Adobe Download Manager 2.1 and earlier should be removed

A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Download Manager 2.1 and earlier. Adobe is recommending that users uninstall these versions of Adobe Download Manager.

Note: Adobe Download Manager is a stand-alone application that improves the process of downloading files from Adobe. Customers who have downloaded software from Adobe, including Adobe Reader, may have Adobe Download Manager installed.

To verify if a vulnerable version of Adobe Download Manager is installed, and to uninstall Adobe Download Manager if necessary, please follow these steps.

Note: These steps are written for College of Ag Sciences Enterprise computers with Windows XP Service Pack 2.

1. Open My Computer. Open Local Disk (C:). Open the Program Files folder.
2. Open the Common Files folder. Open the Adobe folder.

Note: If you don't see an ESD folder, you don't have Adobe Download Manager installed. Stop here.

3. If you see an ESD folder, open the ESD folder.
4. Right-click on the AdobeDownloadManager.exe file and select Properties.
5. Click on the Version tab.
6. If the version is 2.1.x or higher, your version is not affected. Click OK. Close all windows. If the version 2.1.x or lower, you need to uninstall Adobe Download Manager. Click OK. Close all windows.
7. Download the Adobe uninstaller and save it to your Desktop.
8. Double click on the DLMUninst_001.exe file to remove the Adobe Download Manager.
9. Click OK.
10. You can now delete the DLMUninst_001.exe file.

Update available for potential vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat 7

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Reader 7.0 through 7.0.8 that could allow an attacker to take control of your machine. Adobe is recommending that users update to Adobe Reader 8. For complete steps please see our How To Install and Configure Adobe Reader for Windows.

If you have installed the FULL version of Adobe Acrobat 7 (software that allows you to create PDF documents), Adobe has workaround steps to update the AcroPDF.dll on your machine. This will allow you to keep Adobe Acrobat 7 Professional on your machine and be safe as well. Follow Steps 1 - 5 from the Solution section of this Adobe Security bulletin.

Again, folks who just have Adobe READER installed, should upgrade to Adobe Reader 8.

ITS download site changes

ITS has changed their policies and permissions on their downloads site (http://downloads.its.psu.edu/) depending on if you are a full-time PSU employee vs an access account holder.

Only full-time PSU employees can get the "complete" list of installers (including SAV, Office)

In most cases this means that only full-time PSU employees and extension educators can use this site to access these installers. Extension support staff will need to ask educators to download these installers for them.

-jsw

Unable to load Penn State Newswire's live.psu.edu webpage in IE6

For the latest Penn State news and information, you can visit http://live.psu.edu/

When you attempt to visit the page, you are asked to run an ActiveX control. The screen goes blank and your only option is to click OK in the dialog box. When you do, Internet Explorer locks up and crashes.

Issue
The live.psu.edu page has a strip of video's on the left side that use ActiveX to be displayed. If you have an older version of QuickTime installed on your computer, these controls can't be shown in the window.

Fix
Update to the most recent version of QuickTime. Use these How To steps.

Install QuickTime for Windows using the Standalone Installer

New IE7 How To install and Configure

How To Install Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP

http://ict.cas.psu.edu/training/howto/comm/ie7/installie7.htm

Last week Microsoft released version 7 of the Internet Explorer web browser (IE7). Internet Explorer updates are included as part of the regular Windows update process so you will automatically receive this update in the near future. IE7 offers a number of benefits and a streamlined interface.

Some of the important changes include:

• tabbed browsing - browse multiple web pages within a single IE window
  
• integrated search - a search box always available to the right of the address bar
  
• improved printing - IE scales text appropriately so you won't end up with one line of text on your last page (usually)
  
• improved security features - many under the hood changes as well as a new phishing filter
  
• RSS feed support - stay up to date with basic RSS support right in your browser

Take a quick tour or view a more complete feature list for more information. FYI...IE7 is the version of Internet Explorer that will be included with Windows Vista when it releases later this year, so working with IE7 on XP now will give you a head start on Vista. PS, we will not be upgrading to Vista when it is released!

- jsw

Picture Manager Slow to Open

Opening a Picture Manager is extremely slow, taking a couple minutes to open a 100K file...
The solution is to edit the OIScatalog.cag (just an XML file) located in C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\OIS.
Locate tags that begin with "mru path". Delete any that point to bad or slow locations.