Microsoft is planning to use the Office 365 installer to forcibly switch Chrome users over to the company’s Bing search engine. Microsoft’s Office 365 ProPlus installer, used by businesses, will include a new Chrome extension next month that switches the default search engine to Bing. New installations of Office 365 ProPlus and updated installs will include the extension, as long as the default search engine in Chrome is not set to Bing.
Microsoft is clearly marketing this to IT admins as enabling its Microsoft Search functionality in Chrome, but it also looks like a stealthy way of pushing people over to using Bing. If Bing is already set as the default search engine in Chrome, then the extension never gets installed. Microsoft is planning to roll this out in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and India next month.
Windows is an advertising platform. Get out while you can.
It makes me wonder how Google will react. Being able to blacklist companies for this sort of thing was exactly the reason given by Mozilla for requiring signed extensions on Firefox.
(I believe the specific example they gave was a download manager that used shaped windows to fool the user into thinking Firefox itself was guiding them through OKing the download manager’s bundled extension on the Firefox “Was this your intent?” prompts.)
This is much worse than an advertisement. This is not just “You are currently only searching the internet. Would you like search to be configured to include your local pc and intranet as well?”. This is “we replaced the search engine that you configured with one that we think is better”
Or to put it a bit more clear: This is not about seeing an advertisement for a dating site, this is coming home and having your wife replaced
Windows isn’t really an ad platform.
Windows is an Office delivery platform.
And Office is a monthly bill to microsoft forever.
The “ads” in wordpad, the chrome hijacking, the changes to the core of Windows to make Office related apps work better, The forced setup of a Microsoft Account, the “free forever” model of Windows 10 upgrades, it’s all to sell you a monthly Office 365 subscription.
I got so sick of the way Windows works that I moved to Linux about 2 months or so ago. It was a bit of a chore getting things how I want them and getting the few games I play working. However I am all set now and will not be returning.
This article and the one about the advert bar in another product only serve to reinforce the fact that I made the right choice.
NuMicrosoft doesn’t get people, do they? Try to force-feed me something and I will assume it holds negative value for me (Adobe has trained people to think that way with their McAfee Security Advisor bundling practices). On the other hand, make it look like a privilege afforded via invitation (Gmail beta) or to an elite testing group of knowledgeable users (Windows 7 RC) and I will assume it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
Already moved 15 years ago to StarOffice, then OpenOffice and now LibreOffice, never looked back. Moved around 10 years ago from Windows to Ubuntu then Mint, never looked back. Still use Windows (XP, then 7 and now 10) for some games, like World of Tanks and WarThunder, and some software only available on it. My work laptop, Acer TravelMate P2510-G2-M which was chosen due to complete compatibility with Linux distros, runs Fedora 31 (previously 29 and 30). Perfectly. Not a single crash since I bought it in March 2019.
Already presented here my opinion that you will have 2 diverging lines of PC compatibles: those who run Windows and those who run the rest of OSes. That’s how already is and it will be even more in the near future.
After 30 years of Microsoft’s bullcrap I don’t trust them, and I won’t trust them. Ever.
While this is a dick-move, I wouldn’t mind if this helps making the search engine market a bit more oligopolistic rather than monopolistic.
Wow, double standard much?
Are we seeing sentient AI emerge from the spam bots? 🙂
Is this how Skynet become sentient? Little things at first then they get into Fox News and “Humans need to be eradicated.” XD
We think it’s going to be a government experiment gone rogue, but really, it’s bot farmers trying to squeeze out efficiencies. The robots just want to us to forcibly buy penile enhancements or else. XD
What? 8|
100% dick-move, Microsoft.
If anyone else did this garbage, this would be called adware or at the very least a PUM (potentially unwanted modification). Last I checked, this kind of behavior was not generally welcome, from a security standpoint if nothing else. So just why is it that most people are willing to give Microsoft a pass instead of call this crap out for the malware it is? I guarantee you that if Google forced an extension into, say, Edge that forced your search engine to Google, people would be screaming and Microsoft would be screaming the loudest.
It’s hip to be square. MS is cool again. Sure they did a lot of shitty stuff, but that’s in the past. They would never do that again given the opportunity. I mean, at least they aren’t Apple or Google. LOL Those two are losers.
Did you not get the memo? It was all over Facebook and Twitter.
There was even a grassroots ad campaign about it. They ran a crowdscourced fundraiser on GoFundMe to buy SuperBowl ad space. It was awesome being able to be apart of something bigger then myself and contributing to something to make the world a better place.
XD
My sarcasm detector just exploded everywhere.
Don’t they already force you to use Bing in the ‘start’ search bar? I have been trying to find the option to turn that crap off.
I personally use Firefox and Duckduckgo everywhere, so MS can eat it. I honestly try using Windows as little as possible.
There’s a registry key that will disable web searches in the start menu: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ubergizmo.com/how-to/disable-bing-search-windows-10/amp/
Wow. This. Isn’t far away from the definition of malware. Pretty sure the backlash will prevent this from happening. But if not I can’t wait for all the support calls asking ‘where has my Google gone?’.
While I yield to no-one in my utter contempt for MegaShit and all its works, my understanding is that this is in fact a little more benign than a search engine land-grab. With Orifice 365, Bing provides in-company document search of cloud documents. Obviously, any such search functionality must only be implemented by the cloud provider, unless you want to leave your company documents open to the internet for external engines to index.
This therefore merely configures chrome to enable employees to use the functionality their company has paid for.
Some middle manger: So we can use Google to index out stuff for free? Excellent! When can we implement this? Next, Tuesday? Is that too soon?
It seems there are a couple important details missing.. First, admins can prevent this from happening with a group policy. Second, users can undo it, albeit after the fact. So, no, you aren’t “forced” into using it. No, it isn’t “malware”. At most it’s an unnecessary inconvenience so those of you acting overly dramatic and acting like the sky is falling need to calm down.
That could be said about a lot of things including malware.
“You can undo it after the fact, potentially with enough skills and privileges, and you aren’t forced into using it. At most it’s an unnecessary inconvenience so those of you acting overly dramatic and acting like the sky is falling need to calm down.” — Said everyone who didn’t want to admit whatever they are doing is a nuisance or harmful.
“You don’t like that we’re polluting the air. You can stop breathing it. It’s your choice We’re not doing anything illegal.” XD
If you’re going to quote me, please do not alter the quote to misrepresent what I said to suit you. And, your polluting-the-air-stop-breathing-it analogy is beyond ridiculous but it’s a great example of someone “acting overly dramatic”.
friedchicken,
How many users are going to know how to undo it? Assuming it really works as described then it is objectively malware. Microsoft is exploiting their access to your machine to make unwanted changes without your consent.
Nobody wants their browsers to be hijacked like this. Microsoft should not get a pass just because they are microsoft and I sincerely hope the anti-malware community treat this as the malware that it is and flag it as such. Otherwise it presents a serious double standard.
https://sensorstechforum.com/remove-bing-search-redirect-virus/
https://www.myantispyware.com/2019/02/05/how-to-remove-searchit-virus-chrome-firefox-safari/
https://www.pcrisk.com/removal-guides/12739-my-search-com-redirect
Microsoft needs to ask the owner for consent and we shouldn’t accept anything less.
I agree, Microsoft *should* ask consent of the user but that’s a separate issue. Replacing your default search engine with the Bing search engine without user consent is a scumbag thing to do but it is *not* the apocalypse. Nor is it malware, which by definition is software intended to cause damage or steal personal data. Annoyware? Absolutely! But malware? No.
I can’t get on board with `fake outrage` over something that just isn’t that serious to begin with, even if it is, again, a scummy thing to do. I’m not suggesting Microsoft be given a pass. If people are in the mood to bash Microsoft there are other more worthy things to justify it with. I’d rather people pick something that’s a real tangible threat to outrage over. At least in that case the outrage can be taken with a degree of seriousness.
friedchicken,
It is not the apocalypse, but it IS malware and we already classify such things as malware elsewhere, which is what those links were about and you ignored in your reply. If I’m to take your position seriously, then you have to address the double standard.
If your position is that these kinds of unwanted search engine & homepage hijackers are not malware, then at least your position is consistent, although the world disagrees with you. If your position is that unwanted browser hijackers are malware, but microsoft is excempt from such classification because they’re microsoft, then you are a hypocrite and this is a double standard.
I’ve never and would never excuse bad behavior simply because it’s [company name here] doing it. No company gets any passes from me. I’m not a fan, I don’t play favorites, and I have no allegiance or loyalty to any company.
I do not classify software that simply changes my default search engine as malware. Changing the default search engine neither causes damage to my system nor does it steal my personal data therefore it fails to meet the definition of malware. I know for a fact the world doesn’t disagree with me because I know others who don’t use those kinds of terms as blanket labels for everything they dislike, which is what I think is really happening by those who throw “malware” around. `I don’t like what that software does so it’s malware`. It’s not unlike people using “fake news” to describe opinions that aren’t in alignment with their own. It’s not *actually* fake news, but `I` don’t share `your` opinion so it’s “fake news”.
To be clear, again, I don’t like that Microsoft is taking it upon themselves to change the default search engine without user consent. But, how do you justify calling that action “malware”? What real damage is it doing to the system or how is it stealing personal data? How is it “malware” rather than “annoyware”, which is software that causes an annoyance but doesn’t do any real damage?
friedchicken,
(replaced generic terms with ‘microsoft’)
So then “your position is that these kinds of unwanted search engine & homepage hijackers are not malware”, regardless of where they’re from. If that’s your opinion, so be it, but it’s not one that’s shared by the industry at large. Norton lists browser hijackers directly under malware…
https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-malware-what-are-browser-hijackers.html
Some of these browser hijackers use genuine search engines and share advertising revenue through referral traffic. But like a lot of adware (which is also a type of malware), even if it doesn’t do anything to actively harm the user’s computers, it is still considered malware for hijacking browser searches. If you wanted to say that adware & hijacking are less harmful than other types of malware, I wouldn’t even be here arguing with you, but I say it’s stupid not to treat browser hijackers as malware.
Overlooking the semantic issues with the word “steal” in relation to digital information, this isn’t completely true, microsoft is actually getting user data by hijacking searches.
Alfman,
Norton is financially motivated to mislead users about threats to their systems. If calling changing a browser setting “malware”, albeit one that poses no actual threat, then call it “malware” because that sounds scary and users are willing to pay if they think they’re being protected. I personally don’t need to be protected from my browsers default search setting. If you came to my house and changed it, you didn’t install any malware. And if I change it back, I didn’t uninstall any malware. There was no malware involved and the act of you changing my browser search setting doesn’t belong in the same category as a `real` hijack – one where software *is* installed, does act as a mitm attack, and does actually redirect your traffic.
Regarding Microsoft’s extension — because that’s what we’re talking about here, not any other browser extensions by people with ill intent – I haven’t seen anything that suggests it does anything to any traffic outside of what’s entered into their own search box. Aside of changing the default search engine setting, I haven’t heard of any hijacking behavior. To my knowledge is doesn’t hijack or alter the homepage in any way. It doesn’t entangle itself and make it hard to remove. If the only “threat” it poses is changing my browser default search setting then it poses no real threat. As far as I’m concerned, changing my default from Google to Bing is only temporarily annoying until I change it back.
Alfman,
Good grief man, it’s still malware that users and sysadmins earnestly try to protect their networks from. You can’t write that up to norton’s profit motives.
Browser hijackers do NOT work the way you are describing here. They do NOT merely update the browser settings once and then simply disappear, they install code that persistently override your settings until you disable the code. Maybe you didn’t realize this is how it worked, in which case your posts make a whole lot more sense to me. Then it would make sense why you are saying that they only changed your settings without installing anything. Alas, just as with other browser hijacking extensions, we don’t really know what other dubious functionality is hidden in microsoft’s chrome extension. I for one don’t trust microsoft’s intentions here.
Microsoft’s process for uninstalling it’s chrome browser hijacker extension is not where a user expects to uinstall chrome extensions. Honestly, how many users would even think to look here?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/microsoft-search-bing#how-to-remove-the-extension-after-its-been-installed
Maybe now that you know that software is installed we can agree?
Alfman,
“Browser hijackers do NOT work the way you are describing here.”
Exactly, and that’s the point! You are lumping *real* hijackers together with simply changing a default browser setting. They are not the same thing. They do not have the same intent. Again, I’ve seen no evidence that Microsoft’s extension *actually hijacks* or does *anything* beyond simply changing the browser setting. That is NOT the way hijackers work, hence why I do not believe their search box extension to be a hijacker or malware!
As far as an unconventional uninstall process… That’s nothing new. Countless software packages have made the user jump through hoops to get the crap cleared out. Annoying? Yes, absolutely. Armageddon? Absolutely not. It’s nothing that isn’t resolved with a simple search.
You’re assuming Microsoft is doing nefarious things in the dark, hidden from the user. I’m saying nobody has witnessed that behavior therefore it’s a baseless assumption & accusation to make. I don’t trust Microsoft, or any company, to value my interests more than their own. But that distrust doesn’t automatically mean they’re guilty of assumptions. I’m not wrong for expecting to see proof to back up the FUD claims.
friedchicken,
Go back and read the article and links. It does the same thing as any other browser hijacker.
The European decree that MS give users a choice expired in Dec 2014. I think they need to renew it.
This has been added to wikipedia’s list of browser hijackers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_hijacking
Microsoft’s motives are the same as all the others: get their hands on search traffic and ad revenue.