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Why are so many plugins "Unknown" by Firefox? And why was the last discussion on this closed? Why is there NO INFORMATION about "unknown plugins"?

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  • 3 sa na da wannan matsala
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  • Amsa ta ƙarshe daga Ryan

moflaig
moflaig
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On my list of plug-ins, half of them have the status of "unkown," with a box that says "Research?" I have no idea what this means, and it makes no sense to me that the topic of "Unknown Plugins" is not addressed ANYWHERE in the Firefox help pages. I read through all the "help" pages I could find about Plugins, and none of these pages even mentioned Unknown Plugins. Even doing a search for "unknown plugins" brought up nothing except one discussion on this topic -- which never received an answer, and which has been "closed."

This is odd because unknown plugins are obviously a major issue: HALF of my plugins are "unknown" and these are not from rare or minor companies. I don't have my entire list handy but my "unknown plugins" are from such sources as Google ("google update"), RealPlayer, iTunes, Amazon-mP3, Windows Live (photo gallery), and Picassa.

The whole reason I ended up grappling with plugins was in my quest to get rid of the annoying ads that creep up from the bottom right of my screen, and end up getting in the way of the page I'm viewing. I can't get rid of these things no matter how hard I try. There is no "x" in the corner, no option to remove or block frame when I right click on the ads, etc.

I have no idea if unknown plugins could play a role in these insidious ads, but there needs to be more explanation from Firefox on why so many plugins are unknown, and what exactly that means; how can "unknown plugins" possibly affect us?

On my list of plug-ins, half of them have the status of "unkown," with a box that says "Research?" I have no idea what this means, and it makes no sense to me that the topic of "Unknown Plugins" is not addressed ANYWHERE in the Firefox help pages. I read through all the "help" pages I could find about Plugins, and none of these pages even mentioned Unknown Plugins. Even doing a search for "unknown plugins" brought up nothing except one discussion on this topic -- which never received an answer, and which has been "closed." This is odd because unknown plugins are obviously a major issue: HALF of my plugins are "unknown" and these are not from rare or minor companies. I don't have my entire list handy but my "unknown plugins" are from such sources as Google ("google update"), RealPlayer, iTunes, Amazon-mP3, Windows Live (photo gallery), and Picassa. The whole reason I ended up grappling with plugins was in my quest to get rid of the annoying ads that creep up from the bottom right of my screen, and end up getting in the way of the page I'm viewing. I can't get rid of these things no matter how hard I try. There is no "x" in the corner, no option to remove or block frame when I right click on the ads, etc. I have no idea if unknown plugins could play a role in these insidious ads, but there needs to be more explanation from Firefox on why so many plugins are unknown, and what exactly that means; how can "unknown plugins" possibly affect us?

All Replies (1)

Ryan
Ryan
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Where are you looking at your plugins? I assume that you are looking at them over at http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ . This type of behavior occurs because the plugin checker doesn't know about those plugins. Since it doesn't know about these plugins it can't tell you if there up to date or not. To see the plugins that you have installed click on Firefox -> Add-ons -> Plugins. This will give you a list of the plugins you have installed. If you don't see the Firefox button then click Tools -> Add-ons -> Plugins.

As far as the ad's you are talking about this is rather concerning. This could be caused by a variety of different things. Can you provide me with the URL on one of these ad's? If you can I may be able to tell you want there associated with.