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Friday, May 06, 2005

I would'nt install Google WebAccelerator if I were you ...

I was a little "bleeding edge" today and installed Google Web Accelerator. Woops. It kind of screws things up for a lot of sites I hit and is a little tricky to uninstall (we'll see if I'm rid of it after a reboot). Others have seen security issues.

Update: After uninstalling it, rebooting, re-installing FireFox ... it is still running on my computer. Whenever I view source, I see:

<script language='javascript' src='http://127.0.0.1:1029/js.cgi?pca&r=5436'>>/script>

On my pages; worse, that URL is live, and returns:

bash-2.05b$ curl http://127.0.0.1:1029/js.cgi?pca\&r=5436

var blockedReferrer = 'blockedReferrer';
NS_ActualWrite=document.write;
// Popup Blocker -->
RanPostamble=0;
NS_ActualOpen=window.open;
function NS_NullWindow(){this.window;}
function nullDoc() {
   this.open = NS_NullWindow;
   this.write = NS_NullWindow;
   this.close = NS_NullWindow;
}
function NS_NewOpen(url,nam,atr){
        if((nam!='' && nam==window.name) || nam=='_top'){
           return(NS_ActualOpen(url,nam,atr));}
        obj=new NS_NullWindow();
        obj.focus = NS_NullWindow;
        obj.blur = NS_NullWindow;
        obj.opener = this.window;
        obj.document = new nullDoc();
        return(obj);
}
function NS_NullWindow2(){this.window;}
function NS_NewOpen2(url,nam,atr){
        if((nam!='' && nam==window.name) || nam=='_top'){
           return(NS_ActualOpen(url,nam,atr));}
    return(new NS_NullWindow2());
}
function op_stop() { NS_ActualOpen2=window.open; window.open=NS_NewOpen2; }
function op_start() { window.open=NS_ActualOpen2; }
function noopen_load() {
    op_stop(); if(zl_orig_onload) zl_orig_onload(); op_start();
}
function noopen_unload() { op_stop(); if(zl_orig_onunload) zl_orig_onunload(); op_start(); }
function postamble() {

  if(!RanPostamble) {
    RanPostamble=1;
        zl_orig_onload = window.onload;
        zl_orig_onunload = window.onunload;
        window.open=NS_ActualOpen;
  }
}
window.open=NS_NewOpen;
document.ignore = new Object()
bash-2.05b$

So don't install it; can't get rid of it, and I'm pissed!

Update #2: I'd some more checking; this thing claims to be a popup blocker, but I think it might be part of some Spyware. Or it might be some kind of kludgey thing supplied by Firefox to block popups?

Update #3: It is a popup ad blocker, it's part of ZoneAlarm Pro, which I've been testing out. Seems like it will hijack almost any HTTP traffic ... and interesting problem that could break some Ajax code potentially!

4 comments:

Anthony said...

The moral of the story: delete everything from your computer except Firefox...you don't really need anything else these days anyway. ;-)

Vamsee said...

Well, if you really really get rid of firefox completely, you shouldn't forget to delete .mozilla/firefox in your home folder. Don't forget to backup your bookmarks!

-Vamsee.

Anonymous said...

I met the same problem, and I thought it maybe some kinda spyware, so I google"js.cgi?pca&r=", then I find here, ;-)

Anonymous said...

Im building pages that work 100% on my server but when I view them remotley half the pags loads then this weird code shows up

op_stop(); ;op_start();

I have learned its my computer and not my server.

I think its some kind of a virus.

Sux