AVG is inserting junk in my tabs address bars! " http://isearch.avg.com/dns?cid={ "
AVG inserting junk into my tabs url addresses!!
I have found 1 thread/post that looks close to my problem but not exactly the same! https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/881017?esab=a&as=aaq
As you'll see this person was having the AVG junk being dropped into the url ahead of the actual url! I usually only have this problem when restarting Firefox and not when opening a new Tab! So AVG has edited most of my saved Tabs and screwed them up. And I have loads open :o(
That's more or less the problem I have but I only first noticed this problem after restarting Firefox. But even if I remove the junk it can come back on a tab I leave open. It appears random and can affect even ebay url's but not others, i.e. when I've been comparing items to purchase and leave the tabs open to reload them when I next restart the browser after a power off etc! When I check through my tabs some of the ebay tabs are ok, others have the AVG junk! This of course stops them from reloading.
IMO AVG or any other application should not be doing this sort of hijack of the address bar!
I have many tabs open at a time and choose to reload them when I restart Firefox, so this has really messed up most of my open tabs as with this junk in the address bar the various sites fail to load! And it keeps happening!
It would seem at random AVG is inserting the exact same line of junk in most of my tabs when I restart.
http://isearch.avg.com/dns?cid={99e1125d-5d27-46aa-b6b6-7459539bfc38}&mid=ee765640107b47d19048d147e0686c97-90a1d494886f408c5a599a29bfae6b26f9700089&ds=AVG&v=13.3.0.17&lang=en&pr=fr&d=2012-12-14%2011%3A50%3A41&sap=dns&q=openelec&urlref=http%3A//
The url for each site is left in place after the junk! This of course is different for each Tab/site I have open, but the junk in the url before it is always exactly the same! I've removed part of the url off the end of the link which was my url for that Tab etc!
This problems appears to coincide with a recent update of AVG antivirus to 2013 free version. My previous version had not been updated for several months. I have had no previous problems like this before and never had a problem with AVG until now.
I've removed or reset relating to AVG in the Firefox config regarding the link above! and I've uninstalled the AVG safe search.
I've see posts about this type of problem affecting IE 8 and 9, Chrome and there are instructions on the AVG site which might help!
Can you guys at Firefox please do something about stopping this sort of hijack of the address bar? Many thanx.
All Replies (7)
Does this still happen with the above pref setting as posted in the system details list?
You can check for problems with preferences and try to rename or delete the prefs.js file and possible numbered prefs-##.js files and a possible user.js file to reset all prefs to the default values if you do net keep changes after a restart.
You can use this button to go to the Firefox profile folder:
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder
Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.
There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins" in case there are still problems.
You can also try to reset Firefox:
Ok, the first thing you need to do is update to Firefox 17.0.1, as the version you are running has both known critical security vulnerabilities, and critical stability issues. Update Firefox to the latest release
After that, try to Reset Firefox. Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings
Another thing you may want to consider is switching Anti-viruses. AVG is known to be, well, bad at respecting the user. Consider uninstalling it and using something like Microsoft Security Essentials. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/security-essentials-download
Thanx for the reply cor-el The profile command didn't run for some reason even with explicit full path given! I'll look into that perhaps after backing up and trying the Reset option!
In answer to your first question; "Does this still happen with the above pref setting as posted in the system details list? " Yes it still happens as pref list I posted! I also edited 2 tabs and removed the junk so leaving the normal urls! Restarted Firefox and the junk was once again inserted.
The good news is about 70% of my urls seem to be ok. Seems to be a lot less than before (Strange)! I have way too many tabs open, bad habit of mine so will have to spend some hours going through them all very soon.
Thanx Tylerdowner I normally update within a week of an update but I've been working with loads of tabs open and from previous experience when I've done a FF update it has deleted and not saved all my tabs! I do have a Tab backup tool installed but it stopped working some time ago after a FF update! No longer supported I think.
Like I said above in reply to cor-el I'll try a reset once I've done a backup and get all my Tabs saved etc.
I've always managed to keep AVG in check before, but this last upgrade has been an annoying experience, not only in how it's messed with FF but it looks pants, very bad look to the UI now. I use Malwarebytes and Adaware also so I don't totally reply on AVG. MS Security Essentials looks a bit lacking on features and seen a few posts about it missing some malware. But if AVG keeps giving me problems like this I'll dump it like a lead balloon and test something else!
The profile command only works if Firefox has been closed completely and no Firefox processes are left in the task manager.
Thanx cor-el I may have missed something in Task Manager so I'll give it another go soon. FYI. On start-up this morning more of my Tabs have the AVG junk in front of them, totally random and annoying problem.
Just so you know, Firefox 13 was released in June of last year, so you are more than a week behind updates. Have you tried to Reset Firefox? Make sure you also disable any AVG Add-ons.