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Adobe Launches Sandboxed Reader X
CWmike writes "Adobe on Wednesday released Reader X, the next version of its popular software that includes a 'sandbox' designed to protect users from PDF attacks. Protected Mode is Adobe's response to experts' demands that the company beef up the security of Reader, which is aggressively targeted by attackers. Calling the sandbox a 'new advancement' in protective measures, Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of security and privacy, admitted it will not stymie every attack. But he argued it will help. 'Even if exploitable security vulnerabilities are found by an attacker, Adobe Reader Protected Mode will help prevent the attacker from writing files or installing malware on potential victims' computers,' Arkin said in a post to a company blog late on Thursday."
Evince works just fine here!
Though it's not linked anywhere, cut-down installs of Adobe Reader can always be obtained from http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/enterprise/
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/10.x/10.0.0/
A few language options available, and EXE or MSI format.
and so far hasn't been subject to any major attacks/flaws.
Sadly not true; it was vulnerable to the /launch "vulnerability/feature" as well as a couple of others. Even Sumatra has had one.
Foxit is fine for home assuming you remember to correctly untick all the adware options. But in a work environment (I work at a printers) on average i'd say Foxit incorrectly renders PDFs about 5% of the time, leading to support calls whereas Adobe Readers incorrect rendering is pretty non-existent. (I actually tried switching work over to Foxit a while ago, nothing but support hassle from incorrectly rendered PDFs)
I'm not defending Adobe here because I think their reader is a bloated pos, but if you're going to recommend a third party PDF viewer then Sumatra is the best, it's light weight, loads damn near instantly and doesn't include a JS engine side stepping a lot of security issues.
Also, on the major attacks/flaws thing. Actually Foxit has had some seriously bad security issues, you need only google for "foxit reader security holes" or look on explot-db to see them.
There is actually an EASY way to get around this, as well as for apps like CCleaner that try to add crap. Just go to Ninite and check what you want installed. They have over 90 of the most common apps and you can even suggest more to add at the bottom of the page. They have made it a total unattended install with NO TOOLBARS on ANY app they have there, be it Foxit, CCleaner, Java, etc. It also makes setting up a new PC with all the basics as simple as "check box, run installer, done" so enjoy!
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.