Adobe Reader X

[Nergal]

Hey all, Hazel Usually posts these, and she may have this one to but I didn't see it.

 

Adobe Pushed out Adobe Reader X (10) and it seems the Reader 9.4 does not see this upgrade. Figured I'd let y'all know

 

Direct Download Here ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/10.x/10.0.0/en_US/

[pwillener]

See http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html for some information on what's new in Adobe Reader X.

[Nergal]

Sandbox (I just like saying SaaaaaandBox) (New Security Measure Reader employs )

 

However

 

[The] devil is in the design and implementation. Protected Mode is a surgical sandbox implementation targeting really the most egregious vulnerabilities in a few core components, namely Reader?s renderer and its Javascript engine. Protected Mode will improve the security of Reader against certain types of attacks ? those attacks that exploit the rendering engine and attempt to either install malware or monitor user keystrokes. Adobe engineers themselves enumerate Protected Mode limitations, including:

 

?

◦Protected Mode will not prevent unauthorized read access to the file system or registry.

◦Protected Mode will not restrict network access.

◦Protected Mode will not prevent reading or writing to the clip board.

 

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/adobe-reader-x-sandbox-leaves-residual-risk/7776

[Andavari]

So in other words "Protected Mode" isn't 100% protective. I still won't allow PDF's to load directly from a web browser, they get downloaded and malware scanned first!

[Aethec]

How much disk space does it eat?

[Nergal]

How much disk space does it eat?

156 MB on my XP SP3

[barky]

i've had to remove readerX from a lowish spec pc -- used up far too much memory & slowed whole computer down -- have installed foxit instead

[redhawk]

I think I'll hold back on Abode Reader X until they learn to code first.

Still loving Foxit though, I wonder why Adobe couldn't make something just as compact and fast??

 

Richard S.

[Aethec]

156 MB on my XP SP3

 

That's literally a hundred times more than SumatraPDF...does Adobe Reader make coffee, too ? 150+ MB for a PDF reader, even though there's a JavaScript engine inside, is waaaaaaaay too much.

[Andavari]

150+ MB for a PDF reader

I haven't used Adobe Reader for a while now, however last time they forced Adobe Air into the installation with no means to opt-out, that alone added to the heftiness. You're correct 150+ MB for a PDF reader is ridiculously absurd.

[Aethec]

I remember Adobe also forcing "Acrobat.com" with no opt-out, but I never understood what it actually does.

[Nergal]

Actually with X neither Air Nor .com are forced or even optioned. The size, probably, relates to the sandboxing. However, never did I intend everyone to go out and get the Adobe product, only to protect those people who do use Reader from any vulerabilities in 9.x as 9.x does not report needing an update to X (just as 8.x did not to 9.x).

 

This topic is spinning a bit into a I use X program instead of Y program, this sort of conversation detracts (IMHO) from the point mentioned above.

 

Honestly, I welcome suggestions of alternative programs, however it was not my purpose to swing others to using the official Adobe product.

[pwillener]

i've had to remove readerX from a lowish spec pc -- used up far too much memory & slowed whole computer down -- have installed foxit instead

Reader 8.2 runs very nicely on my old Windows 2000 machine; no need for bloody Foxit that forces spyware on computers without any opt-out or uninstaller!

 

But Reader X works perfect on XP-SP3 systems and up.

[rridgely]

Adobe reader has come a long way recently.

I switched to it because foxit would just not open files in my browser(firefox) on some of my school websites no matter what I did. Adobe opens just as fast as any other program now(at least on my pc). Hard drives are so big now it seems a little funny to be worried about 150mb.

[Aethec]

I'm not worried about losing 150 MB, I'm worried about what they did to make it weight 150 MB when SumatraPDF is 1.5 MB and reads "normal" (no forms, JavaScript or other uncommon things) PDFs just fine.

[rridgely]

It has a lot more features than those programs.

One good feature adobe has is that you can add comments to files and share them with others, along with highlighting text, and taking image snapshots. The sticky note feature is quite cool and was actually really useful when I had to use some pdf scans of books for a paper.

 

You may not need these features, but they are quite useful if you do. Not to mention like I said before, if you don't want to have tons of windows open(I don't) adobe seems to be the only one that works in my browser all the time. Sometimes I couldn't even get certain files because there was no download link without having adobe reader open the file in the browser first(stupid design for the site, but I needed those files).

 

I used to hate adobe reader a few years ago, but they have done a lot to improve it and it actually is quite good now. Sure its bigger than other programs but sometimes its worth it.(to me anyway)

[Aethec]

Actually, not being able to read PDFs from your browser has a good side : It prevents exploits targeting Adobe Reader directly from your browser.

It is quite easy to insert a small iframe containing a malicious PDF if you have admin access to a website.

 

By the way, does anyone know if the PDF plugin for Firefox is also sandboxed like the main program? I know IE's and Chrome's are, but...

[harrypinto11]

It is the only PDF file viewer that can open and interact with all types of PDF content, including forms and multimedia. Adobe Reader X for Android is available in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish languages and many other. Adobe Reader X Makes PDF Files Safer.