Firewall warning! Pale Moon trying to access web through small application that uses .NET Topic is solved

[d3v14n7]

I've been having intermittent issues with the free software I installed to give Win7 a TaskBar on my secondary monitor, as it doesn't natively have that function.

I've tried using MS .NET repair tools and they seemed to work, although the problem with my software crashing would always return.

It seems I wasn't previously recognising the triggers for this issue.

It was only when my firewall warned me the Pale Moon was trying to access the web via my TaskBar software[!] that I realised that Pale Moon was the likely culprit of my previous TaskBar software .NET crashes.

I'm not sure if the culprit is Pale Moon x64 or Pale Moon Portable x86, as I often run them simultaneously due to PM x64 utilising a lot of security add-ons which conflict with the increasing amount of covert corporate web spying via background scripts and calls.

Such security precautions result in the modern spy-net becoming so non-functional that I, instead, have to resort to running PMP x86 through a portable proxy to allow the scumbags spy on some node instead of me and my machines, by feeding them a false sense of success to open gates to pages that then load fully and function correctly.

Though, every other page is Captcha-Captcha-Captcha before I gain access.

I sincerely hope this unexplained attempt at access wasn't emanating from the safer, portable proxy+browser system.

Although I'm not a coder, I can only assume this is related to some feature set of .NET 4.6.1/4.6.2 used by my TaskBar software.

I'm a little concerned that .NET can attempt to connect to the web via its own hidden background processes.

Could someone try to enlighten me on what may really be happening here?

I'm sure my firewall didn't get the order wrong.

It's never let me down so far.

I might assume that the TaskBar software was invoking Pale Moon in order to check for updates, though my firewall informed me of the opposite; that one of my dual browsers was attempting to access the web through the TaskBar software.


ps.
For security, I always delete firewall white-lists, as all the worst global corporate rogues are found in them [backdoors galore!] negating any valid reason for me to be using a firewall.

[Moonchild]

To clear up a few things here:

• Pale Moon is not a .NET application
• Pale Moon will never try to "access the 'net through a different application"
• It seems you're making a lot of assumptions about how the browser works and some form of malintent on the browser end. I'm sure if that was the case, everyone would know about it already with it being Open Source, and being under scrutiny by a lot of very security-aware people

So, what is more likely is that you've received malware along with your task bar utility that intercepts your internet traffic, potentially by setting a system proxy in your O.S.
If that is the case, then you should see if you can work around it by setting Pale Moon to never use a proxy in Options -> Advanced -> Network, "Settings" button under "Connection", and selecting "No proxy".

You should check for malware using some trusted scanners and/or check closely what all you have running and/or ask for some help figuring out exactly what is going on.

[d3v14n7]

Thanks for the clarification.
That's all I wanted.
Unfortunately, I was expecting a possible malware reply.
I do get tired of malware claims.
Nope, I don't have malware - opportunist or corporate.
Never have had - despite MalwareBytes recently reporting rival software as PUPs!
Could it be an add-on call?
My firewall distinctly stated that Pale Moon was attempting to access the web through the TaskBar, not the other way round.
I could understand if the TaskBar updater attempted to access the web through Pale Moon but it's not necessary for updaters to do such, only sometimes call upon the browser to load a download page, if that's the way that particular software manages its updates.
So, any further ideas of what happened?

[JustOff]

Off-topic:

My firewall distinctly stated that Pale Moon was attempting to access the web through the TaskBar, not the other way round.

Who is this "General Failure" and why is he reading my disk? (c)

Sorry, but I couldn't resist saying this

[d3v14n7]

Off-topic:

My firewall distinctly stated that Pale Moon was attempting to access the web through the TaskBar, not the other way round.

Who is this "General Failure" and why is he reading my disk? (c)

Sorry, but I couldn't resist saying this

I don't understand that.
Who are you calling "General Failure"?
I don't get the reading your disk part either.
I'm not familiar with many web meme and pop-"culture" phrases.
Anyway...
That's what the firewall stated and it surprised me too.
Nothing gets through my firewall unless I manually answer the pop-ups.
I have also deleted the white-list, since it was full of "trusted" corporate scum - so I can catch the likes of nVIDIA and MS up to their dirty tricks.

ps. Some clarification regarding what I stated regarding MalwareBytes: securitybrief.com.au

[dark_moon]

I think you have problems with your whole system.

[Moonchild]

No real idea why the taskbar application would intercept Pale Moon's outbound connections. Have you tried what I said for proxy settings?

You expected a malware response, you say. I can only gather you have asked for help with similar problems before, in that case. It is the most likely cause if a known good application exhibits unexpected connectivity behavior.

A few other potential causes for what you see:

• Your firewall may be confused because of the way your as yet unnamed taskbar application hooks itself into the system. This may result in incorrect claims as to which application is connecting to the net.
• The taskbar application may hook into the networking API in a way that unintentionally intercepts traffic
• The taskbar application hooks into all running applications to do its intended task, which may cause ambiguity in which application is making a connection.

All in all it sounds like you have a few software interoperability issues. Without more details it is impossible to tell. If you want more guesses as to the potenial cause of this perceived "connecting through another application" of Pale Moon, then at the vey least we need to know the following:

• Which firewall software are you using, exactly?
• What is the exact nature of the connection according to your firewall? How do you know the connection was initiated by Pale Moon and how do you know it was redirected through your taskbar application?
• Which taskbar application are you using, exactly?
• What are your internet settings in control panel as regards proxies?
• Can you please include the output of Pale Moon's Help ->Troubleshooting Information (copy as text)?
• What are your proxy settings in Pale Moon?

[d3v14n7]

You expected a malware response, you say. I can only gather you have asked for help with similar problems before, in that case. It is the most likely cause if a known good application exhibits unexpected connectivity behavior.

...no no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO!

Don't do this!

...STOP!

I'll address the sensible stuff later.
I'm sure you've supplied some.
You do - even though I expect you to be otherwise busy with PM itself.
I'll give you that.

And it's not a reflection upon you, Moonchild - just my frustration at the current low level of intelligence I experience around the web (and in life!) in general.
Malware is often a "go-to" excuse for everything - while the go-to excuse for a Win7 problem is now "come into the dark, little child". [you know what I mean]

Just like the sub-contracted "boilerplate" idiots on the Indian sub-contracted MS "help" site, who convince everyone to reformat/reinstall/restore before the rest of us get to find out which MS update screwed something up after reading through numerous posts of multitudes of also-afflicted users only to find the OP has caved-in, wiped his/her system and MS have marked it "solved"!

To risk re-opening that can of worms, I'll tell you all something: I don't use anti-virus - because... "I know".
That's all.

I don't even SEE malware on the web, except from search engine results that paste your search term into to these generic Wikipedia-looking pages that inform a user to download their dodgy error-correction/security software, which I would assume are those monetised "hostage" type things. [I don't know what you call them]

Before my current firewall|HIPs I used to use the Comodo suite.
Then they began letting more and more corporates through in default state, and started removing and quarantining my firmware flashers and Scene Prod collections! Plus, they started becoming bloated and trying to get me to install more and more of their own crap - just like those McAfee and Norton travesties.
Every time a security provider begins taking the p!ss, I ditch them and move along.

Anyway, after a while using Dual Monitor TaskBar, I only saw that call flagged once.
However, that's probably because I set a specific rule at the time.
I can't remember if I did that or blocked/terminated the one instance.
I probably did the latter, since I am curious over paranoid.
Sometimes I hose all my rules to allow a refresh through a new series of pop-ups, since my firewall blocks everything by default until I say so.
Call me "Gandalf" - or "The Black Knight" if you insist on humouring me instead.

I'm sure the SW is not perfect and likely has bugs.
Even more so if it is dependent upon such MS creations as .NET
From experience, I tend to not like seeing .NET references/dependent SW on my machines for stability reasons.
That's a criticism of MS.
Whenever I see .NET Windows Updates I cross my fingers that my system will still function correctly after reboot.

To the other poster's comments about my machine being screwed: *SIGH*...

Since returning to Win7 (at Christmas) I have had zero BSODs or non-responsivess/general system glitches.
As Win7 previously served me before my year and a half battle with MS' uber "darkness".
My system is stable; considering I have all MS privacy violations and potential 3rd party exploits (Services, Scheduled Tasks etc.)I can find, disabled, and that MS keeps trying to shoehorn in variants of their Win10 horrors through WU.

The only errors I have are:-

1) This small app throwing up an error (seemingly when I'm working more between both screens) so that it will still work, but with the open/minimised window graphics replaced by blank boxes, crossed out with red X's.

2) MS had something within a large batch of initial WUs I installed, which confuses the wifi so the icon shows the wrong status.
I tried many solutions and only recently seemed to have resolved it through a lucky sequence I employed them, rather than a guaranteed method.
I hate that, because I'm a guy who wants to know exactly what is affecting/impacting what - so I know what to do if I ever encounter it in future installs.

[Moonchild]

Since you obviously don't want to provide the info needed (and instead go on about what you previously used or some implied political reasoning behind software vendors' choice of technologies), seem to assume that everyone knows what you're thinking before you say it, take offense to providing general 1st line information as a first response to an odd problem that cannot be ours as well as a generally negative approach off the bat based on assumptions and take offense to the most likely cause being even mentioned, I'll bow out here.

Maybe someone else can help, but I doubt it. Pale Moon is not at fault, that much I know for certain.

[Yavanius]

Off-topic:
Solution to Malware/Corporate Spying/Microsoft Vulnerabilities

1. Back up all your data.
2. Install Linux for your OS instead. Kubuntu is very customizable but look through the various distros and see what appeals to you. Don't choose the additional repos so you can stick just with the FOSS (Free Open Source Software) stuff.
3. Restore your data
4. Reinstall Palemoon


So you don't have to worry about malware trying to sneak onto your system, corporate spying, zero Microsoft software including forced updates, and no calling and getting tech support in India.

Moderator note: marked off-topic.

[dark_moon]

Off-topic:

Solution to Malware/Corporate Spying/Microsoft Vulnerabilities

This is wrong. Malware exist for all systems and Linux is more and more the target for that.
Some distri spy or sell your data too. See Ubuntu with Amazon ads
And other companies can that too: Your ISP, the NSA and dont forget about spying in CPU from Intel and AMD. Ah and nVidia spy too

[Moonchild]

Off-topic:
If you want to help people, please never suggest they change their entire operating system. It is very counter-productive and not a solution, and may lead to unnecessary debate (and penis size measurements) about "which is `better`/`safer`/`faster`/etc.".

Fact: All operating systems are subject to malware, viruses and corporate influence.

[Latitude]

Off-topic:
If you want to help people, please never suggest they change their entire operating system. It is very counter-productive and not a solution, and may lead to unnecessary debate (and penis size measurements) about "which is `better`/`safer`/`faster`/etc.".

Fact: All operating systems are subject to malware, viruses and corporate influence.

Off-topic:
penis size measurements -

corporate influence - yes, for example, there is corporate influence in Linux kernel development (Google)

[Yavanius]

Well, my core point was that he has a lot of issues with and negativism toward his his current platform, so he could be quite potentially happier with an alternate choice for OS which boil down to:

Mac
Linux or BSD

Mac platforms (despite Apple's assurances) is getting to be a more frequent target for hackers and you run what Apple tells you to run... I don' t think he happy that he has less choices (including a fully-vetted Palemoon version).

Linux / BSD at least you can go all Open-Source. It may not be as nice as your Windows apps, but you got a whole community looking out for things and chances are someone designed something to do something you can't seem to do on Windows (or at least without a lot of headache). Granted nothing is 100% secure, but you generally don't have a Corporate decision to hold back patches to the next monthly cycle of patches. You don't even have to ever patch your OS (granted not a terrific idea, but... user choice).

Ubuntu seems to be flip-flopping as of late on what they want to do plus they've gone corporate, so they're not the best example for the FOSS world. Granted though if you are trying to get started it's a good place to start...

I feel for him. I got slammed twice by major Windows updates last year. The second time the tech was completely useless and I caught him installing all these old drivers for my system...No, no, no... You'd figure the higher level tech guy would know how to solve a wide-spread issue...