Tabs to the Front extension for Chrome disappeared for me

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All of a sudden in Google Chrome when I right clicked on a link and chose “Open link in new tab”, the focus remained on the current tab and did not switch to the new tab. Very unhappy about that.

In extensions, there now appeared a new extension “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” which I had never heard tell of.

Apparently, the extension “Tabs to the Front” I had been using for many years was replaced by this “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” which does not have the same functionality.

There is a newer extension “Tabs to Front V2” which is a replace for the older “Tabs to the Front” extension I had been using.

I find it disturbing that “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” was silently substituted for the “Tabs to the Front” extension which I had relied upon so much over the years.

I am NOT liking the push of “AI”. Am I the only one unaware of this sleight of hand trickery?

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Hi,

You just have to install “Tabs to the Front v2”

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I just noticed this as well. Thanks for the tip on tabs to the front v2. This is not common and most likely is against Chrome extension policy. I removed it and reported it as suspicious to Google. I recommend you do the same, and eventually the system will flag it if enough people report it.

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kevinma

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Same here. Tabs to the Front is such a normal part of my browser use, that I forgot I was even using a plugin.
Can’t wait to hear what this is all about.
Screenshot: https://app.screencast.com/7taFoYr9QvBbN

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Very uncool. Also shines sone very bright lights on the massive auto-update vulnerability in chrome extensions….

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kevinma

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I did remove the “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” extension that had silently and stealthily substituted itself for the “Tabs to the Front” extension without my knowledge, permission, or awareness. I left feedback to Google and also wanted to leave a review as others affected had done, but Google won’t let me leave a review unless I re-add “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” which I will not do since the stealth substitution smacks of bad behavior.

I suppose I am naive, but I am shocked that something like this was allowed to happen (welcome to the real world). This should scare everybody.

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Firefox has a setting:

“When you open a link, image or media in a new tab, switch to it immediately”

Have never understood why Google Chrome does not have an equivalent setting as reliance on an extension to do that seemingly is perhaps less secure. Or so that was true in this case.

It seems like such an obvious and basic setting to have. I have always believed the goal would be to minimize the browser extensions used as they may provide an avenue  for those with bad intent.

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Exactly the same around here.
“Tabs to the front” has turned into absolutely dubious “AI Tab Optimizer Plus”.
Did you see the name of the provider? “Great Chrome Extensions”. Too suspicious.
So I have deduced scenario like below.

Because “Tabs to the front” had a very large number of users, it attracted the attention of malicious attackers.
and,
(a) The author’s account was compromised and used to distribute malware.
(b) The author was offered to sell the account at a high price by the attacker, and unfortunately he accepted.

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ephthal wrote:

Exactly the same around here.
“Tabs to the front” has turned into absolutely dubious “AI Tab Optimizer Plus”.
Did you see the name of the provider? “Great Chrome Extensions”. Too suspicious.
So I have deduced scenario like below.

Because “Tabs to the front” had a very large number of users, it attracted the attention of malicious attackers.
and,
(a) The author’s account was compromised and used to distribute malware.
(b) The author was offered to sell the account at a high price by the attacker, and unfortunately he accepted.

One of the one-star reviews confirms the latter…

Update April 9, 2024: I sent a message to the original author on LinkedIn. He indicates that he sold the extension to another party about a month ago. He no longer uses it himself, and he agreed it looked suspicious. He uninstalled it himself when it surprised him with the new permission prompt.

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castiel

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The reason AI Tab Optimizer Plus automatically replaced Tabs to the Front is because it has the exact same extension ID (hiembaoomcehoiehhdldabfgnmphappc) and the version was changed from 2.6.0 to 2.6.5 so Chrome auto-updated it to “newer” version.

ephthal wrote:

Because “Tabs to the front” had a very large number of users, it attracted the attention of malicious attackers. and,

(a) The author’s account was compromised and used to distribute malware.
(b) The author was offered to sell the account at a high price by the attacker, and unfortunately he accepted.

Here’s the original creator‘s post from 6 hours ago in the reviews section of AI Tab Optimizer Plus.

Original author here – I had to sell this earlier in the year (2024), for several reasons, this is no longer associated with me nor is it Open Source any more. I cannot say anything about content or features (but no longer use it myself after the update).

Also, some of the existing positive reviews have been changed to 1-star.

Lets hope Google quickly jumps on this and deletes it from the store.

Just FYI, I had the same extension installed in Edge and Opera and had to uninstall the new version and replace it with Tabs to Front v2.

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castiel

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Yeah, I found the “AI” inclusion in name and “Great Chrome Extensions” as suspicious – can not be certain, but felt like “bait”. In my opinion, Google has a huge hole in security of its extensions by allowing an existing extension id to be used by some other extension. How can Google expect trust in the integrity of the extensions it offers when stuff like this happens?

As always, developers are more interested in shiny new things such as “AI” rather than improving basic core functionality – like integrity of extensions offered or even providing a Chrome browser setting like Firefox does that allows choice to automatically switch to the new tab.

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Despite the number (almost 30) of negative one star reviews and negative comments since April 8 2024, I see no signs that Google has taken heed and taken any action to the surprise substitution of “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” Chrome extension for the intended “Tabs to the Front” that folks have used for many years.

Given the sheer number of negative ratings and negative comments, I am not sure “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” has done itself any favors. Quite the contrary. There appears to be the expected backlash at the tactic used.

It is still my opinion (and the opinion of many others) that Google needed to take some action on this situation.

It is very scary when a completely different extension can take the place of another different extension via auto update and without warning or notice. The original extension should have been retired, not replaced by something completely different. The “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” needed to have its own distinct and unique extension id.

Removal of “AI Tab Optimizer Plus” and switching to “Tabs to Front v2” seems to be working as the right path to take.

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NaNoNyMouse

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Adding this about 11 months after the initial flurry of activity on this topic:

Firefox includes a user accessible option: Settings | Tabs | “When you open a link, image or media in a new tab, switch to it immediately”

To obtain this functionality in a Chromium-based browser, users must install an extension.

“Tabs to Front v2 (2.2)” is an extension that does this job. “Tabs to Front v2” ≠ “Tabs to the Front”. Just sayin’

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