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Annoying 'Open PDF In Edge' Default Option Puts Windows 10 Users At Risk (softpedia.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the set-as-default dept.

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Softpedia: Microsoft fixed today a serious security flaw in the Windows PDF Library, a standard library used by Windows 10 to open and render PDF files, embedded by default in Edge. Exploiting this flaw allows attackers to execute code on the user's machine and take over the device, just by tricking a user into accessing a PDF hosted online via Edge. Since Edge is not only the default browser in Windows 10, but also the default PDF reader, this flaw puts countless of users that have not changed those settings at risk. Even worse, Microsoft has the annoying habit of resetting your personal app preferences once in a blue moon, always reverting Edge as the default browser and the default app to open PDF files.

7 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft is relentless in being obnoxious lately by pf100 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't want to use Edge and I want my settings to stick. Why are they obviously purposefully reverting my settings? I go out of my way to change a normal default setting and MS switches it back. Many times this has happened. There's no excuse for this horseshit.

  2. Re:Microsoft is relentless in being obnoxious late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because fuck you, that's why. - S. Nadella

  3. Microsoft: convenience over security by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...Since Edge is not only the default browser in Windows 10, but also the default PDF reader...

    This is so wrong on so many levels.

    .
    But fundamentally, why, oh, why, is the browser being promoted to being a viewer of non-HTML documents?

    Convenience over security still seems to be the rule at Microsoft.

    Has Microsoft learned nothing in the past two decades?

    And Windows 10 was supposed to be the paradigm of security for Windows....

  4. alternative by bloodhawk · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yep I am sure it would be much safer people switching to the more preferred and common alternative of Adobe Reader. that never has vulnerabilities.

  5. Re:Microsoft is relentless in being obnoxious late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Easy: it's ALL about money. What you want or need is *completely* irrelevant. Every update, they'll revert the privacy settings to spy on you more, they'll reinstall the metro/whatever apps you uninstalled because you WILL use the appy apps! Then they reset the defaults to those appy apps. All that, because they'll make 30% cut of the appy app sales. Now, be a good consumer and keep using Windows 10! It's been going in that direction steadily for 5 years (since Windows 8) and it'll keep getting worse. MS no longer cares to even pretend they care about what people want or need. Users are there for the milking and that is all.

  6. Re:Microsoft is relentless in being obnoxious late by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    MS is just doing what it thinks is the, uhm, needful.

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    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  7. Re:At risk of what?? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Edge is a steaming pile of shit. It has to be the worst browser by a major software developer in 20 years.

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.