Microsoft uses patch channel to install Firefox add-on

Many Pctipsbox readers use Firefox because it suffers from fewer security holes than IE and most people don’t need .NET features so I’m publishing in my free column today the following steps to remove Assistant 1.0 from Firefox:

Step 1. Check whether the .NET Framework Assistant is installed. You may or may not have Assistant 1.0, even if you installed .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, so check this first. In Firefox, pull down the Tools menu and select Add-ons. In the Add-ons dialog box that appears, if you don’t see .NET Framework Assistant, the add-on is not installed. In that case, you don’t need to do anything further (except close the dialog box).

Step 2. Remove or disable the add-on. If you do find the extension, I recommend that you remove it to reduce your vulnerability to possible security flaws. Choose one of the options shown below.

• Best option: Install the Microsoft fix. On May 6, with little publicity, Microsoft posted an update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. Installing this update enables Firefox’s Uninstall button for the add-on. To install the official update, visit Microsoft’s download page.

• Another option: Temporarily disable the extension. Using the Add-ons dialog box to disable the extension prevents it from running and protects Firefox from potential security flaws. You might disable the extension instead of uninstalling it if your company insists that you use Firefox to run a .NET app, but you don’t wish to be vulnerable when visiting random Web sites. To disable Assistant 1.0 (or any Firefox extension), pull down Firefox’s Tools menu and select Add-ons. In the Add-ons dialog box that appears, select the unwanted extension and click the Disable button. Close the dialog box.

• Not recommended: Edit the Registry. Before Microsoft’s official patch was released, several sites published a procedure to manually delete entries from the Windows Registry to disable the Firefox extension. I don’t recommend this, because it’s easier and safer to use the options shown above. But if you need the full details, .NET Framework product unit manager Brad Abrams posted the Registry procedure in an MSDN blog entry.

Step 3. Install the third-party extension FFClickOnce, but only if necessary. If you really need ClickOnce functionality in Firefox, consider installing FFClickOnce, a Mozilla-approved extension developed by James Dobson. This third-party extension poses some of the same risks as Microsoft’s add-on. But at least Dobson’s extension prevents downloaded apps from running without first making the user click OK twice. For more info, see Dobson’s SoftwarePunk site and the extension’s Mozilla Add-ons page.

Tags: .NET Framework, extension, Firefox, firefox extension, Microsoft, Mozilla, Security, Uninstall, vulnerability, Web, windows registry

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 11:33 am and is filed under Firefox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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