locked How to remove Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant Add-on

Firefox version: 3.0.5 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) Operating system: Windows XP
Author
Message
Clive Haworth
Firefox user

The latest 'patch' from MS installs a new Firefox add-on without asking. Worse, the 'uninstall' button is greyed out. Worse, it appears to change the browser id string.

I know they are a bunch of muppets, but I'd like a tool to go and undo this trash and maybe an option to change the IE browser id string too!

How do I remove it?

Plugins installed:


[+]


Thu 29 of Jan, 2009 02:13 PST  
Anonymous

http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/421171-NET-Framework-Assistant/

possible a solution...



Thu 29 of Jan, 2009 06:21 PST  
Anonymous

Explain... how to delete:
http://wyday.com/blog/2008/how-to-uninstall-microsoft-net-framework-assistant-from-firefox/



Thu 29 of Jan, 2009 06:28 PST  
bdg
Firefox user

Just what I wanted. An add-on I never asked for, installs itself without asking, won't uninstall, and runs binary applications from strange servers.

This 'patch' is a new level of scum for MS, they've really outdone themselves this time.

How to remove it in both 32 & 64 bit Windows:
http://www.robertnyman.com/2009/01/26/microsoft-force-installs-firefox-extension/


attachment unwanted_addon.png (24.22 Kb)

Thu 29 of Jan, 2009 15:12 PST  
Fakey Fakington
Firefox user

What a pain, how can this be stopped in the future? Is there a legal solution — to consider this like circumventing Firefox's techniques... what about if Firefox digitally signed add-ons within the browser, and offered a pop-up confirmation for add-ons added outside the browser ("Do you want to add X? Add 'X' Do not add 'X'")... would that mean that Microsoft would be violating the DMCA to add things without asking?



Sun 01 of Feb, 2009 21:11 PST  
Anonymous

The solution is for Mozilla to patch Firefox to break/uninstall the extension.



Sun 01 of Feb, 2009 22:33 PST  
Anonymous

Just to point out that in the UK, the Computer Misuse Act 1990, section 3 already covers "unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer" - just who the person who did the modification without authority is is left open to question: is it the programmer, his/her manager? (Being a corporation, would Microsoft itself be classified as the person?)
But before that, the question of under what authority did Microsoft install the unremovable plug-in - under a blanket EULA that says Microsoft can modify what they like on your system with the necessary updates that also installed this unwanted plug-in - needs to be answered.



Sun 01 of Feb, 2009 22:39 PST  
Anonymous

Not that it makes this any more acceptable but this isn't the first extension to do this, Java does something similar. Frankly I'm getting rather sick of these forced add-ons.



Mon 02 of Feb, 2009 04:22 PST  
REX
Firefox user

The proper solution to this problem is this:

http://www.ubuntu.com

or any of the other capable distributions.



Mon 02 of Feb, 2009 08:02 PST  
myzdoxae
Firefox user

Just use Firefox Portable (Mozilla Firefox®, Portable Edition).

I have not had an issue with this MS extension. Possibly because Firefox is not listed as being installed anywhere, so when Microsoft goes to look for it, it cannot find it.

And barring that, its set up the same as an installed edition, and I could plop it on a CD or USB drive and carry it with me.



Mon 02 of Feb, 2009 09:56 PST  
Anonymous

Firefox reads a couple of registry keys to figure out where it should look for extensions:

1) HKLM\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox
2) HKLM\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox
3) HKLM\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox (x.x.x)

Microsoft stuck their cruft under #1. I just changed the ACL on that registry key so that the "Everyone" SID was explicitly denied access.



Mon 02 of Feb, 2009 14:56 PST  
Anonymous

I turn off automatic updates. If I want to update something, I'll go look for it myself. Just like how I run my Linux installations. I don't let anybody shove crap down the pipe into my machine without me asking for it first.

Turn OFF automatic updates.



Tue 03 of Feb, 2009 19:39 PST  
Hanga 2/3
Firefox user

Anonymous: This has nothing to do with whether your updates are automatically applied. The extension was installed along with one of Microsoft's customary "High-priority" (i.e., not "optional") software "patches." However, there was no notification regarding the inclusion of the Firefox extension, nor was permission for its installation requested. Its surreptitious addition is what everyone is (rightly) criticizing.



Tue 03 of Feb, 2009 22:25 PST  
Bill
Firefox user

Every since the micrsoft .ent update was installed on my Vista PC, I'm also having problems with FF freezing after a few minutes of use. It's making FF all but unusable for me.

I've tried doing a clean uninstall/reinstall of FF, but the same problem keeps happening.



Thu 05 of Feb, 2009 12:45 PST  
Anonymous

Hanga 2/3: Isn't a "not optional" software patch the same as an automatically applied update, as it is installed without asking for explicit permission?
Switching off automatic updates stops everything from being sent and applied, even "not optional" patches...



Fri 06 of Feb, 2009 08:29 PST  
David McKnight
Firefox user

I did an autoupdate, and this hangs in the background until you launch FireFox — at which point it *does* tell you that it wants to install the extension. At least that is what it did on my system.



Fri 06 of Feb, 2009 16:59 PST  
krike
Firefox user

a momentary solution is to uninstall, it would be a proper update of firefox to work properly uninstall it and leave without edit the registry



Mon 09 of Feb, 2009 12:51 PST  
David
Firefox user

Call me an idiot if you must but first answer this question: Is this issue what caused the following problem?

It used to be that if I typed a key word into the address bar I would either go to a particular site (key word like: Pizza Hut) or I would get Google search results (key word like: pizza).

Now all I get is results from Live Search.



Mon 09 of Feb, 2009 13:19 PST  
Anonymous

Here is the solution thanks to Mrkvonic from the Wilder's Security Forums:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ms-dotnet-firefox.html



Wed 11 of Feb, 2009 05:59 PST  
Anonymous

The uninstall instructions seems to leave the add-on Plug-In in Firefox for Windows Presentation Foundation



Wed 18 of Feb, 2009 12:27 PST  
gruvn
Firefox user

I know this thread is aging, but this just happened to me when our IT folks "patched" our machines at work. I'm bad, and had installed Firefox portable on the sly, but thought I'd chime in since I saw that myzdoxae offered FF portable as a solution. It's not - it still get installed.

I was able to clean it up, but since I don't have administrative access on my machine here (which is another rant), but I was holding my breath while I made the necessary changes to the registry and deleted the appropriate folders. If MS had been slightly more nefarious, i would have been stuck with the patch, since I would not have had the authority to remove the necessary files!

This REALLY bugs me. Do you think MS would be OK with Mozilla writing an app that forcefully embedded itself into IE?



Mon 23 of Feb, 2009 07:30 PST  
1 2 Next »
Show posts