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[Blizzard]

I know bad ads show up occasionally but I'd like to think I'm not infected with something. However, I have started seeing weird behavior with Firefox recently and wanted to see if anyone had any clue what it might be. Without updating Firefox or any add-ons (I have a very limited set of simple add-ons), I started seeing all Firefox windows lock up (white out) temporarily. Usually if I wait a minute or two, they would come back.

I made sure I was running the latest Firefox version, but it still happens. I'm really not sure of the frequency, maybe every 5-10 minutes? Even after restarting the browser, it happened again within a few minutes. I'm not even running many tabs, maybe 4 GAF tabs or so.

Naturally one might think something was eating CPU, but task manager indicates this wasn't it. I checked performance monitor since I noticed my hard disk light flashing very rapidly, and I found this:

Google suggests this is some sort of safe browsing service provided by Firefox / Chrome to filter bad URLs. However, why would this be locking the browser up, and why would it be accessing the disk so much? I can't find anyone else with the same problem, so any suggestions are welcome.



On a vaguely related note, using the latest Firefox puts a warning in the actual login box reminding me that the GAF login page is not using HTTPS. I know there was an announcement / thread about HTTPS a while back and it's not used for the whole site, but for some reason I really thought the password was still secure. I definitely didn't get this warning before today, using a slightly older Firefox. If HTTPS is not used for GAF login, is it at least only transmitting the password in hash form? I'm especially leery of plaintext passwords given the occasional malicious ad shenanigans Evilore is fighting.

The only thing I can think of is to Wireshark myself and make sure nothing is attempting a bunch of strange connections or something.

 

[Aiii]

On a vaguely related note, using the latest Firefox puts a warning in the actual login box reminding me that the GAF login page is not using HTTPS. I know there was an announcement / thread about HTTPS a while back and it's not used for the whole site, but for some reason I really thought the password was still secure. I definitely didn't get this warning before today, using a slightly older Firefox. If HTTPS is not used for GAF login, is it at least only transmitting the password in hash form? I'm especially leery of plaintext passwords given the occasional malicious ad shenanigans Evilore is fighting.

As always, use a password manager with a unique random password for each of the things you login for and you'll be fine. Nobody cares about your NeoGAF login unless it is the same password you use for your important accounts.

 

[Blizzard]

As always, use a password manager with a unique random password for each of the things you login for and you'll be fine. Nobody cares about your NeoGAF login unless it is the same password you use for your important accounts.

I do use a unique GAF password, but I'm still curious because I thought it used HTTPS login. I probably just missed it until Firefox yelled at me.

That's just a minor problem for me right now though -- the major problem is figuring out the freeze. I tried running an adware scanner and turned up nothing.

 

[Schrade]

Maybe something related to this:

In a throwback to the ’90s, NTFS bug lets anyone hang or crash Windows 7, 8.1

 

[Rukun]

I use firefox on Windows 7 with ublock and scriptblock which I believe blocks analytics. I have no hanging problem.

 

[Blizzard]

Thanks for the replies! I kind of gave up on it. I don't think it's the NTFS thing since the computer keeps responding, just not Firefox.

I use firefox on Windows 7 with ublock and scriptblock which I believe blocks analytics. I have no hanging problem.

I also block Google analytics and don't typically have problems besides (possibly) increased capchas when I do allintext searches for programming topics.

 

[Finaika]

My Firefox been having white outs recently too.

And I can't access my hotmail now.

 

[knitoe]

My Firefox been having white outs recently too.

And I can't access my hotmail now.

I have www.hotmail.com as the homepage, but in the last few days, going there gives me an error too. If I google for hotmail login, it takes to a link that works and that address is what I change to the homepage.

 

[foxdvd]

started having problems with firefox yesterday(slow loading of pages, and slow response times)...did a firefox reset and it fixed it. Not sure what caused it.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

Using Chrome, and I've noticed the site connection is not secure and a lot of cookies are in use. Are your cookies building up at an increased rate?

 

[Blizzard]

My Firefox been having white outs recently too.

And I can't access my hotmail now.

Thanks, maybe it's not just me! Tonight I haven't had any freezes. I don't use hotmail, but www.hotmail.com works if I type it into the URL bar, redirecting to the Live site as you would expect.

Using Chrome, and I've noticed the site connection is not secure and a lot of cookies are in use. Are your cookies building up at an increased rate?

I know the connection hasn't been secure for a while, but I was just curious if the login page changed, whether it's using a hash, or whether it's plaintext. I haven't wiresharked yet to check.

I don't normally check whether cookies are building up, but I just cleared most of them out so I can check in the future.

 

[Finaika]

I have www.hotmail.com as the homepage, but in the last few days, going there gives me an error too. If I google for hotmail login, it takes to a link that works and that address is what I change to the homepage.

Thanks, maybe it's not just me! Tonight I haven't had any freezes. I don't use hotmail, but www.hotmail.com works if I type it into the URL bar, redirecting to the Live site as you would expect.

Thanks for the tips!