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| | | Senior Member
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
Posts: 1,162, Visits: 2,534 |
| | It occasionally happens that when I go to a website User Account Control asks me if I want to allow Internet Explorer Add-on Installer to run. Clicking on Details adds no additional info. Since I don't know what the website is doing to initiate this, I always deny it, and then the site seems to load ok. Any idea what is going on? Thanks |
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Forum Advisor
Group: Advisor
Last Login: 7/23/2008 9:45 PM
Posts: 312, Visits: 792 |
| 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 absolutely no idea 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.
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| | | Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
Posts: 1,162, Visits: 2,534 |
| | 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 |
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Forum Advisor
Group: Advisor
Last Login: 7/23/2008 9:45 PM
Posts: 312, Visits: 792 |
| 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.
Edit:
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 addthis.com 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)
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| | | Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
Posts: 1,162, Visits: 2,534 |
| | OK thanks. If UAC alerts me again on a website, I'll post it here. |
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| | | Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
Posts: 1,162, Visits: 2,534 |
| | 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. |
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Forum Advisor
Group: Advisor
Last Login: 7/23/2008 9:45 PM
Posts: 312, Visits: 792 |
| 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 may 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 here. If you need to update to the latest version, go here and get it. Then let's see what happens.
Couldn't hurt...
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| | | Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
Posts: 1,162, Visits: 2,534 |
| | 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. |
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