Mozilla Flips Kill-Switch On Skype Toolbar 284
An anonymous reader writes "Whenever Skype is installed or updated, it automatically installs the Skype Toolbar add-on for Firefox. Unfortunately, the add-on causes serious performance problems, slowing down some operations by a factor of 300 and is one of the top causes for Firefox crashes. As a result, Mozilla has decided to 'soft-block' the add-on, effectively killing it on all Firefox installs unless the user intentionally re-enables it. Given the extreme popularity of Skype, this has ramifications for millions of users."
Problems with Chrome too (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a similar problem yesterday except in Chrome. I guess I wasn't really paying attention but why the hell does Skype install toolbars without my input anyway?
That addon was removed pretty damn quick after it crashed and locked up my browsing session. Useless crap...
Whisky tango... (Score:4, Interesting)
Why do people insist on having desktop apps embedded as plugins to browsers?
Auto-Installing *anything* needs to die. (Score:5, Interesting)
Anything that auto-installs needs to go to hell and burn.
Most recent example: My boss finally starts using Chrome instead of IE. Shortly after he starts using it, he complains that Gmail won't load - it gets stuck in a reloading loop. I look it up and NO ONE seems to know what is happening. Clearing the cache - all that - nothing works. A couple weeks later, it happens to me, and I immediately notice something new - a new extension has been installed, a big green "M" in the upper right hand side. McAfee decided I needed their "safe browsing extension" (something I NEVER want), and the safe browsing extension seems to cause the gmail reload loop. I uninstalled it (just because I didn't want it) and immediately noticed that the gmail problem was resolved.
Browser makers (well, google, and maybe mozilla) work really hard to make a kick ass, stable program, and then any jackass with some untested crap can auto-install whatever they want and bring it down. Skype, McAffee, these are supposed to be mature companies (well, some people hate McAfee, but whatever) yet they still pull BS shit (yes, two shits) like auto-installing something that isn't even stable. Or Apple installing safari automatically (but apple is already evil so that wasn't too much of a surprise).
I really wish there were some way to make that illegal without just causing some big legal shithole. Really I just wish there was some code of honor that good software vendors would agree too - autoinstalling being something to avoid (or have a box that says "Do you want to install the Skype shitty toolbar" *making sure* to have a "don't ask me again" checkbox).
This isn't 2003 and I don't want every toolbar you came up with installed on my machine!
-Taylor
Re:do it mozilla. (Score:4, Interesting)
What puzzles me is companies (that are for-profit) blindly alienating customers by installing crap behind the scenes. I know that the average Joe probably notices nothing and will be hard pressed to link the firefox slowdown with the Skype install. On the other hand, skype users are not complete n00bs, so they are a population that probably has a good chance of finding out where the crap came from.
All in all, this kind of "strategy" puzzles me. What is the toolbar for anyways?
Re:But you still can't uninstall it... (Score:4, Interesting)
I agree that no outside installer should be able to install an addon without explicit permission the next time the user enters the browser. Would avoid people who don't know better than to look at all those checkbox options when they install something (like anything from Yahoo or even Java).