# Adobe has an update and wants my computer password.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adobe-has-an-update-and-wants-my-computer-password/638092>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 18, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adobe-has-an-update-and-wants-my-computer-password/638092 "2012-10-18T03:03:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adobe-has-an-update-and-wants-my-computer-password/638092/21 "2012-10-19T00:51:00Z")

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Also it should be noted that if you are on a mac, you don’t really need Adobe Reader. Preview that is built into the OS will open pretty much any PDF document.

I haven’t needed to use Reader to view a PDF for 6 or 7 years.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adobe-has-an-update-and-wants-my-computer-password/638092/22 "2012-10-19T00:56:06Z")

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I have gotten several dozen emails over the past couple months offering me a free download of the latest Reader. I automatically delete them. They don’t come from Adobe and I cannot think of any legitimate reason why a third part is so gung-ho about my installing the latest version of the Reader. Incidentally, I don’t use the Adobe Reader; it is lame for my purposes (of recompiling and rereading, which Adobe doesn’t permit).

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**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adobe-has-an-update-and-wants-my-computer-password/638092/23 "2012-10-19T01:13:31Z")

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> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> In my book, since Adobe has never failed to open a PDF when I asked it to, if it says it needs to install an update, it can go stuff itself.

I encourage everyone to maintain this attitude. It makes my job much easier (of course, I do white-hat hacking… so YMMV).

Please also encourage your system administrators to host their primary domain controllers on Windows NT (after all, it works; no reason to update…)

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adobe-has-an-update-and-wants-my-computer-password/638092/24 "2012-10-19T01:20:53Z")

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> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> In my book, since Adobe has never failed to open a PDF when I asked it to, if it says it needs to install an update, it can go stuff itself.

No, this. Adobe is the king of bloatware. Their updates break more than they fix. Incremental updates, maybe, but it’s not like ignoring OS updates. Also, WTF is up with Flash wanting to update all the damn time?

I use Nitro PDF shareware version. Two advantages are that it can print to PDF, and lets you save filled in forms; you need to pay Adobe to do this in Acrobat.

Preview is a good alternative to Acrobat _if you like Preview_. It was rather gangly last time I used it.

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