Spybot immunizations to FF being blocked

[billyellis]

For a while now I have noticed that immunization using Spybot is not 'taking hold,' and that when I check sometime later after rebooting once or twice, the updated FF protection is gone (see attached image).

I read in other threads that sometimes system monitoring programs can block the changes, but since TeaTimer/SDResident is what I have monitoring my registry from changes and they are Spybot programs, I can't imagine that is my problem. Wouldn't they allow any changes that their parent program is trying to make?

I am running XP Home 2002 SP3, with free versions of ZA (firewall), AVG (AV), and Spybot's SDResident/TeaTimer, Mbam and Super AS (AS) all updated regularly.

So my question is three parts:

1. Is there anything out there that is known to block immunization of FF - i.e., might this be an infection of some kind?

2. Is there some hidden conflict I don't know about? The immunizations appear to update correctly, but then later on - not even always after the initial reboot - they are gone again. But I never get any of the typical "do you want to allow these changes" kind of popup messages that I would expect if one of my monitoring programs was catching changes and wondering whether to block them.

3. It would be a hassle, but if I immunize after every reboot and Spybot tells me FF is completely immunized, would it actually BE immunized at that point and fully safe to browse with, or is Spybot making an error and reporting changes that are not actually implemented yet and will be blocked later on from actually taking effect??

EDIT: I'm not so much asking whether I should use/not use Spybot. I like that it constantly asks me about changes to my system, and I will keep the program. I just want to know how to fix this particular issue.

EDIT 2: There is info on immunization being blocked here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/17.html
but it is mostly for IE, and that is not being blocked on my system. I'm having trouble with FF (3.55), which is not mentioned.

Thanks.

 

[billyellis]

Apparently this is a known bug with Spybot. I gave in and registered for their forum, and there are a couple threads there for anyone who has the same problem, although even the temporary workaround does not work for everyone:

http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?p=346237
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=53000

Until SN corrects this problem, perhaps TS should add a note on threads that recommend Spybot as an AS tool... More than two months have passed since the last post by a Spybot developer acknowledging that they were aware of the problem, but while 2 newer versions of FF have been released since then, nothing at all from Spybot to fix this issue.

And I still don't know whether the immunizations that appear to be applied temporarily are actually functioning in the short term or not...

 

[Bobbye]

Billy, about Spybot and TeaTimer: TeaTimer is known as the Resident Protection. It runs in Real Time. But you also have the Spybot Search and Destroy program itself.

Many of us don't run TeaTimer at all because Real Time programs can cause conflicts. I am one who doesn't not run TeaTimer, but do routine scans with the Spybot program itself.

I'm not sure what you're going by when you say the immunizing isn't working. Ideally when it is working, it's not going to bother you, but it will run in the background.

About your question #2: has it occurred to you that you are safely surfing and there may not be any threats to alert you to? The screen in your image is a Spybot program screen, not special for Firefox.

I have used both TeaTimer and AdWatch from AdAware. I eventually disabled both because almost anything you do is going to cause some change in the Registry. I think if you are safe from the additional security programs that these two 'real timers' can be intrusive and annoying.

 

[raybay]

Spybot is simply not effective enough to be worth all the trouble... It finds the junk, but seldcom finds or blocks the real evils until long after they have been spread around the world.