Adobe alternate?

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by ams963, May 21, 2012.

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  1. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Hi,

    I want to remove all Adobe products and replace them with alternative more secure solutions.

    The only Adobe products in my pc are Adobe Flash Player 11 plugin and Adobe Reader X(10.1.3).

    If I remove these now as far as I understand I will not be able to read pdf files and watch videos in my firefox browser.

    Please suggest and recommend alternate solutions.

    Best Wishes,
    ams963
     
  2. hugsy

    hugsy Registered Member

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    For pdf's use SumatraPDF, it is portable,small, can open comics, epub etc.... and it can work as firefox plugin for inbrower reading of pdf's.

    Flash.....i hate flash....don't use so cant help here. Wait for html5 i guess
     
  3. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    yes SumatraPDF is the best alternative, cant believe how small the total install size is :thumb:
     
  4. guest

    guest Guest

    There is no alternative to Flash Player if you view Flash videos in the web. However, if you only view Flash videos in YouTube, you can try http://www.youtube.com/html5
     
  5. kupo

    kupo Registered Member

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    +1 for SumatraPDF
    +1 for waiting for HTML5 :D
    But you are using Sandboxie right? You don't have to worry about flash exploits. If the only website you used that needs flash is only Youtube then you'll be fine because many videos are supported by HTML5, for those without, I use a Firefox add-on that enables me to download them. ;)
     
  6. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I suggest PDF X-Change from Tracker Products
     
  7. Pinga

    Pinga Registered Member

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    +1 for Sumatra PDF!
     
  8. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Adobe Reader is very secure. Enable the sandbox.

    I don't think there's been any sandbox breaking malware in the wild for Adobe.

    edit: For further protection I'd recommend EMET, though the sandbox is very strong on its own.
     
  9. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Thank you all very much.

    So I will try sumatra pdf reader and keep flash player.

    I actually do not know which websites use flash if at all. I watch videos from youtube, dailymotion, etc. So I guess they use flash. I guess firefox supports html5 and no problem for those videos which need no flash.
     
  10. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Adobe has it's own sandbox? How to enable it? I cannot sandbox adobe using sbie for some unknown reason.:'(

    Good to know Adobe's sandbox has been strong. :)

    I don't like EMET. And I remember EMET has fewer functionality for XP systems.
     
  11. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Aww? Now I'm really confused. Should I look for alternates or keep using Adobe without the fear of exploits? :doubt:
     
  12. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Actually EMET is really important on XP systems as it brings ASLR to the system. I highly recommend you give it a second chance, ASLR will make a big difference.

    Make sure your Reader is fully up to date.

    edit: Can't find a link for instructions. It's somewhere in the settings.

    I think Adobe Reader is the most secure PDF viewer.
     
  13. kupo

    kupo Registered Member

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    What drove me away from using Adobe Reader is its 50 mb download size. Since I only need a reader, I used SumatraPDF :D.
     
  14. ams963

    ams963 Registered Member

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    Okay I'll it out.
     
  15. treehouse786

    treehouse786 Registered Member

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    exactly. and the start-up services and constant bandwidth stealing which is typical of adobe products.
     
  16. Tyrizian

    Tyrizian Registered Member

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    I use Nitro PDF Reader as my Adobe Reader alternative.

    http://www.nitroreader.com/features/

    It is feature rich, and works amazingly well.

    As for security and protection, it has...

    Restrict internet access:

    Some PDF files require internet connectivity to share or obtain information. With Nitro Reader, you can completely disable internet interactivity from your PDF files, or specify a list of trusted sites, allowing you to operate securely at a level that suits your workflows and matches your level of comfort.

    Disable JavaScript:

    Prevent unauthorized JavaScript-based activity and malicious attacks by simply disabling JavaScript completely, mitigating all risk originating from this functionality.

    Security information was copied from official Nitro PDF Reader site.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2012
  17. Tsast42

    Tsast42 Registered Member

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    For security purposes Adobe Reader is better than the others I have tried (Sumatra, PDF X-Change, Evince) given its built in sandbox, and also provides certain extra functionality that cannot be entirely replaced by alternatives, some online forms require Adobe for example. I haven't yet tried Nitro which looks interesting - thanks RADEON0101. There's also the option now of viewing PDFs with Google Docs which to some extent reduces the need for separate readers. It isn't an alternative though and it doesn't measure up performance-wise either, the Chrome PDF reader is also very poor, or at least was when I last used it. What I keep wondering is why some sort of reader isn't built into Windows, although Adobe would no doubt raise a fuss. With regards to both Flash and PDF security I notice that you are using Sandboxie; personally I have Flash Player and PDF X-Change installed in their own sandboxes but if you don't want to do that why not just force Flash and PDF executables/folders to open in Defaultbox?
     
  18. Tyrizian

    Tyrizian Registered Member

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    No Problem :thumb:
     
  19. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Chrome's PDF reader is apparently based on Foxxit. It also runs in a sandbox.
     
  20. Tsast42

    Tsast42 Registered Member

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    I can imagine that it is secure but at least when I used it its functionality was insufficient for using as a full replacement - sooner or later you'd need a separate PDF reader.
     
  21. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Yes, it's definitely not full featured at all.
     
  22. Gobbler

    Gobbler Registered Member

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    EMET doesn't bring ASLR on XP, it only implements pseudo SEHOP for applications.
     
  23. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    There's no such thing as pseudo SEHOP. You're thinking of pseudo ASLR.
     
  24. Gobbler

    Gobbler Registered Member

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    I mean it pseudo implements it on XP.As for ASLR on XP, no, you are wrong as EMET doesn't implement any kind of ASLR on XP.

    Please read the user manual.
     
  25. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Yes, it does. It implements pseudo-ASLR. I'm too lazy to Google for you. It's based on a very simple characteristic of Windows memory management where if you reserve address space before the program does Windows reallocates with something like 6bits of entropy.

    It is not system-wide ASLR. It is not full ASLR.

    Feel free to Google/ whatever and confirm.
     
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