When checking my wifes computer recently, I noted, to my surprise, that it had McAfee security scanner installed since a couple of days.
I asked her if she had knowingly installed it, but she answered that it “just appeared by itself, and she actually planned to ask me what to do about it”.
So, I uninstalled it, since we’re happy users of another solution.
But today, I suddenly got to learn where it came from.
On my own computer, I usually, I browse internet with Opera. But for certain situations I also employ MSIE and FF.
Firefox alerted me that it’s time to update the installed “Adobe reader helper”. Fine, I followed the link, which lead to a page on Adobes site, which installed a small application “Adobe downloadhelp” (or similar, don’t recall the exact name).
And then, this downloader popped up with two queued actions: Adobe Reader (ok) and yes… “McAfee”.
In other words, without asking for my consent Adobe just runs ahead and installs McAfee.
I don’t regard McAfee as malware, but I still don’t think it’s Adobe’s call, what programs I want to install on my computer.
Do I need to say I uninstalled that downloader? And the PDF browser helper.
Next, I want to get rid of as much as possible of Adobe’s products.
Any suggestions?
What free alternatives will help me to read pdf files? … and in the browsers?
What about flash etc.? Are there any alternatives?
