back to article It's now 2019, and your Windows DHCP server can be pwned by a packet, IE and Edge by a webpage, and so on

Microsoft and Adobe have teamed up to give users and sysadmins plenty of work to do this week. The February edition of Patch Tuesday includes more than 70 CVE-listed vulnerabilities from each vendor – yes, each – as well as a critical security fix from Cisco. You should patch them as soon as it is possible. OMG, DHCP! For …

  1. redpawn

    How oh how

    does that acrobat keep falling down and getting hurt. Time for retirement before all that is left of the poor thing is patches. Adobe, if you had an ounce of concern you'd put it to pasture before it ruins any more security unconscious lives.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: How oh how

      Almost able to say the same thing about Windows. Now to sit back and see how long MS will offer the patches this time before pulling some (or all) back.

    2. chivo243 Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: How oh how

      That's it! I always wondered why Acrobat was a dog, it's name is Patches!

      1. JJKing
        Joke

        Re: How oh how

        Pah! We don't need no stinking Patches.

    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: How oh how

      can someone PLEASE take Adobe PDF stuff out behind the woodshed and put it down like Old Yeller ?

      1. Waseem Alkurdi

        Re: How oh how

        If you mean the (now a) standard, then nope, allow me to disagree.

        If you mean Acrobat Reader, then I'm getting the pitchforks Molotov cocktails.

      2. WonkoTheSane
        Facepalm

        Re: How oh how

        Windows 10 has its own PDF reader now.

        Sadly, it's Edge.

        1. Mr Humbug

          Re: How oh how

          And even worse, Edge doesn't render some PDF forms properly and has difficulty printing some PDF files. It did last time I tried to use it anyway

      3. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
        Stop

        Re: How oh how

        Being forced to replace multi-page TIFF's with PDF, please don't give me further headaches!

      4. EnviableOne

        Re: How oh how

        whats the alternative?

        Foxit is worse, Nitro has its own issues

        Javelin is not so friendly

        Pdf Creator is SPAM in a can...

        1. An ominous cow heard

          Re: How oh how

          I understand many folks might not like doing business with a company called Tracker Software (I'm surprised it's not been trademarked elsewhere), but I've not used Acrobat for years, I've been using PDF Tracker (recently renamed PDF Xchange) and it's doing what I need for PDF viewing and OCR, at what seems to me a very acceptable price (zero?) and with remarkably few CVEs (one???)

          Am I holding it wrong?

        2. Tomato Krill

          Re: How oh how

          Sumatra

      5. Mark 85

        Re: How oh how

        PLEASE take Adobe PDF stuff out behind the woodshed and put it down like Old Yeller ?

        But we all cried when Old Yeller took the bullet. No one will cry when Adobe Reader takes the bullet.

    4. STOP_FORTH

      Re: How oh how

      It's not an acrobat, it's a clown pretending to be an acrobat. That's why the doors keep falling off.

      1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

        Re: How oh how

        FYI: Most clowns (and just about all good ones) are retired acrobats.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How oh how

      PDF = Pwnable Document Fuck-up

      39 RCEs, piss poor !

  2. vtcodger Silver badge

    Job security

    Assuming that there are only 1,000,000 significant security bugs in Windows, at 75 bugs a month, the system should be perfect sometime around March of 3230 A.D. Of course, that assumes that no new bugs are introduced in the meantime. Want a secure future? Learn to sysadmin.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Job security

      Your math fails to include two key items:

      - each non-security bug fix will generate two more even more obscure security bugs

      - each security bug fix will generate three more non-security related bugs

      - occasionally, both types of bugs will be "fixed" by removing the existing functionality

      - the number of MBA's in MS is growing (possibly...)

      - when MS reach 50% MBA's they are likely to become self aware and sentient, believing that too much time is spent addressing bugs, they will deploy a bug fix that removes Windows

      This means that Windows will actually be bug free (and software free) before the turn of the century.

      1. O RLY

        Re: Job security

        Old developers' joke:

        "99 bugs in code that's released

        99 bugs in the code that's released

        take one out

        patch it around

        120 bugs in the code that's released"

      2. Mark 85

        Re: Job security

        This means that Windows will actually be bug free (and software free) before the turn of the century.

        Great, so their income solution is to charge users for not using it then? Pure profit. The stock folks will love it.

    2. steviebuk Silver badge

      Re: Job security

      There is no secure future anymore. With more and more companies wanting to replace us with AI.

      I still don't know why people don't refuse to use self service tills. You do the work for Tesco, Sainsbury's etc, but get no discount for doing so and they save money in staff.

      Until someone smashes them to bits because of the shitty weight system that is massively flawed

      "Please put the item just scanned in your bag". "Please check the bagging area". "Are you using your own bag?"

      Amazon are realising but won't stop with their Amazon automated supermarket. Learning that people are fucking lazy and will take something off the shelf, decide they don't want it so will dump it elsewhere. Which then confused the fuck out of their AI. "You took an item off the shelf. Check. You've taken it out of your basket so no longer want it. Check. But you haven't put it back where I expect it to be. What do I do now? Erm, oh, erm, ah, erm, I'm all confused!"

      ARSE!

      1. HamsterNet

        Re: Job security

        Oh please.

        You remove low paid, low skilled checkout workers. They are replaced by fewer, but much higher paid engineers, designers, installers and sellers of high tech automated till systems and the economy grows and fills the gap of employment left from the loss of low skilled jobs.

        This is how industrialisation works and has done for a few hundred years. May surprise you but nobody is hand ploughing the fields any more.

        1. vtcodger Silver badge

          Re: Job security

          You remove low paid, low skilled checkout workers. They are replaced by fewer, but much higher paid engineers, designers, installers ...

          A number of prominent economists agree with you. Of course, economists haven't had much credibility for about 50 years because their predictions tend to have a lousy track record. On the average, one is probably better off treating them as C Northcote Parkinson suggested dealing with the guy whose predictions are always wrong. Ask them what to do. Then do something, anything, else.

        2. nagyeger

          Re: Job security

          but nobody is hand ploughing the fields any more

          Maybe not where you live. And truth-be-told, it's not as common as it was a decade ago here, but it still happens. Judging by how long the neighbour spent trying (failing) to get his tractor going at the weekend, he might be tempted to go back to hay-power.

          1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

            Re: Job security

            Hay-power is still a long way from back to hand-plowing.

    3. JJKing
      Facepalm

      Re: Job security

      99 bugs in the code

      99 bugs in the code

      Take one down and patch it around

      103 bugs in the code

      Plagiarised and not original.......sorry.

  3. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Meh

    people use windows server's DHCP ?

    people actually use windows server's DHCP ? I would think that MOST people would have the sense to use a Linux box for that, particularly an embedded system... as in a typical DSL or cable modem box, with a built-in wifi access point, firewall, DHCP, DNS gateway, and so on.

    But that's probably why it's not until 2019 that such a vulnerability was even FOUND, with no reported 'in the wild' exploits for it.

    It's more like "chances are, you do NOT" for using Micro-shaft's DHCP server on a windows server box.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

      Must remind my mate to install ADSL internet at that 1,000 user 30 site system he manages so they get DHCP from a secure Netgear Router.

    2. Maventi

      Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

      It's extremely common in Windows-centric corporate environments using Active Directory, and in those cases it makes perfect sense as you check a box and DHCP just works with dynamic DNS updates and all the trimmings.

      Yes Windows DHCP is a bit less flexible than the likes of ISC DHCP if you want to get into more advanced functionality, but in the above cases the time and effort saved more than makes up for the difference.

      As always, horses for courses.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

        "in the certified Microsoft-dependent cases the time and effort saved more than makes up for the difference."

        Right, of course it does. The certified MS-dependent people only see to the plus side of their choices. They cannot conceivably conceive that there may a downside which should also be factored into such decisions, and may in some cases outweigh the alleged benefits of the MS monoculture.

        1. John Robson Silver badge

          Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

          It's not as if ISC dhcp and dnsmasq (the two obvious 'other' candidates) have never had a bug.

          If you run a primarily AD system then using that genuinely does make sense...

          I say that as someone who hasn't used MS professionally for over a decade, and who used to sell DNS/DHCP servers/services (not MS based).

        2. Maventi

          Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

          As a Linux guy at heart I somewhat agree with your sentiments, but for MS-centric shops there's little to gain from deploying ISC just to do DHCP and then trying to train admins who often have little mroe than MS certification how to drive it. Whether it's good or not is fairly subjective, but this is just how things are for many orgs.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

        We looked at that and rejected it - many of our core services need something more than Windows servers, and we wanted more security, stable interoperability, and reliability... after doing a detailed investigation, we got an excellent high availability IP/DHCP/DNS solution that plays well with everything and configured AD to use it. Among the hard core infrastructure/DNS experts, Windows DNS has quite a poor reputation. I can't speak to that personally, as we have avoided it like the plague for twenty years... two different integrated DHCP/address management/DNS systems have both been excellent.

        1. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Thumb Up

          Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

          "after doing a detailed investigation, we got an excellent high availability IP/DHCP/DNS solution that plays well with everything and configured AD to use it"

          well said! And yeah, this is in line with what I was saying and thinking at the time I wrote it...

          Even a 'canned' WiFi AP solution for DNS and DHCP would work better, in my opinion. So you plug a WiFi AP into your network, to provide wifi. And then you configure DHCP and DNS on it. And then you configure your active directory stuff to USE THAT instead. And the problem with Micro-shaft's horrible DNS+DHCP solution "just goes away". Or use a commercial provider of a better overall solution in lieu of the WiFi AP, whatever.

        2. Sandtitz Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

          "many of our core services need something more than Windows servers, and we wanted more security, stable interoperability, and reliability... after doing a detailed investigation, we got an excellent high availability IP/DHCP/DNS solution"

          Blah, blah, blah, and of course no mention what the better replacement product actually was. D'oh!

        3. Maventi

          Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

          Totally agree that Windows DNS is rubbish for any serious work, but it does function. If you've got the time and resources of course it's possible to put together a far better solution for DHCP/DNS than Windows and often for less cost, but orgs who lack ability probably don't know what they are missing with it anyway and for them it's quick, easy and does in fact work perfectly well enough.

          I repeat: horses for courses.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

      "people actually use windows server's DHCP ? I would think that MOST people would have the sense to use a Linux box for that, particularly an embedded system"

      Then you have the nightmare of Linux patching instead - and a crappy solution with poor management tools with a much higher TCO instead. And good luck implementing things like cross site DHCP clustering and IPAM that are built into Windows. Oh are you in for a world of pain and a zoo of solutions to do that under Linux.

      1. John Robson Silver badge

        Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

        Nightmare of linux patching?

        What, updates that don't require a reboot, and can be easily done at any convenient time.

        Cross site DHCP and IPAM are all available on linux - I made my living doing such things for a while. And yes there are options, that's not necessarily the bad ting you make it out to be.

        1. Ragarath
          Happy

          Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

          Funny, my Linux boxes want me to reboot a heck of a lot after patching. Maybe because it's Ubuntu but still. If you want to use a broad brush so can I ;)

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

            "my Linux boxes want me to reboot a heck of a lot after patching. Maybe because it's Ubuntu"

            If you knew Suse like I know Suse. Or rather more recent equivalent:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbABy9ul11I

            Don't reboot it - just patch!

            PLAY LOUD (where applicable. Terms and conditions apply. Please read our privacy police).

            1. bombastic bob Silver badge
              Linux

              Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

              I wonder if "the S word" aka systemD is responsible for Ubu needing reboots...

              Use Devuan, which has _NO_ systemD - service blahblah stop/start [how hard is THAT, right? and updating packages sometimes does that FOR you]

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

            Ubuntu offer this: https://www.ubuntu.com/livepatch basically your box patches itself and kernel patches are spliced in whilst still running. Free for three systems.

            On any Linux distro, install "needrestart". That will tell you what needs a restart after patching and in most cases will even do it for you.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

        "nd good luck implementing things like cross site DHCP clustering and IPAM that are built into Windows. Oh are you in for a world of pain and a zoo of solutions to do that under Linux."

        No, you aren't.

        We used a Linux based IPAM/DHCP/DNS solution that was installed on a Linux server, and it was far less trouble (up and working in two days, compared to the months they struggled to get the AD servers sorted out).

        We eventually moved to IPAM/DHCP/DNS appliances where the Linux is hidden by the appliance shell / interface, but it was equally easy. In both cases. Migrating data and configuring options, and testing was the majority of the work.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: people use windows server's DHCP ?

      Basic infrastructure rule #3. Do not use Windows for any critical infrastructure*. Use Linux, BSD, or an appliance - which will be running Linux.

      Wave dozens of specialized devices the computer room down the hall - proxies, filters, DNS, DHCP, firewall, load balancers from a couple of firms, core network switches, intrusion prevention, network monitoring, IP management, high speed decrypt/encrypt, more monitoring, anti-malware, more anti-malware, patch systems, backup systems, phone systems, network management, more patch management, access control, VPN, NTP, more VPN, and so on... from at least a score of vendors. Every single one of them, under the hood, is a Linux box. It is efficient, reliable, stable, and relatively secure... which is why every vendor uses it to build critical infrastructure. That's a hint for those of us who run the networks and data centers.

      * maybe, if you are still using Windows heavily, AD.... but don't let AD do your DNS with Microsoft DNS - make it talk to a non-Windows DNS server.

  4. Dan 55 Silver badge

    It's 2019...

    ... and Microsoft's server daemons still don't spawn a low-rights process to parse untrusted input from the Internet.

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: It's 2019...

      Yes. Far too much code running with unnecessary privileges on Windows systems - OS and applications alike.

      Of course this problem is not absent from other popular OSes either, but it seems to be particularly prevalent on Windows.

  5. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Windows patches

    nothing new to see here. Business as usual and many sysadmins are going 'Facepalm' yet again.

    BAU for those in Redmond.

    Will these stick or will they have to be revoked because of some unforseen borking?

    Popcorn... it is 'borkwatch' time again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Windows patches

      This one I'm not playing sacrificial victim.

  6. Waseem Alkurdi

    Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

    The overwhelming majority of those are the 39 arbitrary code execution vulnerabilities in Acrobat and Reader. In each case, the attacker could execute code on the target machine by convincing the user to open up a poisoned PDF file.

    If it was PDF, then won't every single PDF client in known existence be affected?

    In that case, what would average Jo{e,anne} with their locked-down Android and preinstalled system PDF reader do?

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

      The chances are pretty slim. The client is probably better coded than that mess on Windows (unless it's Adobe's client of course), if the PDF file contains an x86-only payload it won't work on ARM, and it has to deal with Android's sandbox.

    2. Dave K

      Re: Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

      All depends on whether the client that is opening the poisoned PDF is capable of being exploited by it.

      Most of these kind of exploits are very client-specific. The exploit won't be effective if the PDF is being opened by a client that has proper array bounds checking and other such defense mechanisms to prevent the poisoned PDF from getting data into areas of memory that it shouldn't have access to.

    3. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

      If it was PDF, then won't every single PDF client in known existence be affected?

      Possibly, but it could also be fixed by a change in the specification. Which hasn't happened.

      It's easier to target Adobe Acrobat and Reader because they include extensions and also use some of the AIR (ex-Flash runtime) IIRC.

      PDF as a format is just too damned "useful" (for a given definition of useful) to go away, even if for many cases EPUB would probably make a decent replacement.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

        "even if for many cases EPUB would probably make a decent replacement."

        For many cases epub would make a superior replacement. It tends to be much smaller for the same information, and it will re-flow, which means you can read documents on a small screen without trying to move a window around over the page so the type will be readable.

        1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

          Re: Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

          Static HTML will reflow and is safe. Folks use PDF because they are particularly fond of a particular layout, so "reflow" isn't a good thing for them. (In most cases, people are simply publishing information of course and the layout they are so fond of is totally unimportant, but a Wrong Requirement is still a requirement. Sigh!)

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Is it Acrobat or PDF itself?

          Books with a lot of images could become really ugly in ePub, with images appearing usually in the wrong position. Could be a lack of proper implementation, but I've seen it happening over and over.

          Anyway quite useless for documents that must appear as they printed counterparts, and may need to be printed to have legal value.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Let's face it, you'll never be without Windows problems

    .. unless these pesky security specialists stop finding all the backdoors they're trying to put in. Microsoft is doing its best to help the NSA, but it can't help its ineptness at, well, anything, really.

    Furthermore, I'm starting to think that Adobe has the same problem.

    Yes, I like conspiracy theories. Why?

    :)

  8. HmmmYes

    I think MS has reached a point where their software i s os complex (with a lot of compekxity introduced) and their software bodies soo low (there are a lot of other peple thsn MS to work these days) that they are winging it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      IMHO, they've been winging it from Worries for Workgroups onwards..

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disk in continuous use.

    Since updating with the latest W7 patches my disk is in continuous use - even after several reboots. Anyone else experiencing this?

    Can't see the culprit in Task Manager.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Disk in continuous use.

      It's a brave person which installs patches less than 24 hours after MS releases them...

      1. N2
        Meh

        Re: Disk in continuous use.

        "It's a brave person which installs patches less than 24 hours after MS releases them..."

        I think Microsoft calls them 'Alpha testers'

        1. Adrian 4

          Re: Disk in continuous use.

          I think Microsoft calls them 'Cannon fodder'

          ftfy

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Disk in continuous use.

      My W7 boxes are set to not install Windows Updates without asking me first.

      The ones in most frequent use have been using SSDs for around a year.

      The one I rely on most of all is a laptop with SSD. Windows/NTFS takes up maybe 120GB of the SSD. For the last week or two, every time it boots up or resumes, the CPU fan runs faster than usual for an hour or so. Then eventually near-silence returns, which is nice.

      I'd been *assuming* it was a post-reboot MS Defender scan or something like that (I haven't actually checked).

      Maybe MS Defender (etc) on a slowish hard drive (as distinct from SSD) and on a non-premium CPU can no longer keep up with the increasing quantity of known threats and the volume of incoming data.

      Where might one discuss this topic further?

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Disk in continuous use.

        Where might one discuss this topic further?

        Ask Woody

        This month they've highlighted a bug with SMB/NTLM.

    3. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Disk in continuous use.

      Update went pretty smoothly in my Windows 7 VM. Have you got indexing active?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Disk in continuous use.

        "Have you got indexing active?"

        Thank you - content indexing was still on by default on C:

        Having switched it off - "searchindexer.exe" service is still writing to disk even after reboots.

        I think the root cause is BCWipe doing a wipe of the MS Update files - including those that were uninstalled today - even though it has now been told not to do that in future.

        It seems that being in "pause" mode for the automatic wipe does not inhibit all transparent wiping. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a way to stop BCWipe continuing to do that on its current backlog. Reminds me of Mickey Mouse's Sorcerer's Apprentice.

        Will have to let the PC run until the BCWipe backlog is cleared - and hopefully the new settings will then take effect..

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Disk in continuous use.

          "[...] and hopefully the new settings will then take effect.."

          Disk now quiet.

          Sods Law. The reason I noticed the continuous disk light was because my digital camera wouldn't connect via USB. The supplied special USB cable has always been fiddly - but usually worked eventually. Today it won't work at all - cable or something else??

          Fortunately the previously ignored SD Card reader on the PC proved to be a successful Plan "B" - or was it Plan "Z" by then? So only five hours lost - with a little bit of gain in other PC areas. It's an ill wind....

    4. JJKing
      Go

      Re: Disk in continuous use.

      This was one that resulted in Printers and Shares becoming unavailable.

      wusa /uninstall /kb:4480970

      The other which is more likely to be your issues was the 2019-01 Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems KB4480955. Remove that and see how you go.

      1. JJKing

        Re: Disk in continuous use.

        To whoever had the continuous disk problem, my suggestion to remove the 2019-01 Preview of Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems KB4480955 was wrong. This one just killed USB ports. Sorry.

    5. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Disk in continuous use.

      one of the problems is that (after updating it) ".Not" insists on scheduling that background ".Not" pre-compiler / updater. It is *COMPELLED* to pre-compile all of that ".Not" crap your applications will *NEVAR* use. Oh they might call it an "optimizer". But seriously, it's ONE of the big reasons why ".Not" is "dot CRAP". And C-pound along with it.

      Also keep in mind that if you aren't using any compression on your hard drive, that the CPU utilization for a disk-intensive process will be VERY low.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Disk in continuous use.

        "the CPU utilization for a disk-intensive process will be VERY low."

        Might well be true, but the Win7 Resource Monitor (from Task Manager's Performance tab) reveals (at least in principle) what processes are doing how much disk IO.

        I could look it up next time it happens. If I could be bothered. Wait and see.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Disk in continuous use.

          "[...] the Win7 Resource Monitor (from Task Manager's Performance tab) reveals (at least in principle) what processes are doing how much disk IO."

          The "Task Manager" button to produce the "Performance" window was what finally identified BCWipe as the main culprit by showing the names of the files it was accessing. It appeared to be wiping several in parallel - which wouldn't help the disk head movement efficiency.

          It's a long time since I last needed that diagnostic tool.

          As Homer says "Every time I learn something new - it pushes something old out of my brain".

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Disk in continuous use.

            "wiping several [files] in parallel - which wouldn't help the disk head movement efficiency."

            Depends. If you don't mind risking displacing something more useful from your cache, have a quick look at "elevator seek" and "tagged command queuing" and related:

            e.g.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_algorithm

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged_Command_Queuinq

            ps

            Who's Homer? That hairy greek geek bloke?

  10. brotherelf
    Coffee/keyboard

    Double-checked and ...

    ... nope, there is no update for Adobe/Reader for Linux. I would have been very surprised, too, since they stopped Linux support around Reader 7 or so.

    Icon 'cause the binaries are old and crusty, too.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Double-checked and ...

      atril seems to work for me, on POSIX systems anyway. I don't want to use evince on POSIX systems any more since (if I remember correctly) the last one I tried to install dragged in all of that MONO crap... I guess 'tomboy' wasn't enough, and the gnome 3 dweebs "decided" to use evince as a way of injecting MONO.

      (e-vince does have a winders version and so I'll begrudgingly use THAT one until something better comes along)

      A couple of years ago I bought a reconditioned box [to use for windowsy things] with 7 on it, and it had the adobe crapware PDF reader pre-installed. THE! DAMN! THING! INSISTED! ON! GETTING! MY! E-MAIL! ADDRESS! AND! MAKING! ME! LOG! IN! TO! READ! A! SIMPLE! PDF! FILE! and didn't stop IRRITATING me about it, either. What the *FEEL* is this SPYWARE doing on my computer? Well it got uninstalled...

      1. M. Poolman

        Re atril seems to work for me,

        Okular is well worth looking at if you want something more featurefull than atril.

  11. Version 1.0 Silver badge

    Sales Dept Memo

    "Get manufacturing to release a new round of patches, it will boost sales of the new version that we're releasing soon." Yes, it's time to upgrade to the new version .... yet again.

    Everyone runs around wringing their hands about the latest round of patches but nobody asks how come the code is so damn buggy to start with? The next version will not be any better. We were saying this back 20+ years ago, "If Architects designed buildings the way that Programmers write code, then the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization."

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