Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: opus872 on June 17, 2007, 09:05:26 AM
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Lately, when I start using Firefox after being idle for a while, it locks up when I click on my first link. I get the hourglass, lasts almost a minute. Then everything works fine again. If I stop Avast's On-Access Protection, the problem is fixed. Obviously, I hate to do that, hoping there might be other solutions...
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Don't stop all on-access protection, pause or terminate the web shield and see if that resolves the problem.
If it does there is something else going on in your system as the web shield shouldn't work in this erratic way, it would either work all of the time or none of the time. As you say 'lately' so it must have worked fine previously ?
When this hourglass is there it usually indicates program loading, etc. have you updated firefox or add any new extensions recently (since you noticed this issue) ?
What Operating System are you using ? is it up to date ?
What is your firewall ?
What other security based software do you have that might have an impact, e.g. anti-spyware, SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor, PrevX, WinPatrol, ProcessGuard, etc. ?
How do you connect to the internet (dial-up/broadband) and does your ISP insist you use a proxy to connect to the internet ?
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Thanks David. No new extensions. OS is WinXP Home, all patches up to date. Firewall is free version (7) of Zone Alarm. The only other security software is WinPatrol. Connect to net by cable modem, no proxy.
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No new extensions.
Can you post a list of your extensions?
Mr Tech Local Install could give you a list of them.
Is the problem only a delay or you can't connect/browse after Firefox loads?
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It's just a delay, but a pretty long one each time. Stoping the Web Shield doesn't help, but stopping the Standard Shield seems to fix the problem.
Extensions: Adblock, Roboform, CustomizeGoogle, BugMeNot, FirefoxShowcase, Flashblock, IEView, LinkVisitor, MenuEditor, ResizeableTextArea, Sage. Disabled MouseZoom and NoSquint.
Incidentally, another problem I'm having with Firefox lately is a delay in appearance of typed text onscreen or in response to things like right or left arrow movement.
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Stopping the Standard Shield isn't wise (a delay is preferable to a lack of protection) and would indicate that it is scanning something, is the avast icon rotating at this time ?
Or enable Show detailed info on performed action in standard shield to see what it is scanning.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/for-dwr/ShowDetailedAction.jpg)
It might be worth reinstalling firefox to see if that improves the situation and then over a period of time add your favourite (security) extensions to see if there is one that may be the problem.
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It's just a delay, but a pretty long one each time. Stoping the Web Shield doesn't help, but stopping the Standard Shield seems to fix the problem.
Besides David's suggestion, you could test setting the Standard Shield sensitivity to Normal level and not High to see if it helps.
Do you have other browsers to test the same behaviors? IE? Opera?
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I enabled Show Detailed Info on the standard shield. Mostly the popups go by too fast to fee what it's scanning, but Firefox's sessionstore files seem to be what's hanging the program. I've reinstalled FF, no change in behavior. IE doesn't appear to exhibit this behavior.
Is there some way to save the scanned file list so I can look at it before it disappears?
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I recall someone else with this session store issue as it is loading all the session information and files, they are going to be scanned by the standard shield before they are opened.
What is the sensitivity of the standard shield, Normal is the default ?
Give us a few examples of the session store files and location and perhaps we can exclude them ?
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The standard shield sensitivity is normal. The sessionstore files are consecutively numbered: sessionstore-1.js, sessionstore-2.js, etc. I just deleted over 4,000 of them. I also excluded the entire Firefox profile folder from Avast's scanning, we'll see if that helps...
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I just deleted over 4,000 of them.
Which is the path of this files? If I have session store I want to delete them too. Thanks.
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Don't exclude the whole profile folder that is too big a target and could leave you vulnerable, <path>\sessionstore-*.js this will only exclude sessionstore files and the * wildcard will take care of the sequential numbering.
Since you have allowed the sessionstore to grow to such a large number, do you really need it to get that large, by reducing the number of days (or other delimiter) worth of session information to store you may not experience any delay without having to exclude the files.
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<path>\sessionstore-*.js
David, do you know the path here?
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I don't know his exact path which is why I indicated the <path> but for most people the firefox profile is where these sessionstore files would be kept. Since opus872 has already deleted lots of these sessionstore file they would know the location they are stored.
However this is a likely location, somewhere in the default user profile:
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xj8ov5fx.default
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However this is a likely location, somewhere in the default user profile:
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
I have no sessions stored in this path of my computer... ???
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The sessionstore files appear to be created all the time by Firefox 2.
If you Firefox session terminates abnormally you are asked (by default) if you want to resume the previous session or start a new one. The sessionstore file is used ot resume the session.
For most users the sessionstore file is deleted when Firefox terminates normally. However the file is retained if the user selects the startup option:
"Show me my windows and tabs from last time"
where most of us probably have "Show my home page".
It would seem that some error condition in Firefox or perhaps some override of the config settings in Firefox is causing this buildup of excess sessionstore files. A couple of previous avast poster seemed to experience this problem too.
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Hi alanrf,
Go to view - toolbars - Customize .. click and restore default set/
That could do the trick. Or use the Febe extension to restore all your various settings.
polonus
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However this is a likely location, somewhere in the default user profile:
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
I have no sessions stored in this path of my computer... ???
That's where it should be, if you're using FF 2 and sessionstore is enabled.
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It would seem that some error condition in Firefox or perhaps some override of the config settings in Firefox is causing this buildup of excess sessionstore files. A couple of previous avast poster seemed to experience this problem too.
Yep, seems to be a bug in FF2. Same applies to multiple bookmark and cookie files.
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I need glasses ;D
Although they're only 12 files and not 4000
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You could search for sessionstore* in explorer to see if there are any, assuming you have this function enabled. I don't and the sessionstore isn't part of the default installation. I have 0 sessionstore-*.js files on my system.
Now you have found them ;D I would imagine you have them limited in some way.
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The number of sessionstore files in FF is partially dependent on the number of days you have asked to store browsing 'history'.
Since I use the FF option to 'clear private data' (Tools > Privacy > Private Data) each time I close FF (including browsing history), I seldom have more than 2 sessionstore files: 1) the base sessionstore.js; and 2) sessionstore-n.js).
PS: Since I do not keep browsing history, the sessionstore files disappear when I close FF...
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PS: Since I do not keep browsing history, the sessionstore files disappear when I close FF...
Good answer. Thanks.
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Not a good answer ... sessionstore retention has nothing to do with browsing history.
The sessionstore file disappears for most users on every termination of Firefox ... as I explained above.
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Not a good answer ... sessionstore retention has nothing to do with browsing history.
The sessionstore file disappears for most users on every termination of Firefox ... as I explained above.
Yup, there should not be multiple sessionstore files, its function is to restore the last session only.
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<snip>
The sessionstore file disappears for most users on every termination of Firefox ... as I explained above.
Strange even when I have just opened firefox and right now I don't have any sessionstore*.js files. I do have the 'Show my windows and Tabs from last time' option set. So any tabs I leave open when I close firefox are opened on start, yet I have zero sessionstore files ???
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Yup, there should not be multiple sessionstore files, its function is to restore the last session only.
Not a good answer ... sessionstore retention has nothing to do with browsing history.
The sessionstore file disappears for most users on every termination of Firefox ... as I explained above.
Except if the browser crash or the computer is shutdown (power failure). Seems the file is kept there. Am I wrong?
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You are right.
As I said - the file is deleted on normal termination (for most users) and in the case of an abnormal termination it is still there and used to offer the user the chance to restore the previous session.
However I am curious about David's report.
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There was another topic about multiple sessionstore files and I checked at that point and I didn't have any. I though this was something that you had to physically select as an option or install an extension, etc. and since I hadn't done that, I though that was why I didn't have any sessionstore files.
From Alan's post, etc. I find that this should be a default action, one that isn't working on my system. I don't know if this might have anything to do with the fact that I run firefox under dropmyrights, though I would be surprised if that were the case as I can even install extensions under DropMyRights.
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Update:
OK I shutdown firefox and checked for and found sessionstore.js, however, when I restarted firefox the sessionstore.js file is gone. So that might account for why I couldn't find it whilst firefox was running. So it would appear that the sessionstore.js file is written on closure, which seems strange to me as in the instance of a crash or abnormal shutdown how would this file be written.
Nor do I understand why there would be sessionstore-n.js files if only one is supposed to be stored, I would have thought it would overwrite the sessionstore.js file ???
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I can even install extensions under DropMyRights.
If you use DropMyRights after installing and using Firefox, will DropMyRights reuse the settings (bookmarks, extensions, etc.) or it will start a new profile?
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So it would appear that the sessionstore.js file is written on closure, which seems strange to me as in the instance of a crash or abnormal shutdown how would this file be written.
It's not 'up to be written' when a crash occur, but it seems to be a temporary file continuously updated, so it's there, ready, before the crash.
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Not a good answer ... sessionstore retention has nothing to do with browsing history.
Well, there you have it. Note the name "cluelessuser" is appropriate! ;D My observations on my system are not generalizable...
OK I shutdown firefox and checked for and found sessionstore.js, however, when I restarted firefox the sessionstore.js file is gone. So that might account for why I couldn't find it whilst firefox was running. So it would appear that the sessionstore.js file is written on closure, which seems strange to me as in the instance of a crash or abnormal shutdown how would this file be written.
Nor do I understand why there would be sessionstore-n.js files if only one is supposed to be stored, I would have thought it would overwrite the sessionstore.js file ???
On my system, while FF is open, there is always at least sessionstore.js and sessionstore1.js. I always assumed that the sessionstore.js holds general parameters of the session while sessionstore1.js tracks tabbing and browsing history to update sessionstore.js.
There have been times when I've had up to sessionstore3.js. Perhaps if sessionstore1.js is (for whatever reason) still in existence, it will create sessionstore2.js, etc.
My system is old and slow, so it will sometimes take up to a minute for sessionstore.js to 'go away' after closing FF (also, I have other system complexities that may contribute to that timing).
BTW, I see this exchange going on continuously while running Avast Standard shield, as it is scanning both sessionstore files while I 'surf'... which is one feature of Avast that I like! 8) I 'know' it is working for me... ;)
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I can even install extensions under DropMyRights.
If you use DropMyRights after installing and using Firefox, will DropMyRights reuse the settings (bookmarks, extensions, etc.) or it will start a new profile?
DropMyRights changes nothing in your firefox settings and to all intents and purposes firefox knows no difference other than if there is a function that requires administrator privileges. The only time I found that was on a program update when I needed admin privileges. I have been able to update and install new extensions whilst using FF under dropmyrights.
So it would appear that the sessionstore.js file is written on closure, which seems strange to me as in the instance of a crash or abnormal shutdown how would this file be written.
It's not 'up to be written' when a crash occur, but it seems to be a temporary file continuously updated, so it's there, ready, before the crash.
See for yourself, running FF and no sessionstore.js in the folder so I don't see how a file that doesn't exist is constantly updated unless it is in memory only, unlikely I would have thought.
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DropMyRights changes nothing in your firefox settings and to all intents and purposes firefox knows no difference other than if there is a function that requires administrator privileges. The only time I found that was on a program update when I needed admin privileges. I have been able to update and install new extensions whilst using FF under dropmyrights.
Thanks David. After a long time I'll give it a test. Better late than never.
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Your welcome, I think you will like it as it is relatively unobtrusive, you almost don't notice it. You can do all the other tasks you would need admin rights and just apply it to applications that connect to the internet directly, e.g browsers, email clients, P2P, IM, etc. There may be some P2P applications that insist on admin rights.
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Your welcome, I think you will like it as it is relatively unobtrusive, you almost don't notice it. You can do all the other tasks you would need admin rights and just apply it to applications that connect to the internet directly, e.g browsers, email clients, P2P, IM, etc. There may be some P2P applications that insist on admin rights.
Well... freezed my computer twice... :'(
I mean, firefox took all CPU running bellow DropMyRights and I have to reset the computer...
Well... I'll try again with nothing important running in background and when I have a little more time...
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I didn't notice any appreciable difference with any program running under DropMyRights, my firefox has always been heavy on memory, currently 103Mb, but no really high CPU usage, I have seen it peak at 50% when browsing and only for a few seconds whilst pages load.
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I didn't notice any appreciable difference with any program running under DropMyRights, my firefox has always been heavy on memory, currently 103Mb, but no really high CPU usage, I have seen it peak at 50% when browsing and only for a few seconds whilst pages load.
I wish I had this luck...