EZProxy / McAfee issue?

jahred
When I try to use the EZProxy extension (on Google Chrome) when trying to access an academic article, I'm getting an error that "blockpg-aloe.safezone.mcafee.com is currently unable to handle this request." It's odd because I don't have McAfee installed. Any ideas? Any help is appreciated!
  • dstillman
    edited December 6, 2023
    Is this a question about the Zotero Connector? I don't know what you mean by "EZProxy extension".
  • jahred
    Sorry, yes I think this could be the Zotero Connector causing this issue
  • dstillman
    Do you log into an institutional proxy?

    Can you right-click on the Save to Zotero button, select Options, go to the Advanced tab, click Config Editor, copy the proxies.proxies field (you can double-click it to open the dialog box if the full value is truncated), and send it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread?
  • jahred
    Thanks - just sent an email to that address
  • dstillman
    Your proxy setting looks fine and normal.

    Does temporarily disabling the Zotero Connector stop this from happening?
  • jahred
    Ok - disabling the Zotero Connector stops it from automatically happening, although it does still occur when trying to reload the page using the EZProxy extension to sign into my institution.
  • dstillman
    By "EZProxy extension" you're referring to some other browser extension? Like the "EZProxy Redirect" extension? It really helps to be precise here, particularly when referring to some third-party software that we don't have anything to do with.

    You should try disabling all other browser extensions, and if the problem continues, you'll probably need to ask your IT department or ISP. All the Zotero Connector and (I assume) your other browser extension do is change a direct URL (e.g., a jstor.org URL) into a proxied URL (e.g., https://login.foo.univ.edu/login?qurl=[JSTOR URL], the same as if you had typed it into your browser, so if you're then getting redirected to a mcafee.com address, some software on your computer is doing that, the proxy is doing that, or your ISP (if you're not on the campus network) is doing that. You'd likely get the same results if you disabled all extensions and typed the proxy login URL into your browser, or even if you followed a link from your library website. (I'd be a little surprised if the proxy was doing this, though — a lot of people at your institution use Zotero, and we haven't received any other reports of this.)
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