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Windows Update installs extension
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Larry B
AskWoody Lounger

June 8, 2010 at 4:06 pm #469464

Just an FYI: The newest security updates also install an extension into Firefox called “Search Helper Extension”. I am not sure what it did to IE. You can disable it, but the uninstall button looks to be non-functional. Seems to me MS overstepped their bounds.

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- WSMedico
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  June 8, 2010 at 6:40 pm #1227659
  
  Just an FYI: The newest security updates also install an extension into Firefox called “Search Helper Extension”. I am not sure what it did to IE. You can disable it, but the uninstall button looks to be non-functional. Seems to me MS overstepped their bounds.
  
  Where do you see this ext.? I do not see it with my FF.
  
  Right-click on the listing for the extension and then click on “Visit Home Page”. This may tell you where it came from. This may also be a part of the Bing search engine. Do you have Bing installed as a search engine in your FF.
  
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- Larry B
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  June 9, 2010 at 10:16 am #1227721
  
  I do not have Bing installed with FF. After I installed the Windows updates and rebooted, I started up FF and the addons page opened and said that a new extension was added. Having never seen the aforementioned extension, I am assuming that that was the one. Here is a link to the extensions home page which I would not have allowed if given the choice: http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx
  
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- WSR-C
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  June 29, 2010 at 12:05 pm #1231455
  
  some links with info about that sneaky install
  the register article
  
  removing it info at lifehacker
  http://lifehacker.com/5560116/remove-microsofts-search-helper-add+on-from-firefox removal link
  
  http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/06/microsoft-slips-ie-firefox-add-on-into-toolbar-update.ars More info
  
  Also by Susan Bradley in the windows secrets newsletter:
  “2237744
  MS update installs unwanted add-on in Firefox
  
  If you bought an HP computer with the Microsoft Bing toolbar preinstalled, you might be wondering how Microsoft’s Search Helper Extension 1.0 got installed on your copy of Firefox. Thank a recently released Search Enhancement Pack for that.
  
  The bad news is, you can’t remove it from Firefox without breaking the Bing Bar or the MSN Toolbar 4.X — both require the add-on to work properly.
  
  ► What to do: For those running Windows Live Toolbar or MSN Toolbar 3.X, you can uninstall the Helper Extension by following the instructions in Microsoft support article 2237744
  
  . Better yet, get rid of Bing Bar and/or the MSN Toolbar altogether.”
  
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- Larry B
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  July 15, 2010 at 9:44 pm #1234312
  
  After trying another version of FF 3.6.x and uninstalling it and reinstalling version 3.5.9, the extension was gone. Not sure how or why.
  
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