Mozilla to prompt Firefox users on Windows with old versions of Adobe Reader and Flash, Silverlight

Update on October 11: Mozilla details how old Adobe Reader, Flash, and Silverlight plugins will be blocked in Firefox 17

Mozilla today announced it will soon start prompting Firefox users to upgrade select old plugins. This will only affect Windows users, and three plugins: Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, and Microsoft Silverlight.

Mozilla says Firefox users will “soon see a notification urging them to update” when they visit a web page that uses the plugins. Unfortunately, Mozilla did not share a date for when this will start happening, what the message will look like, nor which versions it will specifically be targeting.

The organization did explain, however, why it is taking this step. It’s all about protecting the user:

While you are free to ignore the warnings and continue using your old plugins, we strongly recommend that you go to our Plugin Check page and update them as soon as possible. Old plugin version can cause stability problems and are potentially insecure. Keeping them up to date will ensure that you have a great Firefox experience.

We have contacted Mozilla about this announcement to find out more information. The Next Web will update you if and when we hear back.

Update at 5:10PM EST: No dice. “At this time, Mozilla does not have additional information to share beyond the blog post content,” a Mozilla spokesperson told The Next Web in a statement. “We’ll be sure to update you once we have additional details to share regarding the timing, version(s) impacted and visual look of the message.”

Update on October 11: Mozilla details how old Adobe Reader, Flash, and Silverlight plugins will be blocked in Firefox 17

Image credit: Philippe Ramakers