Whenever I use yahoo mail or reading emails on yahoo mail, I keep getting the npctrl dll pop-up and it asks me if I want to install this add-on. I do not know what this is. Am I infected or is it just some advertising?
The npctrl.dll file is a dll file is associated with Microsoft Silverlight. It is an add-on that is declared safe to use by Microsoft. What you can do is either add this add-on to your browser or just ignore it till it goes away on its own.
People who are seeing this are mostly worried about whether or not this is a safe add-on. Let me remind you that these are indeed safe. My advice to you is that only add this to your browser if you are going to use it. There is no point in increasing the burden on your browser unnecessarily.
The “npctrl.dll” file is part of Microsoft Silverlight and you normally get this pop-up on Windows Internet Explorer. If you keep getting this pop-up, that means you are using Windows Internet Explorer and that you have a problem with Microsoft Silverlight. To fix the problem, just update Microsoft Silverlight. Download and install the latest Microsoft Silverlight.
The latest version at the moment is Silverlight 5. It supports Windows 7, Windows 8.x, and Windows 10. It requires 1.6 GHz or faster processor and 512 MB RAM. Note: Google Chrome is no longer supported because of browser limitations. When installing Silverlight, make sure you are using an administrator account. It will not install on non-admin or limited user accounts.
Microsoft will be ending support for Microsoft Silverlight 5 on October 2021. Modern browsers no longer support Silverlight as all of them have already transitioned to HTML5. Mozilla Firefox ended support for Silverlight in March 2017 while Google Chrome in September 2015. Microsoft Edge does not support any Silverlight plug-in. Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework developed for running internet applications.
It shares many usages and features with Adobe Flash Player. Microsoft discontinued the development of Silverlight in 2013 but it continues to regularly roll out bug fixes and patches.
