Last weekend I was shocked to know that Adobe Reader and Flash will soon overtake Microsoft's Office and Internet Explorer as the most vulnerable software for PCs. For years Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer were the most targeted by malware / virus creators due to weak security and unresolved bugs. But now security firms are reporting that the number of attacks targeted towards the issues in Adobe Reader and Flash are on the rise and will soon surpass the current leader Office.
What is the best way to be prepared against the virus attacks from vulnerable software ? Don't use that software if you can. If it is a must to use that software, use an alternative or always try to keep the software up-to-date. So, after reading the above news, I gave a serious thought whether I needed the Adobe Reader and Flash and also whether there are any free, open-source alternatives that are more secure.
Adobe Reader has solid alternatives like Sumatra PDF and Foxit Reader. You can uninstall Adobe Reader and use one of these software without any issue. There are some alternatives to Flash (like Gnash). But their browser support (to play YouTube videos etc.) is not that great. So, uninstall Adobe Reader and use one of the above alternatives and keep the Flash for now (but keep it updated always).
0 comments:
Post a Comment