Another .NET annoyance

[Grumpy Old Lady]

This error appears at startup of every Fx profile which has NS installed.
I've done a clean profile test with NS as the only extension.

Code: Select all

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x8000ffff (NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED) [nsIPrefBranch.clearUserPref]"  nsresult: "0x8000ffff (NS_ERROR_UNEXPECTED)"  location: "JS frame :: chrome://dotnetassistant/content/bootstrap.js :: BootStrapDotNetAsssitantExtension :: line 52"  data: no]

I have left the .NET assistant extension installed globally in this system - it's the host for visitors who aren't familiar with non-Win systems and I wouldn't like to hobble their use of the web.
Therefore I must opt-out of the .NET Assistant extension whenever I install a new profile. I uninstall - not disable.
All Fx profiles, after uninstallation of the .NET assistant and as soon as NS is installed, report the above error at Fx startup.

I've had zero UI problems as reported by others with the extension installed.
Is the message anything that needs more attention?

[Grumpy Old Lady]

As at 1.9.8 no more chrome error message.
I don't quite get the tech details per the ABP blog
http://adblockplus.org/blog/the-return- ... -assistant
but it's very nice to have a bit more confidence that idiot hidden stuff won't have to be held in mind when I'm troubleshooting; it's bad enough eliminating visible entities!

[therube]

That <> showed up in FF2, FF3, & FF35 for me.

Removed from FF35 first, & it removed the '{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}' addon directory.
Removed from FF2 second, & it too removed the directory.

Finally with FF3, it set up a ".staging" something or the other directory & when I rechecked Addons, it was still there? So I removed it a second time & this time all instances of '{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}' were gone.

[Grumpy Old Lady]

I left all traces just as MS had installed them, preferring to have a trail to follow when/if rubbish began to happen - which thankfully it didn't. - - - probably because I run nekkider than most in here ;-), with 9 extensions.
All I did was use the Fx extensions UI to smite the opt-out installs of .NET as they jumped up with each new profile, noted that the extensions ini had the numbered extension you mentioned even though it was hidden in the manager UI, or anywhere else I knew to look,
... and, kept an eye on that error message.

Just wondering what Giorgio's fix for NS was, because I don't use ABP - or any display masking type of stuff, except NS and NukeAnything Enhanced.

[therube]

And this just popped up in my Automatic Updates, MS KB963707: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox .

And if I manually follow the KB to the download link, it is exactly the same as what I had previously downloaded & already installed!

[Grumpy Old Lady]

And this just popped up in my Automatic Updates, MS KB963707: How to remove the .NET Framework Assistant for Firefox :?.

And if I manually follow the KB to the download link, it is exactly the same as what I had previously downloaded & already installed!

Their original distribution of the .NET 3 SP1 - in Feb - was obviously a lot more buggy than they let on.
For example, the .NET extension in this system was hidden from the beginning (ie it was hidden from admin, I wasn't given any Fx flags that there was a new extension and it wasn't shown in the Extensions Manager UI) - - I wasn't aware of it until the noise began on the net - - although the plugin, Win Presentation thingy, behaved within Fx parameters from the outset (I guess a plugin is a lot better overseen by Fx runtime than extensions ever could be, so that's not really a surprise)
I concluded that the KB963707 -- which MS presented to this system on my last visit to XP Patcher Update - sorry - Win Update on 15th July -- was presented as a critical one to my system because the original install by the .NET 3 SP1 was buggy, and not from any desire by MS to be ethical.

Your getting it presented again? MS didn't like your own deletion method maybe? I'm guessing it's in the critical list. Critical to MS, maybe ;-)
And unless an admin sifts through all the switches in registry and so on for this thing, I'm betting that they would have that same patch presented every patch Tuesday until judgement day.
Of course MS can do what it likes, so even if an admin went through all those hoops, there's nothing stopping it from installing another one whenever it likes.
For two pence I'd kick MS out of my network, but so many visitors are disoriented with any other system :-/

[therube]

Mozilla has taken the correct approach on this:

Bug 522777 - Blocklist all versions of "Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant" extension and associated "Windows Presentation Foundation" plugin (installed automatically via .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 update)

"VERIFIED FIXED" .


Other earlier related threads:

MS, dotNET, and Fx

MS sneaks in a Fx add-on at machine level!


Edit: And I see Giorgio had (in more ways then one) already written about it, Microsoft Windows Exploitation Foundation for Firefox.

[eradic8]

Mozilla re-enabled the .Net Framework Assistant, big mistake despite what has now been said about it not being exploitable I know it is still a security issue.

[therube]

Right. Unless needed, I would keep it disabled.