Download Taskbar now flashes when a file finishes instead of when it starts the download

Question

I just recently upgraded to Firefox 8.0. In the previous version, when starting a download, the taskbar would flash as the download began. Since updating I've noticed that the taskbar now flashes orange when the file finishes downloading. While I understand that this may be useful for many, if not most, folks, I'd really prefer to change the timing so that the "alert" happens as a download begins. Is this something I can adjust, or is this behavior "hardwired" into FF 8?

Answer 1

You mention changing some settings. What were they?
You could try turning off integrated virus scanning. This assumes that you have real-time virus scanning of files added to the file system via McAfee or another product.
(1) In a new tab, type or paste '''about:config''' in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the filter box, type or paste '''scan''' and pause while the list is filtered
(3) Double-click '''browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone''' to toggle its value.
Besides the obvious -- that this setting points your AV software at the file -- it also marks the file as sourced from the web, which causes Windows to apply certain security restrictions to the file. If you find that this change resolves the issue, the file disappearance might have been due to your IE security settings for the Internet zone.