Let me start by saying I am up to version 9 on my Adobe Acrobat...because I am a tech geek...okay, so there I admitted it.

But this post is for people that never update anything and are still using the version 5 of Adobe Acrobat that went out with the payphone and turn-handles on public bathroom faucets. Hmm...that reminds me of a Marlene Bagnull story from Colorado...*blink, blink*...but I digress.

Okay the problem here is that with the old version 5 of Adobe Acrobat if you open an infected .pdf...because there is a vulnerability in the Javascript parsing engine..*blink, blink*...don't look at me like I'm talking greek...sheesh...it's computereze!

If you open and infected .pdf, it will write code into your Plug-in file, and any file in your Plug-ins will automatically install and run when Acrobat is launched. The bad code can replicate itself inside other PDF documents on the infected system. Only documents that are opened and saved in Acrobat can get infected. Documents that are only opened and viewed are not infected. PDF documents that are just mcreated, even on an infected system, will not create a infected PDF file that can affect anything.

The current known virus only affects Windows platform users.

The short and skinny...UPDATE YOUR ADOBE ACROBAT to the latest version and problem solved!

And always keep your anti-virus software up-to-date!


by Bonnie S. Calhoun