Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

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Vernier
Posts: 81
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:07 am
Location: Shropshire, UK

Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by Vernier »

When I click 'Get Msgs' to check my Gmail, set up for POP3, I get a warning box saying "You are about to overide how Seamonkey identifies this site. Legitimate, banks, stores, and other public sites will not ask you to do this." "Certificate status: no information available. Unable to obtain identification status for this site."

I have been getting this intermittently for some time, and I used to click on "Confirm security exception" to get past it. "Permanently store this exception" was always ticked, but it never stayed permanent. Now the confirm exception box is always greyed out, so I'm stuck.

I'm currently on Seamonkey 2.33.1 (O.S. Win XP Pro) and gradually updating, but the error has been occurring on previous versions, though without the exception box greyed out.

Everything seems to work normally if I turn off 'Mail shield' in Avast anti-virus, so is this actually a Seamonkey problem, or an Avast problem? Can anyone suggest a solution other than turning off Avast Mail Shield permanently?
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Peter Creasey
Posts: 1340
Joined: October 26th, 2007, 2:32 pm
Location: Texas

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by Peter Creasey »

SM 2.40 works fine on an XP machine I have.

Why have you not moved up to the current version?
. . . . . . . . . . Pete
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therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by therube »

I'd bet on Avast.
Plenty of reports in these parts about (just about) all antivirus screwing things up when they inject themselves into the https: stream &/or mess with certificates.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
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Vernier
Posts: 81
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:07 am
Location: Shropshire, UK

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by Vernier »

Peter Creasey wrote: Why have you not moved up to the current version?
Because I know from other installations that all the add-ons that I rely on work in 2.33.1. I upgrade gradually. I was still using 2.22.1 three or four weeks ago, and I must admit one of the main reasons I moved to 2.33.1 was in the hope that I might get rid of that security warning!
therube wrote:I'd bet on Avast.
You're probably right. It might be worth me uninstalling and reinstalling Avast, but I'll make a clone of the system partition before I risk making things even worse.

Any idea why the "Confirm security exception" box should be greyed out now, while it wasn't before, or if there's a way I can un-grey it?

Steve.
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therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by therube »

You might test with a new Profile first.
It could just be that the A/V screwed up your (existing) certificates, so if you create a new Profile, perhaps may be in an unscrewed up state (heh, how do you like that spellcheck liked that word ;-)) & might "just work"?
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
Vernier
Posts: 81
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:07 am
Location: Shropshire, UK

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by Vernier »

I tried copying the profile from an old laptop with SM 2.26.1, Win XP Home, and the same version of Avast, and got the same security warning. I tried clicking 'Get Msgs' on the laptop and also got the same warning, but with 'Confirm security exception' not greyed out. The laptop is a dual-boot with Linux LXLE which has SM 2.33.1, and that works OK, but has no anti-virus.

I'll do some experimenting tomorrow if I have the time. I'll update Seamonkey, and maybe reinstall Avast.
Vernier
Posts: 81
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:07 am
Location: Shropshire, UK

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by Vernier »

I updated Seamonkey to 2.40 (all add-ons still working), and I uninstalled Avast and reinstalled it. This did not get rid of the security warning, but the 'Confirm exception' option was available again. I can't remember whether I ever saw this option in black with SM 2.33.1. I think possibly the greying-out was a feature of 2.33.1.

I was using a two year old version of the Avast program (uses the same virus database as the current version), so I tried updating, and this actually seems to have fixed the problem, so it's fingers crossed.

I suppose this should teach me to keep everything updated!

Thanks for the help,

Steve.
Vernier
Posts: 81
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:07 am
Location: Shropshire, UK

Re: Security problem with Gmail on POP3.

Post by Vernier »

Slight problems since the updates: every time I tried to open a MS Office file the system rebooted!

I ran 'chkdisk /f /r' and I reinstalled Office, but this didn't fix it. Fortunately I had made a clone of the system drive after installing SM 2.40, but before updating Avast (thank God for Clonezilla!), so I have reverted to that. Funnily enough I am not getting the Seamonkey security warning at present, though I could live with it as long as the Confirm Exception box is not greyed out.

This is why I don't keep my software updated!
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