Mozilla’s Firefox is blocking a McAfee add-on

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Mozilla has blocked the McAfee Scriptscan add-on in its Firefox web browser for its users' protection.

A note on the Firefox blocklist pages explains that the software is shunned because it "causes a high number of crashes". Anyone that uses Scriptscan versions 14.4.0 and below for all versions of Firefox and SeaMonkey will be affected.

"Users are strongly encouraged to disable the problematic add-on or plugin, but may choose to continue using it if they accept the risks described," wrote Mozzarella in the short announcement.

"When Mozilla becomes aware of add-ons, plugins, or other third-party software that seriously compromises Firefox security, stability, or performance and meets certain criteria, the software may be blocked from general use."

The add-on has been blocked because it is problematic rather than malicious, explained Mozilla, and is the result of a submission to the Mozilla Bugtracker programme.

Submissions to the Mozilla crash list pages suggest that McAfee's software is often around when a lot of things are going down. One mentions a "High correlation to McAfee Script Scan and Site Advisor", while the Buglist report is titled, "Blocklist McAfee ScriptScan for Firefox and McAfee SiteAdvisor due to explosive crashes."

We understand there's an alternative called "Noscript" that doesn't seem to have this problem. µ