I guess this fell through the cracks when I posted it in the SafeZone Browser Sticky Post. So, I’ll try it here.
I’m way behind on things as I haven’t checked things out here on the avast forums as much as I used to due to my not being able to log in into the avast forums in ages. With some help from someone on another forum, I tried their tip of trying a Private Tab. After several grueling tries, I finally managed to log in. The log in process is still obviously very inconsistent, but I’m nevertheless in.
Anyway … straight up question. In Googling up info on SafeZone Browser, I saw some articles, albeit from February 2016, that mentioned that there was a Google Researcher who discovered a huge security flaw in SafeZone Browser. Point blank — HAS that huge security flaw been fixed?
Cuz I’m hoping maybe this SafeZone Browser IF SAFE, will facilitate logging in into the avast forums given that it is an avast product / component. After logging in last night, it took me half a day today to finally achieve log in success.
Well you can check it if you wish using the softpedia.com article.
Accessing [u]this URL[/u] (note: no link under this quote) will tell you if you have a vulnerable version of the SafeZone browser installed on your PC.
I checked just to see if there was anything underlying on the test, I haven’t got the SafeZone Browser installed, so it wasn’t going to access anything.
EDIT: Reading your second article that reports it fixed.
After Ormandy reported the flaw on Dec. 18, Avast deployed a temporary fix that broke the attack chain. The company provided a complete fix Wednesday as part of Avast version 2016.11.1.2253.
Alright. Got it. Unfortunately, it looks like I’m not gonna be able to take SafeZone Browser for a spin. I tried twice to install it from the GUI and on both occasions, after only around 1½ bars on the progress bar, the installation process would just stop and disappear.
I then uninstalled avast in its entirety and reinstalled it … this time with having checked SafeZone Browser to be installed. After a couple of seconds and the progress bar not moving more than the initial micro bit, the installation process was aborted. A big red X displayed and I was informed there had been an error.
I again uninstalled avast in its entirety. I reinstalled it yet again … this time without SafeZone Browser checked for installation. With SafeZone Browser not checked, avast installed without a problem.
Oh well. No biggie. I had some curiosity, but I guess it isn’t meant to be on my system.
Actually, in my alleged non-proper Googling, I did find that exact article at InfoSecurity Magazine. The thing was, from my POV, it wasn’t clear whether they were referring specifically to the SafeZone BROWSER. Because they kept referring to it here and there as a TOOL instead of a BROWSER. From my vague recollection, I thought the SafeZone concept had been changed from a Tool or Service or whatever it used to be … to now an actual full-blown Browser by definition.
So, I couldn’t be certain that they were referring to the actual SafeZone Browser, the very one that I was curious to try, as now having been fixed … or whether there was actually both a SafeZone Tool and a SafeZone Browser in existence. That’s why I wanted to confirm this.
Anyway, I’m done with SafeZone Browser for this version. I’ll wait until the next avast version comes and try installing SafeZone Browser again at that time. If it fails to install yet again, I’ll let it go. Who knows what about my computer it didn’t like.
Just now I thought of a possibility that might be blocking it. This computer that I have now, was given to me only 3 months ago. It came from my youngest sister’s place of work. After I cleared out all the unnecessary junk that I could, one thing I couldn’t get rid of is that it still has LANDesk Management in it AND the Security Center is sort of blocked or something and says that the Security Settings in the computer are managed by a Network Administrator because it is part of a domain. Blah Blah Blah, anyway, things don’t appear to be normal in there, but other than that, the computer works fine. Nevertheless, I don’t know if whatever this Network Administrator / Domain setup in there is … it could be contributing to SafeZone Browser not being allowed to install. Although other browsers don’t have a problem installing.
I don’t have the Windows XP System Recovery CD for this computer, mchain. As I alluded to at the beginning of the thread, this computer was given to me 3 months ago. I have a Windows XP CD, but it is not for this computer. It is for a computer I no longer have.
Heck, it’s even a miracle that I even got to make use of it. When I first got it, it had a Windows Password Prompt at bootup. (Not a Bootup Password) My sister didn’t know the password for it. The previous user (my sister’s co-worker) didn’t remember the password as she used to never power down the computer. Finally with some help at another forum, I managed to be able to clear the password.
