As a non-techie, where/how can I find out if software is safe?

I’m a fan of FOSS and reasonable privacy with data. I also often look for and install software on my computers for random tasks as they come up. Today, when I was looking to install an extension to Firefox called Wikipedia-EN that helps me search Wikipedia by highlighting a word, the Mozilla page for the extension states:

This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing.

As someone that is not educated in programming or perpetually current on tech news, what can I do to assess the safety of this and other software? Is there a site that transparently evaluates software and publishes its findings?

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@marcos
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-2•8 days ago
Yep. That’s the answer. That’s all the information the OP has available.

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