Add extra warning to "Installing add-ons" section of User Guide by Qchristensen · Pull Request #16510 · nvaccess/nvda

Qchristensen · 2024-05-09T02:53:02Z

Following discussion on #16486, the purpose of this PR is to add more warning / ways of verifying add-ons to the add-on section of the User Guide. This can then be referred to from the quick start guide changed proposed in #16486.

Link to issue number:

Summary of the issue:

Intention is to expand on the warning of the risks of add-ons mentioned in the user guide, and offer some suggestions for users to reassure themselves about the author of add-ons prior to installing.

(It should perhaps also be noted, there is no new or additional risk with add-ons than there ever has been. We just want to be sure users are aware of what add-ons are and can do before installing them).

Description of user facing changes

Update user guide with additional paragraph of information.

Description of development approach

Testing strategy:

Known issues with pull request:

Code Review Checklist:

Documentation:
- Change log entry
- User Documentation
- Developer / Technical Documentation
- Context sensitive help for GUI changes
Testing:
- Unit tests
- System (end to end) tests
- Manual testing
UX of all users considered:
- Speech
- Braille
- Low Vision
- Different web browsers
- Localization in other languages / culture than English
API is compatible with existing add-ons.
Security precautions taken.

Added a new paragraph warning about add-ons and list of ways to verify add-ons to user guide.

Adriani90 · 2024-05-09T10:08:04Z

@Qchristensen please also see #16316.

Co-authored-by: Sean Budd <sean@nvaccess.org>

Co-authored-by: Cyrille Bougot <cyrille.bougot2@laposte.net>

Qchristensen · 2024-06-12T02:55:46Z

@@ -3387,6 +3387,14 @@ It is very important to only install add-ons from sources you trust.
 The functionality of add-ons is unrestricted inside NVDA.
 This could include accessing your personal data or even the entire system.



Suggested change

Add-ons are scanned by [Virus Total](https://www.virustotal.com/), however, this only detects known malware at submission time.

did you want to commit this somewhere?

I think it would be better to part of the previous paragraph

I initially had it at the end of that paragraph, but just reading it again as a whole:

"Just because an add-on is available in the NVDA Add-on Store, does not mean that it has been approved or vetted by NV Access or anyone else. It is very important to only install add-ons from sources you trust. The functionality of add-ons is unrestricted inside NVDA. This could include accessing your personal data or even the entire system."

Perhaps between "... approved or vetted by NV Access or anyone else." and "It is very important to only install add-ons from sources you trust..." would be better?

that makes sense to me

Co-authored-by: Sean Budd <sean@nvaccess.org>

seanbudd · 2025-09-23T06:49:30Z

Closing in favour of #18974

Replaces #16510 and #16316 Related discussion #16241 Summary of the issue: Add-ons have been scanned by VirusTotal, but there is no easy way for a user to use this information to make an informed decision before installing an add-on Our warning about the safety/security of add-ons could include additional information on researching the safety of add-ons Description of user facing changes: A new action for add-ons in the add-on store to view the scan results of an add-on Added information in the details panel of an add-on: summary of scan results, and scan URL Updated the user guide Description of developer facing changes: None Description of development approach: Created a new VirusTotalScanResults structure to capture results from the add-on store metadata JSON

Add extra warning to "Installing add-ons" section of User Guide

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Added a new paragraph warning about add-ons and list of ways to verify add-ons to user guide.

Qchristensen mentioned this pull request May 9, 2024

Add section on add-on store to the Quick Start Guide in the User Guide #16486

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Add section on add-on store to the Quick Start Guide in the User Guide #16553

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seanbudd modified the milestones: 2024.3, 2024.4 Jun 19, 2024

seanbudd added the blocked/needs-internal-fix label Jul 15, 2024

SaschaCowley added the blocked label Aug 9, 2024

seanbudd modified the milestones: 2024.4, 2025.1 Aug 15, 2024

seanbudd modified the milestones: 2025.1, 2025.2 Jan 22, 2025

SaschaCowley removed this from the 2025.2 milestone Jun 17, 2025

seanbudd mentioned this pull request Sep 23, 2025

Add VirusTotal scan results to add-on details #18974

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		@@ -3387,6 +3387,14 @@ It is very important to only install add-ons from sources you trust.
		The functionality of add-ons is unrestricted inside NVDA.
		This could include accessing your personal data or even the entire system.


	Add-ons are scanned by [Virus Total](https://www.virustotal.com/), however, this only detects known malware at submission time.

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Qchristensen commented May 9, 2024

Link to issue number:

Summary of the issue:

Description of user facing changes

Description of development approach

Testing strategy:

Known issues with pull request:

Code Review Checklist:

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Adriani90 commented May 9, 2024

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