Firefox and secure banking sites
 

Win7, FF26: The last few days I get a connection reset whenever I try to log on at any of the Halifax/BOS/Lloyds pages, either logging on via a bookmark or from the bank's site. It disconnects when the 'data' is downloaded. These sites are also slow in FF.

All the banks claim there have been no changes to their logons, but in IE and Crome I have no issues.

Extensive virus checks show nothing, so kit appears to be a FF issue and is only on the desktop here out of 3 machines. I have cleared respective cookies. I also went back to FF17 and had the same.

Where next?

I use FF on both my computers, one with W7 and one with W8. I regularly log on to several banking sites, mainly NatWest in UK and Standard Bank in ZA. Not had any problems.

I would suggest doing a complete virus scan of the computer, if one hasn't been done yet since this problem occurred.

You could also try completely uninstalling FF and starting with a fresh install and see if that clears the problem.

In the meantime, steer clear of FF!

cheers,

JJ.

See post #1? If not FF, them what is your sweetie?

As an aside, it might be worth asking your bank(s) what they recommend as an antivirus. Barclays give Kaspersky to some of their clients, and I just wonder if that would help if there was ever a dispute about fraudulent loss of funds.

"Well, you supplied the protection!"

Hi BOAC, somehow I missed your virus scan info! Must be time for bed soon....

Anyway there's a chance you may still have some "malware" on the system, so I would suggest trying malwarebytes.org - their software can run alongside "normal" anti-virus programs.

I use Google Chrome more than FF on Windows, and on Mac I use Chrome and Safari.

cheers,

JJ.

Ta: MBAM was run this afternoon and clear. Boot-time AVAST scan tomorrow, but problem is only with FF so I do not anticipate an infection..

Do you have any add-ons / plug-ins installed in FF? If so, have you tried disabling them?

SD

Might be something useful here -

Standard diagnostic - Firefox - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

There is an option box on my login page

'Do not refresh my screen on timeout.'

I find that the site kicks me out if I make the wrong choice here.

Jump ship and head to the Apple store. Seriously I had banking issues with NatWest and logging on via FF through my work and it kept crashing. I found out it was the bank's virus protector using W7 that had issues. Whether it's been fixed or not I don't know but I will never use any Windows products when online banking.

As a matter of interest, have you downloaded the anti-phishing software that RBS/NWB and others recommend? I think it's called Rapport. I've been warned it's troublesome and haven't ever used it.

That is why I don't use it because it caused the NW bank site to crash. The bank keep advertising it's anti phising software after you have logged in but I ignore it.

What worries me in the future is if you are unlucky enough to be fleeced and your account is zero, the bank will not help you because you didn't download their anti phising software.

Banking using Apple products is a breeze. However I draw the line using mobile phones and tablets for banking purposes. I'm off to M&S now I hope they have sorted out their 'one click card' transactions problems.

BBC News - Contactless 'charging errors' at Marks and Spencer

Saab - have tried starting in FF Safe but no change

JDJ - thanks - working through that

Capetonian - no

AA Grunt - not on my log in pages

This is weird:

I cannot access my router via FF - just 'transferring data from'- OK in IE. On the 'problem' banking sites the log in page stays up until the data has finished 'transferring'. 'Data flow' from these sites and router shows as very slow.

All banking sites APART from LLoyds/Halifax/B of Scotland behave normally.

I have created a new FF profile - no change.

To add: All normal on the two other machines on the system.

On a whim I looked for my hosts file - there does not appear to be one, just the default 'hosts'. Is this normal?

It is not clear what you are saying here.

The default hosts file is a plain text file with no file extension located in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc directory.

The default content is as follows (Win 7):
HTH

SD

Yes - that is what I have - the 'default' hosts file. It had crossed my mind that maybe the problem lay with some entries in the file, but there are no 'extra' ones.

Any idea why the router access is wonky too?

You must all be nuts banking online. Get off ones ass and take a stroll to a local branch or a location were one can conduct financial matters. Pal of mine got ripped off 20k on line. His bank is denying all liabilities. Never never use the web.

Years ago, we got by with cash and the cheque. Having said that (big brother) I had a flight to Malaga last week. 15k in my cabin bag (all legal) got pulled at security. "Sir are you aware that the maximum amount to take out from the uk is 10k" Faccers!!! I have 5k impounded. Big brother is here!!!

Having said that, no probs going to Spain and withdrawing euros from atms using a credit card.big brother knows where you are. Using cash, they have no trace. Rant over.

One probably would if the banks hadn't closed many of the local branches.

If you have bank accounts and financial liabilities and assets in four different countries it's a bit difficult to "Get off ones ass and take a stroll to a local branch or a location were one can conduct financial matters".

I am frequently told that your banking security is at greater risk when you use your card in a shop or fuel station than when you purchase over the internet or do online banking.

Crewmeal.....Ok, it can't be a long mile drive to your local bank, come on be honest.

Cap...Very true. I have a credit card that I use on the net for purchases. Just the one.

So far
 

Avast boot time scan - clear
MBAM full scan in SAFE mode - clear

Next hijackthis

Does FF differ from IE in the way it makes and receives browser requests/receipts?

There certainly used to be a difference in the way that FF and IE interpret HTML. FF was standards-compliant, IE was sort-of standards-compliant. To be fair to MS, that is less and less the case, as they have been forced to keep closer to the standards with each browser release in order to remain competitive.

SD

Yes, I am aware of those issues. It is the fact that I cannot access my router in FF but can in IE that is puzzling me. Just like those banking sites it is constantly 'downloading data'.

If it is of interest, here are the two requests:

FF
GET /dumprequest HTTP/1.1
Host: djce.org.uk
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5
Referer: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...59026428,d.ZGU
Connection: keep-alive


IE
GET /dumprequest HTTP/1.1
Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml, */*
Referer: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...59026428,d.ZG4
Accept-Language: en-GB
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko
Host: djce.org.uk
DNT: 1
Connection: Keep-Alive

You might find something useful here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...rtain-websites

SD

OK - I think I have cracked it (useful link, SD).

The problem was Zone Alarm. I initially tried removing all the FF items from the programme list, but a few kept 'returning' on re-run. I have now uninstalled the prog and all is back to normal.

I will try a reinstall but if the problem returns go the Win Firewall. Is the opinion of that satisfactory?

Re-install gives the same problem, so Win FW it is. Thanks for all the attention.

Tell that the the USA bank Mrs. ExS uses living in New Zealand.

Having spent an arm and a leg using an 1-800 number to ring from NZ to the USA via NZ Telecom, she tries to get a regular number, which we can call using a Calling Card for about 2c / min ( but not to freephone numbers )

"Can I have an Area Code and number to ring you, please ?"

"Oh, don't bother to do that, just ring 1-800 etc. etc".

"Can't do that from NZ, can I have a regular number please??

"Oh, don't bother to do that, just ring 1-800 etc. etc".

"Are you listening - repeats:...................

"We'll, next time you're passing, just drop in "

"Have you ever heard of New Zealand, and have you the faintest idea where it is ?

" Oh yes, that's where they filmed the Hobbit, next time you're passing just drop in"

At which Mrs ExS throws the phone on the floor and descends into hysterics.

( and no, if one writes to them they refuse to divulge - and one gets the impression that the nerd on the phone has no idea of any regular area code type number assigned to his branch. Wouldn't surprise me, Darwin, where art thou ? )

Happens time and time again. Getting borin'

That's kind of the reverse of my situation. When in the UK we dreeeeeeeam of 800 numbers and I spend ages on "Say No, to 0870" or indeed, 084whatever. I will NOT talk on those lines. It's lead to some very funny conversations when finally the phone rings in a manager's office at HQ. How did you get this number? kind of conversations.