Some sites create a new directory on hard drive. How to prevent this?
Some web sites such as www.chron.com and www.pddnet.com create a new directory on the hard drive and write to it. This is absolutely unacceptable. After each internet session I delete them. It seems the Firefox developers would be concerned enough about security not to have allowed this "feature" or at least make the site ask permission to create the directory. Web sites should not have arbitrary write access. (Debian Linux 6.0).
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It does appear the movie player is the cause. I have a low speed DSL connection and the movie player is set to download the file so I can watch it later. It didn't occur to me that regular websites might automatically play movies since they don't show up in real time.
Thank you for the help.
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What are the directories being created and what sort of content is this ?
Websites may store (or cause to be stored) a variety of information on your browser. See also
- Advanced panel - Accessibility, browsing, network, updates, and other advanced settings in Firefox_network-tab
- Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history
With some websites you may need to install applications to view some content, and a many sites rely on income from advertising etc. You may control some of this with Firefox settings, or by installing add-ons that block scripts.
If everyone blocked all advertising many sites would cease to exist.
A quick visit to arizonalottery.com generated a new directory called arizonalottery.com and four flash video files were installed in it.
I am willing to accept websites leaving cookies which are managed by the browser but websites having arbitrary write access to the hard drive is unacceptable. Most users probably don't know the directories are being added.
Most people accept advertiser's right to advertise but we have the right not to view the advertisement. Do you enjoy unsolicited sales phone calls during dinner? Whether the advertiser can survive without writing to my hard drive or calling my phone is not my concern.
Some of this is a case of swings and roundabouts. If you like features and plugins that you use; for instance for playing video; you should then not be surprised when you get popups and video adverts because you leave such things enabled.
The articles I linked to explain how to restrict some of this data. As you are specifically mentioning Flash madperson has linked to an explanation/control allowing you to control the settings of your FlashPlayer plugin.
You could also consider extensions that block scripts, 'no script' is one popular such extension, and it may be configured for individual sites.
Another consideration is disabling JavaScript. And it is totally different but if you have Java installed be careful because of what that may be used for.
Note Mozilla Firefox is also developing a feature that blocks plugins until you click to activate them
That is hoped to be useful aid for users
Modified by John99
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It does appear the movie player is the cause. I have a low speed DSL connection and the movie player is set to download the file so I can watch it later. It didn't occur to me that regular websites might automatically play movies since they don't show up in real time.
Thank you for the help.
You will not need to enable FlashPlayer to download video. In fact on a slow connection it is probably best to download rather than to try streaming video live if you have that option. Take control of your browser
Turn Off FLASH PLAYER
When it is not needed disable it
- use Firefox Button -> Add-ons -> Plugins -> select Shockwave Flash & [Disable]
If you disable FlashPlayer when it is not required you will get alternatives, probably a still picture image maybe with a link to text or picture content, that will use less bandwidth and so be faster and cheaper.
Use NoScript (from http://noscript.net/ ) Or any other chosen blocker
Try using no-script enables youto block a lot of scripts that are doing unnecessary things. As you visit a site you decide what you need and it remembers the settings for the next visit. It has an on screen icon or right click menu allowing you to temporarily or more permanently make changes for each site.
Hi John, I tried disabling FlashPlayer and then visiting www.youtube.com. I get a message that Flash Player is required and I can't find any way to make it download the file. If I right click on the box I get a menu that doesn't seem to do anything. There is an entry to stop download but there is no download running. I would indeed like to be able to download the file without it trying to play at the same time. Note that in Debian Linux the Shockwave Flash Player has been incorporated (mangled?) into something called gnash. It may not work exactly the same as the raw Adobe program.
I installed YesScript already. It may work ok. I will have to try it for a few days.
You should be able to download and save the Flash player for Linux and either use the software installer or manually extract and copy the libflashplayer.so file to a plugins folder where Firefox can find it.
Hi cor-el, It does look like replacing gnash with the Adobe player would be an improvement but it will be several days before I can get to it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Some sites intend video to be streamed live and do not offer to download it. Note Adobe seems to have a policy of reducing support and development of its products on some platforms so it may not be wise to become totaly reliant on Adobe Flash