Duplicates in D+ Trusted File list

Recently I keep seeing duplicates of the same program files in the D+ Trusted File list, usually if there are duplicates there would be two of them. This only happens to certain programs (not all programs), for example, CD. Also after deleting the older entry of the duplicates, after a few days they re-appear, indicating that the duplicates are not caused by updating the programs.

Dragon may not be a good example.

Dragon is a trusted installer so the executables belonging to Dragon will be automatically and immediately added when installing with default settings (then files from trusted installers get trusted automatically). You can tell because Trusted Files will first show Dragon installer and then the Dragon files.

Are you sure you did not remove all Dragon traces?

This is caused by having those files there based on it’s unique HASH and not only by file name.
So you have dragon 18.0 with Hash 123 and you upgrade to dragon 19.0 with hash 234 then you’ll end up with to time ‘dragon.exe’ on the list.
There is only one way currently and that is to remove both, as long as the vendors are on the Trusted Vendor List it will be automatically added again anyway.

First of all thanks Eric and Ronny for the replies.

This is what I have been doing. But after some time, the same situation occurs again without any updates to the relevant files.

For example, I just removed all CCleaner files from the list this morning. After 5 hours, they are back (see attachment). This is not really a problem, but I was thinking if this was a bug.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Did you run CCleaner? and do your settings check for updates?
Can you clean them, run CCleaner once and then check if there are 3 entries? of not rerun CCleaner again and see if there are 3 then?

Which of the .exe’s do you run (ccleaner.exe or ccleaner64.exe)?

I did run CCleaner (CC) before it (they) re-appeared in the D+list (shortened to DL).

CC automatically checks for updates, but if updates are found it would only notify me and I would click on a button which opens my browser navigating to the update webpage. So it did not (and does not) auto-update.

Sorry I did not make it clear when I said “After 5 hours, they are back”. I meant to say that, I removed all 3 files from DL, and then run CC. At first only CC.exe and CC64.exe appears in DL. After several hours, when I run CC again, there would be two CC64 in DL.

I have tried running CC several times right after clearing all 3 entries from DL. Only CC.exe and CC64.exe appears in DL. However, after several hours, if I run CC again, there would be two CC.64.exe.

I actually run ccleaner64.exe, as my OS is Windows 7 H.Premium 64 bit. When I install CC, it installs both 32 and 64 bit versions (CC and CC64 respectively). The 32 bit version (CC) is never run or started (you cant even start it), but as soon as I start CC64 the 32 bit version would also appear in DL.

I have noticed that the following programs all have duplicates in the DL (two files, same name, same version, without any update). This appears to have started only recently (I have been using CIS for 3 years now :D).

List of programs that appears twice in DL:

  1. almost all web browsers: avant 2012/169, chrome 19, dragon 19, ie 9, firefox 11, srware iron 19. Except for CD and IE, all are portable versions.

  2. CCleaner and Defraggler from Piriform.

  3. Windows Control Panel.

  4. Nvidia graphics driver.

Thanks.

That sounds like a bug to me. Ronny, what do you think?

I do not know if it is a bug, but it have been happening since version 4. It does not happen with Windows/Microsoft files, just your regular third programs files, even FF and Comodo itself.

What I do to avoid double files in the Trusted File List is to avoid automatic updates for certain programs; FF, CCleaner, Avast!, MBAM, even Comodo. I try to install the new version clean. After uninstalling the program, I clean temps, etc. I open Comodo Trusted File and purge files not in used. Then I install the program. I know it is a long procedure but the only way to avoid double files for the same program.

My be, like Ronny said, something with different HASH number ?

I think the best way to deal with this is for the purge button to delete entries that not longer match an existing exe.

The pollution is a known issue, I expect that to be solved in version 6…
It’s just strange that without upgrade and additional entry get’s added, I’ll see if I can reproduce on a VM.

I know this is a known issue but I’d just like to bump this by saying that it’s not just the program/executable that is duplicated. All the dlls are also duplicated in this list too. For example if you use Firefox Nightly then this list will include 26 dlls as well as 8 exe files. Now if you update Nightly daily then you will get 34*(days updated). In my case, I’ve counted 145 “AccessibleMarshal.dll” in my Trusted Files list. Without counting everything manually, I can estimate there are 34*144=4896 redundant files from updating Firefox Nightly alone!

I don’t think each time you open Defense+ it tries to re-evaluate the hash (this would take even longer!) but a simple method to remove duplicates would be to only calculate the hash of programs that are duplicated in the list. For example when a user clicks “Purge”:
If trusted list contains duplicate file path then check hash at file path.
If hash matches 1 hash in list then remove all others from list, else ask user if program/file trusted.

I am highly unlikely to need the 4896 logged files in the Trusted List ever again and it would definitely save a lot more time. Adding this to Purge (or creating an extra option for this) should speed up loading the Trusted Files List quite a bit.