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happyqa007 | December 19, 2008 03:03 PM | in Security

Help with issues with new version of Firefox, PeerGuardian on Mac OSX.

Ever since I installed the newest and latest firefox update, peerguardian has been bombarding me with blocked addresses notices. In addition, I also recently joined another wireless network as I'm home for the holidays. Every site I join, I get at least 10 blocked messages. Even here! In addition, ever so often I get an occasion ntpd 13 as well. Is my Mac messed up? Did some spyware recently embed itself? HELP! Thanks for the help and happy holidays!

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BEST ANSWER chosen by asker | ian l | December 19, 2008 04:45 PM

In the past, I have found that PeerGuardian blocks certain advertisements on websites regardless of whether or not they are malicious. The Ads list is mostly the culprit of this. If you are using AdBlock Plus, I would recommend disabling the Ads block list to see if this improves your performance or not. In essence, you are performing double duty with your ad blocking, since AdBlock Plus does a damn good job of getting rids of ads to start with. If you continue to have issues, let us know.

Asker's rating:

Amazing!

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ssharon | December 19, 2008 05:00 PM

Thanks for chiming in. I don't use PG (but I do use AdBlockPlus) so I wasn't sure what the next step should be.

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ian l | December 19, 2008 05:03 PM

No problem! Figured it would help to add in my experience with the program. :)

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happyqa007 | December 19, 2008 05:50 PM

That did the trick. Question though, don't I need Peerguardian to monitor spyware and bots? Or does Adblocker already monitor these issues in addition to ads? Once I unselect the ad filtering option it also stops PG from stopping spyware, bogon, spam etc.

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ian l | December 19, 2008 06:01 PM

AdBlock Plus blocks ads, simply put. Whatever you select as an element to block, it will block. You can import a block list to have ads pre-blocked if you wish and you will simply never see these advertisements show up while AdBlock is turned on. If you would like to monitor spyware and bots, I would recommend using an actual Anti-spyware program such as Spybot and its built in TeaTimer to do so. Spybot blocks incoming spyware attempts, and Tea Timer asks you before any changes are allowed to ensure that no malicious software gets installed. If you'd like you can try surfing with PeerGuardian's Spyware list active, but that's up to you.

Unless you are constantly surfing shady sites, PeerGuardian is something you can use when you need it, as opposed to constantly having it on. I use it when torrenting, with the P2P list active (with sometimes the Spyware list active as well). I hope I made at least some sense right there. lol

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happyqa007 | December 19, 2008 06:15 PM

The only reason I had PG was for torrenting. The best defense against malware and the like is not to go to these shady sites in the first place - so I dont nor will I. I dont see an option to turn on spyware list w/o turning on the adblocking in PG. Unfortunately Teatimer and PG are Win based I think so that won't help for my MAC lol, but good to know for my other PC based laptop. I just want to make sure I have the best protection against hackers, passwrd theft, etc.

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ian l | December 19, 2008 06:27 PM

You can turn off the Ad list by going into "List Manager" in PeerGuardian. Just deselect "Ad" and you're good to go! As for a good mac client, MacScan is cheap and gets the job done. You can also try iAntiVirus which covers malware as well as viruses. Although Spyware is harder to get on a Mac as most of it is made to target Windows machines.

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ssharon | December 19, 2008 03:42 PM

What block list are you using and what extensions do you have installed in FF?

From my understanding PeerGuardian will only block protocols and sites that are on the list you are using. If you added any type of proxy extension or your home internet connection is being rerouted for some reason I could see why you would be getting all of the error messages.

To be honest, I don't think my suggestions are the actual cause and I don't see any similar questions in the PG forum (or FAQ page) so perhaps post it there yourself and mention exactly which version of FF you are using, what add-ons, what internet connection, etc.

source(s):
http://forums.phoenixlabs.org/forumdisplay.php?f=65

(here are some general connection issues people have attributed to peer guardian, perhaps posting on the apple board would help too) http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8533958

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happyqa007 | December 19, 2008 03:49 PM

Blocked Lists:
P2P,
Ads, Spyware,
Microsoft
Extensions/Add-Ons:
AdBlock Plus, ColorfulTabs, Ctrl Tab, Dwnload Helper, Ebay Companion, Foxmarks, FoxyTunes, Google Preview, Hyperwords, LinkedIn Companion, PDF Download,RamBack, Read it Later, User Agent Switcher

Thanks for the help

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