Firefox At Risk Due to Sneaky Microsoft Plug-In

[Guest]

Hey you, Linux guy, update-manager hosed my computer twice already (mount-all bug)

karmic koala user

 

[Guest]

To say this plugin was secretly installed is not quite true. I've had .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed since it came out a couple years ago. I already knew about the Firefox plugin because it asked me if I wanted to install it. There's an optional .NET Framework 2.0 Netscape/Mozilla plugin also. However, I always download and install .NET Framework manually, so maybe they've recently become sneakier with the automatic updates.

As for not being able to remove it, keep in mind that you can't remove ANY plugins from within Firefox's add-ons menu. You must either uninstall the application that installed the plugin, or you can delete the plugin file from the plugins folder (or wherever the plugin was installed.)

 

[inme]

Ahhh I love linux more and more as the days go by. Peace, love, linux.

 

[Guest]

Article says> Firefox users can't simply remove the plug-in: the "Disable" and "Uninstall" buttons are grayed out on all versions of Windows save for Windows 7.
But not true, runnning XP and firefox, my disable button was not Grayed out
so I just disabled it.

 

[ossie]

What's the noise? It's just bu$ine$$ as u$ual at microsuxx...
m$ fankiddies should be hardened by now, their almighty god is always right.

 

[tacoslave]

woah woah when did steve jobs take over microsoft and give balmer a handjob to fuck with the customers using firefox. He doesnt have enough fun messing with stuck up college students and the technologically ignorant!?!?? well whatever i use google chrome.

 

[Guest]

Just another reason I hate microsoft. IE is a terrible browser to begin with. Microsoft is always putting crap in "updates that steals your imformation ands undisirable software and so on this is nothing new and been happing since day one with them. So why is it that everybody acts suprised? I can't stand Microsoft and Firefox non operate as they state. Tabbed browsing is a joke to them. I use Avant browser. Best security features in a browser yet. Google doesn't even have the features or come close to blocking up 75% of popups/advertisements. I test every browser i come across Faststone. maxthon,tor, google,firefox,green and so on. The best I found so far is http/www.avantbrowser.com/
Second would be opera then netscape.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]maigo[/nom]Stupid M$, stay off my computer![/citation]
Then stop running Microsoft Windows...

 

[Regected]

This addon crashed on me last night, and I don't even have auto updates on. Go figure.

 

[blackened144]

[citation][nom]gnookergi[/nom]WTF. I just looked this up in my plugins and disabled it. Don't put shit on my computer without my permission micro-dicks.[/citation]
Did you set your computer up to download and install the updates automatically? Then you gave Microsoft permission to install what ever you want, so stop complaining. And if youre not set up to download and install automatically, then you had approve of each individual update that you installed, including this one.

 

[Guest]

The Linux fanboys, again and again, show what losers they really are.

 

[Guest]

Linux blows the doors off of M$crap any day of the week..... I quit using M$crap products back in 1999... well, I can't say that, I get paid to fix them....... but I use Linux. M$crap is for sheeple.
Use Linux and expand your brainpower. It's free, it's more stable, it's compatible, it's opensource. About the only thing M$ has done right is the XBOX, and the red ring of death issue sorta puts a damper on even that. As for you roybatty.... your obviously not smart enough to use Linux, or you wouldn't be on the M$train. I've paid ..hmmmm lets see $0 for my OS's and programs over the last 10 years..... I'm guessing you have paid a bit more than that with M$... so truely, who's the loser Not me.

 

[brendano257]

ACTAULLY....Firefox just gave me a message "Some plugins may be causing problems." It blocked both .net 1.1 assistant, and the Foundation Program. Just restarted Firefox, problem solved.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom]ACTAULLY....Firefox just gave me a message "Some plugins may be causing problems." It blocked both .net 1.1 assistant, and the Foundation Program. Just restarted Firefox, problem solved.[/citation] Yea it did the same thing for me this morning, blocked those 2 plugins.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]vancouver8[/nom]Hey you, Linux guy, update-manager hosed my computer twice already (mount-all bug)karmic koala user[/citation]
Yea you do realize Karmic is still beta right? Although Linux is NOT perfect and can be messed up just as easily as any OS (I've done it MANY times).

 

[ominous prime]

Just got a popup from mozilla telling me to restart it in order to block them, good work for Mozilla. I wasn't aware of this problem until I got the message.

 

[Guest]

Come on folks your dreaming if you think this does not happen all the time. Good luck to you. What a bunch of paranoid freaks. Probably the same idiots that complain when they don't fix something.
I installed Flip4Mac on a mac computer and to my surprise was Silverlight too. You morons need to read the update logs and read if you know how about what get's installed on your precious computer.If you don't like it then you can install it. Don't waste you energy complaining about it. Linux pretty much does the same thing. As many security expert have said. For every hole found their's a hundred more.

 

[jimmysmitty]

To all those pissing and whining, excalibur1814 said it best. You don't own the OS. Just the ability to use it.

Next time the End User Agreement comes up, read it. Every last bit. Then you will realize MS can do whatever they damn well please. Oh and as can every other software company....

 

[PhoneyVirus]

This is how to remove it got the how -to from ghacks.net noting hard and noting for the PowerUser M$ you suck but I love You.

The following is a guide on how to remove the Windows Presentation Foundation plugin in the Firefox web browser for good. If the plugin would not be blacklisted it would be possible to find out about it’s dll files
by typing in aboutlugins in the web browser address bar.

The dll NPWPF.dll is the the Windows Presentation Foundation plugin. Here are the steps to remove it from the Firefox web browser (and other Mozilla products) for good:

* Close the Firefox web browser and every other Mozilla software that is running.
* Go to x:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\ in windows Explorer where x is the drive letter where Windows is installed on the computer system.
* Locate the file NPWPF.dll
* Create a backup of the file by copying it to another location, e.g. to c:\backups\
* Delete the dll NPWPF.dll in the Windows Presentation Foundation folder
* Restart the computer

Open Firefox after the restart. The Windows Presentation Foundation plugin should not show up in the list of installed plugins anymore. There is a second step that might be necessary. There is also a Registry entry for the plugin. Do the following to remove the plugin from there as well:

* Open the Windows Registry, press [Windows key R], type regedit and hit [enter]
* Locate the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins
* Locate the sub-key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins\@microsoft.com/WPF,version=3.5
* Right-click the sub-key and select Export to backup the key before deleting it.
* Delete the key in the Registry
* Restart the computer system or kill and reload explorer.exe in Windows to load the Registry without the key.

 

[virtualban]

PhoneyVirus, thanx for bothering with copy/pasting these instructions. Many would just link the site with instructions here. And since we are talking about 'browse-and-get-owned' attacks, that would be funny. And it also would depend on the target site being online for Toms' readers to click the link.
I'm sure every power user you mentioned it could find them by themselves, if they really wanted to remove the plugin, but it's nice of you caring and sharing the instructions with us. Let's hope future FFs will be more resistant to such 'malicious' plugin injections