This little extension automatically installed itself into Firefox when I updated Visual Studio 2008 with SP1. The extension, Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant, describes itself as Adds ClickOnce support and the ability to report installed .NET versions to the web server.:
As you can see the Uninstall button is disabled. I could waste several mouse-scrolls of space bitching about the slimy practice of installing bloat, but I'll just get to the point.
How to uninstall
- Open Regedit (Start > Run > regedit)
- Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox\extensions
(or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Mozilla\Firefox\extensions for 64-bit versions of Windows
- You'll see {20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}. Right click it and click Delete.
- Restart Firefox.
- Write an angsty live journal entry about why Micro$oft sucks.
Or
- Get back to work.
For more complete instructions on how to completely obliterate this extension from your computer, see the article at annoyances.org.