Does the red screen that pops up telling me I need to install a Hotfix come from Mozilla?
I am browsing, generally a single layer below the www.msn.com screen that serves as my Home Page. A red screen pops up indicating that Firefox needs me to install something. Shortly, thereafter, another smaller screen pops up where I can choose to run the update of save the file to my "Downloads" folder. I cancel both windows and do nothing. I just noticed the "Firefox Hotfix" Addon that apparently came with Firefox 11. Is it this "Firefox Hotfix" that is causing the "Red" window to appear? If so, should I perform the actions it is requesting? I figured it was just a tricky way of somebody getting me to install some malware on my PC. Please advise me. Thanks.
All Replies (1)
hi JimmyJoeBob, this is a scam tactic that is trying to trick you into installing malware, so don't download or execute this kind of stuff just because of a popup or redirect on a website! updates are handled automatically by firefox so you don't have to download anything for that (and you can always initiate a manual check for updates in the firefox menu ≡ > help ? > about firefox).
we suspect this is coming form "malvertising" (=ads placed on legitimate websites that redirect you to this fraudulent message), so using an adblocking addon like https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ would also help with that.
(the firefox hotfix addon has nothing to do with the issue. it is genuine and was recently used to update a certain batch of users to firefox 48 - you could remove it now that it has done its purpose...)