Hey all,

First time I have been in here is weeks, uh, probably more than a month
actually.

I think I am very vulnerble to this and possibly even have a hacker -
again. (*sigh)

Take a look:

http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2007/05/remote-vulnerability-in-firefox.html

Verb

Welcome back...

Are you using a windows version of firefox Verb? If so then that may be
your problem. Linux has the secure plugins that prevent the buffer
overflows and such that prevent this type of hacking.

Thank you Rozie.

Hiya netuser,
Yes, it is FF for Windows but I have it set up under another user name.

I really do not know how to handle this problem. Any ideas?

Verb

Verbatime, if you are really concerned, you can simply disable the
add-ons, and use Firefox like a regular browser. Are the particular
add-ons which you especially need?

"Are the" => "Are there"

You know, IMO the add-on venders should be hosting automatic updates
without using SSL to begin with. I'm surprised that google is (per this
blog) doing it this way... maybe they are simply taking a
risk/benefit/cost perspective, and know that this kind of attack is so
fantastically rare, why bother preventing it?

Ug!

"IMO the add-on venders should be" =>
"IMO the add-on venders should NOT be"

I finally took the time to really look at my computer again this
morning.

I had another asp.net user added onto the secondary user account I
created a couple of months ago. I created it to get FF to run, remember
that? lol. So, I guess it could be either one of the two, FF or the
google updater where the creepo got in. geeze a loo.

SO, I deleted the account and checked and reset a lot of the privacy and
security items on my computer, changed the user account passwords and
all that.

There is one thing that is bothering me though and I don't know what to
do about it, exactly. The Startup folder that is a windows system folder
appeared on my desktop yesterday (out of the blue). I assume my not so
friendly hacker placed it there and I am not sure where to move it back
to. I don't pay a lot of attention to system folders, duh.

Have any suggestions?

Verb

OH - I do know the asp.net was auto added by ms and was not malicious
but I DON't need or want it. Plus, it was only on the secondary account.

>> I guess it could be either one of the two, FF or the
google updater

I may not be understanding what you mean, but just to clarify - my
understanding of that vulnerability (which is based on a blog, and not a
report from a reputable security company) is that it -only- applies to
the add-ons.

There is no such (known) vulnerability in firefox proper.

(Plus, any add-on hosted at mozzilla's main site is safe.)

>> The Startup folder that is a windows system folder
appeared on my desktop yesterday

On my system, there are these 4 places where there is a Startup folder:

C:\Docments and Settings\Administrator\Start Menu\Startup
C:\Docments and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Startup
C:\Docments and Settings\Default User\Start Menu\Startup
C:\Docments and Settings\myaccount\Start Menu\Startup

It may be the google. Auto updaters are not always a good thing. Even
when I used windows I done all of my updates manually. You also have to
take into account that google is easyly hackable, just like yahoo and
hotmail.

I think I have all my problems solved and thank you guys for jumping in with explanations and help.

You are a great bunch!

Verb

The same thing happened on my start up screen aspen.net as a user that apparently has something to do with hacking???
It just appeared there one day and I got rid of it I guess thats sort of a question too????