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OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 12 Jun 2010 10:37
by admin
Because my system yesterday lost its ability to show PDF thumbnails for unknown reasons, I installed Adobe Reader 9.3.
Bad idea!
- Instead of simply letting me download an install package I was forced to install a special download software by Adobe first. The thing turned out to be a ridiculously looking progress dialog with a trademarked progress bars...
- Without asking or warning it installed "McAfee Security Scan Plus" on my system! WTF!
- Only seconds after the download I was greeted by the need to download a "very important security update" for Adobe Reader (instead of giving me the secure version right away) including system reboot.
- Adobe Reader 9.3 takes
487 MB disk space.
- Whoever is in charge at Adobe must be completely out of touch. Holy shit...
So, System Restore Point was my friend. Now I'm back with Adobe Reader 7 and the PDF thumbnails suddenly work again.

Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 12 Jun 2010 11:24
by zer0
To soothe your Saturday afternoon
admin wrote:- Instead of simply letting me download an install package I was forced to install a special download software by Adobe first. The thing turned out to be a ridiculously looking progress dialog with a trademarked progress bars...

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/
admin wrote:- Without asking or warning it installed "McAfee Security Scan Plus" on my system! WTF!
Here --
http://get.adobe.com/de/reader/?promoid=COYSX -- McAfee can be unticked. Alternatively, builds from their FTP site are McAfee-free.
admin wrote:- Only seconds after the download I was greeted by the need to download a "very important security update" for Adobe Reader (instead of giving me the secure version right away) including system reboot.

You know very well (at least, should know

) that updates often do not get integrated into builds until the next minor/major point iteration. As for a reboot, that's common when it comes to security fixes.
admin wrote:- Adobe Reader 9.3 takes
487 MB disk space.
Have you deleted a "Setup Files" folder in Adobe Reader 9.0 dir? I did and the folder itself is now < 100 MB, whereas in total 9.3.2 takes up ~209 MB. Still less than half of yours...

Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 12 Jun 2010 11:41
by admin
Thanks for calming me down.
The 487 MB was the number reported by control panel / software. I did not even look into the folders. I had already decided to remove it when I saw that McAfee stunt. Unwanted software installs is an immediate and long-lasting thumbs down for me. I won't check back with Adobe for a very long time.
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 12 Jun 2010 12:53
by calude
there a very good alternatives to the adobe bloat
foxit reader is very fast and incorporate nicely into xyplorer
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/
http://www.nitropdf.com/index.asp
Calude
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 12 Jun 2010 13:53
by atjnjk
Another alternative with beautiful text rendering, PDF-XChange Viewer:
http://www.tracker-software.com/product ... nge-viewer
I'm more than satisfied after switching to this program.
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 14 Jun 2010 10:00
by admin
Thanks, tried it, nice! BUT: now I don't have PDF thumbnails anymore on my system. Any tip?
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 15 Jun 2010 11:49
by admin
Does it support PDF thumbnails?
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 15 Jun 2010 12:37
by atjnjk
admin wrote:
Does it support PDF thumbnails?
Yes, it does. I tested it myself, although I don't use PDF thumbnails. I tend to look for file names.
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:10
by admin
atjnjk wrote:admin wrote:
Does it support PDF thumbnails?
Yes, it does. I tested it myself, although I don't use PDF thumbnails. I tend to look for file names.
Indeed,
PDF-XChange Viewer works great!

One has to get rid of about 4 million toolbars first but then it's smooth, clearly faster than Acrobat, does fast PDF thumbnails with fast high quality blow ups, and indeed beautiful rendering!
Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 16 Jun 2010 19:01
by grindax
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Re: OT: Adobe Reader 9.3 (ARGH!)
Posted: 16 Jun 2010 19:09
by admin
Great website! I wish I had the logistics to do such promo videos.
I'm currently happy with PDF-XChange Viewer but thanks for the tip! Might check it out later.