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RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:29:19 GMT

OK thanks.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:49:19 GMT

[quote][b]vinceione (5/11/2008)[/b][hr]

By the way, how did you find out the name of the component it was trying to install?[/quote]

Ahhh, ancient Chinese secret!:P

Actually, it's quite simple. If you visit a website that requires a specific bit of code to run, and you don't already have it on your machine, this is where you get a Windows popup (or alert) asking for permission to install or run. I'm not going to get into details on how Windows goes about checking what plugins and add-ons you have installed because that would be a whole other discussion, but it is all determined locally on your machine what you have, and what you don't have to make the website work, by the code in the page you're viewing.

Interestingly enough, I just now checked that website with my XP Pro machine, (using Firefox and a multitude of add-ons) and I still get the same alert (with the same information) as I did with my laptop running Home Premium.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:49:47 GMT

My interest is not in the site, but rather in the inconsistent behavior from UAC.

OK I'll just chalk it up as another MS anomaly.

Thanks for the help. And I agree with your point of view about not installing junk. The beauty of imaging software like Ghost is that you can always go back to a clean state.

By the way, how did you find out the name of the component it was trying to install?

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:05:34 GMT

Here's what I got from the page you sent me to. I visited the page in IE7:

I did get a popup asking permission to install a component. It's from Adobe Shockwave, but the component that asks to be installed is called zest_sweep, from the publisher Posit Science. It claims to "Add functionality to your computer to generate specific sounds."

I can only conclude that the "Brain test" uses sounds specific [b]only[/b] to this website, since Windows already has built-in sounds , but your computer cannot generate these for this test without this add-on.

I can only give you two solutions. 1. Is to install this component if you frequently visit this website and use their services. Or 2. If this is a site that you ran across randomly and don't plan on returning, don't install it. The reason is simple. The less your computer has installed, the happier you & your computer will be.

My point of view may vary from person to person, but it all boils down to the fact that if you don't plan on returning to the website again, don't install any add-ons, and just move along. Unless you see and understand the code that the website wants to install, it's hard to trust anybody (or websites) anymore. I'm sure you've seen the damage from other users' computers, by the HiJackThis logs that Richie has to help with.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:07:19 GMT

OK here's a site that initiates the behavior I am referring to. I visited the site 4 times in about two minutes, closing the new window each time.

http://bfc.positscience.com/eval/bst.php

The first two times I visited it, UAC popped up an alert, with no usable details. I denied it both times. The 3rd and 4th time it just gave the Information Bar, asking if I want to install Shockwave. And the UAC alert no longer comes up, even though I denied it both times it did come up.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:28:19 GMT

Sounds good.

I did wonder why you would get the UAC alert at different times, instead of all the time. (and vice-versa) But you already gave that answer, by stating you had Ghost. You left me scratching my head a few times, but it's clear to me now.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:16:24 GMT

OK thanks for the info.

I've been watching to see if anything changes here. I've not installed flash yet so it still gives the Information Bar, but I am no longer seeing the UAC alert when I go to the website. Seems like I get the alert the first time I visit the website after I restore my Ghost image of the C: drive, then after that I get the Information Bar only. I'll confirm that next time I restore the C: drive.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:25:45 GMT

I tried to give an answer I thought would suffice, but the more I proofread it, the more I thought it would bore you with all the details (that you would certainly already know) so I'll get right to the point.

Vista has a multitude of defenses built-in to itself. A firewall, Windows Defender, hardware and/or software DEP, and the UAC. These are lines of defense that wasn't all available by default, in previously released versions. I believe Microsoft is aware of all the dangerous code that is out there, so these defenses are on by default.

For example, when XP SP2 was released, the now-enabled firewall blocked incoming traffic that was not initiated first by the user, and the end result was astounding. The level of infected computers was reduced [b]dramatically[/b]. It was like flicking off a light switch. Most people had an anti-spyware program, but all did not. This is where Defender comes into play. It's installed and on by default. Good move there, but it can't catch everything. Updates are available as new bad code is found.

Now, for the UAC. I believe this is the last line of defense for unknown code, next to the DEP. Since there is no website listing all the bad code (because new bad code is written daily) it's impossible to keep up. You see the UAC asking for permission to continue on the basis that you know where you are (on the web) and know what's going on in front of you. You make the decision to install the code to view the page on that basis.

I have no further explanation on what's going on in front of you, other than the operating system trying to keep itself safe from unknown code. Personally, I have the UAC disabled on my laptop, and have had no ill effects. I get a clean bill of health from Defender, my anti-virus, and also Ad-Aware SE Pro. (for a backup)

If other members have any further explanation as to why the UAC would be blank, I would say that this is what this forum is all about. Helping one another. Afterall, Vista is relatively new, and I'm sure you're not alone.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:11:29 GMT

I'm not really concerned with the site working, just with understanding UAC alerts that come up at websites and give no no details as to why they appear.

My computer presently has no flashplayer, so an alert is to be expected at this site. What seems odd is that sometimes it is a UAC alert with no details (which is confusing and arouses suspicion) and then sometimes it is the Information Bar saying it wants to install Flash (which is useful and understandable). I'd like to leave UAC enabled, but I don't like these vague messages.

Today this site is showing the Information Bar, and no UAC alert.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:15:18 GMT

Adobe Flash Player is certainly harmless enough.

But what I suspect here, is that the website is checking to see if you have Flash installed, and if it's not the most current version, it [i]may[/i] try to autodownload the most current one through the UAC or popup alert, and your system is intercepting it. Who knows how "friendly" the code is written these days?? I'm not claiming that particular website is pushing malicious code, but we all know that the internet is not a friendly place to be anymore.

I did some checking on my laptop (which is only two months old) and I have Vista Home Premium with ALL Microsoft's updates. I did the checking at Adobe's website about the Flash player, and it seems that the most current version of Flash is version 9.0.124.0. It seems that MY version is 9.0.115.0, so I need to update it. I tested the version I have installed [url=http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507]here[/url]. If you need to update to the latest version, go [url=http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash]here[/url] and get it. Then let's see what happens.

Couldn't hurt...;)

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:24:34 GMT

It seems like there is some inconsistency going on with this alert.

I went to a site yesterday that gave me the UAC alert (with no additional details) so I denied it, the site then loaded ok. Today I went back to the same site and this time the information bar appeared and asked if I would allow Flashplayer to be installed. I said no just to see what happens tomorrow.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:52:08 GMT

OK thanks. If UAC alerts me again on a website, I'll post it here.

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:13:27 GMT

Thanks. I'll look through it with a fine-toothed-comb and report back what I find.

By the way, I have the UAC disabled on my laptop because it had become so annoying and so frustrating, almost every third or fourth click launched the UAC popup. It was just totally unacceptable for me. I keep VERY tight security here on my home network by having, essentially, two NAT's. An external NAT which controls my wireless access, and an internal NAT which takes care of my wired network, all connected to two routers and one fiber optic connection. My fiber optic connection has Trend Micro behind it at the corporate level, and I have Kaspersky watching my home network.

The UAC, in my opinion and in my case here at home, is pointless.

[i]Edit:[/i]
I have looked at the link you gave, and I find nothing out of the ordinary. No CSS that I originally thought, but only found one other weblink to [url=http://addthis.com/]addthis.com[/url] which is only a button for social bookmarking and sharing, linking to Digg, or del.icio.us or Reddit and so on. Nothing deceptive there.

I ran the page in both Firefox and in IE7, and only found two references to javascripting. One was to a hit counter, and the other was for the addthis link.

Sorry that this didn't turn out to be the bad news, but it is GOOD news that something nasty didn't try to get in. (by what I could see)

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

vinceione — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:40:56 GMT

I'm not sure which site I visited yesterday that created the alert. And when it happened, I tried reloading the page and the alert did not appear again, so I cannot confirm today which page it might have been (I've revisited all the pages from yesterday, none of them created the alert again).

That said, I reviewed all the pages I visited yesterday, and I THINK it may have been this one. Like I said, I can't confirm it by looking for the alert today, but here is the link:

http://all-streaming-media.com/record-audio-stream/FreeCorder-Toolbar-Free-sound-recorder-software-Windows.htm

If that does not create the alert for you, I will take note of next time it happens.

Thanks

RE: UAC alert - Internet Explorer Add-on Installer

Ctrl_Alt_Del — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:16:24 GMT

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the website is trying to install an ActiveX control, or some other form of "browser add-on" through CSS (Cross Site Scripting) or even some form of code from another website linked to it. It's more common than most people care to think, or want to believe. The bad people can and will hack into popular websites just to spread their code and infect other machines. Not saying that this is the case for you, but it is a real possibility since your machine is asking for your permission to proceed with this action. Very UN-typical of a web browser just browsing the web to ask that, unless something wants to be installed that you don't already have. Something that'll only get used once, just to install code. Again, this may not be the case, until we get to the root of the problem.

You say that since you deny the UAC from proceeding with it, the page opens normally. Not surprising. Also, by what you posted, there's no information displayed about what is trying to be installed. Not surprising either. What would scare me in a situation like that, is the fact that you have [b]absolutely no idea[/b] what and who is trying to install whatever they want to install.

What is the website(s) doing this? Now you have me curious, because I would like to see what's going on and possibly who's doing it.

Finally, I would bet that if you disabled scripting in your browser, the UAC would not pop up again while surfing the web. But this is a double-edged sword here. Some websites will not display properly if scripting is disabled, so it's a trade-off between website viewability versus computer security.