Latest Windows Update Adds Vulnerability To Firefox

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In an incredible act of hubris, the latest Windows Update patch secretly installs a plug in to Firefox what implements the exact kinds of vulnerabilities that prompted users to abandon Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser!

Annoyances.org, which lists various aspects of Windows that are, well, annoying, says "this update adds to Firefox one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities present in all versions of Internet Explorer: the ability for Web sites to easily and quietly install software on your PC." I'm not sure I'd put things in quite such dire terms, but I'm fairly confident that a decent number of Firefox for Windows users are rabidly anti-Internet Explorer, and would take umbrage at the very notion of Redmond monkeying with the browser in any way.

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.

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Posted by Whistle on 2009-08-20 14:33:10
"Microsoft has disabled.." Bullshit. On the very page you link to, the real reason the uninstall is greyed out is discussed. It's a limitation of FireFox, not some intentional scheme. The whole plugin mess could be termed a 'comedy of errors'.

This article is so full of fail I can't stand it. Badly in need of an update since most of the issues relating to this plugin have been addressed.
 

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