Ramblings of an old Doc

 

Since many of you (or at least some) use Avast!, I thought I’d let you know that I just saw this.

In Reddit, Avast Forum and Mozilla ZZine, there are many reports that the latest Avast is deleting FF add-ons, apparently at start up without any option to stop the deletion. It isn’t linked to the Avast’s “Browser Cleanup” tool. The exact cause is at this point unclear. The issues are confirmed by some users but not noticed by others. The only common denominator is that all affected users run the latest Avast on their PC and use Firefox stable.

“It is recommended to backup your Firefox profile just in case. You can use a program like MozBackup for that which is provided as a portable version and installer. All you need to do is run the program, select the version of Firefox that you want to back up (it supports portable installations as well), select the Firefox profile to back up, and then what you want to save to the local system. Make sure that extensions are selected.” – gHacks

So…before you blame Windowblinds…just kidding. Not happy this is happening to you all…if it is.

Source:

http://www.ghacks.net/2014/11/16/latest-avast-reportedly-deleting-firefox-add-ons/?_m=3n%2e0038%2e1431%2ehj0ao01hy5%2e1hby


Comments
on Nov 18, 2014

Does not seem to affect Pale Moon.  Just FYI.

on Nov 18, 2014

RedneckDude and I moved away from Avast back when it started deleting/killing his DX widgets (in some cases, with no notice or warning at all.) Up to that point, it had served us well. Once Avast decided it was going to take things over in spite of its users wishes, it was on its way out.

 If anyone is looking for a good, less obnoxious Antivirus program, and need it to be free, give AVG 2015 a try. I've switched to it on 2 rigs and have been very happy with its performance so far. It is lightweight and only does what I tell it to do. I can't vouch for the Firefox addon problems since I don't use FF but you may want to at least give it some thought.

on Nov 18, 2014

Hasn't done it to me yet... fingers crossed.  However, I will re-backup my profile to be sure, to be sure.

on Nov 19, 2014

The AV 'cycle of life' continues.