Downloaded files disappear

[Tim Slattery]

My wife's computer runs Win XP SP3. Whenever she downloads a file, in
either Firefox or IE, it disappears as soon as it finishes loading.

I've seen this happen. Started a download in FF, told it exactly where
to put the file. I had Windows Explorer open looking at the target
directory. The download started, the file appeared in the directory.
The download ended, FF's download manager window showed that it had
happened, but the file vanished from the target directory.

We run NOD32, which keeps itself up-to-date automatically.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Download the tiny command-line "WGET" utility (on a healthy computer) and
then, when / if you next have any problems downloading something, instead
of just "clicking" on it - "right-click" on the link that downloads your
target file, and choose "Copy link address" from the context menu.
Then, open a command-prompt (type "cmd.exe" into the "Run" box on your
Start Menu), and type : WGET ...followed by the results of "Copy link
address" (click on the command-prompt's icon in the top far left and select
Edit } Paste ) and surround in double-quotes thus :

e.g.:
wget "http://www.gzip.org/gzip124xN.zip"


Download the WGET utility by clicking on the link below :
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/wget/wget-1.11.4.tar.gz

...then use WinZip, or another archiving utility to extract the file
[wget.exe] and copy it to any folder that's included in your %path%
variable (e.g.: C:\WINDOWS).

Download WinZip Archiver / Un-Archiver...
http://www.winzip.com/downwz.htm

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[glee]

My wife's computer runs Win XP SP3. Whenever she downloads a file, in
either Firefox or IE, it disappears as soon as it finishes loading.

I've seen this happen. Started a download in FF, told it exactly where
to put the file. I had Windows Explorer open looking at the target
directory. The download started, the file appeared in the directory.
The download ended, FF's download manager window showed that it had
happened, but the file vanished from the target directory.

We run NOD32, which keeps itself up-to-date automatically.

Hi Tim,

According to this forum post, the person's NOD32 had expired and it
prevented downloads from being saved:
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/61434-files-disappear-after-download-2.html#post784213

Did you check in the AV's quarantine folder for the downloads? Have you
checked the AV's logs for mention of deleting the downloads? Is NOD32
set to automatically perform an action without notification if it
detects something? If so, set it to always notify you for action, about
everything. Try disabling NOD32 or better yet, temporarily uninstall
it, and see if the behavior changes.

This Mozilla Firefox forum post says in their case Windows defender was
the culprit:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/926377#answer-329769

 

[Tim Slattery]

According to this forum post, the person's NOD32 had expired and it
prevented downloads from being saved:
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/61434-files-disappear-after-download-2.html#post784213

Thanks. NOD32 is definitely not expired.

Did you check in the AV's quarantine folder for the downloads? Have you
checked the AV's logs for mention of deleting the downloads? Is NOD32
set to automatically perform an action without notification if it
detects something? If so, set it to always notify you for action, about
everything. Try disabling NOD32 or better yet, temporarily uninstall
it, and see if the behavior changes.

She's turned it off for downloads, and the problem persists.

This Mozilla Firefox forum post says in their case Windows defender was
the culprit:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/926377#answer-329769

That sounds hopeful. Why would Windows Defender lose it mind like
that?

 

[glee]

Thanks. NOD32 is definitely not expired.


She's turned it off for downloads, and the problem persists.


That sounds hopeful. Why would Windows Defender lose it mind like
that?

I don't know.... men are from Mars, software's from Venus?
Try disabling the AV altogether, try turning off Defender, see if
there's any change.
Let us know.

 

[Tim Slattery]

I don't know.... men are from Mars, software's from Venus?
Try disabling the AV altogether, try turning off Defender, see if
there's any change.
Let us know.

OK, here's the status. Windows Defender is not on her XP SP3 machine.
She has gotten around the problem by using "about:config" in Firefox,
and setting "browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone" to false. That
makes downloads work on Firefox, but IE still works as it did before.
FF is her preferred browser, so she's happy. (And if she's happy, I'm
happy.)

I'm still not sure what FF was invoking to scan files. Apparently IE
is still invoking it.

 

[glee]

OK, here's the status. Windows Defender is not on her XP SP3 machine.
She has gotten around the problem by using "about:config" in Firefox,
and setting "browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone" to false. That
makes downloads work on Firefox, but IE still works as it did before.
FF is her preferred browser, so she's happy. (And if she's happy, I'm
happy.)

I'm still not sure what FF was invoking to scan files. Apparently IE
is still invoking it.

It invokes your anti-virus to scan the download...
Browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone

Check all the settings in your AV.... it may have another setting
somewhere that is automatically deleting downloaded files with certain
extensions it considers dangerous.

Another place to check re: the continuing issue in IE, is in IE Tools>
Internet Options> Security tab.
If it is set to Custom Level, either set it to Default level, or click
the Custom level button and try some adjustments there. Depending on
what version of IE you have, there may be a setting for "Launching
applications and unsafe files" which should be set to Prompt, not
Disable.

If you have a Custom level set, I'd record all the setting there, then
rest it to Default level and see if the issue is fixed in IE. If it is,
change a few setting at a time back to before until you find which is
involved. Personally I still think the issue is a setting in NOD32
somewhere, since the scan is still happening automatically in IE and
it's the AV that is doing the deleting, I think.

 

[Paul]

OK, here's the status. Windows Defender is not on her XP SP3 machine.
She has gotten around the problem by using "about:config" in Firefox,
and setting "browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone" to false. That
makes downloads work on Firefox, but IE still works as it did before.
FF is her preferred browser, so she's happy. (And if she's happy, I'm
happy.)

I'm still not sure what FF was invoking to scan files. Apparently IE
is still invoking it.

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...redirectslug=Unable+to+download+or+save+files

According to that, it's using the AV already on the computer.

"Firefox launches your installed antivirus program to scan files
when they finish downloading. In some cases this can cause a
substantial delay or downloaded files may not be saved after
the scan completes.

... browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone"

It's not exactly clear, how that works. There must be some way
that an AV can register a "single file scan" option.

From Firefox source (nsDownloadManager.cpp)

// We currently apply local security policy to downloads when we scan
// via windows all-in-one download security api.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Tim Slattery]

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...redirectslug=Unable+to+download+or+save+files

According to that, it's using the AV already on the computer.

"Firefox launches your installed antivirus program to scan files
when they finish downloading. In some cases this can cause a
substantial delay or downloaded files may not be saved after
the scan completes.

It also says "Starting in Firefox 3.7 (3.7a3pre nightly builds since
2010-03-06) this preference also controls whether or not the Windows
security policy checks are applied for downloading and launching
executable files". Maybe a security policy got set somehow? I don't
know how that's done.

 

[glee]

It also says "Starting in Firefox 3.7 (3.7a3pre nightly builds since
2010-03-06) this preference also controls whether or not the Windows
security policy checks are applied for downloading and launching
executable files". Maybe a security policy got set somehow? I don't
know how that's done.

It's done by changing the security settings in the Internet Zone in IE,
as I mentioned in my last reply.

Unable to save or download files - MozillaZine Knowledge Base
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to...ads_blocked_by_Security_Zone_Policy_-_Windows