Microsoft hides Firefox extension in Windows Update

Microsoft in a regular Windows update on Tuesday released an update which is marked as “Important” and not “Optional” that when installed not only installed an extension into Internet Explorer without asking but also an extension into Firefox, again without asking.

The update which Microsoft describes as:

“In an Internet browser, you specify a homepage that is not a fully qualified URL. However, Windows Live Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, or Bing Bar may not categorize your homepage correctly. Therefore, the homepage reporting may be generated incorrectly for users who select the Help improve our services option when they install these toolbars.”

Once the update has been installed it can’t be removed and if you wish to remove the plugins from your system you must do it manually yourself, this is a major oversight by Microsoft to be forcing browser extensions onto users with explicitly asking permission to do so, whats perhaps more worrying is Microsoft labelling the update as important and not optional which will mean the update will install on vastly more machines where users have auto update switched on and who don’t regularly review whats being downloaded and installed.

Source: Arstechnica