Firefox problem (newbie)

[Stef_nz]

I am using Firefox 2.0 and had an older version of Spybot that was working fine. Since I updated to the latest version I am scanning and getting "congratulations! no threats found." I'm going to the same places I did before and it was removing 5-10 items a day. Should I be concerned?

Secondly, I'm wondering if when I downloaded this version, was I supposed to specify Firefox at some point? I'm asking because it seems geared up for IE only and I don't know where to change over. Any help would be appreciated.

[Zenobia]

If any of the old logs are still around from the Spybot 1.4 version,you could post the things being found on here to see what they were.Open Spybot,click Mode,Advanced Mode,Tools,View Report,then over to the right select View Previous report,then look through for logs with an older date that might have the five or ten things that were being found,then doubleclick it,highlight the items,then rightclick and select copy,then paste them here.

No,you should not have to specify Firefox at any point during installation.The Resident sdhelper does not work with Firefox and the Resident Teatimer is not browser dependent.There should be immunization for Firefox on the immunization page,though.Is it there?

[Stef_nz]

No logs that I can find. I can go as far as View Report, but there is nothing on the right to look at.

Yes Firefox is on the immunisation page, thank you.

[Zenobia]

You're welcome.
It's nigh impossible to say why you are getting "congratulations,no threats found." now,but got 5 to 10 threats with 1.4,without seeing a log.But,there are a few possible legitimate reasons of why that might be.
If what was being found before were something like Firefox tracking cookies,version 1.4 sometimes had trouble removing Firefox tracking cookies,and the program would say they were removed,but they would be found again on the next scan,while the new Spybot does not have that problem.

Also,if you didn't have sdhelper enabled on the Spybot 1.4,but enabled it for the newer version,then it's possible Spybot's resident sdhelper is blocking IE tracking cookies now,whereas it wasn't before.

The same is true if you recently configured your browser(s) to block third-party cookies,then Spybot would not find as many tracking cookies.

Also,can you remember what colour some of the things Spybot was finding before were?If they were green,you may have been scanning for tracks before,but Spybot may now be set to a spyware scan only.
You also might want to be sure you actually are scanning for spyware.Spybot should do that by default,but if you want to be sure,you can open spybot,click mode,then advanced mode,settings,filesets,then be sure there are checks beside the Integrated search for spybots section.

You can return to default Spybot mode by clicking mode up top,then selecting default mode.

There's probably no reason to be too concerned,but if you're having any malware problems or computer problems,then please let me know.

[sysmg]

I was having the same problem. I followed your advice and I looked at the reports. I found two issues.

First it turns out that Spybot S&D 1.4 was not completely deinstalled, the files still exist (1.4 was not installed in the default directory). SD 1.5.2 works fine.

I have a scheduled task, but that was using the 1.4 program and found nothing.

So I manually ran a scan from SD 1.5.2. I figured this would find and remove the cookies. However, it also found nothing. So I have attached the logs. Let me know if you need anything else.

Here are the logs from 1.4 (before the upgrade)

06.02.2008 06:30:44 - ##### check started #####
06.02.2008 06:30:44 - ### Version: 1.4
06.02.2008 06:30:44 - ### Date: 2/6/2008 6:30:44 AM
06.02.2008 06:30:45 - ##### checking bots #####
06.02.2008 07:16:30 - found: DoubleClick Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default)
06.02.2008 07:16:34 - found: HitBox Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default)
06.02.2008 07:16:34 - found: HitBox Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default)
06.02.2008 07:16:42 - found: HitBox Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default)
06.02.2008 07:16:43 - found: HitBox Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default)
06.02.2008 07:16:56 - found: MediaPlex Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default)
06.02.2008 07:25:26 - ##### check finished #####


--- Report generated: 2008-02-06 08:24 ---
DoubleClick: Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default) (Cookie, fixed)
HitBox: Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default) (Cookie, fixed)
HitBox: Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default) (Cookie, fixed)
HitBox: Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default) (Cookie, fixed)
HitBox: Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default) (Cookie, fixed)
MediaPlex: Tracking cookie (Mozilla: default) (Cookie, fixed)

--- Spybot - Search & Destroy version: 1.4 (build: 20050523) ---
2005-05-31 blindman.exe (1.0.0.1)
... etc...

Here are the logs from 1.5.2

--- Search result list ---
Congratulations!: No immediate threats were found. ()

--- Spybot - Search & Destroy version: 1.5.2 (build: 20080128) ---
... etc...


The question now is what should I do? Do you think I should uninstall both products and reinstall?

-Stew

[Zenobia]

Actually,come to think of it(and I wish I had before),the newest Spybot probably isn't finding tracking cookies if you've Immunized Firefox.
Immunization for Firefox wasn't included with Spybot 1.4.

It's okay to install the newest Spybot over the top of Spybot 1.4,but since Spybot 1.4 wasn't in the default directory and some files still exist separate from Spybot 1.5.2,you might want to uninstall,reinstall,to be on the safe side of things.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html

[sysmg]

Thanks. It makes sense.

-Stew

[Zenobia]

You're welcome.

[revolt]

I'm having the same problems as Stef_nz & sysmg. before the latest update, spybot would always find several immediate threats in about a 5-10 minute scan. these were some of the immediate threats it would find before the update:

AdRevolver Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
Advertising.com Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
Avenue A, Inc. Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
Casale Media Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
DoubleClick: Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
FastClick: Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
HitBox: Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)
MediaPlex: Tracking cookie (Firefox: default)

now, after the latest update, everytime i've ran spybot, i never get any immediate threats in about a 35-40 minute scan. before and after the latest update, everytime i would run spybot i would run ad-aware. the only difference now is spybot isn't finding anything and ad-aware still is.

maybe its just my head playing tricks on me, but it seems like my computer is running slower than it did before. i play a video game which runs noticeably slower and choppier now, days after the update.

i'm hoping spybot is just blocking all of the spyware coming in, but it seems really unlikely now that my computer is running slower. i've tried installing the version i used before(1.4) over the one now(1.5.2), but when i scan its exactly the same even when i don't download the update 1.5.2 in the download updates section, or any updates at all in the download updates section for that matter. it will do a 35-40 minute scan(instead of a 5-10 minute scan like before) and it won't find any immediate threats. i'm visiting the same sites now that i was visiting before the update.

i also did what Sandra Klass said to do when she emailed me. she told me to: open spybot>click mode then advanced mode>settings>file sets>right-click on the white part of the screen and check "Select all available checks"> then run the scan.

from here on out, since i can't download the old version and run it like i used to, i'm just going to see if my computer gets noticeably slower, where as its not just my mind maybe playing tricks on me. sorry for the essay. ANY help would be appreciated.

[Zenobia]

If what is being found by Ad-aware and was being found by Spybot are 'tracking cookies' only,then tracking cookies are a minimal spyware threat.There is a page showing how to block third-party cookies in Firefox and other browsers here:
http://www.spybot.info/en/faq/37.html

Was the update you downloaded the one that included the Spybot 1.5.2 update?And did you immunize Firefox?If so,it is possible that Spybot isn't picking up as many tracking cookies because they are blocked with Spybot's immunization.If you did not unimmunize before installing the old Spybot 1.4 version over Spybot 1.5.2,then I believe the immunization would be left in the hostperm.1 file,so that would possibly explain why tracking cookies were still not being picked up much by Spybot.

Ad-aware may scan for different 'tracking cookies',so if the 'tracking cookies' picked up by Ad-aware are different,that may explain why tracking cookies are still being picked up by Ad-aware.

Is what is being found by Spybot and Ad-aware tracking cookies only,or are either one continually finding other types of spyware?