Vulnerability in Firefox 3.6.3/3.5.9

[Concerned User]

@26Dolphins: That is correct! for the "plugin container" to run, you should set only the individual setting (dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npswf32.dll) (in this case, adobe flash) to "true". I think the preference "npqtplugin.dll" is for quick time?

Only then, will the process "plugin container.exe" run. I set "dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npswf32.dll" to false and it stopped running. Check out the screenshot. Hope this helps.

Regarding your question:
So, could it be that this particular setting needs to be set to "true" for plugin-container.exe to run? And if yes, why is the default "false"?

I'm not sure! I only changed the individual setting for adobe flash and it worked. I disabled it and the "plugin container" vanished (after a reboot). I did not change any other preferences. This should work for you.

[bo.elam]

Concerned user, I am like you,old fashioned/conservative, not liking the
extra processes but as long as it does not break my browsing or crash
the browser I guess I ll live with the changes. I know a lot of people are
frustrated with the thing and are complaining. It took me a couple of days
to get use to it but I am OK with it now. I was reading something about
the next version,3.6.6, and it said that there are more changes coming
so when that version comes out I am going to wait it out for a few days.
There is not going to be a 3.6.5 unless they need to make a quick update
to 3.6.4.
I will take a look at bartab. My PC memory is fine but it looks like a nice
addon.
I think that unless you have your browser misbehaving you should leave the
settings on default. My FF has never crashed on Youtube so the container is
not going to help me much but your case is different. You mentioned crashes
on Youtube and Metacafe so the container will help you on those rare
ocations.
Bo

[bo.elam]

26Dolphins what I noticed is that the container process starts when you play
some Flash video like on Youtube. After the process starts it will only close
when you close the browser. My about config settings are exactly as it shows
on Concerned user s picture and those are the default settings without any
changes. So your plugin container process should show up in the task mgr.
as soon as you play a Flash video.
Bo

[bo.elam]

26 Dolphins maybe you like to take a look at this 2 links.

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewto...f=38&t=1930481

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewto...f=38&t=1929059


Bo

[Anupam]

Just a few days ago, Firefox 3.6.4 had been released. Mozilla have released yet another version of Firefox ... version 3.6.6. This is what the release notes say about it :

Firefox 3.6.6 modifies the crash protection feature to increase the amount of time that plugins are allowed to be non-responsive before being terminated.

[Concerned User]

Originally Posted by bo.elam

Concerned user, I am like you,old fashioned/conservative, not liking the
extra processes but as long as it does not break my browsing or crash
the browser I guess I ll live with the changes. I know a lot of people are
frustrated with the thing and are complaining. It took me a couple of days
to get use to it but I am OK with it now. I was reading something about
the next version,3.6.6, and it said that there are more changes coming
so when that version comes out I am going to wait it out for a few days.
There is not going to be a 3.6.5 unless they need to make a quick update
to 3.6.4.
I will take a look at bartab. My PC memory is fine but it looks like a nice
addon.
I think that unless you have your browser misbehaving you should leave the
settings on default. My FF has never crashed on Youtube so the container is
not going to help me much but your case is different. You mentioned crashes
on Youtube and Metacafe so the container will help you on those rare
ocations.
Bo

Agree with you! I've enabled it again. Let's see how it behaves...

[26Dolphins]

Hi everyone,

Today I had the "pleasure" of seeing plugin-container.exe run, with dom.ipc.plugins.enabled still set to "false".
As bo.elam said, I noticed it running after I watched a youtube video - though I can't remember if I didn't watch any over the past days.
The annoying think is that it doesn't close after you're done with using any of the plugins it controls.
Since I never had an issue with plugins crashing Firefox, I did a little test: watched the same video with & without it. Results:
1. Firefox consumes at least 15MB less memory without it.
2. Firefox drops memory usage when the video is done without it, while with it, it (obviously) stays the same + plugin-container.exe in memory with dropped usage but not zero.
I also find it strange that nobody regards plugin-container.exe staying in memory as a bug.

As Anupam said, Mozilla released today version 3.6.6 - I wonder if updating Firefox will get you default settings.

Reading the posts in the Mozillazine Forum, the only conclusion one can draw is: with the same settings, experience varies for no apparent reason.

Too bad the Knowledge Base for the about:config entries isn't updated yet.

We'll see,
26Dolphins

[bo.elam]

I think the only changes for 3.6.6 is what Anupam quoted from the
release notes. Dolphin26 most likely the settings would go to default
when updating to 3.6.6. I dont believe this version changes much in
Firefox so I am updating it in a little while and will not wait a few days
like I thought I was gonna do.
Has anybody updated yet?
Bo

[bo.elam]

I did the update to 3.6.6 and is working fine.
Bo

[Anupam]

This blog post from Ghacks gives details about the latest release 3.6.6 of Firefox.

The amount of time to wait, has been increased from 10 seconds to 45 seconds, after Mozilla got complaints from some users about the non-responsive time.

Details here :

http://www.ghacks.net/2010/06/27/fir...-download-now/