Microsoft sneaks Firefox add-on without user knowledge

Petrah · 05-29-09, 04:04 PM

Wasn't sure how many were aware of this or not. Feedback is appreciated.

http://www.threatpost.com/blogs/micr...user-knowledge

Sepioth · 05-29-09, 04:37 PM

Intersting to say the least ....

Why on Earth is MS adding "compatibility" to Firefox??

Shouldn't Mozilla be adding support for .Net themselves??

Thankfully it is easily removed if the user wants to remove it using Firefox's addon feature.

Torhal · 05-29-09, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by Sepioth

Thankfully it is easily removed if the user wants to remove it using Firefox's addon feature.

No, it isn't. You have to do some registry hacking, start FireFox, enter its config, change things, close it, then look for files and get rid of them, then open FireFox and make sure it's really gone.

Sepioth · 05-30-09, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by Torhal

No, it isn't. You have to do some registry hacking, start FireFox, enter its config, change things, close it, then look for files and get rid of them, then open FireFox and make sure it's really gone.

Actually they fixed that. So yeah it is easily uninstalled by simply going to Tools>Addons>Uninstall in Firefox.

Update to allow the Uninstall button to work is HERE

Petrah · 05-30-09, 09:55 PM

Much <3 to Republic! =)

I have a question for anyone wishing to answer. Who would need this net framework assistant and why?

Yhor · 05-29-09, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Sepioth

Intersting to say the least ....

Thankfully it is easily removed if the user wants to remove it using Firefox's addon feature.

I had to do a regedit to remove it. The "Uninstall" button on the addon tab was disabled. I just followed the instructions to find all the information I needed to uninstall completely (Thanks for the link Silenia). I had been having slow internet loading since this "update" (also had to uninstall a Java addon "Java Quick Start", in order to keep it off my puter). Loading seems a lot faster (tested slightly, if more problems arise, I'll post).

Another craptastic move by Microsoft Windows.

Xarl · 05-29-09, 08:00 PM

Sure is bad news man and in a way not surprising at all.

Zyonin · 05-30-09, 02:04 AM

When will Microsoft ever learn? It's a good thing I don't have that Service Pack or the "extension". Then again, I am quite aware of what gets installed on my machine. However once I get my other drive installed, my shiny new Ubuntu 9.04 disc (just arrived in the mail) gets used.

stormkeep · 05-30-09, 02:51 AM

subject line of OP is misleading. "Sneaks" implies the user has no way of seeing it coming. In this case, it is mentioned quite clearly on the download page as well as how to remove it. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...1-6383ba034eab.

The only way that is sneaky is if the person installing it is blind and not using any kind of text to speech. Or if the user is too mentally challenged to make sure they find out what they are installing when they do an update. I would expect a wowmatrix user to consider it as "sneaking" but not someone here on Wowinterface.