05 October 2009, 09:10

Plug-in service to protect Mozilla browser - Update

The new Mozilla Plug-in Finder checks more plug-ins The Mozilla Foundation has released a new Plug-in Finder Service on its website. The service checks plug-ins installed in the Mozilla browser to make sure they are the latest version. If a newer version is available, the service recommends an update which users can install with a mouse click. The new service is intended to keep browser plug-ins up to date to quickly close any security holes.

The predecessor of the new service only checked the Adobe Flash plug-in for currency. The PFS2 open source server also checks plug-ins for Adobe Reader, QuickTime, Windows Media Player, the Java version and various others. The source code for the server and of the JavaScript client can be viewed online. Firefox 3.6 apparently simplifies the check by providing additional information about installed plug-ins to the service via JavaScript.

Update - 14 October - Mozilla have now made the Plug-in Finder Service available from the main Mozilla site.

See also