Microsoft Shoves Bing Toolbar Down People’s Throats Using Windows Update
9 replies, posted
[quote]Microsoft has bundled a Bing toolbar add-on along with its Patch Tuesday security update.
The download adds the Bing toolbar to the Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox web browsers of certain users without their permission.
Technology blog [URL="http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/06/microsoft-slips-ie-firefox-add-on-into-toolbar-update.ars"]Ars Technica[/URL] reported that last week's Patch Tuesday update contained a Microsoft
Search Enhancement Pack update that installed the Bing toolbar onto the IE and Firefox browsers of users that have installed the Windows Live Toolbar or MSN toolbar.
[URL="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/11/microsoft_slips_firtefox_add_on_into_software_update/"]Microsoft[/URL] told tech news site The Register that the stealth toolbar installation was the result of a bug in the update, and that the problem has since been taken care of.
The company said: "We fixed the update so that going forward folks who still have only the older Windows Live Toolbar or MSN Toolbar will not see this behavior any more."
The company explained that the updated was only supposed to install a Search Enhancement Pack for users of the Windows Live toolbar, MSN toolbar and Bing Bar.[/quote][URL="http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/6/14/bug-sneaks-stealth-download-microsoft-security-patch/"]Source[/URL]
[quote]How can a company install an entire piece of software “by accident”? Perhaps this ‘bug’ is backlash from the public. Well, maybe; but maybe it’s something else. Either way, the thing about Microsoft is, it has already victimised many people’s Web browsers — browsers which are now stuck with this unwanted toolbar. Microsoft gets to say that it fixed the ‘bug’, but the mission was accomplished because many forceful installations went through.[/quote]
I didn't get it. Then again it was 21 days ago.
The last quote is just moronic. They don't even force upgrade IE6 users, you think they're going to just toss in a toolbar unannounced? Whoever wrote that is a moron.
[editline].[/editline]
[quote]Technology blog Ars Technica reported that last week's Patch Tuesday update contained a Microsoft
Search Enhancement Pack update that installed the Bing toolbar onto the IE and Firefox browsers [b]of users that have installed the Windows Live Toolbar or MSN toolbar.[/b][/quote]
This is why I didn't get it. Wow OP you really did slant your title.
is that shit even legal
I can understand putting it in IE6, but Firefox isn't theirs. Mozilla could probably sue or something because as far as I remember, you have to agree to some terms of service thing before adding things to Firefox. I may just be talking out of my insomniac ass, however.
[QUOTE=Roo-kie;22770296]is that shit even legal[/QUOTE]
It was a bug.
[QUOTE=Panda X;22770502]It was a bug.[/QUOTE]
Or so they say.
[QUOTE=wingless;22770744]Or so they say.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. They totally did this on purpose. I mean won't everyone just love this toolbar?
I can imagine that people who downloaded the update already signed/agreed to some Terms of Service thing that was made with this situation in mind
I'd say it was more of a bug in updating the already existing toolbars that the effected users already had installed.
Thread title is misleading, and honestly quite moronic.
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