New great Mac feature

[Sysman]

Windows application updates only usually require a reboot if that software is running. I assume that's the case with Adobe Reader.

I always strategically update when it suits me. I can't understand all the people that moan about Windows needing reboots when they've set it to do that.

Locked down PC at work, I'm afraid.

[Sysman]

Thunderbolt: A new way to hack Macs ? The Register

Have you read the reader comments?

As ever, physical access beats all, a good example being this Register article from a couple of weeks ago, where an enterprising contractor beat the network nazis using his own kit:

Fortunately, I had a netbook and my HTC Desire. I set my Desire up as a Wi-Fi hotspot to share its internet connection with my netbook. I set the netbook up as a router and bridged its wired and wireless network connections. A quick change on the target computer to use the netbook as the internet gateway and suddenly I had access to Technet.

Had there been more than two computers to worry about, I would have set up a small HTTP server on my phone, downloaded the ISO to my phone and served it up from there. As it is, this solution cost me only about 500MB of my 5GB plan.

I had bookmarked this article as a reminder to avoid fixed price quotes for such work:

In the end, it took me three-and-a-half hours to work around all the security in place enough to do the simple job I was asked to do. I love a challenge; they are the fun part of this job. Still, the lack of organization and preparation on the client’s part cost them. I was there easily three times as long as should have been required.

[Sysman]

I'm sure lots of applications do a reboot on update out of laziness - the developers can't be arsed checking if one is necessary so just do it by default.

That's all beside the point though, why are you using adobe just to read PDFs?

You want to use the foxit pdf reader:
Foxit Software - Foxit Reader for Windows

Much lighter and faster

I do use Foxit on my own Windows systems, and Preview on my Macs. I sacked Adobe Reader several years ago for personal use.

TBH I'm in the habit of closing everything and shutting down anyway. Years of working in clear desk / clear screen environments.

My iMac is 5 or 6 years old now and and from a cold start it's ready to go in about 15 secs.

Yes, I've done the clear desk / screen thing too. On slow kit it's simply a matter of grabbing a coffee while the system is whirring into life.

[NotAllThere]

I used FoxIt for a while. But the nag screens annoyed me as much as Adobe's continual updates and bloatware.

Now I use notepad.

[stek]

There's a developer preview of OSX 10.7 Lion now downloadable from Apple's Dev site - need a dev account tho.

Or peruse the usual sources!

Gonna try it later....

[Sysman]

I used FoxIt for a while. But the nag screens annoyed me as much as Adobe's continual updates and bloatware.

Now I use notepad.

I haven't noticed the nag screens too much. You do need to concentrate when installing though, as by default it will make Ask your default search engine, add an Ask toolbar, add a shortcut to ebay and enable "safe reading mode". The last item is a real pain when trying to read a document containing URLs.

I said no to the lot

[Spacecadet]

I used FoxIt for a while. But the nag screens annoyed me as much as Adobe's continual updates and bloatware.

Now I use notepad.

can't say I've ever seen a nag screen in foxit

[d000hg]

OTOH you don't actually have to restart your Mac as often as a PC.

That sounds like crap to me. I normally hibernate my PC and it updates Adobe, Java, etc just fine. Only certain Windows updates require restarts and I find the Mac updates are no different. The only time I restarted in recent memory was to change the graphics card.

[Doggy Styles]

The only time I restarted in recent memory was to change the graphics card.

I've heard you don't need to restart a Mac for that.

[Sysman]

That sounds like crap to me. I normally hibernate my PC and it updates Adobe, Java, etc just fine. Only certain Windows updates require restarts and I find the Mac updates are no different. The only time I restarted in recent memory was to change the graphics card.

Do you run as a privileged user?

I suspect Spacecadet hit the nail on the head here:

I'm sure lots of applications do a reboot on update out of laziness - the developers can't be arsed checking if one is necessary so just do it by default.

which rather reminds me of the apps I used to get a dozen years ago. Kept knocking them back because the installation packages didn't bother setting file ownership and protections properly. Of course running the result in a privileged account worked, but it was my job to ensure that end users could run this stuff without elevated privileges.