with only SpywareBlaster: about 5 seconds for the first web-page to display, and about 15 seconds for all 8 tabbed "home-pages" to load.

c- with NO restricted sites: about 5 seconds for the first web-page to display, and 10 to 15 seconds for all 8 tabbed "home-pages" to load.

My conclusion: It is SpyBot's Immunization, and *NOT* SpywareBlaster's, that is "choking" IE8. (Please stress that I am not trying to attribute the blame here... which may be the fault either of SpyBot *or* of Microsoft.)

I suggest that each user try things out for him/her-self, to see the impact --- if any --- on their particular system, rather than relying on any "propaganda" being spread --- and I make no assertion that my particular results will necessarily be indicative of yours.

---------------------------------------------------------

The HOSTS file is a completely separate matter from the problem of a large number of Restricted Sites (from SpyBOT) slowing down IE8.

First, let's preface the situation by noting that some systems may indeed react poorly to a "large" HOSTS file --- see, for example, http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm#Note

But if you find you have this particular HOSTS file "issue", that's completely independent of IE8 !

A HOSTS file protects ALL of your internet connectivity, be it via IE, FireFox, Opera, or other web browser... as well as any other programs (e.g., your anti-virus and anti-spyware, instant messengers, &etc) that connect to the internet.

The bottom line: if you were using a "large" HOSTS file without experiencing any problems before IE8, you should be able to continue to do so with IE8. But conversely, if you had HOST file "issues" BEFORE IE8, then they will remain WITH IE8.