Microsoft secretly installs Firefox add-on
2 June 2009
by
Gunthy
Filed under
Malware + Security + Software + Windows
We all know our good friends at Microsoft are not shy for a stunt here and there, but now they really hit the jackpot…
Brian Krebs from The Washington Post has been advising the average Windows user on various things. A while ago, people started asking him if they could trust a Service Pack for the .Net framework. While you probably are well aware about .Net, what it is and what it does, many people are not. So Brian took it upon himself to test the SP and after some time gave it a go.
However, it seems now that when installing this update, Microsoft is so friendly to add their own add-on for FireFox. While it is nice to see that MS is acknowledging FF as a major player in the browser world, it is not the normal way to install add-ons. One of the great features of FF has always been it extendability, but moreover the choice what & when to extend it.
No big deal right? Let’s just go and remove this unwanted extension. Right, this would work with any other developer, but we are dealing with Microsoft, which means the ‘Uninstall’ button is disabled, and removing the add-on is only possible through some obscure registry hacks, with which you don’t only risk in breaking the good operation of your favorite browser, but also your whole OS when you don’t really know what you’re doing.
Nobody really knows how this add-on behaves, but personally I don’t like this situation at all. Like Brian says in his article, it makes you wonder what else Microsoft’s installs behind your back… Maybe calling this malware is a bit over the top, but nevertheless I’m going to tag this post with it, since such behaviour is typical for malware, and it’s not because it’s coming from MS that we should keep one eye closed.
It’s already bad enough the Redmond company does not seem to be able to create a decent browser of their own, but now they seem to have to mess up the work of others as well. I for one am not very happy with this. In fact this makes me going to avoid Microsoft software even more than before, and I hope the same for you as well… Remember, it’s for your own good 
.
