Security

Firefox tells Microsoft where to go!

Microsoft has been installing add-ons into Firefox without users knowledge or permission. This occurs during the regular Microsoft update process which is enabled in Windows XP, Vista and 7 automatically. Recently there has been some confusion because Firefox has been popping up a message similar to:

firefox_warning

and automatically disabling these addons because of security issues.

This is a bit of a worrying development from Microsoft because the automatic update process is only supposed to install updates that are important for security. It isn't the first time MS have been caught behaving like this and Mozilla (the creators of Firefox) are to be applauded for standing up to the software giant!!

If you want to read more about this see:

Mozilla Disables Microsoft's Insecure Firefox Add-on at The Washington Post

Mozilla Wrangles With Microsoft Firefox Add-ons at internetnews.com

Such was the response from users to this unwarranted intrusion into their computers, and also the potential security implications, that Microsoft have issued a solution.Go to Update to .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 for the .NET Framework Assistant 1.0 for Firefox to download the patched version which allows you to uninstall the offending addon altogether. After installing the update you must restart Firefox and then if you go to Tools > Add-ons menu you will find the Microsoft addon has been re-enabled but now the uninstall button is available to remove it completely.

For a full explanation of the patch see Microsoft's Fix for the Firefox Add-on Snafu at the Washington Post website.

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Millions tricked by Scareware

Interesting artticle today on the BBC.

Online criminals are making millions of pounds by convincing computer users to download fake anti-virus software, internet security experts claim.

Symantec says more than 40 million people have fallen victim to the "scareware" scam in the past 12 months.

The golden rule of surfing the internet is never to respond to messages in webpages or windows that pop up when you open a website claiming your computer is at risk. The only exception is when your own antivirus or firewall installed on your computer warns you that the website is unsafe.

No reputable companies use these sorts of scare tactics and anything that pops up and says "your computer is at risk so download xxxx now" is 100% certain to be a scam.

Three main problems can arise from these scams:

You end up spending money on software that is worthless (or worse)
You disclose your credit card details to criminals
You stand a good chance of being spied upon or your computer being used without your knowledge or permission for illegal purposes.

Here are a couple of good rules of thumb:

Never download anything or run a program until you know exactly what it is and who is providing it
Before downloading anything use a good search engine (such as Google) to look for reviews of the software by name and also reviews of the company's reputation

See Millions tricked by 'scareware' for the full story

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Dales Computer Services

Security

Firefox tells Microsoft where to go!

Millions tricked by Scareware