Acrobat and Share Folders Security

I was at a local seminar organized by Adobe. Thanks for the invitation. However, one feature about commenting and approving of PDF was a bit of concern for me. This feature basically allow people (in their example, people from different department such as the technical and the sales etc) to share and comment or approve certain PDF via a common share folder without password.

Tell me what is the first thing in your mind.

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Well, if you are thinking about the problem with a common share folder then BINGO. This is so totally unrealistic (to me) and I pointed that out. But guess what? Adobe answered that this is a COMMON practise and asked the audience how many of them has that in their office and many hands were raised. Although my question was shot down, but now we have a bigger concern here now. How can company even allow a cross-department common share folder to exist? When I audit these company, I am so going to fail them... :)

Imagine finances need to prepae the quarter budget and needs some approving and they use this feature. Miss tom-dick-and-harry from the helpdesk will also have access to this SHARED and NON-PASSWORDED folder. And the budget is in the street in no time. Or if the latest technical details of the company's secret weapon is put up for approval, then before they could finish, their competitor somehow has already completed a prototype based on a "helpful" clerk in the company.

Firstly, in my own opinion, I am so against sharing of unencrypted folders. Then to make it worse, its to be a all-access password-less folder. If proper security is put in place, each department should be having their own passworded folders. Either Adobe has totally think people will not use this feature, or they have totally overlooked security as a design. I don't even want to go into their alternative "approval by email" option.

Acrobat Reader 8 for Vista

Guess what? I uninstalled Acrobat Pro Trial and then I gotten myself PDF Factory (http://www.fineprint.com) and I thought I am pretty over with making PDF. Wrong, I still need the Acrobat PDF Reader. But the lucky news is that when I visited the page, they claim there is a Acrobat Reader 8 for Vista. YES!

NO! Guess what? The same error message appears about permission with temp space. See my previous entry for the details. So, its back to square one. Have to extract the files and run the msi instead again. That got it installed finally.

But wait, run update immediately. Yes, there is already an update now and its not even in the install package.

Anyway, for the detail instructions, see my previous entry.

Yet another way to remove Acrobat 8 on Vista

Ok, the previous post, I did not go through all of it to be honest. There is another easier way, but if you had tried the previous, you can appreciate this even if this takes a bit longer!

You will need to extract the MSI files again using the Installing Acrobat on Vista instructions in the previous post. Next you click on the MSI again, not the EXE. And this time you select Remove!

All done!

How to uninstall Acrobat Acrobat 8 on Vista

In the previous post, you just learned how to mess around and install Acorbat 8. Now, do you really need Acrobat 8? Yes, I need to put some of my word documents into PDF. My spreadsheet in excel too, cos some of the friend just doesn't use excel or they are using mac or something. Well, Excel has a output to PDF option. At least for MS Office 2007. So I do not really need Acrobat 8 writer at least. Let's uninstall it in this article!

Firstly, do try and uninstall using "Program Features" in vista. If that works, good for you!
For some people, it just doesn't or you did some "repair" and find that you do not have the extracted files in the previous documents and the Acrobat 8 is totally screwed up now. Now you need to uninstall it the hard way.

1. Go to "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" and delete the 2 Acrobat Links.
2. You will need to boot to safe mode of Vista next. The rest are based on Adobe article :

Remove Adobe Acrobat 8.0 registered files using the command prompt
Acrobat registers a numerous files with the operating system during the installation. These files must be removed in order to successfully remove the application. Registered files can be removed from the operating system with the shell is not running.
Press Control-Alt-Delete and choose Task Manager.
On the Processes tab, select explorer.exe and choose End Process (this will make items on your desktop disappear).Important: The Task Manager should remain open during this process
Click Yes in the warning box.
Choose File > New Task.
Under Open, type cmd and click OK.
Minimize the Task Manager.
Type cd "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat Elements" and press Enter.
Type del ContextMenu.dll and press Enter.
Type cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX" and press Enter.
Type del AcroIEHelper.dll and press Enter.
Type del AcroPDF.dll and press Enter.
Type del pdfshell.dll and press Enter.
Type exit and press Enter.
Maximize the Task Manager.
In Task Manager, choose File > New Task.
Type explorer.exe and click OK. (Your desktop should reappear.)
Exit the Task Manager.

Grant full control permissions to all installed files and folders
Give Administrators Full Control of the Resources folder and replicate permissions down to child objects.
To Reset Permission Using Windows Security
Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK.
Type each of the bold command below and press enter:
If any error messages are received after typing any of the below command verify the command and try again.
c:cacls "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Resources" /T /E /C /G administrators:Fexit
Important: Enter spaces between /T, /E, /C, and /G in the third line.
Remove remaining folders and files for Adobe Acrobat 8.0
Back up any personal files you want to save from the following directories, and then remove the listed folders and files:
Program Files\Adobe\
Acrobat 8.
Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\
Acrobat
Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\
FLEXnet Publisher
Program Files\Internet Explorer\PLUGINS\
nppdf32.dll
Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Adobe\
Acrobat
Designer
Adobe PDF
Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\
Acrobat
Designer
Adobe PDF
ALM
Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet\
adobe_00080000_tsf.data
Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\
Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional.lnk
Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\
Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional.lnk
Acrobat Distiller 8.lnk
Adobe LiveCycle Designer 8.0.lnk
Windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\
ADGELP.INI
ADPDF8.BPD
ADPDF8.PPD
ADREGP.DLL
ADUIGP.DLL
Ps5ui.dll
Pscript.hlp
PSCRIPT.NTF
PSCRIPT5.DLL
Windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\
ADGelP.INI
ADPDF8.PPD
ADReGP.dll
ADUIGP.DLL
PS5UI.DLL
PSCRIPT.HLP
pscript.ntf
PSCRIPT5.DLL
Windows\system32\
adobePDF.dll
Program Files\Netscape\Netscape Browser\plugins\
nppdf32.dll

Remove remaining registry entries for Adobe Acrobat 8.0
Remove the application registry keys from the registry, if they are available.
Note: You must be logged into the computer as an Administrator to modify your registry.
Disclaimer: This procedure involves editing the Windows registry. Adobe doesn't support editing the registry, which contains critical system and application information. For information on the Windows Registry Editor, see the documentation for Windows or contact Microsoft Technical Support. You may not have all of these files.
Important: Make a backup copy of the registry before you edit it.
Choose Start > Run, and type regedit in the Open text box; click OK.
Navigate to one of the registry keys listed below and select it in the left panel; it will appear in the registry editor as a folder.
Choose Edit > Delete. Click Yes in the Confirm Key Delete dialog box.
Repeat steps 1-3 as needed for any remaining registry entries.
Remove the following registry entries
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat DistillerHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat ElementsHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat PDFMakerHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe AcrobatHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Designer\8.0HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\PDF SettingsHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\ALM\AcrobatProfessional-8.0-ALL
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Acrobat DistillerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Acrobat ElementsHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Acrobat PDFMakerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Adobe AcrobatHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Repair\Adobe AcrobatHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Designer\8.0HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\PDF Admin SettingsHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\PDF Settings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\68AB67CA330100007706000000000030HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000003}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\68AB67CA330100007706000000000030HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\68AB67CA330100007706000000000030
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddinHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Excel\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddinHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\MS Project\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddinHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\PDFMOutlook.PDFMOutlookHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\PowerPoint\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddinHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Publisher\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddin
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{191DA03B-FBE7-4579-B64D-273DC8358F1B}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{907131E3-3ECF-4027-B0EB-3324883441D1}

Complete the removal
Empty your Recycle Bin and restart your computer.

Installing Adobe Acrobat8 on Vista

And yes, we have Adobe Acrobat 8, the next generation which is going to work for the year 2007 at least with the latest OS...



Sorry, let's take back the part about the latest OS. Acrobat 8 does not work with Vista, at least you can't install it at all!



Well, thats what you think. Just launch the installer and wait for the very long decompressing to happen. By the time the error message appear, do not click on it! Instead go to :

"%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Netopsystems\temp"


There is a "Adobe Acrobat 8.0" Directory there. Copy it out elsewhere. BTW, that is an incredible 1GB as compared to the compressed 100MB! (Great job, Netop System!)

Now, instead of running setup.exe which I am sure 90% of the people will and resulting in the same error, run AcroPro.msi (or whatever your msi is called). Then all is normal.

Shortcoming of this, you need to expand and repeat all that whenever you need to upgrade Acrobat again. My suggestion is you burn that onto a DVDR.