Webs Divine: Design Notes

Just like most web designers, we learn something new every day. Some of the insights are fairly simple, while others are more complicated. As we go along, WEBS DIVINE plans to share our tricks, hints and tips in Design Notes.

ADOBE READER VULNERABILITIES

Most people are unaware that the Adobe Reader has security flaws. According to Mary Landesman, former anti-virus expert at About.Com: "Vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat are the number one most common infection vector, bar none."

In order to to use Adobe Reader safely, Mary suggests a tweak to the following settings:

Open Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.

If you use Windows, click Edit and choose Preferences. If you use a Mac, click Adobe Reader (or Adobe Acrobat) and select Preferences.

Prevent PDF files from launching programs: From the left pane, select Trust Manager; Uncheck the box Allow opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications.

Prevent javascript from running in PDF files: From the left pane, select Javascript; Uncheck the box Enable Javascript.

Prevent PDF files from opening automatically on the Web: From the left pane, select Internet; Uncheck the box Display PDF in browser.

Click OK and close the program.

You can also use alternate programs to open PDF documents. While Cool-PDF Reader is recommended by some, we found the free Fox-It Reader to be superior for ease of use and similar visual display.

More Hints & Tips: