loquin
Well-Known Member
Early last month, it was reported in security and computing trade journals that the Adobe PDF viewer and Adobe Acrobat both had a bug, which allowed viruses to be installed on your computer when you opened an infected pdf or flash file. Later it was discovered that Adobe's flash player also had the bug.
It was also reported that hackers (the bad kind,) were racing to get as many infected PDF & Flash files as possible posted on the internet before Adobe fixed the problems with their programs.
A fix was supposed to take a week or so to release (apx. 15 Jan.) Adobe has just released the critical updates.
The flash reader should automatically download the updated program and install it on your computer the next time you restart your computer after the fix was released - you will have to click the 'Yes' button when it asks if it's OK to download and install the update though.
However, with Adobe Acrobat and Adobe's PDF viewer, you may need to manually request the latest updates. (You can request that the viewer automatically check for updates, and optionally automatically download them, on a weekly or monthly basis though - With Adobe 9, this is configured under the Edit, Preferences menu, then select the Updater option.)
Below are a couple of screen-shots of the update process for Adobe PDF Viewer 9. Other versions, or Adobe Acrobat, should be very similar in the way you check/install updates..
First, select the Help, Check for Updates menu, then, if updates are found, click the button telling adobe to download/install the update. The updater may notify you that it needs to shut down the reader to perform the install.
After the update has been installed, do the Check For Updates, Download/Install Updates cycle again, until there are no more updates to be installed. (If it's been a while since you did this, there may be several updates sitting in the queue, waiting to be installed. (Later updates may require an earlier update to be installed...)
I would recommend that you make sure the latest updates are installed. There's a lot of malicious software out there...
It was also reported that hackers (the bad kind,) were racing to get as many infected PDF & Flash files as possible posted on the internet before Adobe fixed the problems with their programs.
A fix was supposed to take a week or so to release (apx. 15 Jan.) Adobe has just released the critical updates.
The flash reader should automatically download the updated program and install it on your computer the next time you restart your computer after the fix was released - you will have to click the 'Yes' button when it asks if it's OK to download and install the update though.
However, with Adobe Acrobat and Adobe's PDF viewer, you may need to manually request the latest updates. (You can request that the viewer automatically check for updates, and optionally automatically download them, on a weekly or monthly basis though - With Adobe 9, this is configured under the Edit, Preferences menu, then select the Updater option.)
Below are a couple of screen-shots of the update process for Adobe PDF Viewer 9. Other versions, or Adobe Acrobat, should be very similar in the way you check/install updates..
First, select the Help, Check for Updates menu, then, if updates are found, click the button telling adobe to download/install the update. The updater may notify you that it needs to shut down the reader to perform the install.
After the update has been installed, do the Check For Updates, Download/Install Updates cycle again, until there are no more updates to be installed. (If it's been a while since you did this, there may be several updates sitting in the queue, waiting to be installed. (Later updates may require an earlier update to be installed...)
I would recommend that you make sure the latest updates are installed. There's a lot of malicious software out there...
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