633330 - Blocklist Ask Toolbar version 3.11.* due to new tab breakage issue

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Toolkit :: Blocklist Policy Requests, defect)

Description

[Matthew Middleton (:zzxc)]

There have been several reports (eg. http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/781997) of Ask Toolbar 3.11.3.15590 or 3.11.2.15536 preventing Firefox 3.6 from opening any new tabs.  This version seems to no longer be offered by ask, as a fresh installation of ask toolbar results in 3.9.1.14019 with no updates available.

Since the version is causing problems and is no longer available, we should blocklist it.

Comment 1

[Matthew Middleton (:zzxc)]

Testing with a user in live chat indicated that the problem only results when both this extension and Personas Plus are enabled, which may be helpful when testing this.

Comment 2

[Matthew Middleton (:zzxc)]

This is affecting a lot of users this week on SUMO; is there any progress here?

Comment 3

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

Jorge, can you look into conflicts between this and Personas Plus?

Comment 4

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

It's hard to know what the problem is without access to this particular version of Ask Toolbar. If somebody can provide us the XPI or even a zipped profile folder, it would be possible to know what's going on.

Looking at the latest Personas Plus, the possible areas of conflict I can see are the "TabSelect" and "domwindowopened" hooks. Maybe the Ask add-on is doing something there too, but it's hard to tell what the problem is.

If possible, ask users to provide the add-on, or check the error console.

Comment 5

[Matthew Middleton (:zzxc)]

Attachment: Ask Toolbar 3.11.1.15497, obtained from a user's profile

I obtained a copy of an affected version from an affected user's profile folder.

Comment 6

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

Tested with both add-ons installed on Mac OS X and Windows, using Firefox 3.6. I couldn't reproduce the error.

However, the Ask Toolbar does (among a bunch of other fun things):
* Override the new tab page with its own.
* Provide a way to install Personas from ask.com

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a serious bug lurking there. However, I wasn't able to replicate it.

Comment 7

[Matthew Middleton (:zzxc)]

Most users reporting this have a variety of other extensions enabled, most commonly antivirus toolbars (AVG Safe Search, Norton Toolbar, McAfee Site Advisor), Yahoo Toolbar, AIM Toolbar, Java Console, Java Quick Start, Skype extension, and other add-ons that install without user intervention.  I haven't found any other add-on common to everyone reporting this issue, but it would be good to test with a combination of this Ask Toolbar version with other add-ons such as these.

Comment 8

[Matthew Middleton (:zzxc)]

Users on SUMO have also reported problems with this version of Ask Toolbar in Firefox 4.0.

I tested this add-on in a new Firefox 4 profile, and it causes a massive delay on startup and when opening new windows.

STR:
1. Create a new Firefox profile
2. Start Firefox and note the time it takes to start
3. Extract attachment 513515 [details] into the Extensions folder of that new profile
4. Restart Firefox one or more times.  Notice the delay in startup.
5. Open four or more new windows.  Notice the long delay and the flash of background windows each time a new window opens.
6. Disable Ask Toolbar and restart Firefox.  (It hangs on exit about 20% of the time with ask toolbar enabled, so end in task manager if needed)
7. Notice that the new window problems and slow startup are gone.

Comment 9

[Alex Vincent [:WeirdAl]]

I work on the Ask Toolbar.  cc'ing myself so I can track this.  We don't want to be blocked.  :)

Comment 10

[Alex Vincent [:WeirdAl]]

My colleagues and I have tried without success to reproduce this bug, both with just our toolbar installed and with the full list of extensions in comment 7.  Please let me know in this bug report if there's any additional information, or options we can test to get to the bottom of this.

Comment 11

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

Closing as Incomplete, since we don't have clear STR.