Firefox 32 integrates Google’s Safe Browsing API with a safe browsing blocklist that identifies potentially malicious executables downloaded by the user. However, the browser is never capable of detecting malicious files successfully. Today when I try to download the freeware fgdump, Firefox keeps blocking it from being downloaded and says “Blocked: May contain a virus or spyware“.

Eventually I find a way to disable the malware protection in Firefox, and I can then download fgdump without any issue.

How to Disable Malware Protection in Firefox?

1. In Firefox, open a new tab, then type about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
2. In the search box above the list, type or paste browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled and press Enter.
3. Double-click the browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled preference. It should switch from true to false and regular type to bold.

Basically, what I would like to do is turn off just the malware protection feature, but leave the other safe-browsing features enabled. If you want to disable all safe-browsing features completely, use the same method above the set browser.safebrowsing.enabled to false.