Application/octet-stream error

[neiby]

This problem just started happening again, so I shutdown Comodo firewall to see if that would fix it. It did not. However, as before, shutting down Web Shield fixed it. I wish I could find a consistent way to recreate the problem but I don't see any pattern to it yet.

[alanrf]

Can you see any consistency in this problem?  Is it always the same site that gives the problem?

I'm getting the uneasy feeling that this is one of those "sometimes it happens .. sometimes it does not" problems.  Those can be tough to diagnose. 

 

[neiby]

I'm getting that feeling, too. It's not always the same site that "triggers" the behavior. However, once the behavior starts, www.google.com and mail.google.com always seem to do it until I turn off Web Shield.

[lukor]

Hello Gyus,

can someone confirm this error WITHOUT Comodo Personal Firewall installed? Can anyone with this error try to uninstall (disabling will not probably be enough) the firewall? Does that help?

Thanks,
Lukor.

[Lisandro]

can someone confirm this error WITHOUT Comodo Personal Firewall installed?

I just updated to the latest version of Avast and I also upgraded to the latest version of Comodo Personal Firewall, so I don't know which one is causing this problem. Intermittently, when I go to a web page the page won't load.

What I can say is that I DON'T have this problem using Opera, Firefox, Maxthon or IE 6 in a Windows XP SP2+ with Comodo Personal Firewall (last version). 

[lukor]

Thanks Tech, I also have troubles reproducing the error here, but I'll keep trying.

[neiby]

This is a very frustrating issue because it is so intermittent. I've had Web Shield on for several days and didn't have a problem only to see it happen again tonight. I wish I could figure out how to reliably recreate it.

[Lisandro]

This is a very frustrating issue because it is so intermittent. I've had Web Shield on for several days and didn't have a problem only to see it happen again tonight. I wish I could figure out how to reliably recreate it.

So, please, activate logging in WebShield:
1. Edit <avast>\data\avast4.ini file
2. Find the section [WebScanner]
3. Add the line:
    EnableLogging=1
4. Restart Web Shield in XP (terminate and start again) or whole PC in case of Win98
5. Browse (trying to access some webpages)

The log file are <avast>\data\log\ashwebsv.log and ashwebsv.ws.
They would be accessible when WebShield is terminated again.
Post them here or send by mail to rypacek@asw.cz

After that, disable the logging to avoid a big log file. 

[neiby]

I realized later that the reason the problem started again was because my PC had just been rebooted. I had turned off Web Shield but I hadn't made the change permanent. So, it turned back on when my PC restarted.

I'll do as you suggest when I get home from work tonight so we have some logs of what's happening.

Thanks!

[neiby]

I enabled logging and then enabled Web Shield. I then opened my browser and got the error as Firefox tried to load my homepage, www.google.com. Here is what was in the log file:

10/13/2006 6:41:54 PM,"http://www.google.com/","text/html","GET",200,0,2151,2319,764,764,2319,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3664, SEQ: 1
10/13/2006 6:41:56 PM,"http://sb.google.com/safebrowsing/update?version=goog-white-domain:1:17,goog-white-url:1:371,goog-black-url:1:6738,goog-black-enchash:1:11683","text/plain","GET",200,0,0,129,883,883,129,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3664, SEQ: 1
10/13/2006 6:43:37 PM,"http://www.google.com/","text/html","GET",200,0,2151,4638,1528,1528,4638,\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe,PID: 3664, SEQ: 1

Instead of my homepage, I got a popup message saying the following:

You have chosen to open


which is a: application/octet-stream
from: http://www.google.com

What should Firefox do with this file?

[lukor]

Neiby,
as you can see from the log, there is nothing with "application/octet-stream" content type being donwloaded. WebShield does not modify the data headers and the browser should recieve it exactly as WebShield sees it.

This is why all this is a little confusing. On the other hand, if you are not downloading it, the browser might be fetching the data from it's cache. Perhaps.

Have your tried to clear the browser cache? Have you recently installed any browser plugin?
There is of course the chance, that WebShield and Comodo together somehow corrupt the data. Have you ever "downloaded" the octet-stream that you are offered? What is the content of the downloaded file? Can you send it to me by email?

Thanks, Lukas.

[neiby]

I just tried saving the file when prompted, but I'm not actually able to save it. Nothing ever actually downloads.

I did a little more troubleshooting and I've found that this is definitely a weird problem with Comodo and Web Shield. The problem does not happen if I have Comodo disabled, nor does it happen if I have Web Shield enabled. It only happens when both are enabled.

Since both applications were updated on the same day, it's difficult to say if this problem arose from a change in one or a change in the other, or both. Very strange!