Advice Request A friend told me he never installs a Chrome addon on his Edge broswer. Is that O.C.D, or its better approach and why?

[amirr]

I hope he does not read there, but here is what he wrote me:
"As I use very few extensions, using the one I do use allows me to not activate the Chrome web store, and only use Edge extensions. But that’s my use case.
If you already use Chrome extensions on Edge, you may as well use a more frequently updated one if you wish to do so."

 

[TairikuOkami]

I also block extensions from other stores. I want Edge to be completely separated from Google, besides Google extensions are more likely to be malicious.

 

[amirr]

Oh, thank you, I did not know that.

 

[Trooper]

For security reasons. I agree with @TairikuOkami

 

[Jonny Quest]

If an extension is turned off, can it still somehow be active in the background? I suppose if it is malicious, it can?

Otherwise, uninstalling them would probably be the safest thing to do. As this thread reminded me of doing that in Edge, reviewing my extensions, addons. I did uninstall a few in Chrome over the weekend.

 

[TairikuOkami]

If an extension is turned off, can it still somehow be active in the background?

It can probably still get updated, especially since it is a separate store, and there have been cases when hackers hijacked legitimate extensions and pushed an malicious update.

Chrome extentions are automatically updated even if Chrome autoupdate is disabled. Is that normal? - Chrome Enterprise & Education Community

Chrome Extension With Over One Million Users Hijacked to Serve Adware

The developer of a very popular Google Chrome extension has regained access over his tool after an unknown hacker had managed to hijack his developer account and push a malicious version that contained adware.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

 

[nickstar1]

I feel that Ublock orgin and Malwarebytes browser guard are a must with todays malvertising.

 

[Jonny Quest]

It can probably still get updated, especially since it is a separate store, and there have been cases when hackers hijacked legitimate extensions and pushed an malicious update.

Chrome extentions are automatically updated even if Chrome autoupdate is disabled. Is that normal? - Chrome Enterprise & Education Community

Chrome Extension With Over One Million Users Hijacked to Serve Adware

The developer of a very popular Google Chrome extension has regained access over his tool after an unknown hacker had managed to hijack his developer account and push a malicious version that contained adware.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Excellent reply and links. Thank you.

 

[Arequire]

I feel the same as @TairikuOkami. I don't really see the point of using Edge over Chrome if you're just going to establish a permanent network connection to Google anyway.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

I feel the same as @TairikuOkami. I don't really see the point of using Edge over Chrome if you're just going to establish a permanent network connection to Google anyway.

Compatibility and support is the answer. Microsoft will provide support for Edge but not Chrome. Enterprises will use Edge because of this. Though things have improved with Chrome being able to be controlled it by Group Policy somewhat, I think people and enterprises will still use M$ over Chrome because of support.

On the topic of extensions, less is more. uBlock Origin is all you need. And it's safe. Until MV3 is introduced then there is no reason to change browser to FireFox or one of its forks. With Firefox you can add CanvasBloicker and uMatrix and maybe CookieAutoDelete without any trouble, they are trusted extensions.

 

[amirr]

This is another answer:
hxxps://www.reddit.com/r/edge/comments/11fccd8/should_i_get_extensions_from_the_microsoft_edge/

"Some extensions on chrome store are not fully compatible, despite being installable. I'd advise to check out if they're offered on edge store too, and in that case look for the one with the most recent update. Most of times chrome version receives updates faster than edge's."

 

[Zero Knowledge]

I wouldn't take Reddit as gospel or the ultimate truth. It's good for a laugh every now and then but that's about it. Factual information? Nah, not really.


But that's just me

 

[amirr]

If an extension is turned off, can it still somehow be active in the background? I suppose if it is malicious, it can?

Otherwise, uninstalling them would probably be the safest thing to do. As this thread reminded me of doing that in Edge, reviewing my extensions, addons. I did uninstall a few in Chrome over the weekend.

FYI: You can turn off addons via: Extensity.

 

[oldschool]

I wouldn't take Reddit as gospel or the ultimate truth. It's good for a laugh every now and then but that's about it. Factual information? Nah, not really.


But that's just me

Indeed, it's about as reliable as Quora.

 

[amirr]

It makes me wonder why such addons like GitHub - benbuck/upshift: Source code for the Upshift extension to the Chrome browser. the developers don't make the dedicated Edge addon.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

It makes me wonder why such addons like GitHub - benbuck/upshift: Source code for the Upshift extension to the Chrome browser. the developers don't make the dedicated Edge addon.

Too niche, I guess anyway. Why waste time on something that will get 1000 downloads if that.

 

[amirr]

@Zero Knowledge I agree with you very much. I wasn't looking from your point of view. Very valid point.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Yeah amirr there is no point in maintaining a extension or app with so few users. You're not making money or a difference in people's lives from so few users, may as well go contribute to open-source projects for the respect of the community or go try bug/exploit hunting to earn money.

If the software/extension is good enough people will pay either subscription or donate. People vote with their wallets more than their heart or brain.

 

[Nikos751]

It's a matter of probability, if we talk about security
Infection vs addon highjacking.
How often a security related addon really threatens a user? Until now, privacy issues have mostly occurred with reputable addons, not security related.
How often your system is prone to threats while online? It's up to you, mostly.

It's also a matter or probability, if we talk about functionality.
Infection vs addon compatibility issue
Again, How often a security related addon really threatens a user? Until now, mostly privacy issues have occured with reputable addons, not security related.
How often a compatibility issue may arise? it can happen easily.

But, in fact, the people's most important issue with the "dangerous" protection software, is the need of feel of control. Many people do not like that they are under the control of third party entities (addons, security software etc), so they prefer to have the situation at their hands, despite the fact that they will be more vulnerable this way.
Others just need best compatibility and I can understand that, so they keep minimal setups.