Security problem at Gmail.com

[P. Burrows]

Lately when browsing to gmail.com with MSIE, I get the annoying:

"This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to
display the nonsecure items?"

As usual the dialog box doesn't have a "Shut up in future" tick box,
so... any ideas as to ´how i make it go away?

 

[Jim]

This is usually due to (spam) images on a secure connection. The images are
typically using HTTP, while your secure session is using HTTPS. Hence the
warning.

You could try disabling "warn if changing between secure to not secure mode"
in IE under Options->Advanced. Not sure it will help, it may only affect
changes on the primary connection, but worth trying.

If that doesn't work, a good Spam filter, such as found in Norton Internet
Security, Google toolbar, lots of tools, will prevent downloading of these
images, and thus prevent the problem in the first place. I don't have the
previous option disabled in my case, yet have no problems w/ this annoying
pop-up because my pop-ad and spam blockers never let it get that far

HTH

Jim

 

[P. Burrows]

You could try disabling "warn if changing between secure to not secure mode"
in IE under Options->Advanced. Not sure it will help, it may only affect
changes on the primary connection, but worth trying.

I'll have a look.

If that doesn't work, a good Spam filter, such as found in Norton Internet
Security, Google toolbar, lots of tools, will prevent downloading of these
images, and thus prevent the problem in the first place.

So you are suggesting using Google to defeat Google, eh? *g*

I don't have the
previous option disabled in my case, yet have no problems w/ this annoying
pop-up because my pop-ad and spam blockers never let it get that far

They can stop that? Its not what I would call a popup, its a dialog box
that Exlorer (and Opera too for that matter) displays on its own accord
because it thinks something is funny, not a javascript opening
something. Which programs do you use that can block that?

 

[Jim]

I'll have a look.


So you are suggesting using Google to defeat Google, eh? *g*

Sort of, anything that blocks ads has the potential to mitigate the
circumstances. And to be fair, the problem is not Google, per se, but SPAM.
As I said, I'd have the same problem w/ Yahoo! Mail except I have several
hurdles that SPAM has to cross -- Yahoo!'s own SPAM blocking which either
never lets spam through at all (the whole message is blocked) or a
preferences option that blocks all images unless I specifically hit a link
on the email message that "shows HTML graphics" (i.e., embedded SPAM). Or,
my Norton Internet Security ad-blocking feature.

They can stop that? Its not what I would call a popup, its a dialog box
that Exlorer (and Opera too for that matter) displays on its own accord
because it thinks something is funny, not a javascript opening
something. Which programs do you use that can block that?

I didn't make this as clear as I could have. What I meant was, since these
images are often SPAM, if you have an ad-blocker applications of some kind,
the good ones will recognize these images as SPAM, strip them from the HTML
(that's how they work), and thus your secure connection never attempts to
retrieve the images. Obviously if the image is never retrieved in the first
place, the pop-up dialog you are now experiencing never pops up! I'm NOT
claiming that somehow I've figured a way to KILL that dialog, but merely
techniques that hopefully never let things get that far.

Jim

 

[P. Burrows]

Sort of, anything that blocks ads has the potential to mitigate the
circumstances. And to be fair, the problem is not Google, per se, but SPAM.
As I said, I'd have the same problem w/ Yahoo! Mail except I have several
hurdles that SPAM has to cross -- Yahoo!'s own SPAM blocking which either
never lets spam through at all (the whole message is blocked) or a
preferences option that blocks all images unless I specifically hit a link
on the email message that "shows HTML graphics" (i.e., embedded SPAM). Or,
my Norton Internet Security ad-blocking feature.

How could it be spam? There is no advertizing on gmail.com - and i mean
"gmail.com" not being logged in or anything. Once you are logged in
there are only google adds which are simple text and no animation java
or whatever (and they remove that if people email)

I didn't make this as clear as I could have. What I meant was, since these
images are often SPAM, if you have an ad-blocker applications of some kind,
the good ones will recognize these images as SPAM, strip them from the HTML
(that's how they work), and thus your secure connection never attempts to
retrieve the images. Obviously if the image is never retrieved in the first
place, the pop-up dialog you are now experiencing never pops up! I'm NOT
claiming that somehow I've figured a way to KILL that dialog, but merely
techniques that hopefully never let things get that far.

Well, since there was only google originated material I doubt it had
anything to do with spam, but they seem to have fixed the problem.