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Adobe Reader comes with a payload! Time to get rid of it.

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by tobif 1 view

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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?

6 replies

by nicknielsen

I've got Foxit Reader installed and have set both IE and FF to "Ask me" whenever I click on a link to a pdf document.

Unfortunately, I can't get rid of Adobe. We do our time accounting on-line and get our pay statements the same way. ADP uses scripting to access the files and display them in a browser-embedded viewer; it won't work with the Firefox Foxit plug-in. If I don't have Adobe Reader installed, I don't have the Adobe plug-in on my laptop. If I don't have the plug-in, I can't get my pay stubs. Sux.

by charliespencer

We switched to ADP at the first of the year. I have a couple of users who don't see their paystubs, just a red X where the image should be. ADP usually attributes this to a conflict between Acrobat and Adobe Reader, and usually recommends I remove and reinstall. This has had mixed results.

I too use Foxit at the house, and don't open a .PDF without saving it first.

by tink!

if it doesn't give you the option to opt out of it. I have to constantly remind my SO to uncheck checkboxes when he updates anything on the computer.

I noticed the other day he has bing toolbar (sigh) which I'm sure came from an update of something. Quite annoying. The kids too, know to uncheck the checkboxes when installing games and etc.

by robo_dev

it's 'pre-checked', so you have to scroll down on the page an de-select it. That's a major annoyance.

Even in a corporate environment, using McAfee, the brain-dead installer installs this 'adver-ware' version on a machine with McAfee VirusScan Enterprise installed on it.

by dougjbarnes

I agree with "robo_dev 11th Feb 2011"
Banks are particularly bad, you HAVE to have the latest reader, evenn though it's a simple form that would work in Reader 5 to 7.
Bloatware in excess. Trouble is many sites unless you download the latest bloatware you can't get thee da***d forms
CAn't they see it's absurd?

by slayer_

I tried this out on a VM that was mostly decked out with security apps and such.
It popped up on Avira as an auto launching program and blocked.
Teatimer also blocked the registry entries for startup.

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