Author Topic: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser  (Read 9765 times)

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satish.b

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Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« on: September 18, 2009, 07:15:39 PM »
Hi Folks

When I surf the internet with Internet Explorer 8 or the latest Firefox, the web pages are scanned by the Web Shield (I'm using avast! 4.8 free edition) as it should be.

I recently started using the K-Meleon browser (version 1.5.3) for its much better speed and memory usage. I notice that when using K-Meleon, the web pages being loaded are being scanned by the Network Shield and not the Web Shield as in case of IE / Firefox.

I'm wondering why this is so. Im using Vista so the web scanning is supposed to be transparent, i.e. no manual settings due on my part. So ideally the scanning should be done by the Web Shield and not the Network Shield as it is in my case.

Further, given that the Network Shield is meant for Internet Worms, am I losing protection in this case because K-Meleon's web traffic is being scanned by the Network shield and not Web Shield? I mean in case of Html based exploits / malicious web pages etc, the web scanner doesnt come into the picture since Net Shield is scanning all K-Meleon traffic.

Any ideas where I am going wrong? Or any workarounds in this case?

Your useful comments / ideas are most welcome

Regards
Satish


Offline DavidR

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2009, 07:42:04 PM »
K-Meleon may not be a supported browser in the web shield.

You can set the browser manually to use the web shields proxy so it is scanned, see example for firefox link below. You will have to find the corresponding function in k-meleon.

For Firefox users - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for Firefox
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spg SCOTT

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2009, 07:48:01 PM »
Hi satish.b,

Does clicking this link produce an alert with the webshield in K-Melon?
http://www.eicar.org/download/eicar.com

Eicar.com is a test file for AVs, and is harmless. More info here: http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm

If not, it may be that you will have to add the K-Melon executable to the ini file as an opt-in option:

-Open Notepad,
-File --> Open --> C:\Program Files\ALWIL Software\avast4\Data\avast4.ini
-Locate [WebScanner] section,
-Add: OptinProcess=<insert K-Melon executable here>

Like this:

[WebScanner]
OptinProcess=<insert K-Melon executable here>

-Save (you will be prompted to accept the change by the self-defense module - click yes)
-Close Notepad
-Restart the webshield.

Then try the link above.

-Scott-



EDIT: didn't see DavidR's post, it would probably be easier to do his method instead :)
« Last Edit: September 18, 2009, 07:51:26 PM by spg SCOTT »

satish.b

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2009, 08:13:27 PM »
Hi Scott and David

The method of manually adding the local proxy seems to be working. Will check a little further and let you guys know.

Independently of the manual method, I also tried editing the INI file as Scott had suggested. This unfortunately has not worked in my case. I did things as instructed, the ini text inserted was this:

"  OptinProcess=<C:\Program Files\K-Meleon\k-meleon.exe>  " (without the quotes  ;) )

Just wanted to let you guys know.

Thanks
Satish

EDIT

@ Scott,

With the default settings (without implementing your / David's suggestions), the Eicar file gets picked up by the Standard Shield when the browser tries saving it to the hard drive, the Web Shield doesn't pick it up.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2009, 08:17:39 PM by satish.b »

spg SCOTT

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2009, 08:17:05 PM »
Hi Scott and David

The method of manually adding the local proxy seems to be working. Will check a little further and let you guys know.

Independently of the manual method, I also tried editing the INI file as Scott had suggested. This unfortunately has not worked in my case. I did things as instructed, the ini text inserted was this:

"  OptinProcess=<C:\Program Files\K-Meleon\k-meleon.exe>  " (without the quotes  ;) )

Just wanted to let you guys know.

Thanks
Satish


Probably, my fault...sorry ::)

it is just the executable file, and since I didn't know it I wasn't sure what to put...

Since I now know what it is, it should just be:

"OptinProcess=k-meleon.exe"

(Without quotes)

-Scott-


satish.b

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2009, 08:31:46 PM »
Hi Folks

Sorry to bother you again.

I have tried both the manual settings method as well as the one that involves the change to the avast .ini file.

In both the cases, the web shield does start functioning. However, the eicar.com file on the eicar test-file page is still being picked up by the Standard Shield and not the Web Shield.

In case you folks have any other things that I might try out, then please do let me know.

The bottom line is that I feel that this is a relatively minor issue. As long as the suspect file is being picked up by one of the Shields, I will be safe. Only that I was curious why avast! is not working as advertised in case of K-Meleon. After all K-Meleon shares a lot of its code with Firefox.

Thanks again for your time and help.

Regards
Satish

EDIT

Ofcourse avast! works as it should in case of IE / Firefox. eicar.com is picked up by the web shield and I get the option to abort the connection...
« Last Edit: September 18, 2009, 08:33:34 PM by satish.b »

Offline DavidR

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2009, 09:17:50 PM »
Well I wouldn't say a minor issue as the web shield provide a great deal of protection and if you can get and k-meleon working together all the better.

Personally I would leave the avast4.ini modification alone, reverse the new line you placed there and save it.

Setting the browser proxy for HTTP to use the web shield proxy, which as you say was working, will hopefully work again. With these manual adjustments it is best to only try one and see if that works.
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spg SCOTT

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2009, 09:18:59 PM »
Interesting...

Just downloaded it and tested the INI addition, and it is not just you...

Seems that the ini doesn't work...

BUT DavidR's suggestion does:

-Open K-Meleon,
-Tools --> Proxy --> Configure
-In window that opens --> click 'New Confiuration' (circled in red in image)
-Type Localhost and 12080 into th relevant boxes (highlighted in yellow)
-Click save (circled in yellow)

-Scott-

EDIT: image...keep doing that...::)

Offline DavidR

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2009, 09:37:38 PM »
This worked for me when Chrome was a beta and not supported, so I don't know what is going on now, with k-meleon.

Quote
[WebScanner]
OptinProcess=chrome.exe

Are you getting the correct executable ?
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

spg SCOTT

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2009, 09:39:00 PM »
This worked for me when Chrome was a beta and not supported, so I don't know what is going on now, with k-meleon.

Quote
[WebScanner]
OptinProcess=chrome.exe

Are you getting the correct executable ?

Yep, it was k-meleon.exe

Odd, no?

Offline DavidR

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2009, 09:54:57 PM »
Odd, yes.

I was just wondering if there might be some intermediary file, but it seems there is just the k-meleon.exe.

In my example I placed the OptinProcess line directly under the [WebScanner], but in theory it shouldn't matter so long it is before the next section Header.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline nmb

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2009, 09:56:25 PM »
Quote
<snip>
This worked for me when Chrome was a beta and not supported.

it works even now, sir.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2009, 10:09:13 PM »
Well I think Chrome is a supported browser now (since it is now more mature and stable), so it should work even without that OptinProcess entry.
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Offline nmb

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #13 on: September 18, 2009, 10:29:10 PM »
yes, it works even without that OptinProcess entry.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Web Shield in case of K-Meleon Browser
« Reply #14 on: September 18, 2009, 11:02:08 PM »
Thought so ;D
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