FF24 file downloads not flaged as blocked anymore?
There is some bug in FF24 in that downloaded files are not flaged as blocked anymore. Up to FF23 when I download a file, it was flaged as coming from another computer in my NTFS file systems. This is a security mechanism I count on. Then to unblock it I go to file properties and there is a button Unblock.
What happened to FF24 in this regard, and is there a way to revert this to its previous state in case it's not a bug? If it's not a bug I cannot understand why Mozilla worsened yet another aspect of their browser (in this case lowering security). It is unbelievable to what degree they are prone to spoil a once perfect browser :( . Thanks.
All Replies (7)
I don't think any changes happened with downloads. Did you check the download scanning pref in about:config?
- In the Location bar, type about:config and press Enter. The about:config "This might void your warranty!" warning page may appear.
- Click I'll be careful, I promise!, to continue to the about:config page. A list of settings should appear
- Filter the list by typing in the search bar at the top. Type in scanWhenDone. You should now find the "browser.download.scanWhenDone" preference.
- Double-click on that preference to set the value to false.
- Next, try to download something and see if it still hangs.
Please reply and tell us whether this helped you!
You should set the browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone pref to true if you want to have it blocked in the security tab in the properties of the file.
Modified by cor-el
Hi, thank you both for taking your time to answer. All options in about:config are the same as before (before I updated 23 to 24), and in up to and including 23, downloads were marked with the zone.identifier flag. This was true for years. The scanWhenDone boolean was always TRUE, including now, and I in fact never messed with that option. I don't have any antivirus or other software that may have affected this. It's only after I updated to 24 when I noticed this. IE9 and other browsers still mark the downloaded files correctly. I use Win7 x64. I don't have many addons and none of the download managers ones. I have 7-8 addons (most critical to me) and all the same for months and tens of versions. 4-5 of them fix few things Mozilla spoiled over few versions - Status4evar, Superstop, SwitchToTab No More, ClickToPlayPerElement and such. It's almost definitely some bug of 24.
I forgot - setting the scanWhenDone option to either false or the default TRUE makes no difference at all.
P.S. I tried with all addons turned off, no difference. I tried on another machine (Win7 x64 but different edition), no difference - FF24 does not respect the system preferences and does not set downloaded files to blocked. I wouldn't have complained but I want to know if this is a bug or otherwise. For some users it was a good security measure!
Modified by tedych
This should work with browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone set to true.
- http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-release/source/toolkit/components/downloads/nsDownloadManager.cpp
- http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-release/source/toolkit/components/jsdownloads/src/DownloadIntegration.jsm
Did you check if security software is interfering and possibly causing this problem?
The only security software I'm using is the built-in Windows Firewall which has not been altered between upgrading FF. The problem exists on two independent machines as I said. So it is reproducible. I don't want to use another component or addon for this. For now I wanted to know if this is some new change (to not obey system settings) or some bug. For all other changes in FF versions I could find information either in Bugzilla, or somewhere else. Not this one.
I notice this behavior as well since I upgraded to Firefox 24.0. I used to explicitly scan the downloaded files an extra time and then go to unblock the files in the file properties. Now all the files downloaded from FF24 need not be unblocked. However, if I download the same file using another browser, the Unblock button is there in the file properties.
This is a bug in 24 which seems unresolved since b1. I looks to me like an intentional bug but we'll see. While I was trying to file a bug on that, I came across this in bugzilla https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=916126
For now, the outcome from updating 23 to 24 is 3 new problems (spent days fixing them, or trying) and zero (0) advantages. I won't be using the awful v25 and its chrome-like changes (I hate Chrome from the bottom of my heart) and I thought I could stick to the last supposedly good FF (24) until I decide what browser to jump to. It seems this will be v23.0.1 meanwhile. Mozilla made so many chrome like changes to FF that it is already unbearable.