Adobe Download Manager Installing Software Without Consent

"Not all is worth cheering about as Adobe turns 20," writes reader adeelarshad82, who excerpts from a story at PC Magazine's Security Watch: "Researcher Aviv Raff has found a problem in ADM (Adobe Download Manager) and the method through which it is delivered from adobe.com. The net effect of the problem is that a user can be tricked into downloading and installing software using ADM without actual consent. Tonight Adobe acknowledged the report and said they were working on the issue with Raff and NOS Microsystems, the company that wrote ADM."

Comments

Bonjour

[sopssa]

Bonjour is just as bad. It scans your LAN constantly, takes A LOT resources and provides nothing good. And it's installed without asking you along any Adobe product.

Re:Bonjour

[Icegryphon]

I don't see how this is off topic. Unless you are some Mac/iTunes Fanboy.
When you install a piece of software you should be warned of hitchhikers and be given the option to not install.
Bonjour is packaged with a few pieces of useless trash now.

Re:Bonjour

[Itninja]

I also dislike the opt-out Safari install that I have to remember every time I upgrade iTunes.

Re:Bonjour

[MonTemplar]

To be fair to Apple, they only did that the one time - and learnt their lesson *really* quickly! Now it shows up in Apple Software Update, but un-ticked.

Which is fine by me, as I don't have any need for Safari. Already have Firefox for day-to-day browsing, Chrome for testing, and IE for just remote access to work.

-MT.

Re:Bonjour

[MichaelJ]

What the heck are you talking about? Bonjour is a service discovery protocol (mDNS) server and client library. It doesn't pop up anything, and it certainly doesn't install software. If you have a complaint it's with either the Apple Software Update, or some other software update product.

Re:Bonjour

[Toonol]

I occasionally post a negative comment about Apple. Worse, I sometimes post a politically conservative comment. And, yet, my Karma has been excellent for years.

It may have something to do with (1) sometimes posting worthwhile comments and (2) not being a vulgar idiot.

Please consider doing either or both in the future.

Disable

[Itninja]

I noticed this a few days ago and had enough. I found the KB article the spells out how to disable and wrote it up here.

No surprise there....

[Corporate Troll]

I inherently distrust download managers. You don't need them. Just give me an http, ftp or (in some cases) torrent download and that's all I need. Download managers are not needed, they are additional fluff for nothing. It gets on my nerves they usually get forced down your throat and you need to jump through hoops on fire to get to a normal download.

Re:No surprise there....

[MightyMartian]

I not only distrust download managers, I don't see the fucking point. To my mind, the only reason any of these guys make them is so they can make back doors to stuff what you don't want with what you do. Naturally these download managers have the potential of being abused either by the company or by some third party exploiting them.

If I can't download the thing through FTP, HTTP or bittorrent, I'm not interested, period. There's no technical reason for download managers, and thus any company that uses them has some nefarious goal in mind.

Re:No surprise there....

[Hurricane78]

I can explain the point to you:

See, Linux/BSD systems have this nice thing called a ‘package manager”. And since all software is free, you essentially have a nice “app store”-like interface, where you can install everything (out of currently over 13,000 packages here on Gentoo) you like.

Then when you want to update things, you can just call one global update program, and be done with it. Everything that has an update available, will be updated. With tons of options on what you want to block, what you want to allow despite it being marked as unstable, etc, etc, etc.

After a while, when your rule set is stabilizing, and you routinely do those updates, you start to feel the natural need to automate it. (Unfortunately, most Windows users lack that need, since they are trained to use a PC like an appliance.) So you automate it.

Now of course, big companies get all wet or stiff down there, when they see such a system. But since there is no such thing for Windows, they try to imitate it with such a download manager. Badly.

But since everyone rolls his own thing, does not give you any control, and they don’t understand all aspects of package management anyway, you get a mess of tons of stupid background processes doing stupid (and sometimes useful) things without asking you.

This is a opportunity that Microsoft clearly missed. Sure, they have Windows Update, which is not that bad and does the job for Windows itself, plus some drivers. But they should have offered a real package manager, and allow others to integrate into it. That would have given them big plus points from companies and users.

And now we’re in the mess.
But hey: You can still make some room and install a beginner-friendly Linux distribution, to go to, when you start pulling hairs again. :)

Re:No surprise there....

[westlake]

If I can't download the thing through FTP, HTTP or bittorrent, I'm not interested, period.

You aren't the market. The non technical end user is the market. The user who isn't even aware that his PC has an FTP client - and won't install one short of being forced to do so at gun point. The geek lost this battle along about AOL 3.0 for Windows.

DLM? No thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

I've always distrusted Adobe simply for pushing the Google Toolbar, or these days McAfee. An easy way to get Reader or Flash without getting stuck with their stupid and unnecessary DLM is to cancel the first download, and then "click here if your download doesn't start". That way you only get the installer you wanted, not all the other crap they're trying to push on you.

A minor nit

[cpt kangarooski]

Adobe is about 28 this year. It's Photoshop that is 20.

Adobe also uses Akamai Download Manager

[Anonymous Coward]

That's two strikes now for Adobe. As TFA says, Adobe also uses the Akamai Download Manager for downloads from the Adobe Store. This thing installs itself and runs *forever*, not just for the download you paid for in the store.

It has a P2P mode where client machines (that's *you*, sucker) distribute the downloaded software using your bandwidth in the background. Is there an icon in the taskbar letting you know? Nope, it runs silent and deep (it does show up as Akamai something-or-other in Process Explorer).

It's like running BitTorrent and donating your bandwidth to Akamai and their friends. Except not on purpose.

But hey, you probably clicked through a EULA that you didn't read, so it's all on you right?

Adobe Reader 9 Installer

[cvtan]

There is a folder sitting on my desktop called Adobe Reader 9 Installer (>100meg). Can I get rid of this? I don't know what is going on with Adobe. The pdf reader used to be a lean secure program and now it's turned into some huge hideous beast that tries to sing and dance. Sigh.

Re:Free software

[couchslug]

"Anyway to get them for "force" a free download of PhotoShop?"

No, but blocking the proper entries in your hosts file as someone might do who didn't want Adobe warez "phoning home" would take care of unwanted "updates" nicely.