Newsletter Archives

• Did Firefox suddenly forget all of your passwords? Blame Avast. Again

  Posted on June 14, 2019 at 19:06 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  If Firefox suddenly forgot all of your passwords in the past day or so, blame Avast.

  It looks like Avast Antivirus and AVG Antivirus are both blocking the file that Firefox uses to store passwords. Your passwords are still there. You just need a new version of Avast or AVG.

  Martin Brinkmann has the details on ghacks:

  Firefox, just like any other modern browser, supports the saving of authentication information to improve the sign-in process on websites. Instead of having to enter the passwords manually each time they are requested, Firefox would provide the password when needed.

  Firefox saves the data in the file logins.json in the Firefox profile folder.

  Reports suggest that Avast and AVG security applications cause the issue for Firefox users. It appears that the software programs somehow corrupt the login.json file so that Firefox cannot read it anymore.

  Lawrence Abrams on BleepingComputer has the inside story:

  In a Mozilla bug post about this issue, Lukáš Rypáček, an engineering director at Avast, explained that the AVG Password Protection program will block a process’ access to saved logins unless the process is signed by a known and valid Firefox certificate. As Mozilla had issued a new certificate on 5/31/2019 and signed Firefox 67.0.2 with it, but AVG had not included it in the AVG Password Protection program, the Firefox processes were being blocked.

  Apparently Avast has released updates to fix the problem.

  Freeware Avast, AVG, Firefox

• Avast and AVG blamed for bad Win10 version 1803 upgrades

  Posted on May 22, 2018 at 04:11 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  On Reddit, ugcm says:

  Multiple users between Sunday, May 20 and Monday, May 21 have reported receiving a request to “restart and install updates” in Windows 10. This update appears to be the Windows 10 April 2018 update, also known as “1803”. Upon restarting, the computer boots to a blue screen asking the user to choose a keyboard language. After doing so, they are taken to another blue screen with three options to continue “booting” to:

  Windows Rollback

  Windows 10 on Volume [x]

  Windows 10 on Volume [x]

  The lower two options are identical.

  If the user chooses the top option, the computer will restart. If the user chooses either of the latter two options, Windows will appear to boot, but end up on a blank, black desktop with no icons, and an error message that the Desktop file could not be accessed.

  Following, there’s the usual Reddit tirade about Avast, AVG, Win10, 1803, and the phase of the moon. But it sounds like they’re on to a real, live problem.

  Anybody else seeing this?

  Windows Patches/Security Avast, AVG, Win10 1803

• Conficker lurking in updates?

  Posted on April 15, 2009 at 21:36 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  JB writes:

  Dear Woody,

  
  Is it good to take Adobe Flash player updates? And is AVG 8.5 Free better than AVG 8.0 Free? How do we know these updates aren’t polluted with conficker?

  Yep, it’s always best to install Flash Player updates, Adobe Reader updates, Java updates, and the like, when they’re offered. Why? If they’re screwed up they generally won’t bring your computer to a grinding halt, and the manufacturer typically gets new updates out quickly. I won’t mention QuickTime by name.

  If you use AVG 8.0, you should upgrade to AVG 8.5.

  I can’t imagine any way Conficker could get into any of those updates.

  Other Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash Player, AVG, Conficker, Java, QuickTime