Exploitable Adobe Download Manager
===Reason #2914 to avoid the Adobe Download Manager===
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While this has been widely reported already, there’s another risk here that’s worth mentioning. Any download manager software you install has the potential to contain its own set of bugs. These flaws could turn out to provide backdoors or loopholes for attacks.
Think of all the software you install on your computer as windows on a battle tank. Every app is another window where armor used to be. The next time you get hit with a virus, the chance that it’s aimed at one of your windows just increased. Sure you have anti-virus and anti-spyware, but that’s no guarantee.
For the Windows users out there, I suggest installing Spybot S&D and Lavasoft Ad-Aware for spyware and AVG for antivirus. Run them regularly.
If that didn’t light a fire under Adobe, he also announced that he had found a remote code execution bug in ADM, increasing the danger of remote compromise by an order of magnitude or two.
While you’re at it, just skip all download managers. This goes back to my wish for an app that un-checks everything in all front-end installers, avoiding situations where I might accidentally install more stuff I don’t need. When an installer suggests you include something additional, that’s pretty much a red flag it’s probably something in their best interest to install.
No, I don’t want to install abc while I update xyz!
It’s too bad there’s so many download managers (“platforms” as steam likes to call itself) that are unavoidable. Steam, EA Download Manager, etc. They’re all required for you to download and install. I guess you gotta pay to play.
Forget building from source, these days it’s just too much trouble for someone to download and install binaries themselves.
