This is an update to the article I wrote on April 23, available at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/04/time-to-get-rid-of-adobe-reader.html:
Adobe Systems has now acknowledged that all versions of its Adobe Reader, including editions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux, contain at least one, and possibly two, critical vulnerabilities.
"All currently supported shipping versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat, [Versions] 9.1, 8.1.4 and 7.1.1 and earlier, are vulnerable to this issue," said Adobe's David Lenoe said in a blog entry at http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt.
Adobe said it will patch Reader and Acrobat, but Lenoe offered no timetable for the fixes.
I had to chuckle at the below quote, especially the 2nd half.
I patched my Adobe Reader years ago and gave it a permanent patch of no return.
Good riddance.
"Adobe said it will patch Reader and Acrobat, but Lenoe offered no timetable for the fixes."
Posted by: bobby | April 30, 2009 at 04:04 AM
I've always thought it pretty sad that what should be a "simple document viewer" could have security implications like Adobe/Acrobat Reader has had revealed over the past few years. Every month there's a new Reader patch. How difficult is it to code a secure PDF viewer?
Posted by: Jason Presley | April 30, 2009 at 08:22 AM
Adobe's latest round of patches pushed me to search for an alternative. I've seen other freebie pdf readers in the past but they all had deficiencies -- that is until I discovered FOXIT about three weeks ago. It is a lean fast FREE pdf reader (and more). It has completely replaced my Adobe Reader. My old laptop suffers from a small RAM memory (240MB) that Adobe really was using far too much of (20-30MB vs 4-5 for FOXIT). FOXIT offers some features that I don't recall seeing in the other. Not only can I copy a portion of the image (easily enlarged to read obscure text or image details - with a neat rollover "fisheye" enlarger tool too), I can add highlighting, underlining, text notations and more -- all unbelievably easy with the user friendly icons in the toolbar header. As a genealogist, this not only enables me to excerpt an original source image (e.g. newspaper obit/ family photo / news article) but also to easily get the text transcript - which can be copy/pasted directly into my genealogy program's "Notes" fields or into a word processor. I've been more than satisfied. FOXIT is available for Windows & Linux . More reviews at CNET .// Gord
ps: If you have roots in NY state, the historic newspaper archive at is simply a superb resource -- and you'll love to use FOXIT on it. HINTS: most powerful search is using "names in quotes" with BOOLEAN option.
Posted by: Gord Hines | April 30, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Dick -- sorry -- in my haste, I overlooked adding the CNET link for FOXIT. Its . Gord
Posted by: Gord Hines | April 30, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Oh -- I see links placed inside are removed along with the pointed brackets.... I don't know how that will affect my posts... Can you fix, pls?? // Tks, Gord
ps (I don't know how that might relate to the text box footnote of "(URLS automatically linked)"//g
Posted by: Gord Hines | April 30, 2009 at 10:37 AM
To enter a URL, simply enter it. Don't add any fancy brackets or anything, simply add it here in the same manner you would type it into your web browser. For instance:
http://www.eogn.com
Posted by: Dick Eastman | April 30, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Jason:
That's the problem with Adobe Reader. They've done to it what Microsoft has done with programs like Word and Excel - added more and more features to it to the point where they've lost sight of what its original was. It won't be long until Adobe adds built-in pinball games and flight simulators like Word and Excel respectively. So, should a simple PDF viewer have all of these security issues? No. But Adobe lost sight of that years ago.
Posted by: Dave | April 30, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Is something missing in Gord's PS about NY newspapers ... "the historic newpaper achive at is simply a superb resource" AT where? Thank you. Barbara
Posted by: Barbara Ryan | April 30, 2009 at 11:26 PM
I, too, like to know where the NY newspaper archive is.
Posted by: sarah evanko | May 01, 2009 at 03:49 AM
I have my Mac set up to use Preview [which comes with the Mac] to read all PDFs. So far, it's opened everything no matter how large, and has several printing options that are nice.
Posted by: Deb | May 01, 2009 at 09:16 AM
Count me in on the NY newspaper archive. Where is it? Thanks.
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Carlen | May 01, 2009 at 10:15 PM
He might be referring to the Fulton History site. Try it at:
http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
Posted by: Dennis | May 02, 2009 at 06:26 AM
There are two NY State sites: http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
and http://news.nnyln.net/
Posted by: gmf | May 02, 2009 at 10:23 PM
My apologies about the URLs disappearing from my earlier April 30th posts, above.
"dennis" and "gmf" both identified the FultonHistory site as the one I'd originally intended as "... historic newspaper archive at...".
"gmf" added the similarly excellent newspaper database from the Northern NY Library Network. I believe it uses the same primary database as the FultonHistory database -- except that it focuses on just 7 counties -- AND you can select one of these counties or individual newspapers within a county.
Dick has already given links to FOXIT and other pdf readers in his earlier post -- see them via the link-back in the opening sentence of this article.
The other missing URLs from my posts are:
FOXIT: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/
FOXIT Reviews (22) at CNET:
http://download.cnet.com/Foxit-Reader/3640-10743_4-11011816.html
Posted by: Gord Hines | May 03, 2009 at 01:56 PM