FF-3b3 - turning off virus scanner

Discussion about official Mozilla Firefox builds
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Bozz
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Post by Bozz »

It didn't work quite like that for me with AVG free. I disabled AVG from startup, rebooted, downloaded a Firefox nightly and it still showed a scan although it only lasted about 3 seconds. With AVG running, the same file scans for about 15 seconds.
PoGo
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Post by PoGo »

I didn't mean to start such a spirited thread, but it IS nice to see that I am not alone on this issue, although, at the same time, saddening that this feature was added without a method of controlling it.

FYI ... I do NOT run any resident scan functions ... ever. I do scan my computer nightly, but in command mode only. I'm not sure, therefore, what FF is calling to perform the download scans ... plus .. I have two scanners (no one gets them all), so which does FF use?

I have read every file possible looking for a call entry, but have not found one.

During that process, however, I did find a strange entry in "downloads.sqlite" that was causing the download "hang" I had expoerienced, particularly on an aborted or incomplete download.

I simply replaced "downloads.sqlite" with a file copy from an extracted FF-2 program (same file) and it cured the hang problem, but ...

Still no clue on this AV scan feature.

I can't report it as a bug .. it works fine as designed and there doesn't seem to be an avenue to present this for modification,so I guess I'll just keep looking ...
"If you do it, fix it, forget it or live with it."
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the_dees
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Post by the_dees »

As I commented earlier .. it's not a bug ... works as designed, so I can't submit it that way .. it's simply a feature I do NOT wish activated. Where to go? ... I dunno.

You may file an enhancement request to add the ability to control this behavior. If one isn't already filed oder marked invalid..
shaddix
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Post by shaddix »

my av does not automatically scan anything, i have kaspersky and all of that auto stuff is turned completely off, anything that is scanned i do manually.

my experience with firefox i have only seen that scanning viruses message in the downloads directory, i have no idea if it was actually scanning the files or not.
Perhaps it sees kaspersky installed and attemps to scan but fails? I have no idea. i'm not about to download a virus to test it though.
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the-edmeister
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Post by the-edmeister »

I reformatted last month and still haven't installed an AV program, yet 3.0b3 still makes it look like a scan is being performed.
Some kinda joke?
No notice that Minefield couldn't find an AV program?
Another cowpie like anti-phishing? (yeah the anti-phishing database receives the "bad" URL 2 days after the bad-guys have moved on to greener pastures)
Features like this belong in Alpha's, not Betas.

I wish the developers would stop inventing problems and fix the print-related Bugs, some of which have existed since Netscape gave the browser to Mozilla. Sure 3.0b3 has some major improvements, but there are too many multiple-pages webpages that still don't print.


Ed
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DeathWolf
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Post by DeathWolf »

does not seem to be the case with AVG
Here AVG resident is disabled, and AVG is only installed on my system as a way to scan files.
Yet the FF virus scanner does run AVG on every single file I download.
The worst part is that if the AV is slow to startup then it takes forever for the scan to finish, since it runs a new instance every time.
(and I know quite a few that are slow to startup, including nod32 and AVG)

So this is extremely unnerving...
Alan Baxter
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Post by Alan Baxter »

DeathWolf wrote:Yet the FF virus scanner does run AVG on every single file I download.
The worst part is that if the AV is slow to startup then it takes forever for the scan to finish, since it runs a new instance every time.

I'm using AVG too. Adds ten seconds to every download on my seven year old 600MHz PIII Windows XP computer. Thank goodness for third-party download programs and FlashGot.
Last edited by Alan Baxter on January 5th, 2008, 3:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bozz
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Post by Bozz »

The close button can be clicked to close before scanning completes but I wonder if that stops the scan or only Firefox showing the scan.
MeCasa
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Post by MeCasa »

Enough conjecture, pick a standard download and let's document download times Obviously, certain factors such as AV, bw speed etc will need to be detailed in order to make any sense of the results but.........

Build a test, I'll post results. If we document negative results, perhaps the dev's will build an escape hatch.
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LoudNoise
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Post by LoudNoise »

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=393305

This bug might shed some light on the situation. It might be scanning with windows defender by default.
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pikaunforgiven
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Post by pikaunforgiven »

i doubt that is the problem, many people dont have windows defender installed since its not in windows update (you have to get it elsewhere). i know i sure dont. its part of the problem, but not the problem as a whole.
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a;skdjfajf;ak
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Post by a;skdjfajf;ak »

It should also be noted that using Windows Defender as a 'fall-back' for testing is at best a placebo, as many even if they have it, turn it off and its not 'enabled' by default on Vista - go figure.

So scanning with WD as a fall-back that has not been updated in maybe weeks/months is next to useless.

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LoudNoise
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Post by LoudNoise »

My bad. I meant to point out that the beta is using windows to try to trigger the AV after a download. Apparently Firefox is currently doing a bad job of it.

I am with PoGo on this-- I would like to be able to tell Firefox to not do it.
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shaddix
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Post by shaddix »

i would like it to be taken out, or at least to default to off >:(
ColeTrickle
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Post by ColeTrickle »

I don't get it. I downloaded files, but it never scans for viruses. I know people don't like this feature but i like it but i can't spot it working. Not even a millisecond i see "scanning". i have antivir installed so it should scan right?
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