View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0002495 | MMW v4 | Other | public | 2006-05-15 15:59 | 2011-02-25 23:04 |
| Reporter | rusty | Assigned To | |||
| Priority | urgent | Severity | major | Reproducibility | have not tried |
| Status | closed | Resolution | duplicate | ||
| Summary | 0002495: Firewall (Zone Alarm) can cause MM to crash and/or not rip tracks correctly | ||||
| Description | Users often report that some products (ZoneLabs, ...) warn that MM possibly does keylogging. Also, for apps such as Zone Alarm that check for keystroke monitoring, when this feature is enabled, MM behaves erratically: -Error messages appear when attempting to burn CDs -Access violations occur when attempting to use visualizations Problem is that we need to use these hacks in order to support catching of pressing multimedia keys. We need to review: 1. What other products do about it, if they catch these keys (Play, Next, etc.), do they have the same problem? 2. Can we explain it to user somehow? E.g. before first enabling the feature, show a dialog explaining it to user, asking whether he/she wants to enable it, etc. If we cannot find a technical solution, then an alternative (less preferable) approach would be to change the following to the hotkeys screen: a) disable all global hotkeys b) add an entry for [ ] Enable multimedia keyboard keys for MediaMonkey c) for the 'Enable multimedia...' and 'Global' config settings, add help indicating that '.... This requires keyboard logging and may trigger a warning in your firewall. Make sure to disable keyboard logging for MediaMonkey in your firewall.' | ||||
| Additional Information | Original E-mail from Bob Sprague: I've been having a problem with MM for several past versions and thought it was time to ask what might be done. I've been a gold user for a long time and have always recommended MM to friends and colleauges but lately I've been unable to burn CD's. Evertime I try I get an error code saying "the MP3 cannot be decoded. It is possible due to DRM restrictions." It doesn't matter what MP3 file use including MP3's that I've created from my vinyl album collection and files made by riping CD's (old and New) with MediaMonkey. I can (and do now) burn CD's with the exact same playlist with Windows Media Manager, Musicmatch Jukebox and Sony CD Architect. I'm am current;y using the latest version MM. Now problem number 2! Since about the same time the DRM error started occuring I have been unable to use the visulizations, eveytime I try I get an "Access violation at address 006F0174 in module 'mediamonkey.exe.' Read of 00000008." I've done a clean install several times but still can't seem to shake these problems, any help would be appreciated Thanks Followup e-mail: Yesterday I posted a question about MMG not being able to burn CD's anymore. After spending several hours trying to track down the problem I think i've found the culprit. I reinstalled an older version(2.4.2) and it worked fine but after reinstalling the latest version again the same access DRM error reappeared. Completely frustrated at this point I deleted the program and removed all references to it from my firewall (ZoneAlarm Pro) I then installed it once again, when ZoneAlarm asked whether I wanted to allow it monitor keystrokes etc. I selected yes an low and behold everything was back to normal. Just to double check that this was the problem I went back removed the permission from ZoneAlarm and tried the same burn project again and the same access DRM error returned. I don't know if other people have had this problem but you might want to add a little in a readme file or something addressing this ZoneAlarm fix. Thanks for a great product | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Fixed in build | |||||
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Assigning to Rusty for more testing. |
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Assigning to Peke to evaluate a technical solution. |
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Well, there is no technical sollution for the problem. ZoneAlarm Windows service blocks any I mean any applicationthat tries to bypass Block to sensitive information (this includes MS own "MSInstaller"). Conclusion will be when it is blocked it is blocked. I use ZA Security Suite from its beggining and before that ZA Pro Firewall without any problems. We must think of workaraund and I do like Rusty Suggestion on The matter. There should be Notable in help (possible during installation)that MM interupts MMkey assigments from windows due to its nature of being a multimedia application. I also agree on workarounds b) and c) that will also fix problems when some MultimediaKeyboard needs MM.INI fix to work correctly (dupplicate executions of NEXT command can occure on those keyboards before this ini fix). Another suggestions could be that we contact ZoneLabs and see what is needed by one app to gain Green status in ZoneAlarm (Default action in ZoneAlarm is to automaticaly block Unknown apps to get access to privilaged resources). |
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Does this mean that if I install Winamp with Zone Alarm, the same problem will occur (due to Winamps Global Hotkeys and to multimedia keyboard support in Winamp)? |
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It depends on ZA App choise and how ZA See Winamp.EXE process in Auto Advisor. Generaly Any app that interupts Keys or mouse gestures and are blocked in ZA make some errors (more or less). |
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OK, but can you tell me whether it triggers the problem in Winamp (and Windows Media Player) or not? If you tell me it doesn't, then as I understand (based on what you've described), it means that Zone Alarm has a 'whitelist' for some apps that are 'allowed' to keyboard scan, in which case, I can call them up and ask to be put on the whitelist. |
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Apparently, ZA Pro does warn for Winamp/WMP, however, the warning for MM is more severe since Winamp/WMP are 'Known' applications whereas MediaMonkey is considered 'unknown' and hence the warning message is more severe. Assigning to Rusty to contact Zone Alarm about getting onto their 'known' list. |
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Application That I have sent to Jiri to replace current hotkey assigment in 0002430 do not trigger this warning. Due to complete Windows API usage and it is consider Safe. Assigning to Rusty to either resolve issue or assign accordingly to needs. |
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Resolving as dup--this is just a testcase for 2430. |
