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Adobe Acrobat Toolbar Worse than Malware?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the even-the-reader-is-an-eyesore dept.

Phr3n3tik writes "Adobe Acrobat has long included a toolbar plugin to automate PDF Making from Office Products. Those who found the toolbar an eyesore, or just used it infrequently could always hide it from view. Not so in their new versions, (6, and 7 apparently.) Their new take on the PDFMaker toolbar is getting some users riled up, since it is harder to Move/Hide/Delete/Uninstall this new toolbar than many forms of malware!"

7 of 504 comments (clear)

  1. Versions by AzBats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm trying to stick with 5 since it works and the other versions are getting too feature rich.

    --
    A Brit in Tallahassee.
  2. OS X by Mrs.+Grundy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the nicest features of OS X is the ability to turn just about any darn thing into a PDF. Rather than spend the money on this just go out and buy a Mac. Of course you can't turn this feature off in OS X, so maybe my OS is malware too.

    1. Re:OS X by nunchux · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Acrobat does have features that the "print" funtion doesn't. Lots of them, actually. One that I use frequently is the ability to merge many small documents in a binder to create a larger PDF. It's a clunky program, far from intuitive and a bit of a pain in the ass to use but Acrobat is essential for creating professional PDFs.

      Also, OSX PDFs aren't print quality... They're low resolution and the colors get wacky. If you're dealing with graphics that are going to be printed you need to export the PDF from Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark etc., not simply hit the "print" button.

      Not that OSX PDF creation isn't a Godsend... I use it all the time, for example it's a great way to save a web page. But it doesn't replace the higher-end document creation programs.

  3. Worse than malware? by s4m7 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How can you tell in the MS office suite? The whole thing's got so many sliding panels, animated dogs saying "it looks like you're trying to get some work done." and other crap too numerous to list... I can't imagine one more toolbar being noticable.

    --
    This comment is fully compliant with RFC 527.
  4. If you chose to install it... by TJ_Phazerhacki · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I guess youre stuck with it.

    On the other hand, it really shouldn't be this difficult to remove valid programs - MS should really step in here and mandate a total-removal tool. Something that wipes ALL THE BLOODY FILES and icons from the HDD.

    Of course, unless its IE, MS has never really believed in standards for the good of the end user - just for the good of the bottom line (WMA anyone???)

    --
    Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
  5. Adobe or Microsoft? by lynx_user_abroad · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Why should Adobe be held to any different standard than Microsoft? If we've decided that Microsoft can't (at least in the U.S.) be forced to remove IE from Windows (even after they have been proven to posess market "monopoly" power) then why should we now demand that an "integral part of Adobe's product" be removable, hidable or whatever.

    Or maybe it was a mistake to allow Microsoft to get away with that?

    --

    The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.

  6. Re:Adobe-Yahoo customer apathy connection by NormAtHome · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yep, saw that... if you're not paying attention after the Adobe downloader finishes getting the three different install files (Adobe Photo Album, Yahoo Toolbar and of course the Acrobat Reader) and you answer Yes suddenly you've got stuff you never wanted or needed on your system and it's hard to get rid of.

    Someone else mentioned that Acrobat products after 5 have sucked bad and from what I've seen I'd have to agree.

    This is really getting out of hand, next thing you know there'll be sneakwrap / EULA crap saying as a condition of using "our" software you must install our adware / spyware / malware so that you can be bombarded by advertising while we monitor what you do with our software on your computer.. oh and by the way by installing our software you're computer now belongs to us..