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Nuance PDF Reader - Acresso-FLEXnet agent is Annoyware/Adware WARNING.

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michaelkenward:
Flexnet is there to monitor for updates to Nuance software. It also feeds ad junk from Nuance. But it is not "adware" that churns out all sorts of guff. It merely tells you about new versions of Nuance software.

It has nothing to do with free/paid for versions of Nuance software. You get it with paid for software.

You can disable the software in startup using msconfig.

While this stuff can be annoying, and is a bad way of informing users about software updates, it is hardly a crime against humanity.

Yet another case of paranoia runs deep.

If you really want to see unacceptable behaviour, install anything from NCH software. This stomps all over your registry and imposes file associates with just about anything and everything, resulting in all manner of popups and invitations to install, and buy, yet more NCH software.

NigelH:
Going back off topic, but I didn't want to reopen the old PDF viewer thread

Is anyone using Bluebeam Vu as their PDf viewer (or perhaps even tried it)?

cyberdiva:
Several years ago, I switched to the free version of PDF-XChange Viewer, which had been highly recommended to me.  I've been very happy with it ever since.  I see that Gizmo's Best Freeware site lists PDF-XChange Viewer as its top pick:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-non-adobe-pdf-reader.htm.

tomos:
I've settled on the following PDF reading solution after I got tired of Adobe Reader's increasing instability and getting caught out by some malware in a PDF that my "AV" software didn't catch:

  - STDU Reader (free for personal use) as a stand-alone, tabbed reader
  - Sumatra PDF for the browser plug-in

It seems neither of these bits of software engage in deceptive marketing practices, and neither of them support Javascript execution in the PDF (AFAIK), so I figure they should be pretty resistant to PDF-bourne malware.

I'm not sure if they're lacking in features that people might want, but they let me open and read PDF files, and that's pretty much all I need from a PDF reader.
-mwb1100 (September 29, 2012, 06:14 PM)
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Well, yeah, they are lacking in a lot of features.  I'd say that someone trying to use a program like Nuance pdf reader is trying to do more than "view" pdf's, which is basically all that the free ones provide.-superboyac (September 30, 2012, 03:26 AM)
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I was kind of wondering why you were mentioning bluebeam earlier - I presumed Nuance Reader was just that - a reader. But I see it does do a lot more...

IainB:
...While this stuff can be annoying, and is a bad way of informing users about software updates, it is hardly a crime against humanity.
Yet another case of paranoia runs deep.
If you really want to see unacceptable behaviour, install anything from NCH software. This stomps all over your registry and imposes file associates with just about anything and everything, resulting in all manner of popups and invitations to install, and buy, yet more NCH software.
-michaelkenward (September 30, 2012, 06:17 AM)
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The issue does not seem to be our opinions regarding the degree of "badness" of the software, but simply that it has been designed to do the spammy/adware stuff that it does.
Regarding Nuance PDF Reader, there was no suggestion of ranking it alongside "crimes against humanity" or suggesting the need to be paranoid. The absurd association and hyperbole that you mention thus does nothing to defend the software from, or refute, the real evidence uncovered by myself and others (QED) as to just how much of a NU-IS-ANCE the thing actually is, out there in the field.
All spammy/adware garbage like Nuance PDF Reader and the execrable NCH software that you mention seems to survive not only by being borderline illegal at worst (e.g., NCH does a "bait and switch"), but also because it is not a crime for software to put "hooks" into the OS or "stomp all over the registry" as you put it - Norton/Symantec products arguably being amongst the the worst offenders of the latter.

The only protection we users seem to have against this is information and communication - by users/potential suckers warning each other "caveat emptor" - e.g., some of the users otherwise would seem to be blissfully unaware of what has been going on with the software on their computers (QED re Nuance PDF Reader).

That was why I opened the discussion: NCH Software - "There Be Dragons", and reported on my quick install/de-install of the software in the discussion Re: Norton Identity Safe -- Free Download.

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