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Microsoft Update Quietly Installs Firefox Extension

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the guess-its-back dept.

hemantm writes "A routine security update for a Microsoft Windows component installed on tens of millions of computers has quietly installed an extra add-on for an untold number of users surfing the Web with Mozilla's Firefox Web browser."

3 of 500 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Surprise! by westlake · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Well, they did release Bob.

    I would like to introduce you to that graveyard of good intentions which is known as Sourceforge.net.

    If you think of Bob simply as an animated guide or avatar he seems he seems to found a home in social networking and PC gaming.

  2. Re:Surprise! by jamstar7 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    People who run updates for the .Net Framework are doing so because they want the .Net Framework's functionality on their machine.

    Rather, Microsoft wants .Net Framework functionality on everybody's machine. It's part of the way Microsoft interfaces the internet with the operating system. Remember, it's supposed to be Oh So Much Better than Java because it's a Microsoft product not a Sun product.

    If FireFox wants to break support for ClickOnce in their browser, I'm sure they could. But then you are back to the days of IE6. 'Okay Users, we need to run this app on our local intranet. It uses ClickOnce - so you need to run IE and go to \\xyz\ourapp to run it. Don't use anything but IE though, because this only works with IE'.

    Why would Firefox want to support ClickOnce? It's a Microsoft product after all, most likely patented or patent pending, and more hassle to deal with than it's worth. The Mozilla Foundation has a set method of submitting Firefox addons for a reason. Microsoft bypassing the process and willy-nilly installing something in Firefox as a 'favor' does not make friends in the Mozilla camp, especially when the app installed makes things more insecure for Firefox in the process. Firefox and Mozilla Foundation are all about choice. Where's the choice here?

    Removing it is a trivial task for anyone who knows enough to care.

    First you need to know it's there. Next, you need to know how to deal with the Registry. Per TFA:

    Big deal, you say? I can just uninstall the add-on via Firefox's handy Add-ons interface, right? Not so fast. The trouble is, Microsoft has disabled the "uninstall" button on the extension. What's more, Microsoft tells us that the only way to get rid of this thing is to modify the Windows registry, an exercise that -- if done imprecisely -- can cause Windows systems to fail to boot up.

    Easy for you, maybe. Not so much for Joe Sixpack.

    --
    Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  3. Re:Surprise! by Sj0 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Except ME was a decent OS.

    Sir, I don't say this often. You are a complete fucking moron. What you've written is literally the opposite of reality.

    Windows ME was by far the least stable version of the Windows 9x line. The problems people had with ME were never about resource usage, and always about the fact that it was ridiculously unstable, and Microsoft decided to hide DOS, making it more difficult to repair compared to previous versions of 9x. All of this is well-documented.

    Windows 98SE was the best of the 9x line. ME was garbage, and everyone who actually had to deal with it knew how unstable and unreliable it was. Where were you?

    --
    It's been a long time.