PDF Needs Module Download....Any Risks?

[5th beatle]

Have Foxit Reader to view PDF files and works 95% of the time. Lately I'm getting this message to view file: Foxit PDFOCX ActiveX Comntrol Module from Foxit Corp. This needs to be installed. Any danger or risks associated with Active X that I should be aware of? Thanks for educating me.

 

[hpsenicka]

Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free download... why mess with wanna-be third-party doftware?

 

[roger2]

Actually there are some valid arguments for 3rd party software. There is some excellent free stuff out there...along with some not so great stuff so you have to be careful.

Adobe Acrobat is undeniably the "biggest and best" pdf reader. But being large it takes a long time to load and it is set-up to "phone home" to check for updates. Disclaimer:these statements were true when I gave up on it a few years back.

I prefer to be of control internet connections from my PC. At one time I knew a couple tricks to prevent Acrobat from making outgoing connections and also to prevent it from loading numerous program modules that I would likely never use. But as version changes progressed my tricks ceased to work.

So I looked around for a lighter pdf reader. I have been using PDF-Xchange Viewer for a few years and it has given me no problems. It also does not phone home.

To each his own of course. I just found Acrobat Reader a bit cumbersome.

 

[Compgeke]

Don't know about ActiveX. Why are you using Internet Explorer in the first place? If you want to get rid of that message and know for sure you're going to be safer because of no ActiveX (which happens to be very insecure) download something like Firefox, Chrome, etc.

 

[5th beatle]

I, too, preferred a lighter reader. Thus the foxit choice. Tried Firefox 18-months ago but had PDF reader issues when using Adobe, plus being blocked from several sights was one hassle too far.

 

[roger2]

5th beatle:

I wish I could give you a definitive answer on whether it is safe for you to install that ActiveX component. It is not a simple question. ActiveX controls can access security sensitive areas of your computer. However, I believe that the technology is unavoidable and that most, if not all, (internet connected) computers have ActiveX controls installed.

Here are excerpts from a text book, CompTIA Security+ 2008 by Mark Ciampa published in 2009:

"An ActiveX control is similar to a Java applet in that it can perform many of the same functions. Unlike Java applets, however, ActiveX controls do not run in a sandbox but have full access to the Windows operating system. Anything a user can do on a computer, an ActiveX control can do, such as deleting files or reformatting a hard drive. To control this free-reign risk Microsoft developed a registration system so that browsers can identify and authenticate an ActiveX control before downloading it. ActiveX controls can be signed or unsigned. A signed ActiveX control provides a high degree of verification that the control was produced by the signer and has not been modified. However, signing does not guarantee the trustworthiness of the signer but only provides assurance that the control originated from the signer."

"...the user's desision to allow installation of an ActiveX control is based on the source of the ActiveX control and not on the ActiveX control itself..."

"...nearly all ActiveX control security mechanisms are set in Internet Explorer. However, ActiveX controls do not rely exclusively on Internet Exlporer but can be installed and executed independently. Third party applications that use ActiveX technology may not provide the security mechanisms available in Internet Explorer."

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Bottom line, in my opinion, is if you trust Foxit then the ActiveX control can be trusted. But I can not state anything with 100% certainty.

hope this helps

 

[5th beatle]

Thanks, Roger2. That is a well-defined, reasoned mini tutorial. So, in a nutshell, value the source of AcitveX origination and if that's good, may be worth installing. I realize there is no 100% safety.