Microsoft Explains Mystery Firefox Extension

Ricky writes with a followup to news we discussed a couple days ago that a Microsoft toolbar update was installing an IE add-on and a Firefox extension without the user's consent. Quoting Ars: "Microsoft has fixed the distribution scope of a toolbar update that, without the user's knowledge, installed an add-on in Internet Explorer and an extension in Firefox called Search Helper Extension. Microsoft told us that the new update is actually the same as the old one; the only difference is the distribution settings. In other words, the update will no longer be distributed to toolbars that it shouldn't be added to. End users won't see the tweak, Microsoft told Ars, and also offered an explanation on what the mystery add-on actually does. 'The Search Enhancement Pack is a shared component used by the Windows Live Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, and Bing Bar. This component enables toolbar search functionality, like the toolbar search suggestions drop down. It is not the toolbar. It is a component used by the toolbars.'"

Re:English Doc?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then that MS PR flack did their job well.

It was installed on my system

[Anonymous Coward]

I was only able to uninstall this unwelcome extension by thinking in Russian.

Hand Wave

[FrostedWheat]

"This isn't the extension you're looking for."

Re:English Doc?

[Polumna]

You're obviously right, but there's an implication worth mentioning for this specific instance. *Microsoft* would have had to violate the DMCA publicly. Even if they did it with some legal sleight-of-hand, it would at least make for a >500 comment slashdot story. :P