Why Mozilla Did This:
1.The core rationale behind placing an executable stub (firefox.exe) directly on the desktop instead of a traditional .lnk shortcut is aimed at cloud migration and user retention (especially for Windows 11 users syncing their profiles via Microsoft OneDrive):The OneDrive Problem: When users migrate to a new PC or reinstall Windows, cloud profile syncs often carry over desktop shortcut files. Historically, clicking a standard .lnk shortcut on a fresh machine would result in a "File not found" error because the actual application binary wasn't installed yet, causing frustration.
2. Security and Usability Concerns:Your security intuition is entirely correct and mirrors concerns raised by many system administrators and power users when the feature rolled out:DLL Hijacking / Directory Vulnerabilities: Having an executable sitting directly on a user-writable desktop environment—especially one that everyday users might confuse with a benign shortcut—breaks standard security mental models. If an unauthorized script or process drops a malicious DLL into the user's desktop folder (or if search-order hijacking takes advantage of it), it opens up potential vectors.
You really want to do this?
