FARR 2.07.01: IE User Agent String contains bsalsa.com and extrat User-agent

[ptran]

Hi,

I think something in the latest stable FARR release (2.07.01) is modifying the IE user-agent setting in the registry.  I recently updated to FARR 2.07.01 and noticed the following behavior.

When the new version starts up, it adds to the following registry key:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform
With this key:
     User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; http://bsalsa.com) ( EmbeddedWB http://bsalsa.com/)
Website www.useragentstring.com reports that my IE user agent is:
     Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; http://bsalsa.com) ( EmbeddedWB http://bsalsa.com/); .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; MS-RTC LM 8; .NET CLR 3.5.21022)
I noticed this behavior as a result of diagnosing some IE connection problems with my intrusion detection software.  It didn't like the much longer user-agent string from IE.  I'm not posting about the intrusion detection software, though.

The following portion of the string looks peculiar:
     User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1;

On another computer, I installed an older FARR version, 2.0.0.145, for comparison.  After the install and after launching FARR, I do not see the registry change.  Website www.useragentstring.com reports the user agent is:
     Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.2; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648)

The list of plugins in the Plugin Manager is empty, so I don't think it's from any plugin.

Here are my thoughts ...

• The HTTP User-agent header field is in the registry key name. That looks incorrect.
• I searched for "bsalsa.com" on the Internet and see mention of it as an embeddable web browser.  Is this thing the new embedded browser mentioned in the latest release of FARR?

[nitrix-ud]

i have the same registry setting with the latest alpha version 2.08.02
i hope it will be corrected, since it may have some unexpected behavior

one of the latest FARR release (do not remember the exact version) changed the user-agent to a mobile one...
it was really really annoying :
gmail was shown as the basic html version
lifehacker.com showed its mobile version
etc.

[mouser]

Is this thing the new embedded browser mentioned in the latest release of FARR?

yep.
i'm not doing it on purpose, and it should reset to default when you start up the real Internet Explorer.
i'm trying to get it to stop doing this (temporary) change, as it is annoying. actually i thought i had already removed it but i guess not?

can you guys try the latest and see if it still happens? https://www.donation...AndRunRobotSetup.exe

[ptran]

I'm still seeing the registry entry after starting up FARR after the install. FARR reports that it is version 2.08.02.

[nitrix-ud]

i'm not doing it on purpose, and it should reset to default when you start up the real Internet Explorer.

when i start up the real internet explorer the user-agent regedit entry remains the same

i'm trying to get it to stop doing this (temporary) change

so unfortunately it does not seem to be temporary

[mouser]

you are right. i will fix for next release this week.

[mouser]

it's really an inexcusably and unusually poor decision by the authors of the embedded web browser components.

instructions on this thread: http://www.bsalsa.co...showthread.php?t=686

say that to reset it back to default you should just delete the registry values for:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform

[mouser]

fixed in release updated today (june 18,2008); the new release will also clear that value if a prior version of farr set it and didn't forget it.  so no need for manual registry editing.

[ptran]

Thanks for the quick turnaround and fix.

I've updated to 2.10.01 and my IE user-agent looks like it's back to normal. It no longer contains that "bsalsa.com" text and my registry key no longer contains that "User-agent:" key under "PostPlatform".

I am noticing another different behavior with 2.10.01, which I'll note in a separate thread.